Authority and Display in Sixth-Century Etruria: The Vicchio Stele

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-54
Author(s):  
P Gregory Warden ◽  
Adriano Maggiani
Keyword(s):  
Archaic Period ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
New Information ◽  
Northern Edge

The discovery of an inscribed stele at the sanctuary of Poggio Colla (Vicchio, FI) provides new information about the sanctuary and its cults and raises important questions about literacy and elite authority at the northern edge of Etruria in the Archaic Period. The Vicchio stele has a very long series of inscriptions, possibly the longest Etruscan lapidary inscription to date. As law, the stele could have been consulted and interpreted by the literate few, but its authority would have been easily understood even without being read. It is as powerful a symbol as the imposing temple that arose in its place in the next century, a temple whose own authority rested on the foundation, physical and symbolic, of the Vicchio stele.

scholarly journals Wild Goat style ceramics at Troy and the impact of Archaic period colonisation on the Troad

2013 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 35-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn C. Aslan ◽  
Ernst Pernicka
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Activation Analysis ◽  
Activation Analysis ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Ceramic Production ◽  
Historical Texts ◽  
New Information ◽  
Gallipoli Peninsula ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe establishment of colonies along the Hellespont by inhabitants of Ionia, Athens and Lesbos is well-known from historical texts. Recently, stratified contexts at Troy as well as other surveys and excavations have yielded new information about the chronology and material markers of Archaic period settlements in the Troad and the Gallipoli peninsula. The archaeological evidence for colonisation in this region is not clearly seen until the late seventh to early sixth century BC when there is a dramatic change in the material culture. Destruction evidence from Troy indicates that the new settlers probably entered a weakened and depopulated region in the second half of the seventh century BC. The Ionian colonists transplanted their pottery traditions and started production of East Greek style ceramics in the Troad. Neutron Activation Analysis of Wild Goat style ceramics found at Troy offers further confirmation for the existence of Hellespontine Wild Goat style ceramic production centres. The Wild Goat style examples from Troy help to define the characteristics of the Hellespontine group, as well as the chronology and impact of colonisation in this area.

THE ‘SOS’ AMPHORA: AN UPDATE

2015 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 213-245
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Pratt
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
New Information ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
New Distribution ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Research conducted and published over the last 35 years has brought to light much new information concerning the so-called ‘SOS’ amphora, produced primarily in Attica and Euboea in the Archaic period. However, little focused work has been undertaken in the study of these vessels since Johnston and Jones' seminal work in 1978. This paper therefore provides a critical update on the production and distribution of SOS amphorae using the current data available. Included in this update is a discussion of recent research on Early Iron Age amphorae that may help situate the SOS amphora within a broader ceramic milieu. A new distribution of SOS amphorae also necessitates a reappraisal of some previously held ideas concerning their chronological patterns and the specific actors involved in their shipment. Taking into consideration the multiple spatial and temporal varieties of SOS amphorae, it can be shown that these vessels were relatively evenly deposited across the Mediterranean, from Iberia to the Levant, very early in the Archaic period. In combination with other factors, this widespread distribution may support the hypothesis that non-Greek seafarers were involved with transporting Athenian and Euboean SOS amphorae. Ultimately, it is hoped that a fresh look at this ceramic shape, however brief, might contribute to existing scholarly debates on cultural interactions and mobility within the Mediterranean basin during the Archaic period.

1. Introduction: Rome—A Historical Sketch

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Paul J. du Plessis
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Roman Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Sketch

This chapter provides a historical sketch of Rome. It has been written to provide a contextual basis for the study of Roman private law. The history of Rome is traditionally divided into three main periods based on the dominant constitutional structure in Roman society during these three periods. These are the Monarchy (eighth century bc–510 bc), Republic (509–27 bc), and Empire (27 bc–ad 565). Scholars of Roman law tend to refine this division even further. Thus, to the scholar of Roman law, the period from the founding of Rome in the eighth century bc–c. 250 bc is regarded as the ‘archaic’ period of Roman law. The period thereafter, from c. 250 bc–27 bc, is generally described as the ‘pre-classical period’ of Roman law.For scholars of Roman law, the ‘classical’ period, c. first three centuries AD, and the Justinianic period, c. sixth century AD, are the most important, owing to the compilation of ‘classical’ Roman law by order the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian, in the sixth century.

