I. GREECE

We naturally begin with Greece, following the geographical order observed by Jahn,^[81] as the mainland and centre of Hellenic civilisation; and since Athens was not only the principal, for many years the only, centre of the manufacture of Greek vases, but has also been the most prolific source of recent discoveries, it is to Athens that we first turn our attention.

Athens was duly celebrated in ancient times as the chief home of the ceramic industry.^[82] The clay of Cape Kolias is eulogised by Suidas for its excellent qualities, and the extent of the Κεραμεικός, or potters’ quarter, is still visible beyond the Dipylon gate. One of the earliest painted vases found on Attic soil was the famous Panathenaic amphora discovered by Burgon in 1813 outside the Acharnian gate, and now in the British Museum.^[83] The tomb in which it was found also contained remains of burnt bones, a lekythos, and other small vases. The subjects are: on one side Athena brandishing a spear, with the inscription ΤΟΝ ΑΘΕΝΕΘΕΝ ΑΘΛΟΝ ΕΜΙ, “I am a prize from the games at Athens”; on the other, a man driving a biga, or two-horse chariot. The date is usually considered to be about 560 B.C. It was rightly identified by the early writers as one of the prize-vases described by Pindar in the passage we have quoted elsewhere (p. 132), and was the means of identifying many other vases similarly painted and inscribed, but found on other sites, as belonging to the same class. A considerable number of vases found on Greek soil, mostly at Athens, were published by Stackelberg in 1837,^[84] but little was done for many years in the way of systematic excavation. The National Museum was opened shortly after the declaration of Greek independence, and assisted by royal benefactions. The law forbidding the export of antiquities has now been in force for many years, but unfortunately has had a bad as well as a good effect, in that the vendors of surreptitious finds are wont to give imaginary accounts of the circumstances of their discoveries, in order to screen themselves.

To give anything like a description of the vases found at Athens would be useless here, where so many classes are illustrated by the finds; it may, however, be worth while to note a few of the most typically Athenian groups of pottery. (1) Earliest in date are the Dipylon vases, which were found outside the gate of that name, and have from their conspicuous character given a name to a whole class. They are, however, fully treated of in Chapter VII. (2) The numerous fragments of vases found on the Acropolis, which can all be dated anterior to 480 B.C., include many exceedingly beautiful and unique specimens of the transitional period of vase-painting, some having black, some red figures.^[85] Although in few cases anything more than fragments have been preserved, yet these fragments are enough to show that the originals were masterpieces surpassing even the finest examples from the Italian cemeteries. They will, it is to be hoped, shortly be made known to the world by means of an exhaustive catalogue. (3) The white lekythi, discussed at length elsewhere (Chapter XI.), besides forming a class by themselves, are specially remarkable as being almost peculiar to Athens. It is not, however, certain that they were not made also at Eretria, where many fine ones have been found of late years; but otherwise none have been found outside Attica, with the exception of a few importations to Cyprus, Locri in Italy, or Sicily. (4) A group of late R.F. vases of the “fine” style, mostly of small size and sometimes with polychrome decoration. The drawing is free and graceful, but tends to carelessness; the subjects are drawn chiefly from the life of women and children. Some of the smaller specimens were no doubt actually children’s playthings.

Elsewhere in Attica vases have not been numerous. Eleusis has yielded some interesting fragments,^[86] including a plaque of about 400 B.C., with an interesting representation of the local deities, found in 1895; at Marathon the grave of the fallen warriors has been recently explored, and was found to contain both B.F. and R.F. vases, but none of particular merit.^[87] The find was, however, important, as illustrating Greek methods of burial. The tombs of Phaleron are important, as having yielded a special class of early vases which are known by the name of the site.^[88] These Phaleron vases combine in an interesting manner the characteristics of the Geometrical and Rhodian or Oriental styles, being akin to the so-called Proto-Corinthian. The beehive tombs at Menidi and Spata and other tombs at Haliki, near Marathon, have yielded Mycenaean pottery of the usual types, and an instructive find of early Geometrical pottery has been made at Aphidna.^[89] There are vases in the museums of Athens and Berlin of various dates, to which the following provenances are assigned: Alike, Alopeke, Hymettos,^[90] Kephissia, Cape Kolias,^[91] Pikrodaphni,^[92] Peiraeus,^[93] Sunium,^[94] Thorikos,^[95] Trakhones,^[96] Vari,^[97] Velanideza, and Vourva, the two latter near Marathon.^[98] Megara^[99] has produced little beyond specimens of a class of late bowls with designs in relief, sometimes known as “Megarian bowls,” but more probably of Boeotian origin (see p. 53).

