History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 1 (of 2)Walters, H. B. (Henry Beauchamp)
History
History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 1 (of 2)
Walters, H. B. (Henry Beauchamp)
Mythology, Classical, in art; Pottery, Ancient; Pottery, Etruscan; Pottery, Greek; Pottery, Roman
But the Treasury of Gela is by a Sicilian architect, and it seems
highly probable that the method of decoration employed was not one
usually practised in Greece, but was introduced from the Western
Mediterranean. Though rare in Greece, it is exceedingly common in
Sicily and Southern Italy. The middle temple (known as C) on the
acropolis of Selinus, and buildings at Gela and Syracuse, may be cited
as examples. The principle is also well illustrated in the terracotta
remains of the temple at Civita Lavinia, excavated by Lord Savile in
1890–94, which are now in the British Museum. They have, as far as
possible, been incorporated in a conjectural restoration in the
Etruscan Saloon (Plate III.).[348] It will be noted that most of the
slabs are pierced with holes, by means of which they were attached to
the walls or surface of the entablature; they are mostly decorated with
lotos-and-honeysuckle and other patterns, in relief and coloured, the
same being repeated in colour only on the back of the overhanging edges
of the cornice. These remains belong to two periods, the end of the
sixth century and the fourth century B.C.; they may be easily
distinguished by the differences in the treatment of the ornamental
patterns, while there is a marked absence of colouring in the later
remains. Similar architectural remains in terracotta have been found in
Etruria, and are described in Chapter XVIII. It should be noted that
the Civita Lavinia slabs are flat, whereas those used at Olympia, and
many others in Southern Italy and Sicily, are three-sided.
Specimens of ordinary Greek tiles have been found in many parts of the
ancient world, besides those for special architectural purposes already
discussed. Avolio[349] mentions many examples from Acrae and elsewhere
in Sicily, stamped with emblems or names of officials and of makers. At
Olbia, in Southern Russia, tiles were found stamped with names of Greek
aediles (ἀστυνόμοι), like the amphora-handles described below (p.
158),[350] and in Corfu tiles and bricks with names of magistrates
(πρυτάνεις), indicating in each case the existence of public
regulations concerning the potteries.[351] At Kertch (Panticapaeum) Dr.
Macpherson discovered large numbers of tiles with labels on which was
stamped the word [ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ], “Royal,” together with other
inscriptions.[352] These tiles showed the manner of their attachment
one upon the other, and their dimensions answered to the Lydian variety
mentioned above. Other tiles discovered by Mr. Burgon at Athens, by Sir
Charles Newton in Kalymnos, and by Mr. Colnaghi at Kandyla (Alyzia) in
Acarnania, bore labels with inscriptions and designs in relief.[353] On
one of the latter series in the British Museum is the inscription
[ALYZEIÔN], “of the people of Alyzia” (Fig. 11); on another was
inscribed in the manner of the Athenian vases (see Chapters X. and
XVII.) [ΙΠΠΕΟΣ] [ΚΑΛΟΣ] [ΑΡΙ[Σ]ΤΟΜΕΔΕΙ] [ΔΟΚΕΙ], “Hippeus seems
handsome to Aristomedes.”[354]
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