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Hadra Hydriae and Central Crete: A Fabric Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Abstract

Stylistic reasons are given for believing that many of the Hadra hydriae found in the Hellenistic cemeteries of Alexandria were made in Crete.

Analyses of the clay compositions of a group of Hadra vases are compared with control samples from Cretan sites and the Nile Valley. The results suggest, together with the stylistic evidence, that Crete is a likely home for the workshops producing Hadra vases.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1985

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References

Acknowledgements. We should like to thank the Trustees of the British Museum and Mr B. F. Cook of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities for permission to study and sample the Hadra vases in London (Plate 1, samples 1–5). Dr A. Delivorias and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens also allowed study of their material from Knossos and the Managing Committee of the British School at Athens gave permission for the publication of the results and the accompanying photographs. Professors St. Alexiou, Dr J. Tzedakis, Dr A. Lembesis, and Mrs A. Karetsou have, at different times, allowed access to their finds and have discussed questions of style and provenance. Professor D. Levi and Professor Larosa of the Italian Institute in Athens have also been very helpful. The technical assistance of Miss E. Louka is gratefully acknowledged. The photographs were prepared by Matthew Nightingale. This study was completed while P. J.C. was Sir James Knott Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

1 For Hadra vases see Cook, B. F., Inscribed Hadra Vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Papers 12, 1966Google Scholar (henceforth IHV); Brooklyn Museum Annual x (1968–9) 115–38; BSA 75 (1980) 33–47; BICS 30 (1983) 123–9; Guerrini, L., Vasi di Hadra, Tentativo di sistemazione cronologica di una classe ceramica (Seminario di archeologia e storia dell'arte greca e romana dell Università di Roma), Studi Miscellanei 8 (1964)Google Scholar, henceforth Vasi di Hadra.

2 Brooklyn Museum Annual x (1968–9) 115–38; IHV.

3 IHV, BICS 30 (1983) 123–9.

4 Braunert, H., ‘Auswärtige Gäste am Ptolemäerhofe’, Jdl 65/6 (19501951) 231 ff.Google Scholar

5 BICS 30 (1983) 124; BSA 75 (1980) 33–47; 76 (1981) 38–40. 55–7, 59–70

6 IHV 9–10.

7 IHV 7 n. 3: Rhodes.

8 IHV 9–10.

9 I have seen two examples with this fabric: Vasi di Hadra C, 5, now in the National Museum at Athens, and another from Rhodes.

10 Vasi di Hadra groups A-C.

11 Ibid. 11 and n. 3.

12 Either inked on the surface of the vase or incised: IHV passim and Brooklyn Museum Annual x (1968–9) 115–38.

13 IHV n. 3.

14 Cook, , Greek Painted Pottery (1972) 208.Google Scholar

15 See n. 5 above.

16 IHV 9.

17 BSA 73 (1978) 6, no. 12; no. 16; 11 fig. 7.

18 For self-polished vases see BSA 72 (1977) 99. BSA 73 (1978) nos. 27–41 all have this type of surface treatment as do many of the local domestic hydriae as well as vases of various other shapes.

19 BSA 76 (1981) 38–40, 55–7, 59–70; ‘Knossian Artists and Ptolemaic Alexandria’, in Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico. Studi in onore di A. Adriani (forthcoming).

20 Megaw, A. H. S. and Jones, R. E., ‘Byzantine and Allied Pottery: a Contribution by Chemical Analysis to Problems of Origin and Distribution’, BSA 77 (1982) 235–63.Google Scholar

21 At Chania in west Crete, for example, some of the classes of Late Minoan pottery have specific compositions; see Catling, H. W.et al. BSA 75 (1980) 81.Google Scholar

22 A recent analytical study of terracotta figurines from Myrina by optical emission spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry that attempted to characterize workshops illustrates this problem well; Kalamiotou, et al. Journal of Archaeological Science 11 (1984) 103–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23 The results are set out in full by the present writer (R. E. J. Greek and Cypriot Pottery: a Review of Scientific Studies, forthcoming chapter 3, C). For a preliminary account see Catling et al. op. cit. n. 79 ff.