Corinth, as a centre of the manufacture of vases, occupied in early times a position in Greece only second to Athens. Down to the first half of the sixth century it actually seems to have held the pre-eminence; but after the rise of Athens it sank altogether into obscurity, and ceased to produce any pottery at all after about 520 B.C. But we know from Strabo^[100] that the fame of Corinthian wares still existed in Roman times, for in the days of Julius Caesar the tombs of the new Colonia Julia were ransacked for the vases which were the admiration of the rich nobles of Rome. The expression used by Strabo, ὀστράκινα τορεύματα, seems to imply that these were probably specimens of the later relief-ware which did not become popular in Greece before the fourth century, but then gradually ousted the painted fabrics.

Corinth, like Athens, claimed the invention of pottery and of the wheel; it was also one of the supposed centres of the origin of painting in Greece. We read, moreover, that when Demaratos fled thence to Italy he took with him two artists named Eucheir and Eugrammos, who doubtless helped to develop the art of vase-making in Etruria. The vases found here are nearly all of the early archaic and B.F. periods, from the so-called Proto-Corinthian wares down to ordinary B.F. fabrics. The Mycenaean and Geometrical styles are practically unrepresented, but occasional finds have been made of Attic B.F. and R.F. vases. With these exceptions all were actually made at Corinth, as is shown in many cases by the inscriptions in the local alphabet painted upon the vases.

The earliest discovery, and in some respects one of the most remarkable, was the vase known as the Dodwell pyxis (see p. 315), which was acquired by that traveller in 1805, and is now at Munich. In 1835 a large number of vases were found by peasants at Chiliomodi, the ancient Tenea,^[101] one of which represented Herakles and the Centaur Nessos; most of these are now at Athens. In 1843 Ross^[102] records the discovery of over a thousand at various sites, on the Isthmus and at or near Tenea, and ever since that time tomb-digging has been carried on without intermission. The best collections of Corinthian vases are those at Athens, Berlin, and the British Museum. But the most noteworthy find at Corinth has been that of the series of plaques (πίνακες) or votive tablets discovered at Penteskouphia in 1879, most of which are now at Berlin. They are all of votive character, and come from the rubbish-heap of a temple of Poseidon; most of them are painted with figures of and inscribed with dedications to that deity, and they belong to the late seventh or early sixth century B.C.^[103] The British Museum possesses a R.F. “pelike” from Solygea, near Corinth, and isolated finds are also recorded from Sikyon.^[104]

Turning to the adjoining state of Argolis, we find three sites of special importance in early times—Mycenae, Tiryns, and Argos. Of these the two former had ceased to have any importance in historic times, but this is amply compensated for by the wonderful discoveries of the Mycenaean period.^[105] At Mycenae large quantities of painted pottery were found in the six shaft-tombs in the Agora, five of which were excavated by Dr. Schliemann; outside the Acropolis, and possibly belonging to a later period, was found the remarkable vase with figures of warriors marching.^[106] The finds at Tiryns were chiefly fragmentary, but at Nauplia, where considerable quantities were found, there were some fragments with painted designs of chariots like the vases from Cyprus (p. 246).^[107] Mycenaean pottery has also been found at Asine,^[108] and the site of the Heraion at Argos, recently excavated by the American School, has yielded an exhaustive series of fragments of pottery, representative of nearly every known fabric from Mycenaean times down to the best Greek period. They have not as yet been published, but may be expected to yield important results. Other occasional finds are reported from Argos, including a curious archaic vase with a representation of Herakles and Kerberos.^[109] At Kleonae, on the northern frontier of the state, was found a Corinthian vase signed by Timonidas, and there are vases from Hermione in the museum at Athens.^[110]

In the rest of the Peloponnese finds of painted vases have been exceedingly rare. The Berlin Museum possesses a B.F. vase found at Megalopolis,^[111] and isolated finds are also recorded from Magoula in Laconia and Amyklae near Sparta.^[112] At Olympia painted vases were very rare, but several different fabrics from the Proto-Corinthian downwards are represented by fragments.^[113]

