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KNOWLEDGE 



[February 1, 1890. 



GREEK VASES.-I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

 By H. B. Walters, M.A., F.S.A. 



AMONG the various branches of Greek archtBology 

 the study of vase-painting stands out prominently 

 as of far-reaching interest and artistic importance. 

 Until the last twenty years or so, those who 

 devoted themselves to this pursuit were content 

 to confine their attention to such information concerning 

 the mythology or the religious and private life of the 

 Greeks as might be derived from a study of the subjects 

 depicted, without regard to chronological or technical 

 questions. The discoveries of recent years, however, have 

 brought about a demand for a more scientific method, 

 dealing more with questions of chronological arrangement 

 and classification of the various fabrics and technical 

 processes. 



It is a common thing to hear these vases spoken of as 

 " Etruscan," although this term, which arose in the last 

 century, when few vases had been found except in the 

 tombs of Etruria, has now been discredited for many years. 

 It still, however, holds sway with all the tenacity of a 

 popular error, and its use cannot be too strongly depre- 

 cated, resting as it does on no grounds whatever. A small 

 number of vases were undoubtedly made by Etruscans in 

 imitation of imported Greek fabrics, but all possess un- 

 mistakable characteristics which mark them off from the 

 products of Greek artists. The fact that such a large 

 proportion of the Greek vases which are to be seen in 

 European museums were found in Etruria is due to an 

 extensive system of importation from Greece, which went 

 on during the sixth and fifth centuries u.c, the period to 

 ■which the finest productions of the Greek potter's art 

 belong. These vases seem to have caught the taste of 

 Etruscan noblemen, who employed them to adorn their 

 houses, and more especially for funeral purposes. Of late 

 years, however, excavations on Greek soil have not only 

 enabled a fine collection to be formed in the museum of 

 Athens itself, but have yielded many examples for the 

 European museums in no way inferior to the masterpieces 

 imported into Etruria. 



It may be laid down as a general rule that all these 

 vases have been found in tombs, whether in Greece, Italy, 

 or elsewhere. There are, however, a few exceptions, 

 ■where excavations on the site of an ancient temple have 

 brought to light large quantities of vases or fragments of 

 vases, often with dedicatory inscriptions to some Greek 

 deity. The most notable instance is on the Acropolis at 

 Athens, where excavations have been recently made in the 

 debris caused by the sack of the citadel by the Persians in 

 B.C. 480, and a collection of fragments was found, many of 

 unique beauty or delicacy of execution ; these had probably 

 been dedicated in the Temple of Athena, and cast aside as 

 worthless -^Nhen the sack took place. Other instances are 

 at Naucratis, a Greek settlement in the Delta of Egypt, 

 and in the neighbourhood of Corinth (probably from a 

 temple of Poseidon). 



The sites on which vases have been found in tombs are 

 very numerous, and cover a large area. In Italy, Etruria 

 and the southern districts (Campania, Lucania, and Apulia) 

 have yielded large quantities, the chief source in Etruria 

 being Yulci, and in the other districts Nola, Capua, Ruvo, 

 and other less-known places. The vases from the latter 

 are mostly the product of local Greek artists in the great 

 colonies of ^lagna Grfecia. Several places in Sicily, such 

 as Gela and Locri, have also been fruitful in Greek vases. 

 In Greece proper Athens and Attica have yielded the 



largest proportion, especially of the earlier periods ; Corinth 

 and Thebes have produced many of local and of Athenian 

 manufacture. Among the islands, Rhodes, Thera, Melos, 

 and Crete have been most productive, especially of vases 

 of the primitive period ; but in Rhodes large numbers of 

 all dates have been foimd. The pottery of Cyprus is mostly 

 local, and under Phoenician influence ; other sites which 

 should be mentioned are Kertch in the Crimea, Naucratis 



Fig. 1. — Vase from Cyiiriis. 



in Egypt, and the neighbourhood of Cyrene on the north 

 coast of Africa. 



The purposes for which painted vases were used by the 

 ancients have been somewhat disputed ; but the fact of 

 their being found in tombs tends to show that they must 

 have been largely manufactured for this object alone. As 

 will be shown later on, there are two or three classes of 

 vases which, not only from the subjects depicted on them, 

 but from other evidence, can be proved to have been made 

 exclusively for funerals. The vases were placed round the 

 corpse when it was laid out for burial, and were, no doubt, 

 often filled with oil or fragrant perfumes ; afterwards they 

 were placed round the body in the tomb, it being the 

 universal belief of the Greeks, as of other nations, that the 

 dead required in a future existence all the objects of which 

 they made use in their daily life. In some cases the vases 

 appear to have been deliberately broken, with the idea that 

 the dead person could only use what was " dead ' also. 



In daily life it is probable that the use of painted vases 

 was largely analogous to the modern use of china. The 

 ordinary household utensils, such as driukiug-cups, wine- 

 jugs, and pitchers for fetching water, would be made of 

 plain unpainted pottery, while the more valuable and 

 elaborate specimens would be applied to the decoration of 

 the house, or only used on special occasions. Some shapes 

 are obviously adapted for hanging up against a wall ; 

 while the fact that on many of the later vases the decoration 

 of one side is markedly inferior to that of the other seems 

 to show that they were placed where only one side was 



