| Main-Page | Lage | Daskyleion in den antiken Quellen | Ausgrabungen | Vorachaemenidische Phase | Fruehachaemenidische Phase | Mittelachämenidische Phase | Spaetachaemenidische Phase | Postachaemenidische Phase | Paradeisos | Architektur | Reliefs | Keramik | Metallfunde | Funde aus Elfenbein | Numismatische Funde | Bullae | Siegel | Achaemenidische Wagen | Funde in dem Gebiet der Satrapie von Daskyleion | Die Spezialisten | Nachrichten | Bibliographie | Abbildungen | Sponsoren |


KERAMIK

* Vorachämenidische Phase
            - Die grau-monochrome Keramik
            - Die phrygische Keramik
            - Die korintische Keramik
            - Die lydische Keramik
            - Die orientalisierende Keramik

* Früh-, mittel- und spätachämenidischen Phasen
            - Die sog. achämenidischen Schalen
            - Die attisch schwarzfigürige  und rotfigürige Keramik
            - Die attisch schwarzgefirnißte Keramik

* Die hellenistische Keramik

* Die byzantinische Keramik

* Die Amphoren

 

Lydian Pottery

    Many different classes or painting techniques known from the capital of the Lydian Kingdom, Sardis, have been attested at Daskyleion, dating from late seventh century to fifth century B.C. This time period coincides with the Lydian period (pre-Achaemenid period, pre 546 B.C.), Early Achaemenid period (546-480 B. C.) and with the Middle Achaemenid period (480-360 B.C.) at Daskyleion. The majority of the Lydian painted pottery belongs to the Lydian period, but it continued to arrive in the Early and Middle Achaemenid period although there is a drop in the number of the vases and techniques. Lydian painted pottery includes, so-called “Early Fikellura”, Ephesian Ware, Marbling Ware, Streaky Ware and Bichrome Ware. Early Fikellura and Ephesian Ware is represented with a very few examples at Daskyleion. Both Early Fikellura and Ephesian Ware renders Eastern Greek Orientalising elements. Early Fikellura Ware uses both Wild Goat Style and elements pointing pre mature Fikellura style. It has been attributed by C. H. Greenewalt that these group of pottery discovered from Sardis shows that they were produced at a non-Greek site of western Anatolia (C. H. Greenewalt, Jr., “Fikellura and ‘Early Fikellura’ Pottery from Sardis”, CSCA 4 [1971]: 153-180). Ephesian Ware, on the other hand, applies elements from both Anatolian and Eastern Greek Orientalising syntax. It is remarkable with its bright, thickly applied white slip and its delicate drawing conventions. Although the word, bichrome, implies the usage of two colors, the technique is rendered in three colors, i.e., red, brownish-black and white slip. Several fragments from Daskyleion represent Lydian Bichrome ware, and all seem to be the production of Sardis based on comparisons with parallels from Sardis. Streaky and Marbling techniques are similar techniques. They are both rendered in diluted glaze. Streaky glaze is applied plainly overall in broad areas and without the intention of making certain ornamentation. Marbling is usually applied with a multi-brushed tool with a tendency of creating adjacent wavy-lines or curls. Streaky and Marbling pottery have been found in a large quantity at Daskyleion (Resim 012.008). The majority seem to date from the sixth century, and some seem to further the date into the fifth century B.C. Although most of the Streaky and Marbling Ware seem to have Sardis fabrics, some of them rule this out. Among the Streaky ware found at Daskyleion a krateriskos (Resim 012.007) that seems to be produced somewhere out of Sardis, but imitating the Lydian understanding of shape and decoration is an interesting example. The most favored pot forms are lydion, skyphos and dish, while there are some other forms, such as skyphos-krater, krater, krateriskos, amphora and lekythos represented with a few examples. Lydion constitutes a little below 80 % of all the Lydian shapes found at Daskyleion (Çizim…). It might be possible that they were used even in the early fourth century B.C. 
(
R.G. Gürtekin-Demir)

 

Attic black- and red-figure pottery

The first four excavation campaigns 1988-1992 in Dascylium have yielded surprisingly great amounts of Attic black-figure, red-figure and pattern pottery. Most of the finds came to light in trench F 5-6 on the Hisartepe mound in the vicinity of an enclosure wall of a temenos, some was excavated in smaller trenches on the mound and was picked up on the surface of the surrounding fields of the settlement area.