In Central and Northern Greece the only fruitful region has been Boeotia, particularly its capital, Thebes. This city, like Corinth, has principally yielded early vases. As has been shown elsewhere (pp. 286, 300), Boeotia was the home of more than one indigenous fabric, notably the local variety of Geometrical ware, partly parallel with that of Athens and other sites, partly a degenerate variety with local peculiarities, forming a transition to the Phaleron and Proto-Corinthian fabrics. The last-named have frequently been found at Thebes, notably the Macmillan lekythos in the British Museum. Signed vases of local fabric, with the names of Gamedes, Menaidas, and Theozotos, are in the British Museum and in the Louvre. On the site of the Temple of the Kabeiri, near Thebes, a remarkable series of late B.F. pottery came to light, evidently a local fabric, with dedicatory inscriptions and subjects of a grotesque or caricatured nature.^[114] They are quite peculiar to the site, and seem to have had a close connection with its religious rites. Besides many examples of the Geometrical and Corinthian fabrics, there have been found at Thebes several specimens of the so-called Megarian bowls with reliefs, of the second century B.C.; the proportion to other sites is such that Thebes has been thought to be the centre of the fabric. Another local fabric is that produced by Tanagra about the end of the fifth century B.C., consisting of small cups, toilet-boxes, etc., with somewhat naïve outlined designs.^[115] The vase-finds here have served as evidence for the dating of the terracotta statuettes, with which no painted fabrics were found, but only ribbed or moulded black-glaze wares, characteristic of the fourth and third centuries B.C.^[116] Where painted vases have been found, the accompanying statuettes were all of an archaic or even primitive type.^[117]

In excavations at Orchomenos in 1893^[118] the French School unearthed large numbers of fragments, Mycenaean, Boeotian Geometrical, Proto-Corinthian, Corinthian, and Attic black-figured; Mycenaean vases have been found at Lebadea, and Thespiae, Thisbe, and Akraiphiae are also mentioned as sites where painted vases have been found.^[119] Very few sites in Northern Greece have yielded finds of pottery, but the Athens Museum contains R.F. vases from Lokris, Phokis, and Lamia^[120] on the Malian Gulf, and finds are also recorded from Anthedon,^[121] Atalante,^[122] Exarchos, and Galaxidi in Lokris, from Elateia,^[123] Abae,^[124] and Daulis in Phokis, and from Thessaly. Fragments of painted pottery were seen by early travellers at Delphi.^[125] At Daulis the pottery was of Mycenaean character,^[126] as also that from the beehive-tombs of Volo in Thessaly and its neighbourhood. A recent excavation at Dimini is reported to have yielded very early painted vases of a quite new, probably local ware, with affinities to the Cycladic types of Thera and elsewhere.^[127]

Turning now to the Greek islands, we find somewhat more extensive and interesting results. Little indeed has been found in the Ionian Islands of the western coast,^[128] even in Corfu, which as a rule has been fruitful in works of art. The only vases worth mentioning from that island are those found in the cemetery of Kastrades, in the tomb of Menekrates.^[129] The contents of this tomb, which are all of an early and somewhat mixed character, are now in the British Museum; they can be dated from the inscription on the tomb about 600 B.C. Travelling round by the south of the Peloponnese, we come to Kythera, which has yielded a cup (now in the British Museum) remarkable for its inscription, ἡμικοτύλιον; it is illustrated below, p. 135. Salamis^[130] again has produced little, but some interesting pottery of a transitional character from Mycenaean to Geometrical has been found.^[131]