24 This topic is discussed by Jones, op. cit. n. 23, chapter 3, C.

25 Analysed as part of the study of Marine Style; Mountjoy, P. A., Jones, R. E., and Cherry, J. F.BSA 73 (1978) 159–69.Google Scholar

26 Analysed as part of the study of the Linear B inscribed stirrup jars, Catling et al. 1980, op. cit. n. 21, table 4 and p. 111.

27 Riley, J. A., ‘The Contribution of Ceramic Petrology to Our Understanding of Minoan Society’, in Minoan Society, eds. Krzyskowska, O. and Nixon, L. (Bristol 1983) 283–92.Google Scholar

28 Homann-Wedeking, B., ‘A Kiln Site at Knossos’, BSA 45 (1950) 140–92.Google Scholar

29 Riley, J. A., Peacock, D. P. S., and Renfrew, A. C., ‘The Petrological Characterisation of Late Bronze Age Ceramics from Knossos and Mycenae’, Revue d' Archéométrie 4 (1980)Google Scholar; see also Riley, op. cit. n. 27.

30 Perlman, I. and Asaro, F., Archaeometry 11 (1969) 34–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar and H. V. Michel, J. D. Frierman, and F. Asaro, ibid. 18 (1976) table 2.

31 Tobia, S. K. and Sayre, E. V., ‘An Analytical Comparison of Various Egyptian Soils, Clays, Shales and some Ancient Pottery by Neutron Activation’, in Recent Advances in Science and Technology of Materials iii, ed. Bishay, A. (New York 1974), 99–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

32 Kaplan, M. F., Harbottle, G., and Sayre, E. V., ‘Multi-Disciplinary Analysis of Tell el Yahudiyeh Ware’, Archaeometry 24 (1982) 127–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

33 Homann-Wedeking, op. cit. n. 28.

34 For the type see BSA 45 (1950) pl. 12e; 52 (1957) 229 fig. 2.

35 BSA 45 (1950) 181 fig. 20, left; 66 (1971) 260 fig. 10 no. 37; 73 (1978) 15–18; 76 (1981) 37f., 55.

36 BSA 73 (1978) 15–18; 76 (1981) 37 f.

37 BCH 95 (1971) 207; BSA 76 (1981) 61–5 and esp. n. 15.

38 Prag, A. J. N. W., Schweizer, F., and Williams, J. LI., Archaeometry 16 (1974) 153–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

39 Jones, op. cit. n. 23, chapter 2, A.

40 Megaw and Jones, op. cit. n. 20, 245 ff.

41 Jones, op. cit. n. 23, chapter 2, A.

42 Cluster analysis and principal components analysis are part of the CLUSTAN package (Wishart, D., CLUSTAN User Manual, version 1C Release 2, Edinburgh University, 1978Google Scholar). The analysis were carried out on the ICL 2980 at the Oxford University Computing service.

43 Prag et al. op cit. n. 38, 167–72 and table 6.

44 For Clay Ground hydriae see IHV 9f. and BSA 75 (1980) 33–7.

45 For a list of Hadra vases found outside Egypt see IHV n. 3. To these must now be added the many fragments from Knossos, Kommos, and other Cretan sites.

47 BSA 68 (1973) 50 fig. 5 nos. L6–11; 73 (1978) 15 no. 42.

48 Guerrini, , Vasi di Hadra (Seminario di archeologia e storia dell'arte greca e romana dell'Università di Roma), Studi Miscellanei 8 (Rome 1964) F17.Google Scholar Its associated grave group includes later first century BC objects such as the piriform unguentarium and several of the jugs and amphorae illustrated on pl. Xa–e. At Kommos, late Hadra vases are regularly associated with pottery of the first century BC.

49 For a Hadra style krater found in the district of Chalara at Phaistos see AD 19 (1964) B3, 448 and pl. 524c; Annuario 45–6 (1967–8) 65 and fig. 9; BCH 100 (1976) 257 fig. 4. Two-column kraters found at Lato are published in BCH 100 (1976) 254–5. For a miniature oinochoe in dark-on-light style depicting an agrimi hunt see BSA 73 (1978) pl. 6 no. 87. Excavations at Knossos have produced hundreds of fragments of kraters and other large vessels decorated in similar style.

50 ‘Knossian Artists and Ptolemaic Alexandria’, in Alessan dria e il mondo ellenistuo. Studi in onore di A. Adriani (in press). BSA (1981) 38–9. 55 f.