Attic pottery imports to Dascylium started in the early sixth century, like in other cities in western Asia Minor and lasted until the third quarter of the fourth century. Among the earliest finds is a wall fragment of a krater or dinos by the Gorgon Painter about 590/80 showing the forelegs of a horse at gallop to the left . Burnt fragments of a Komast cup by the KY Painter about 575/65 display padded young komasts dancing (Abb. 012.012), whereas the pyxis fragment by the C Painter about 565/60 depicts a bearded male head.

In the middle of the sixth century imports of Attic pottery in Dascylium increase. The most frequent vessels are band, lip and Cassel cups. A bowl fragment of a band-cup about 550/40 shows a panther and the partially preserved bird close to the style of the Tleson Painter. Contemporary to it are fragments of a krater in the manner of Lydos with the popular subject of a grazing billy goat. The quality of Attic import in this period is demonstrated by the following pieces: fragments of a belly amphora by the Amasis Painter with the lotus palmette chain surmounting the panel are preserved (Abb. 012.013). The white horse, probably one of the chariot horses, on an amphora or hydria fragment is recalls Exekias' style and must be by a painter near him.

In the last quarter of the sixth century examples of the new Attic red-figure style begin to appear, but Attic black-figure is still represented in greater quantities. An amphora- fragment about 520/10 depicting Herakles with the lion-skin pulled over his head to the right is near the Antimenes Painter (Abb. 012. 014). A volute krater's neck fragment perhaps by the Leagros Group about 520/500 shows an armed warrior seated in front of a chariot of which only the hooves of the horses are preserved (Abb. 012.014). He could be Iolaos accompanying Herakles like he does on shoulder friezes of hydriai by the Leagros Group explaining to whom the chariot belongs- to Herakles.

One of the earliest red-figure vase in Dascylium is a fine cup about 510/500 with a symposion scene : on the four fragments of the rim and bowl the wreathed head of a young symposiast, remains of garments, a table and a decorated leg of a couch are preserved. The reclining symposiast who is listening to the music with his head thrown back shows great similarity to figures on the stamnos by Smikros in Brussels and the calyx krater by Euphronios in Munich that both have a lot in common.

At the turn of the century and in the first quarter of the fifth century the number of imported Attic vases in Dascylium increase remarkably. Black-figure is still favorite, cups and cup-skyphoi, also lekythoi being the most common shapes. Various fragments of a rare krater type probably belonging to three different vessels have come to light in Dascylium . The body of the column kraters by the Group of Bologna 53 is chequered while the necks are decorated with palmettes and animals in silhouette that remind of the Haimonean. Fragments of Haimonean cup-skyphoi about 490/70 are numerous, often with chariot races (Abb. 012. 015) and rarely with figures in silhouette , but most commonly with remains of the palmettes.

In the second and third quarter of the fifth century the great number of red-figure kraters along with several cups and skyphoi is noteworthy. This period also produces many pattern lekythoi, preferably white ground with meanders, lattice, chequery pattern, ivy-berry tendrils and sometimes lyre palmettes by the workshop of the Beldam Painter and quite a few examples of the little souvenirs from Athens, the owl skyphoi . Another group of pattern vases are kantharoi of the Saint Valentin Group decorated with scales and feathers, laurel twigs or alternate lozenges (Abb. 012. 017).