The Contest of Homer and Hesiod and Alcidamas' Mouseion

1981 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Archaic Period ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Considerable Body

Did Alcidamas invent the story of the contest of Homer and Hesiod? Martin West has argued that he did (CQ N.S. 17 (1967), 433 ff.). I believe that there are a number of reasons for thinking this improbable.The stories of the deaths of Homer and Hesiod were traditional before Alcidamas. Heraclitus knew the legend of the riddle of the lice and Homer's death (Vors. 22 B 56), and the story of Hesiod's death was well known by Thucydides’ time (3. 96). The first attempt to record information about Homer's life is ascribed to Theagenes of Rhegium, in the late sixth century b.c. (Vors. 8.1). By that time it seems likely that there was already a considerable body of legends about the early poets. The pieces of hexameter verse in the Herodotean Life of Homer, some of which show detailed knowledge of the area around Smyrna in the archaic period, probably date from before 500 b.c.In relating the stories of the poets’ deaths Alcidamas is recording the results of ἱστορ⋯α, and this is what he implies in Michigan papyrus 2754 (cf. West op. cit. 437). West's theory requires one to assume that he has incorporated with these traditions his own fiction of the contest. This seems to me to go against what we know in general about the activity of sophists such as Alcidamas. Although they were capable of inventing myths (such as Prodicus’ ‘ Choice of Heracles'), there is no evidence that they created such stories about earlier historical figures, rather than collecting popular legends about them, and using these for their own purposes. It is true that Critias (for example) used the evidence of Archilochus’ own poetry to draw conclusions about his life (Vors. 88 B 44). But this is not the same as inventing a story virtually from scratch. Hesiod's own testimony about his poetic victory (Op. 650 ff.), the original starting-point for the legend of the contest with Homer, did not on its own provide a basis from which such inferences could be drawn. It seems more likely that the legend is the product of earlier popular embroidery, at a time when speculation about these early poets’ lives was becoming common.

Theseus Lifting the Rock and a Cup Near the Pithos Painter

1971 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 94-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood
Keyword(s):  
Archaic Period ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Wrong Number

In the National Museum of Athens there is a cup—formerly part of the Empedocles collection—which Beazley has attributed to an artist near the Pithos Painter, an early red figure cup-painter of the coarser wing; its approximate date would be the last decade of the sixth century. In the interior (plate XIIa) it bears the representation of a youth removing a big circular rock from an altar-shaped supporting feature. The scene has been interpreted by Beazley as the punishment of Sisyphus. Zancani-Montuoro, although with some reservations, includes the cup in her catalogue of the representations of Sisyphus before the end of the archaic period. Her hesitation concerns the age of the stone-lifter: ‘La figura della kylix Empedocles e molto simile per atteggiamento’ (i.e. to the Louvre cup G 16 with Sisyphus painted by Epiktetos—to which, incidentally, she gives the wrong number G 20) ‘ma la mancanza di barba e le proporzioni efebiche (l'esilità degli arti in ispecie) possono far sospettare che il personaggio mitico sia stato franteso o il suo schema adattato ad una rappresentazione del genere.’

Four Lekythoi in Chalcis

1962 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 138-140
Author(s):  
A. D. Ure
Keyword(s):  
Archaic Period ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
Close Resemblance ◽  
Made In ◽  
General Appearance

There are in Chalcis Museum four black-figured lekythoi of sixth-century date. Two, nos. 567 and 569, were mentioned by Professor Haspels in Attic Black-figured Lekythoi 28 f., but the others have not, as far as I am aware, been noticed. None of them fits neatly into any Attic group, though three can be loosely connected with the Dolphin class. One is certainly from Styra. The finding-place of the others is not recorded, but there can be no doubt that they are from sites in Euboea. The close resemblance between Attic and Eretrian vase-painting makes it difficult to distinguish Atticising work made in Eretria from Attic imports, while so far black-figured vases of the archaic period from workshops in Chalcis have not been recognised. Nevertheless a study of the four lekythoi now in Chalcis reveals affinities with the few vases that are already known to be of Euboean origin and indicates that they should be classed with them rather than with Attic.The first, no. 960 (ht. 19·5 cm.) is seen on plate IX. 1–3 (2 is from the same negative as 1 with the red and white retouched). The shape of the vase can be seen in the illustrations and needs no comment. On the shoulder opening flowers, black with a central petal in applied white, alternate with red buds. On the body a panther faces a grazing stag with one group of four fine dots between them and another beneath the body of the stag. Though the general appearance of the vase is not noticeably unlike Attic some unusual features can be observed. First, the three gently curving brush strokes which emphasise and embellish the ribs of the panther are not accompanied by incised lines. Though it is common enough to find incision and no paint on this part of an animal, it is only very rarely that we find paint with no incision. For parallels we have to turn to two of the Eretrian grave amphorae in Athens. Both the Wedding and the Herakles amphorae show important vestiges of an earlier unincised style of painting, for on the first the whole of the back of the vase lacks incision, on the second the whole of the foot. Some scenes show a compromise between the incised and the unincised, part of the scene, or even part of a figure, lacking the usual incisions. So here, in the case of our panther, though incision is used on the head, legs and hindquarters, the ribs are merely painted, without the incised lines to which the painting is normally only an adjunct. See plate IX.2 and compare the ribs of the panther with those of the completely unincised lions on the back of the neck of the Eretrian Wedding amphora, BICS vi pl. 1.1. Further, as has already been pointed out in this Journal, the markings in red that brighten up the bodies of Eretrian animals are shapely and ornamental, generally tapering downwards. Between the incised lines on the hindquarters of both the panther and the stag we have decorative markings of this kind, broader at the top, making a gentle curve and tapering to a point at the base, while the three on the ribs of the panther, though smaller, are also well shaped.

