History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2)Walters, H. B. (Henry Beauchamp)
History
History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2)
Walters, H. B. (Henry Beauchamp)
Mythology, Classical, in art; Pottery, Ancient; Pottery, Etruscan; Pottery, Greek; Pottery, Roman
Lastly, there is the class of Panathenaic vases with their
inscriptions.[2199] They fall into two groups: (1) the words [ΤΟΝ
ΑΘΕΝΕΘΕΝ ΑΘΛΟΝ], to which [ΕΜΙ] is sometimes added, “(I am) from the
games at Athens”; (2) the names of archons, which only occur on the
fourth-century examples. They form a unique instance of inscriptions
which give direct information as to the date of a vase, and range from
367 to 313 B.C. (see Vol. I. p. 390).
Sometimes vases (especially in the B.F. period) are covered with
meaningless collocations of letters, either separate or in the form of
words. Some ingenious explanations of these have been propounded, but
none are very satisfactory. They are often found on the class known as
“Corintho-Attic” or “Tyrrhenian amphorae,” and it is just possible that
in this case they are attempts by an Athenian workman to copy the
unfamiliar Corinthian alphabet.
* * * * *
The third class of inscriptions on Attic vases is composed of those
which have no direct relation to the vase itself. They include
invocations to deities such as were used in making libations, _e.g._
Διὸς Σωτῆρος, “To Zeus the Saviour”[2200]; or, again, the exhortations
so frequently found on B.F. kylikes of the “Minor Artists’” school, of
which the commonest is χαῖρε καὶ πίει εὖ, “Hail, and drink deep!”[2201]
or χαῖρε καὶ πίει τήνδε, “Hail, and drink this!”[2202] On a number of
R.F. kylikes appears the word προσαγορεύω, “I salute you.”[2203]
But the most numerous and important inscriptions of this class are
those conveniently named by German archaeologists “Lieblingsnamen,” or
“Lieblingsinschriften,” for which we have no satisfactory equivalent in
English, though “pet-name” and “love-name” have been suggested, and
latterly “καλός-name.” The latter title has been adopted from the fact
that the usual form which these inscriptions take is that of a proper
name in the nominative case, generally masculine, with the word καλός
attached. Sometimes, but not so frequently, the name is feminine, with
καλή[2204]; the superlative form κάλλιστος is also found.[2205] In
other cases ὁ or ἑ παῖς appears in place of the proper name, or the
word δοκεῖ is added, and sometimes also ναί or ναιχί, emphasising the
statement. The most remarkable instance is a B.F. jug at Munich, round
the shoulder of which is the inscription καλός Νικόλα Δωρόθεος καλὸς
κἀμοὶ δοκεῆ, ναί· χἄτερος παῖς καλὸς, Μέμνων κἀμοὶ καλὸς φιλός.[2206]
It is not quite certain how far the word καλὸς should be interpreted in
a physical sense as “handsome” or “fair,” or in an ethical sense as
“good” or “noble”; but having regard to the manners and customs of
fifth-century Athens,[2207] it is more likely that the physical meaning
of the word is to be inferred.
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