The Niobid Painter and his workshop is represented with two vases in Dascylium: Apollon's wreathed head perhaps from a sacrificial scene on an amphora fragment about 465/55 must be by the painter himself (Abb. 012. 019). Burnt fragments up to 1,3 cm. thickness propose that the second vase is a calyx krater about 455/45 with a big Amazonomachy all around the body (Abb. 012. 019). Fragment c shows a pelta with herringbone pattern, while fragments d and b reveal parts of the battle with kneeling and fighting Amazons or warriors. The lotus-palmette frieze of the rim (fragment a) is typical for the workshop of the Niobid Painter. Overlapping figures sometimes kneeling or collapsing are found in battle scenes of the Niobid Painter and his colleague the Painter of the Woolly Satyrs.

A cup-fragment with an interesting subject can be dated about 430/20. A man dressed as a traveler is seated on a step, leaning on a staff or spear, next to him remains of the chlamys of his companion, seated as well . The man could be Orestes accompanied by Pylades at the grave of his father Agamemnon where he meets his sister Elektra. In Attic vase-painting the Choephores, the second drama of Aeschylus' Oresteia first put on stage in 458, does not appear often. The earliest evidence for it is a skyphos about 440, followed by a pelike by the Jena Painter on which Pylades is also seated on the tomb.

In the last quarter of the fifth and at the turn of the century when the krater is still the most frequent shape, the amount of Attic pottery diminishes but slightly increases again in the early fourth century. The most common vases are kraters with Dionysiac scenes and skyphoi by and near the Fat Boy Group to be dated to the late second quarter of the fourth century. All Attic black-figure, red-figure and pattern finds in Dascylium, including those from the old Akurgal excavations reveals certain trends: Attic imports in the Lydian-Phrygian period of the city in the first half of the sixth century are scarce. However, in the second half of the century after the Persian conquest the number of imports and the variety of their shapes increase remarkably. The most popular shape in this period is the drinking cup, leaving its place to the cup-skyphos and lekythos in the first quarter of the fifth century. About the late sixth and early fifth century the concentration of Attic imports reaches its peak, waning gradually during the fifth century and increasing slightly again in the first half of the fourth century. Between 475 and 375 the krater dominates. However, the graph only shows a fraction of the actual number of kraters found, since many rim or neck fragments can not be dated precisely and therefore could not be used statistically. Furthermore, there is a lack of information on the red-figure pottery from the older excavations, so that we might expect greater quantities in the fifth and early fouth centuries. Meanwhile, the skyphos seems to have been the preferred shape in the second quarter of the fourth century. All in all the most frequent shapes of Attic pottery in Dascylium coincide with ones found in the Persian Empire as a whole. Oinochoai occur in Dascylium as well as in other sites of Asia Minor, contrasting in this respect to other regions of the Persian Empire. The most common shapes in Dascylium, cups, skyphoi and kraters are symposium dishes and imports for their own sake, whereas lekythoi could have been bought both for their contents as for themselves. Numerous mending holes on the sherds show that the owners valued these vases and mended broken pieces to reuse them, maybe just for decoration.

The highest amount of Attic pottery in Dascylium was found in the trench of the so-called temenos wall. If this wall really was an enclosure wall of a temenos, the finds in its vicinity could be dedications to a deity, perhaps Cybele. Graffiti on sherds that might be dedicatory incriptions in Lydian and Phrygian support this assumption. In the pottery found here all common shapes are represented, first cups, later skyphoi, lekythoi and kraters being the most common. There seems to be no particular shape that was used throughout the centuries due to cult practice.