Aegina appears to have been a pottery centre in early times, and recent discoveries are adding to our knowledge of its fabrics. Among the older finds from this island are a fine early oinochoe in the British Museum (from the Castellani collection), formerly supposed to be from Thera,^[132] and several very fine red-figured and white-ground vases, notably the elegant R.F. astragalos or knucklebone-shaped vase in the British Museum, with its figures of dancers; a white Athenian lekythos, with the subject of Charon,^[133] and two beautiful vases now in the Munich Museum (208, 209), with polychrome designs on a white ground.^[134] In 1892–93 the British Museum acquired a series of Mycenaean, Corinthian, and Attic vases from a find on this island,^[135] and other examples of Corinthian and Attic vases are recorded.^[136] In 1894 excavations were made on the site of the so-called temple of Aphrodite, and yielded a number of early vases chiefly Mycenaean, Geometrical of the Athenian type, and a large series of Proto-Corinthian wares, some of unusual size.^[137] Some of this pottery may possibly be of local fabric. More recently the excavations on the site of the great Doric temple (now shown to be dedicated to the goddess Aphaia) have yielded an extensive series of fragments of different dates.^[138] Aegina was always celebrated in antiquity for its artistic achievements, and that it was a centre for pottery is indicated by an anonymous comic writer, who addresses the island as “rocky echo, vendor of pots” (χυτρόπωλις).^[139]

Euboea possessed two important art-centres in Chalkis and Eretria. It is true that no vases have actually been found at Chalkis, but the existence of early B.F. vases with inscriptions in the local dialect amply testifies to the existence of potteries there (see p. 321). Eretria, on the other hand, has been carefully excavated in recent years, and has yielded many antiquities both of the early and of the finest period. Among the former are vases of a type akin to the earlier Attic fabrics, but distinguished by the use of a “pot-hook” decorative ornament, and others more akin to the Attic B.F. vases, but clearly of local make^[140]; among the latter are so many fine white-ground lekythi (as well as other forms) that it has been supposed that they must have been specially manufactured here as well as at Athens. The British Museum has lately acquired several white-ground and late R.F. vases of considerable beauty from this site. Many years ago an inscribed Corinthian vase was found at Karystos.^[141]

The Cyclades.—In these islands we find traces of absolutely the earliest fabrics known in the history of Greek pottery, but later finds of painted vases are comparatively rare. Mycenaean pottery has been found in the islands of Amorgos,^[142] Delos and Rheneia, Kythnos, Seriphos, Sikinos, Syros, Thera, and Melos.^[143] Other finds recorded are from Paros and Antiparos (early fabrics), Keos, Kimolos,^[144] Kythnos,^[145] Siphnos, and Syros^[146]; a remarkable Ionic vase in the Louvre, found in Etruria, has also been attributed to an island fabric, that of Keos,^[147] and another at Würzburg to that of Naxos.^[148] The chief finds of “Cycladic” or pre-Mycenaean pottery are those from the volcanic deposits of the island of Thera (see p. 260), which, from the circumstances of their discovery and the geological history of the island, are supposed to date back beyond 2000 B.C. They are painted with vegetable patterns in brown on a white ground, and have chiefly been excavated by the French School during the years 1867–74; a few are in Athens, but the majority are in the Louvre or the Sèvres Museum. In the superincumbent layers Mycenaean and Geometrical pottery came to light,^[149] and a fragment of a large Melian amphora with the so-called Asiatic Artemis, now in the Berlin Museum (No. 301), is stated by Ross to have come from this island. The same traveller saw here large πίθοι with painted subjects of early character and similar smaller vases, also some with black figures, in a private collection.^[150] More recently (in 1900) excavations made in the Acropolis cemetery by German archaeologists yielded a large quantity of pottery, chiefly Geometrical in character, extending from the eighth to the middle of the sixth century B.C.^[151]

The vases found in Melos amount to a considerable number, of different ages and styles.^[152] Recent excavations by the British School on the site of Phylakopi brought to light large quantities, not only of Mycenaean, but of pre-Mycenaean remains, including pottery.^[153] Mr. Thomas Burgon’s collection included many B.F. and later vases from Melos, now in the British Museum; they are mostly small and unimportant. Ross also saw painted vases in Melos.^[154] The island is, however, chiefly celebrated for a class of early vases, few in number, but of exceptional merit, which have mostly been found in the island, and so are known as “Melian” amphorae (see below, p. 301). Recently, however, large numbers of fragments of similar pottery have been found at Rheneia, opposite Delos, and it is possible that Delos was the centre of the fabric, not Melos, as hitherto supposed.^[155] They date from the seventh century B.C. Among the finds of later date from Melos, by far the most noteworthy is the Louvre Gigantomachia krater (see Chapter XII.).^[156]

