DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0150
128
New Chapters in Greek History. [Chap. V.
productive. So though Phoenician metal-work stimulated
them into activity, the line taken by that activity was
original and national. What it was will more clearly
appear if we consider the history of the decoration of vases
at the same period.
The spreading Oriental influence of which we have
spoken may be traced less clearly in those vases of Cyprus
which were probably executed by Phoenician hands, than
in the pottery discovered at Camirus, in Rhodes, in such
quantities by Salzmann and Biliotti* The designs of
these remarkable vessels show us in many points influences
which must be Oriental. The rows of animals which
surround the vases in bands, each animal in exactly the
same attitude as the other, show close analogy to the
Phoenician bowls of Nimroud. Among these animals
those predominate of which the eastern origin is clear,
the lion, the sphinx, the griffin, and many other winged
monsters such as the Asiatic brain alone originates. The
field of the vases is filled with floral ornaments and
rosettes, which is a mark of Assyrian influence. And in
the decoration of the vases two forms predominate, the
lotus, alternately flower and bud, which belongs to Egypt,
and the sacred tree which is a distinguishing feature of
Assyrian decoration. On the Dipylon vases, on the other
hand, such Oriental designs are notably absent, and the
scenes bear far more the character of home-invention.
The colouring of these vases is rich, and they are
beautiful with a certain mechanical completeness. In their
way they are specimens of very successful decoration, and
we cannot wonder that they fascinated the Greeks of the
seventh century. That the Greeks fully adopted this kind
of vase-painting, whencesoever it came to them originally,
has been of late abundantly proved by the discoveries at
Naucratis in Egypt, where an enormous quantity of pottery
* Necropole de Camire,
New Chapters in Greek History. [Chap. V.
productive. So though Phoenician metal-work stimulated
them into activity, the line taken by that activity was
original and national. What it was will more clearly
appear if we consider the history of the decoration of vases
at the same period.
The spreading Oriental influence of which we have
spoken may be traced less clearly in those vases of Cyprus
which were probably executed by Phoenician hands, than
in the pottery discovered at Camirus, in Rhodes, in such
quantities by Salzmann and Biliotti* The designs of
these remarkable vessels show us in many points influences
which must be Oriental. The rows of animals which
surround the vases in bands, each animal in exactly the
same attitude as the other, show close analogy to the
Phoenician bowls of Nimroud. Among these animals
those predominate of which the eastern origin is clear,
the lion, the sphinx, the griffin, and many other winged
monsters such as the Asiatic brain alone originates. The
field of the vases is filled with floral ornaments and
rosettes, which is a mark of Assyrian influence. And in
the decoration of the vases two forms predominate, the
lotus, alternately flower and bud, which belongs to Egypt,
and the sacred tree which is a distinguishing feature of
Assyrian decoration. On the Dipylon vases, on the other
hand, such Oriental designs are notably absent, and the
scenes bear far more the character of home-invention.
The colouring of these vases is rich, and they are
beautiful with a certain mechanical completeness. In their
way they are specimens of very successful decoration, and
we cannot wonder that they fascinated the Greeks of the
seventh century. That the Greeks fully adopted this kind
of vase-painting, whencesoever it came to them originally,
has been of late abundantly proved by the discoveries at
Naucratis in Egypt, where an enormous quantity of pottery
* Necropole de Camire,