Not much is known about vase dedications in Cybele Sanctuaries of the sixth to fourth centuries. Altar A with a bothros at the Upper Sanctuary of Troja VIII was identified as a Temenos of Cybele. The pottery found in this area contained an Attic lekanis in the style of the Polos Painter. It is reported that on the fields below the slopes of the Windmill Hill of Phocaea where the Holy Precinct of Cybele was located, sherds of all kind were scattered. Rock-cut niches beneath the Temple of Athena facing the harbor of Phocaea have lately been interpreted as a Sanctuary of Cybele . Pottery finds from the sea just below the wall of rock go back to Protogeometric times, but it seems impossible to figure out which of these vases once were dedicated to Cybele. In a niche of another Rock Sanctuary on Samos a fragment of a Panathenaic Amphora of the fourth or third century was found. Numerous vases came to light in a cult-cave northeast of Vari in Attica in which Cybele and in the fourth century Apollon, Pan and the Nymphai were worshipped. The pottery, mostly Attic, dedicated in the cave starting in the middle of the fifth century consists mainly of small lekythoi, aryballoi, plates and miniature vessels like miniature loutrophoroi, probably to the Nymphai. As these sanctuary finds show, there is no evidence for a specific type of vessel that was preferred in the cult of Cybele that can be also be traced in the Attic vase dedications of the sixth to fourth centuries.

Considering the great quantity of Attic pottery from relatively small trenches in Dascylium that outnumber the finds of the satrapal capital Sardis, I would like to discuss the circumstances of trade under the Persian rule in Asia Minor, the trade routes and who the customers of these vases were. As mentioned above, a remarkable increase of Attic pottery after the Persian conquest in 546, both in Dascylium as well as in other coastal towns of western Asia Minor is detectable. For the marketing of imported goods, a stable economy and a well established commercial net was necessary. The Persian rule must have provided these two important factors. According to J. Balcer the economic life of many east Greek states prospered in this period which is indicated by new coins struck by states like Teos, Colophon and Phocaea and later by the monetary tributes payed to Athens. "It was not Persian economic oppression that caused the Ionian poets, artisans and craftsmen to flee or cease their activities, but rather the loss of Greek political 'freedom' to what the Greeks believed to be Persian despotism and subjugation (Hdt. 1. 169,2; 170,2; 2. 1,2). The new Achaemenid political climate, therefore, inhibited and the stifled Ionian cultural innovation and creativity; yet the continuing monetary and financial traits indicate that Ionia under Persian rule still flourished economically.

Regardless of whether the reasons for the Ionian revolt and its quashing (499-93) were of economical or political nature, it is hard to tell to which extent this event as well as the wars between Greeks and Persians affected economy and trade, esp. pottery trade, in western Asia Minor. Attic imports at Dascylium reveal no hiatus in the nineties of the fifth century that would coincide with the Ionian revolt and its consequences. The poverty the Ionian cities suffered in the fifth century under the yoke of Athens seems not to have affected the towns of the Hellespont and Propontis as strongly. A gradual decrease of Attic imports at Dascylium starting in the second quarter of the fifth century, it should not be forgotten that only pieces datable to at least half a century were included and information about the red-figure pottery from the old excavations is lacking. Nevertheless, the slight increase of red-figure pottery in the early fourth century is compatible with the flourishing of the cities of Asia Minor back under Persian control. The percentage of Attic black glaze in the total of Attic imports in the fifth and fourth centuries can be figured once this material has been analyzed.

The well built and secured road system of the Persian Empire that connected all provinces was of great advantage for trade. Dascylium too was connected by road to other cities and to the sea: we are informed in a correspondence of Antiochos II to his wife Laodice in 253 about an old Achaemenid road leading from Lampsacus along the southern coast of the Propontis through Cyzicus to Dascylium and possibly intersecting in the The well built and secured road system of the Persian Empire that connected all provinces was of great advantage for trade. Dascylium too was connected by road to other cities and to the sea: we are informed in a correspondence of Antiochos II to his wife Laodice in 253 about an old Achaemenid road leading from Lampsacus along the southern coast of the Propontis through Cyzicus to Dascylium and possibly intersecting in the ved in sea trade of the Propontis and Pontos Euxeinos were primarily Ionian cities that had colonies in this area, Miletus playing a major role. Phocaea, Samos, Erythrae, Teos, Rhodes and Megara. were also active colonizers. Since the early sixth century Athens tried to control the Hellespont by first seizing Sigeum and later by occupying the northern shores and land on the Thracian Chersonese, but whether Athens already started importing grain from the Black Sea in this period is a controversial issue. Yet in the fifth century many Greek cities and particularly Athens imported grain from this region. As the leader of the Attic-Delian Confederacy from 478/7 B.C. onwards Athens controlled the sea route to the Black Sea, only with a short interval during the Peloponnesian War. To sum up, the Attic pottery that reached Dascylium in the sixth century must have been brought by ships trading in the Propontis and Black Sea, while in the fifth century to a certain extent Athenians could have been involved in the pottery trade themselves.