Turning now to the eastern group of Aegean Islands, known as the Sporades, we begin with Lesbos, where many fragments of B.F. and R.F. vases were found by Mr. Newton during his Vice-Consulate. From epigraphical evidence it seems probable that many of the early B.F. fragments found at Naukratis (see below) should be attributed to a Lesbian fabric, but this has not so far been established. Vases have also been found in Tenedos and Chios.^[157]

Next we come to Samos, an island always renowned in antiquity for its fictile ware. The Homeric hymn to the potters is addressed to Samians. It was, however, in Roman times that its renown was especially great, and its connection with a certain class of red glazed wares has caused the name of “Samian Ware” to be applied indiscriminately but falsely to all Roman pottery of that kind.^[158] Finds of pottery have, however, been few and far between. The British Museum possesses a lekythos of the B.F. period in the form of a sandalled foot (Plate XLVI.), which Mr. Finlay obtained here. More recently Dr. Böhlau excavated some early cemeteries, and found a considerable quantity of pottery of the “Ionic” type, which enabled him to establish a Samian origin for certain wares of the sixth century.^[159] Kalymnos was explored by Mr. Newton in 1856, but has yielded little beyond plain glazed ware,^[160] and the same may be said of Kos, although the latter was famed in antiquity for its amphorae and culinary vessels. The small islands of Telos,^[161] Nisyros, Chiliodromia,^[162] and Karpathos have been explored at different times by Ross, Theodore Bent, and others, and have yielded vases of a late R.F. period, corresponding to the later Athenian fabrics, several of which are in the British Museum. Messrs. Bent and Paton have also found pottery of the Mycenaean period in Kalymnos and Karpathos^[163]; and similar remains are reported from Kos.^[164]

But all other discoveries in the islands are far exceeded both in extent and importance by those of Rhodes.^[165] They are principally due to the labours of Messrs. Salzmann and Biliotti, who diligently explored the island during the ’sixties, and the results as far as pottery is concerned, extend from Mycenaean times down to the destruction of Kameiros in 404 B.C. The earliest finds were on the site of Ialysos, and these are exclusively of “Mycenaean” type. The tombs containing Mycenaean vases were cut in the rock in quadrangular form, with vaulted δρόμος and steps. This site was explored by the above-named gentlemen about the years 1867–70, and the results of the excavation, by the liberality of Prof. Ruskin, found their way into the British Museum. Their archaeological value was not recognised for some years; but when the discoveries of Mycenae became known, it was at once seen that the Ialysos pottery must fall into line with them.

Kameiros is first heard of as a Dorian colony of the eleventh century, and its history extends down to 408 B.C. It was fully and systematically excavated between 1859 and 1864. Far more abundant and comprehensive than the Ialysos results, the Kameiros finds illustrate the history of Greek pottery from the Geometrical period^[166] down to the time of its decline, and include many fine specimens of the B.F. and R.F. periods, as well as numerous examples of the Rhodian, Corinthian, and other early classes, from the eighth to the sixth century B.C. The most interesting discovery was perhaps that of the pinax, with the fight over the body of Euphorbos, which is described elsewhere (p. 335). Among the finer specimens of the later period is the polychrome pelike with Peleus wooing Thetis. The majority of these finds are now in the British Museum, together with porcelain, bronze, and other objects illustrating the early pottery; part also went to the Louvre and to Berlin. The latest vases are of the free and careless type of late R.F. Athenian fabrics, and since they are known to be not later than the fifth century they supply valuable evidence for the dating of R.F. vases.

Crete in all probability will, before many years are over, supply a great mass of material for the history of early Greek pottery. Until recent years it has received little attention from travellers or explorers, and few vases of any period have come therefrom into our Museums.^[167] But Crete has always been looked to by archaeologists for the solution of the Mycenaean problem, and the systematic excavations now at length set on foot are even richer in their yield of Mycenaean and primitive pottery than those of Rhodes, Melos, and Cyprus. Mr. J. L. Myres found at Kamarais in 1894 a series of fragments of painted pottery with designs in opaque colours on a black ground, which he regarded as pre-Mycenaean.^[168] This theory was subsequently borne out by the discoveries of Messrs. Arthur Evans and D. G. Hogarth at Knossos and elsewhere, which have been very rich in pottery of a similar kind, and also in vases with remarkably naturalistic patterns in relief.^[169] Other finds have been made in the Dictaean Cave,^[170] at Zakro^[171] and Palaeokastro,^[172] at Phaestos,^[173] Praesos, Erganos and Kourtes, and Kavousi.^[174]

