DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4762#0007
2 CATALOGUE OF VASES.
the earlier and more refined specimens, were no doubt imported from Athens,
and were perhaps gladly accepted by the inhabitants in part payment for
their corn.
Another site where numerous Athenian vases of the fourth century have
been found is the district of North Africa known as the Cyrenaica, whence came
the majority of the late Panathenaic amphorae now in the British Museum ;
and it would seem that all the vases found here had been importations direct
from Athens. In style they vary considerably, from the finest fourth- or fifth-
century types heightened by gilding and colours, to small vases with decoration
of the plainest and rudest description. Other vases which may also be regarded
as products of the latest Athenian fabrics have been found in Rhodes and the
neighbouring islands of Carpathos and Telos, at Naucratis, at Halicarnassos,
and in the island of Melos. A very fine specimen from the last-mentioned
place is now in the Louvre {Monuments grecs, 1875, pis. I, 2). The majority,
however, of the fourth-century vases found in Greece proper, or in the islands
of the Aegean Sea, are of a very poor kind, and present but little interest*
We may regard the blockade of Athens by Demetrius Poliorketes in
B.C. 296 as the final deathblow of Athenian art. From this time forth the city
loses all importance, and languishes in obscurity until the Roman conquest.
It is, however, probable that for some time before the end of the fourth century
B.C. Athenian vase-painters had been exercising their influence on Southern
Italy, as a large proportion of the vases there found combine Athenian with
local characteristics, while the continual outflow of ceramic masterpieces from
Athens during the last two centuries must have been gradually training local
artists to become skilful painters, and to be able by the middle of the fourth
century B.C. to produce large numbers of vases, in style and design worthy of
their predecessors.
In Southern Italy indeed Greek art had lighted on a very favourable soil.
The great colonies such as Tarentum, Capua, Croton, and Poseidonia, founded
almost in the dawn of Greek history, were not only as completely Hellenic as
Athens or Corinth, but in luxury and splendour even surpassed the chief cities
of Greece proper. Hence art flourished in these towns far more readily than
in the distant and comparatively barbarous regions of Southern Russia and
Northern Africa. In the character of their productions we see the nature and
condition of the inhabitants of Southern Italy reflected. The chief thing
aimed at is splendour and general effect; and both in the size and colouring
of the vases, especially in those found in Apulia, we are enabled to gather some
idea of the magnificence and luxury in which the people lived.
Many of these vases, whether imitations of Athenian fabrics, or actually
imported from Athens, combine with characteristics of the best period signs
of decadence so marked and prominent that these vases arc best considered
* On the chronology of the later Athenian vases, see an important article by Milchhoefer in
lahrbuch, ix. (1894), p. 57 ff.
the earlier and more refined specimens, were no doubt imported from Athens,
and were perhaps gladly accepted by the inhabitants in part payment for
their corn.
Another site where numerous Athenian vases of the fourth century have
been found is the district of North Africa known as the Cyrenaica, whence came
the majority of the late Panathenaic amphorae now in the British Museum ;
and it would seem that all the vases found here had been importations direct
from Athens. In style they vary considerably, from the finest fourth- or fifth-
century types heightened by gilding and colours, to small vases with decoration
of the plainest and rudest description. Other vases which may also be regarded
as products of the latest Athenian fabrics have been found in Rhodes and the
neighbouring islands of Carpathos and Telos, at Naucratis, at Halicarnassos,
and in the island of Melos. A very fine specimen from the last-mentioned
place is now in the Louvre {Monuments grecs, 1875, pis. I, 2). The majority,
however, of the fourth-century vases found in Greece proper, or in the islands
of the Aegean Sea, are of a very poor kind, and present but little interest*
We may regard the blockade of Athens by Demetrius Poliorketes in
B.C. 296 as the final deathblow of Athenian art. From this time forth the city
loses all importance, and languishes in obscurity until the Roman conquest.
It is, however, probable that for some time before the end of the fourth century
B.C. Athenian vase-painters had been exercising their influence on Southern
Italy, as a large proportion of the vases there found combine Athenian with
local characteristics, while the continual outflow of ceramic masterpieces from
Athens during the last two centuries must have been gradually training local
artists to become skilful painters, and to be able by the middle of the fourth
century B.C. to produce large numbers of vases, in style and design worthy of
their predecessors.
In Southern Italy indeed Greek art had lighted on a very favourable soil.
The great colonies such as Tarentum, Capua, Croton, and Poseidonia, founded
almost in the dawn of Greek history, were not only as completely Hellenic as
Athens or Corinth, but in luxury and splendour even surpassed the chief cities
of Greece proper. Hence art flourished in these towns far more readily than
in the distant and comparatively barbarous regions of Southern Russia and
Northern Africa. In the character of their productions we see the nature and
condition of the inhabitants of Southern Italy reflected. The chief thing
aimed at is splendour and general effect; and both in the size and colouring
of the vases, especially in those found in Apulia, we are enabled to gather some
idea of the magnificence and luxury in which the people lived.
Many of these vases, whether imitations of Athenian fabrics, or actually
imported from Athens, combine with characteristics of the best period signs
of decadence so marked and prominent that these vases arc best considered
* On the chronology of the later Athenian vases, see an important article by Milchhoefer in
lahrbuch, ix. (1894), p. 57 ff.