But who bought these Attic vases in Dascylium? N.V. Sekunda perceives the accounts about Persian prisoners at Sestos and Byzantium and about Persians in the Thracian Chersonese that are mentioned by Plutarch (Cimon 9. 2-4; 14. 1) relating to Cimon's expedition in this region as evidence for the presence of wealthy Persian settlers in the western satrapies of Asia Minor. The fact that the nobility owned lands and real estate in the satrapies is also attested in the correspondance between satraps and dignitaries. Furthermore, there is evidence for Persian and Hyrcanian military colonists who were responsible for the security of the lands and settlements.

We are informed that Greeks were present at the satrapal courts as interpreters, artists, concubines, and fugitive leaders. (Xen. An. 2. 4,24; Plut. Pericles 24; Plut. Themistocles 27). Graffiti on pottery reveal that Dascylium also had a Lydian and Phrygian speaking population up to the fourth century. A tombstone inscription of the late fifth century gives evidence for Aramaic. Thus, it was a mixed population who enjoyed the decorated pots from Athens, who used them and perhaps dedicated them to their gods. Xenophon reports that Persians did sacrifice to foreign deities and heroes (Kyr. 2. 1,1; 3. 3,22; 8. 3,24).

If Dascylium and its environment was actually inhabited by so many Persians, one would expect to find a great number of vases specially produced for the Persian market like rhyta by the workshop of the Sotades, cups by the Pithos Painter and other vases with scenes of the Persian court or hunting in the "Paradeisos". So far two fragments of rhyta and a cup fragment by the Pithos Painter came to light in Dascylium. Attic pottery decorated appropiate to Persian taste may have been common in Dascylium, but the small fragments that came down to us do not reveal much of the subjects depicted, especially on large vases. Yet Persians must have liked 'normal' Attic vases too. Their interest in Greek sculpture and architecture is known, yet to which extent is a matter of dispute. Seal impressions on the bullae from Dascylium and grave stelae from the vicinity indicate elements of both Greek or local as well as Persian style and were probabaly executed by local seal engravers and sculptors. One reason why 'Graeco-Persian' or rather 'Anatolian-Persian' style could develope in the western satrapies is both the patrons as well as the artists familiarity with Greek art- including Attic vases, a rich source for style and iconography.

Although Artaphernes, the satrap of Sardis in 507 has supposed to have asked the embassy from Athens what sort of people the Athenians were and where they lived (Hdt 5. 73), he must have been acquainted to the products of its Ceramicus. Perhaps he and his colleagues in Dascylium preferred silver dishes at their symposia, but one Persian or the other will have enjoyed his sip of wine from an Attic cup! 
(Y.Tuna-Nörling) 


| Main-Page | Lage | Daskyleion in den antiken Quellen | Ausgrabungen | Vorachaemenidische Phase | Fruehachaemenidische Phase | Mittelachämenidische Phase | Spaetachaemenidische Phase | Postachaemenidische Phase | Paradeisos | Architektur | Reliefs | Keramik | Metallfunde | Funde aus Elfenbein | Numismatische Funde | Bullae | Siegel | Achaemenidische Wagen | Funde in dem Gebiet der Satrapie von Daskyleion | Die Spezialisten | Nachrichten | Bibliographie | Abbildungen | Sponsoren |