Before we turn our attention to the continent of Asia we must hark back to the European mainland, working round by the northern coasts of the Aegaean and Euxine Seas. Macedonia and Thrace have yielded scarcely anything,^[175] but when we come to the northern shore of the Black Sea we find at Kertch, in the Crimea (the ancient Panticapaeum), a remarkable centre of Greek artistic production. The finds here are practically limited to one period, covering little more than a hundred years, and mainly illustrate the art of the fourth century B.C. There are, however, many magnificent vases, which in style, if not in shape or composition of subjects, must belong to an earlier time—namely, that of the fine red-figured period.^[176] The excavations have mostly been undertaken by the Russian Government, in whose museum at the Hermitage the collections are now to be seen, but much was done unsystematically by Englishmen and others at the time of the Crimean War. It cannot be said that more than about one-quarter of the total find of 400 vases have any merit; they are chiefly small, with red figures, and of the later fine period; some are polychrome and ornamented with gilding.^[177] The most remarkable by far is the vase signed by the Athenian Xenophantos (p. 447); but that with the contest of Athena and Poseidon (Plate L.) is also an exceptionally fine specimen; and others have interesting subjects relating to the Eleusinian mysteries. At Phanagoria an early B.F. vase of Ionic style came to light.^[178] Vases have also been found at Olbia on the neighbouring mainland, at Kief, at Temir Gora in Circassia, and on the modern sites of Blisnitza, Iouz Oba, Melek Chesme and Pavlovski-Kourgane in the Crimea.^[179]

II. ASIA MINOR

The Troad first claims our attention. Here on the site of the second city of Troy, at Hissarlik, Dr. Schliemann found the earliest pottery at present known from Greek soil (see Chapter VI.). This has been generally dated about 2500–2000 B.C. In subsequent excavations Dr. Dörpfeld proved the sixth city to be the Homeric Troy, the remains from which, including pottery, are all of Mycenaean character. Later finds of pottery from the Troad are of no great importance^[180]; some are of Aeolic or Ionian origin, and others seem to be from an inferior local fabric, consisting of flat bowls with looped side-handles, carelessly painted in matt-black silhouette with figures of ducks and other animals. Some of these were found in 1855–56 by Mr. Brunton on the sites of New Ilium and Dardanus; others by Mr. Calvert in 1875–76, and by Dörpfeld and Brueckner in 1893. The finds of the two first-named are in the British Museum, together with some poor R.F. vases of late style. From Sigeion two polychrome lekythi have been reported, resembling the Attic white-ground fabric^[181]; Jahn also records finds of painted vases from Lampsakos and Parion,^[182] and a fine gilded vase with figures in relief has recently been found on the former site.^[183]

In Aeolis and Mysia the finds have not been considerable, but some are of importance as throwing light on the existence of local fabrics. In a private collection at Smyrna there is or was a late B.F. vase from Assos, with careless silhouette figures.^[184] At Pitane a very curious Mycenaean false amphora has been found, with figures of marine and other animals^[185]; and at Larisa Dr. Böhlau has found fragments of early painted vases, probably a local fabric imitating that of Rhodes.^[186] MM. Pottier and Reinach, in the course of their excavations at Myrina (1884–85), found pottery of various dates and styles: Mycenaean, Ionian, Corinthian, Attic B.F. and R.F., late R.F., and vases of the so-called Gnatia style (see p. 488) or with reliefs.^[187] Among those which can be traced to an Ionic or local fabric there is a very remarkable one with a head of a bearded man. Pergamon does not seem to have yielded any vases, but Kyme may have been a centre of Ionic vase-manufacture (see Chapter VIII.). Some fragments of an early B.F. krater have been found there which presents similar characteristics to those of the Ionian fabrics mentioned below.^[188]

