Β: Ο νέος αμφορεύς της Σπάρτης. Οι άλλοι μετ’ αναγλύφων αμφορείς του λακωνικού εργαστήριου
Προβολή/ Άνοιγμα
Συγγραφέας
Χρήστου, Χρ.Ημερομηνία
1965Γλώσσα
el
Εκδότης
Υπηρεσία Αρχαιοτήτων και Αναστηλώσεως
Λέξη-κλειδί
Βιβλιογραφικά στοιχεία
Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον, 1964, Τόμος 19, Μελέται/Μέρος Α’, 164-265.
Πρόσβαση
ελεύθερη
Τίτλος περιοδικού
Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον
Επιτομή
THE NEW RELIEF AMPHORA FROM SPARTA AND THE
LACONIAN CERAMIC WORKSHOP
After the report of the excavation results and of the related problems a more
detailed study has been undertaken of the new clay amphora with relief decoration
found among the tombs. At the same time an examination is made of all the similar
pots, found at different times and now in the Sparta Museum, both complete
examples and those in fragments. The purpose of this is a thorough study of all
questions which arise from the new amphora as well as the construction of a more
complete picture of the activity of the Laconian pottery workshop. It is evident that
the type of these pots is the amphora and that likewise at Sparta this shape is found
only for those relief amphorae which were intended solely for funerary purposes.
From a study of the form it is proved that there is a connection with Gycladic
workshops and especially with amphorae from Thera, but at the same time there
is clearly a special local development. In both shape and decoration the relief
amphorae of the Laconian workshop permit us to distinguish clearly a connection
also with the local bronze workshops and possibly a parallel development.
The special characteristics of the amphorae of the Laconian workshop arc the
successful combination of the functional necessities with the demands of the composition
and the decorative claims and a clear preference for the organic. The special
function of the handles and the particular role of the neck are worthy of note.
As regards the shape of these amphorae from Sparta there is clearly an effort on the
part of the potter to go beyond the merely tectonic creation and likewise the inorganic
and floral characteristics to be found in the pots of other workshops, and to
limit himself to a more organic composition.
The comparison of the shape of all the Laconian relief amphorae preserved permits
us to distinguish the basic characteristics and principal tendencies and also to
sketch the whole evolution of its progress. The details of the shape are also examined
in relation to the decoration in which likewise similar tendencies can be distinguished.
In the evolution of the decoration it is in general easy to distinguish, from the
oldest known example belonging to the years around 620 B.C., that in the first
phase the neck is undecorated, in the second phase it displays only animals and
fantastic beings, and in the third phase it receives the principal representation of the amphora — the reference to the life and deeds of the deceased. That is to say,
there is a characteristic inversion from the first to the third phase which tends toward
the limitation of the floral or decorative themes and toward the substitution for them
of pictorial subjects and those more clearly related to the dead and to the tomb
on which the vase is placed. Even from the beginning of the 6th century B.C. from
the period of this new amphora it is indubitable that the decoration of the amphorae
takes on a special character by which each portion of the decoration belongs
to a definite category. The representation on the neck zone is a reference to the life
of the deceased, that of the chariot race on the shoulder zone concerns the funerary
rites, and the insertion of rosettes on the belly zone and the abstract and floral details
on the handles are an allusion to the beliefs about death.
In this new amphora we have doubtless, among the masterpieces of the Laconian
pottery workshop, a masterpiece in the sense that it elucidates and integrates, as
regards shape as much as decoration, the purposes of its creators. Having been created
at the beginning of the 6th century it belongs to a transitional period in which
abstract decoration is disappearing as well as oriental floral motives, and they are
succeeded by the complete victory of the anthropomorphic.
The technique of the amphora depends obviously on metal work, and the relief
is made in moulds and applied to the body of the vase — a fact which explains various
peculiarities of its decoration. The opportunity offered by having a group of
Laconian amphorae contributes directly to a solution of the problem of the purpose
of the relief amphorae from other workshops as well which must be considered as
funerary.
