Late Classical Pottery From Ancient Corinth

In 1971 in the southwestern area of the Roman Forum of Corinth a round-bottomed drainage channel was discovered filled with the largest deposit of pottery of the 4th century ever found in the city, some coins, terracotta figurines, and metal and stone objects. This volume publishes the pottery and metal and stone objects, and includes a re-examination of the coins by Orestes Zervos. Some of the cooking ware has been subjected to neutron activation analysis, and a statistical analysis of all recovered pottery has been completed. The contents of Drain 1971-1 are important for the function of the Classical buildings in this part of Corinth, especially Buildings I and II, and for the chronology of the renovation program that included the construction of the South Stoa, which was probably not built before the last decade of the 4th century.

In the first section of this book, Amyx catalogues and discusses more than 200 fragments of Archaic Corinthian pottery with figure decoration, selected from those previously unpublished or inadequately published. The authors have also given attention to vase-painters of the Protocorinthian and Corinthian periods who were previously known chiefly from works exported in antiquity, and have succeeded in establishing the importance of the Corinth Museum as a center for the study of the Corinthian Style. In the second section, Lawrence presents the contents of a well dug and filled in the Archaic period. The material ranges from Early Protocorinthian to Late Corinthian and includes an important body of material from a potters' dump, here treated separately. Shape development and chronology have been established, especially for oinochoai and kotylai, based on the long series of stratified examples. Other material in the fill includes coarse ware and fragmentary fine ware. The authors attribute a number of pieces to known and newly identified vase-painters.

Late Classical and Early Hellenistic Corinth, 338-196 B.C. challenges the perception that the Macedonians' advent and continued presence in Corinth amounted to a loss of significance and autonomy. Immediately after Chaironeia, Philip II and his son Alexander III established close relations with Corinth and certain leading citizens on the basis of goodwill (eunoia). Mutual benefits and respect characterized their discourse throughout the remainder of the early Hellenistic period; this was neither a period of domination or decline, nor one in which the Macedonians deprived Corinthians of their autonomy. Instead, Corinth flourished while the Macedonians possessed the city. It was the site of a vast building program, much of which must be construed as the direct result of Macedonian patronage, evidence suggests strongly that those Corinthians who supported the Macedonians enjoyed great prosperity under them. Corinth's strategic location made it an integral part of the Macedonians' strategy to establish and maintain hegemony over the mainland Greek peninsula after Philip II's victory at Chaironeia. The Macedonian dynasts and kings who later possessed Corinth also valued its strategic position, and they regarded it as an essential component in their efforts to claim legitimacy due to its association with the Argead kings, Philip II and Alexander III the Great, and the League of Corinth they established. This study explicates the nature of the relationship between Corinthians and Macedonians that developed in the aftermath of Chaironeia, through the defeat at the battle of Kynoskephalai and the declaration of Greek Freedom at Isthmia in 196 B.C. Late Classical and Early Hellenistic Corinth is not simply the history of a single polis; it draws upon the extant literary, epigraphic, prosopographic, topographic, numismatic, architectural, and archaeological evidence to place Corinth within broader Hellenistic world. This volume, the full first treatment of the city in this period, contributes significantly to the growing body of scholarly literature focusing on the Hellenistic world and is a crucial resource for specialists in late Classical and early Hellenistic history.

Two important contributions to Greek pottery studies. Aftermath, by D. A. Amyx, is a catalogue of material supplementing his work in Corinth VII.2 but found after the cutoff of 1969 or omitted for some other reason. This article and Corinth VII.2 together stand as a full compilation of painters at present represented in the collection of the Corinth Excavations. The Chimaera Group at Corinth and Dodwellians in the Potters' Quarter are both by Patricia Lawrence. The first is a thoughtful analysis of this group of painters, based on a close examination of material found in the excavations at Corinth but including attributed pieces from other sites. The second studies 15 new fragments and reexamines material previously published in Corinth XV.3, demonstrating that the Geladakis Painter, as well as several Dodwellians, are represented there.

This work deals with classical Greek pottery from a number of points of view - technique, period, place of production, function, shape, decoration and distribution. The book places an emphasis on the every-day uses of Greek pottery - as containers for water, wine, fish, honey and olives, for example - and does not treat it as art. The author explains the importance of clay as a fundamental natural resource in the lives of the ancient Greeks, stressing its versatility as a container in varying conditions of heat and cold. The book aims to offer a broad picture of Greek pottery that gives an idea of its variety and importance without dwelling too heavily upon the high-quality figured vases.

This volume presents the Late Classical through Roman pottery from the University of Chicago excavations at Isthmia (1952-1989). In a series of three chapters-on the Late Classical and Hellenistic pottery, the Roman pottery, and the pottery from the Palaimonion-a general discussion is followed by a catalog presenting datable contexts and then by a catalogue of other noteworthy pottery. Appendixes discuss the stratigraphy of the Palaimonion and observations on new and previously published lamps. Amphora stamps are the focus of a further appendix, followed by a catalogue of the Slavic and Byzantine pottery found in the sanctuary area. Although the pottery is sometimes fragmentary, the range of materials over this thousand-year period is typical of Corinthian sites. The finds presented here provide critical information about the history of the Panhellenic sanctuary of Poseidon and the ritual activities that took place there.

Greek Painted Pottery has been used by classics and classical archaeology students for some thirty years. It thoroughly examines all painted pottery styles from the Protogeometric to the Hellenistic period from all areas of Greece and from the colonies in parts of Italy. In each case it covers the development of iconography and the use of colour, decorative motifs and the distinctive styles of each stage. It examines the most utilitarian pottery objects as well as some of the finest pieces produced by a flourishing civilisation. Other chapters cover the pottery industry and pottery-making techniques, including firing, the types of local clay which were used and inscription. This study also considers how one can date pottery and establish a chronology and the various methods by which these artefacts have been classified, preserved and collected. This is the third edition of this classic text, which has been extensively revised and includes a fully updated bibliography. This edition also includes coverage of new evidence and new theories which have surfaced since the book was last revised in 1972. With over 100 black and white photographs and plentiful line drawings, the new edition of this comprehensive text will be invaluable to students studying classical art, archaeology and art history.