Arcadian Bronze Statuettes

1926 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 133-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winifred Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Archaic Period ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Local Use

During the Archaic period in Greece, many small centres were at work, producing bronze statuettes for local use. The existence of these centres has only been partially recognised and their history has still to be written. By the second quarter of the fifth century, most of them had been absorbed by the large industries, such as Argos, Corinth and Sikyon; just so, at a somewhat earlier date, the manufacture of vases in nearly all other Greek towns gave way before the vases of Athens.The bronzes of Arcadia belong to one of the few local groups that has not been overlooked. Sections of it have come under the notice of more than one scholar, though it has never been surveyed completely.It is one of the most vital, since it began to show its independent character as early as the seventh century, and it survived the competition of such overpowering neighbours as Argos and Corinth throughout the fifth. In the sixth century it was very productive and very individual in style. It is, therefore, easy to recognise. All these points claim our interest. But the bronzes themselves, peasants carrying their sheep and calves, dressed in high hats and embroidered cloaks, gods and goddesses in the likeness of Arcadian shepherds and Arcadian girls,—these not only interest but also delight us by their naïve charm and their fitness to the Arcadian uplands from which they come.

When is a harp a panpipe?

1997 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. West
Keyword(s):  
Musical Instrument ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Complete Collection ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
Stringed Instrument

From the Archaic period to the sixth century A.D., as well as in later Byzantine lexica, we find numerous instances of the word TTTJKTIS as the name of a musical instrument. It occurs in some 78 passages:1 enough, one might suppose, to establish its meaning beyond peradventure. Yet of all ancient instrument names, this one proves to be the most Protean. In the earlier sources it designates a harp. Later it is applied to other types of stringed instrument, both to lyres and to lutes. But it does not remain confined to the chordophone category, for in the Imperial period it frequently signifies a panpipe. As no complete collection and analysis of the evidence has ever been made, I have thought it worth while to undertake one.

THE SPHINX ON THE ROOF: THE MEANING OF THE GREEK TEMPLE ACROTERIA

2013 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 201-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Petit
Keyword(s):  
Compact Group ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
Symbolic Value ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Extended Group

In the Archaic period, from the end of the seventh and above all in the sixth century bc, sphinxes are ubiquitous in the figured decoration of Greek temples. They appear not only as acroteria, but also on antefixes and simas. As acroteria, they always occur as lateral versions, flanking the central acroterion at a distance. Although these figures have recently been the subject of several exhaustive studies, their significance remains a matter of debate. In the absence of explicit texts, the only means of comprehending their meaning is by examining the combinations of figures in which the sphinx makes an appearance. It is their association in three-part or heraldic compositions with a central vegetal or floral motif which provides the key to the explanation. This group is similar to that known in the Levant in which two sphinxes flank a ‘Tree of Life’, a group which the Old Testament texts allow us to identify as the cherubim guarding the Tree of Life of Genesis 3.24. This group was transmitted to Cyprus and to the Aegean world without losing its meaning. A series of documents allows us to verify that the ‘extended’ group of acroteria that we are concerned with has not lost its symbolic value by comparison with the ‘compact’ group known particularly from Archaic Greek vase-painting. An explanation in terms of eschatological ends and aspirations also permits us to interpret the other associations of the sphinx – with gorgons, with horsemen and with ‘Nike' figures.

J.D.S. Pendlebury's Excavations in the Plain of Lasithi. The Iron Age sites

1980 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 269-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Livingston Vance Watrous
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
World War ◽  
The Third ◽  
Northern Edge

John Pendlebury excavated a number of ancient sites in the upland Plain of Lasithi in central Crete (Fig. 1) during the years 1936 – 1938. The prehistoric sites which he excavated were published in this annual before his death in World War II. This article describes the results of his excavations at three Iron Age settlements and their cemeteries in Lasithi.The three sites – Agios Georgios Papoura, Donadhes, and Kolonna – are located along the northern edge of the Lasithi plain (Fig. 2). The finds from each excavation can be summarized as follows: I. Agios Georgios Papoura: Protogeometric to Archaic pottery from the settlement, and a nearby tomb of the Geometric period; II. Donadhes: a sixth century B.C. pottery deposit from an incompletely preserved building; III. Kolonna: two buildings, the first Archaic in date, and the second a weaving and dyeing establishment of the third century B.C., and a nearby tomb of the Archaic and Hellenistic periods.

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