After general remarks, the problems of the decoration of the new amphora and
also questions of composition and morphology are examined, one by one. As regards
the composition on the neck zone which is covered by the principal representation
of the amphora, there is presented in this new amphora the peculiarity
of a combination of a secondary and a central principle. This is considered as a
characteristic effort of the Laconian workshop toward a new union in which there
is a tempering of the elements of the metope with those of the frieze. The representation
on the neck zone as regards subject does not seem to give us a mythological
or a heroic scene but the picture of a mortal returning from a successful hunt
principally of wild animals — lion, boar, deer, wild goat — and it bears a relation
to the deceased on whose grave the amphora was placed. Thus it can be recognized
without difficulty that the creators of the amphorae and especially of the new
example were no longer interested in abstract decoration or in a mythical composition
but in the relation of the scenes to the actual life of the deceased, and this results
in giving a new character to the decoration. As the neck zone carries the main
part of the decoration, it can thus be compared with the principal panel of the
Attic grave reliefs which also give scenes from the life or the occupations of the deceased.
The figures on the neck zone show us the deceased as a hunter returning
from different hunts, and might be named the amphora of the hunters. The typological
analysis of the forms on the neck zone shows without difficulty that the representation
is related to works chiefly of the Corinthian workshop and especially with models from which is derived the well known metope from Thermon with
the returning hunter bearing in a similar way the animals he has killed. Several
special elements show the extent of the connection of the representation on the
Spartan amphora with the Corinthian workshop as well as the obvious independence
of the artists of the Laconian workshop with respect to their models. At all events
in the organization and the whole composition there existed among the Spartans
without a doubt considerable plastic skill and the ability to make use of observations
of daily life. The study includes a detailed examination of the elements of the neck
zone representations, of the dress, and of the equipment of the hunters, even to the
characteristics of the animal victims, as well as the details of the use of special motives
such as the rosettes on the short chiton of the hunter.
There follows the study of the representation on the shoulder zone, that of the
scene of the chariot race, in which it is evident that the details given are connected
with funerary rites. The typological examination of this scene, as regards both the
general content and the completely characteristic motives shows connections not
with Corinthian but with Cycladic prototypes. We can even recognize without
difficulty from special features which are used in the harness that the basis of the
scene derives fom the so-called Melian vases. The looser composition in this scene
indicates a greater dependence upon outside prototypes, a fact which is explained
by the frequent occurrence of this scene. The potter has no reason, therefore, to
develop his personal initiative. In this connection it is noteworthy that in all the
preserved grave relief amphorae (of the Laconian workshop), whole or in fragments,
on the shoulder zone the same scene of a chariot race is represented which must
consequently be considered as showing the funeral purpose of the pot.
In the third zone, that of the belly, the decoration is limited to the placing of
large rosettes between abstract motives. Likewise in this case it is clear that the
prototypes are to be found in the creations of the Cycladic workshop and especially
in Melian vases.
After the typological examination an attempt is made to interpret the use of rosettes
in this position and especially their relation with beliefs in respect to the tomb
and the dead.
By Cycladic models also the decoration of the handles is influenced, in spite of
the fact that a greater freedom is obvious in the work of Spartan artists, as much
in the special function of the handles as in their decoration.
After the consideration of all the motives separately a general recapitulation of
all the problems and a chronological analysis is undertaken. At the same time there
is a discussion of the motives of the decoration also of all the Spartan amphorae,
their dating and their development. By comparison with other examples of Laconian
technique the new amphora is dated toward the end of the 7th century B.C. or the
beginning of the 6th (610-590 B.C.), and in accord with this chronology that of
the others can be achieved. Thus the other almost complete example coming from
the area of the theatre is dated to about 620 B.G., fragments of others with animals
on the neck zone to about 610 B.C., while others more developed in form and decoration,
like the large fragment from the Heroon, to about 575 B.C., and fragments of others still later to about the middle of the 6th century. In this period that is to
say around 550 B.C. it is believed that there was a cessation in the work of the Laconian
pottery workshops as regards relief amphorae and a general decline also as
regards other ceramic productions in Sparta. These opinions are discussed in relation
to the whole development of the state of the Lacedaemonians in this period and
permit the clarification of many doubtful points both in art and in the general
historical progress of Sparta.
But apart from the general subjects upon which new views are possible, the group
of these funeral pots, from their special decoration alone, enriches the character
of our views concerning Spartan life. Because they carry on the neck zone a clearly
individual representation, on the shoulder zone an indubitably typical one, and on
the belly motives related to beliefs about death, their study results in giving us an
almost complete picture of the beliefs of one epoch.