51 For example, a selection of his figured vases: IHV no. 17; Ann. Mus. Alex. (1940–50) 18 fig. 14, 20 fig. 15; Brooklyn Museum Annual 10 (1068–9) 118 figs. 5–7.

52 Clearest, in Ann. Mus. Alex. (19401950) 20 fig. 15.Google Scholar

53 Guerrini op. cit. (n. 48) A5. For others see A3 and A6–8. Detailed photographs on pls. 11–12: Edgar, C. C., Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Greek Vases (Cairo 1911) pl. 14 no. 26.226.Google Scholar

54 Guerrini op. cit. (n. 48) A1–2. A3–8, also attributed to Pylon by Guerrini, have more recently been identified as works of the Dromeus Painter on grounds of style (cf. BSA 76 (1981) 39).

55 Guerrini A1–2, pl. 1.

56 BSA 76 (1981) 62 and n. 20; ‘Knossian Artists and Ptolemaic Alexandria’ (see n. 19 above).

57 Guerrini, op. cit. E7.

58 Ibid. E3 and E9.

59 The examples from Kommos, as yet unpublished, appear to date from the first century BC. They conform in all respects to the shape of Hadra vases from earlier periods but, like similar examples from the first century BC at Knossos, are no longer decorated with figured or floral zones.

60 For a small selection of the excavated pottery from Lyttos see AD 26 (1971) Chron. B2 pl. 513. None of the material identified here as Lyttian has yet been published.

61 BCH 100 (1976) 254 ff., esp. 267.

62 Praktika (1973) 208 ff. and pls. 216 19; AAA 5 (1972) 238 fig. 9.

63 For the identification of Astiritsi with the Tritonion-Diatonion mentioned in the sources see Davaras, C., Die Statue aus Astntsi Ant. K Beiheft 8 (1972) 30.Google ScholarMarinatos, in Praktika (1938) 137 f.Google Scholar and Faure, in BCH 82 (1958)CrossRefGoogle Scholar also place Tritonion in this region. This certainly makes better sense of the Gortynian dispositions of 185 BC (Polybios xxiii. 15). For a contrary view see Guarducci, M., Hisloria 8 (1934) 627–30.Google Scholar The story of how St Myron was forced to quell the waters of the Triton on his way to Knossos (from his bishopric?) in Acta Sanctorum xxxvi. Aug. ii, implies a position to the south and west of Knossos. The city survived into the first quarter of the second century BC. The date of desertion cannot be precisely documented, but the two vases in the Hcraklcion Museum were made about 200 BC or a little after.

64 Strabo x. 479 implies that the place was sacked when first captured by Knossos. This would have preceded the events of 185 BC. For the fate of the subdued cities of the Valley, Herakleion see TAPA 106 (1976) 313–30.Google Scholar

65 Ibid.BSA (1981) 63 n. 31. It is possibly significant that the two sites were handed over to Lyttos and Rhaukos by Gortys in 185 BC. This might well reflect their lack of size and status at that time since otherwise an attempt to set them up as independent poleis might have been expected.

66 For the vases from Astritsi see Annuano 4.5 (1921 2) 173 and BSA 45 (1950) 182.

67 For Chersonesos see Le Rider, G., Monnaies Crétoises (Paris 1966) 280.Google Scholar For the later second century BC sympoliteia between Lyttos and Chersonesos see RE Suppl. 7 (1940) 88.

68 Guarducci, IC i. 58 and 306 for the subjugation of Tylissos. The city is absent from the long list of Cretan states allied to Eumenes II in 183 BC (IC iv. 179) and had probably fallen by that time. If this is so, the later vases of group I (see BICS 30 (1983) ‘Stylistic Progression in Hellenistic Crete’ 31–9) cannot have been produced there. For Rhaukos, which fell to a combined Gortynian and Knossian assault in 165 BC, see Polybios xxx, 23, 1 and IC i. 291. The new border ran through the middle of the city, which cannot therefore have survived as a functioning urban centre. Once again, the comparatively early date of its fall would tend to mitigate against this city as the production centre for vases of group 1.

69 For the few testimonia on ancient Herakleion sec TAPA 106 (1976) 314 and n. 5.