Coming lower down the coast of Ionia we meet with the home of an important school of painting in the sixth century, which seems to have centred in the flourishing cities of Phocaea, Clazomenae and elsewhere round the Gulf of Smyrna. The actual finds of such vases in the neighbourhood is not great, but is compensated for by the remarkable series of painted terracotta sarcophagi discovered at Clazomenae, the finest of which is now in the British Museum. These, which obviously represent the characteristics of the Ionian school of painting, show such a close relation with a series of vases found at Naukratis and Daphnae in Egypt, and at Cervetri and elsewhere in Italy,

that the latter classes can only be regarded as of Ionian origin, or, if not imported, local Italian imitations of the Ionic wares. Such are the Caeretan hydriae which were directly imitated by the Etruscans.^[189]

A vase obtained at Phocaea by Mr. W. M. Ramsay in 1880 (p. 254) appears to be an imported Cypriote fabric of late date, though archaic in appearance. At Smyrna little has been found, but there are some vases attributed thereto in the Leyden Museum. At Clazomenae some fragments of painted vases in the style of the Caeretan hydriae have recently been found, which help to establish the theories above mentioned.^[190] Teos is associated with a particular kind of cup (Τήιαι κυλίχναι) mentioned by the poet Alcaeus,^[191] but nothing has been found there, nor yet at Kolophon, Ephesos, or Miletos. In the interior regions of Asia primitive painted pottery is recorded from Mount Sipylos,^[192] and also from Sardis on the sites of the tombs of the Lydian kings. From the tumulus known as Bin Tepe on the latter site the British Museum has obtained (through the agency of Mr. Dennis) some early pottery, which is decorated apparently in direct imitation of Phoenician glass wares. Fragments of Mycenaean and other primitive fabrics are reported from Cappadocia and from Gordion in Galatia,^[193] and have been recently picked up by Prof. W. M. Ramsay at Derbe in Lycaonia.

In Caria early local fabrics seem to be indicated by finds at Mylasa and Stratonikeia (Idrias).^[194] At Assarlik Mr. W. R. Paton found pottery of a transitional character from Mycenaean to Geometrical. Tralles and Knidos were famous in antiquity for pottery,^[195] but have left virtually nothing, nor has Halicarnassos. A Mycenaean false amphora is reported from Telmessos in Lycia, and fragments of B.F. and R.F. vases from Xanthos.^[196]

From the distant site of Susa in Persia an interesting find has been recently reported,^[197] of part of a R.F. rhyton in the form of a horse’s head, on which is painted the figure of a Persian in polychrome on a white ground. It belongs to the period 500–480 B.C., and may have been carried off by the Persians when they sacked the Athenian Acropolis.

Cyprus.—This island is of special interest to us as being now the only classical land in our own possession. Although we have not perhaps utilised to the full extent the opportunities thereby afforded us for excavations, yet of late years much has been done, especially by the British Museum, to remedy this defect, and the collection of Cypriote antiquities in the national museum is now fully worthy of that institution and as representative as could be wished. Previous to the English occupation the island remained undisturbed, with a few exceptions, the first being the excavations of Mr. R. Lang at Dali (Idalion) in 1867. The finds here were chiefly of terracottas and sculpture, and are now in the British Museum, but, owing to the misconception of Cypriote history that formerly prevailed, have been somewhat incongruously placed in the Oriental Department. Meanwhile, another consul, General L. Cesnola, was not slow to make use of his opportunities, seeing in the obvious richness of the field, the chances of gaining great distinction as an explorer. Of his energy and liberality in the cause there can be little doubt; but he was not an archaeologist, and did not realise the value of scientific evidence, negative or positive. Hence, although he deserves a meed of praise as the pioneer of Cypriote exploration, his statements are not always sufficiently explicit to be used without hesitation. His extensive collections are now in the Metropolitan Museum at New York; the British Museum has a few of the vases, but lost the opportunity of acquiring the whole. Another English consul, Mr. Sandwith, also made a collection of Cypriote pottery, and, with an acuteness in advance of his time, made a successful attempt to classify it according to periods and styles. Lastly, a brother of General Cesnola’s, A. P. di Cesnola, who lived for some time in the island, made large collections in the same manner as his brother, but with the same lack of scientific accuracy.

The record of discoveries since 1878 has been carefully systematised by Mr. J. L. Myres, who has given an excellent summary of results.^[198] The cemeteries in which the island is so extraordinarily rich may be divided into two classes: Bronze Age tombs, including Mycenaean and earlier remains; and Graeco-Phoenician, with tombs of Hellenistic and Roman date. On some sites, such as Curium and Salamis, tombs of all periods are found.