DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8577#0074
54 THE EARLY CORINTHIAN ORIENTALIZING STYLE
on no. 467 b bears a suspicious resemblance to the Assyrian palm-tree ;* it is
clearly quite distinct from the various forms of palmette complex.
Some of the animals likewise show unmistakable evidence of the same
influence. This has already been pointed out in connexion with the horses of
the Chigi vase by a writer with a special knowledge of equine types,2 and it is
manifestly true of the Chigi lion, and of the lions on Corinthian vases. Indeed,
as we shall see later, the distinction between Corinthian and Protocorinthian
lions is closely analogous to that between Assyrian and Hittite, and there can
be little doubt that the Hittite type, which is prevalent in the earlier seventh
century, was abandoned in the Corinthian period under Assyrian influence.
In the light of these coincidences one wonders whether the rows of marching
warriors on the Berlin lekythos of the Macmillan group are not also influenced
by Assyrian models; at any rate the contrast between the shields seen in
frontal and in side view, which is one of the striking features of this vase, is
also an Assyrian motive ;3 and is not the Corinthian banqueting scene, which
first appears in the late seventh century, also remarkably like a well-known
Assyrian composition?4 Finally, there are numerous four-winged monsters
on Corinthian,5 and none on Protocorinthian, vases; and such creatures are
very frequent in Assyrian art.
In isolation any one of these developments might be accounted pure
coincidence, and could scarcely be held to give evidence of any special con-
nexion between Corinth and the Near East. Taken together, they make a
considerable impression, and it seems improbable, to say the least, that they
are all fortuitous. It is, after all, by no means unlikely that in the later seventh
century, when the range of Corinthian trade is proved to have been con-
siderably extended (see p. 184), imported oriental products, principally
textiles and embroideries, should have reached Corinth in sufficient quantity
to set a new fashion. Corinth had important commercial connexions with the
East, especially with Rhodes, as well as with the West, and the mere fact that,
so far as the mainland was concerned, she had a virtual monopoly of the
manufacture and export of scent and unguent vases, suggests that the im-
portation of these substances, largely, no doubt, from the East, was also in
Corinthian hands. And literary history gives us several hints of connexions,
though not necessarily commercial, between Corinth and the Near East in
Periander's reign,6 the very period when the new influence was at its height.
1 Springer-Wolters12 figs. 150,159,170.
2 v. Lieres u. Wilckau, Zur Pferdedarstellung (see
p. 71). 3 Hall, Bab. and Ass. Sculpture, pi. 36.
4 See p. 118.
5 Gorgons, boreads, &c.; they become increasingly
common in the sixth century. The earliest examples
are those of the crater no. 1186 (cf. fig. 25 e) which
dates from c. 600 b.c.
6 Herod, iii, 48, Periander and Alyattes; the Corcy-
rean boys may have been simply a present, but the
incident proves a definite connexion between
Corinth and Lydia. Cf. also the stories of Periander
and Thrasybulus, Herod, i, 20, v, 92; and v, 94
(Sigeum); further, Periander's project of cutting a
canal across the Isthmus, to facilitate trade from
East to West: see Ure, Origin of Tyranry, 191.
on no. 467 b bears a suspicious resemblance to the Assyrian palm-tree ;* it is
clearly quite distinct from the various forms of palmette complex.
Some of the animals likewise show unmistakable evidence of the same
influence. This has already been pointed out in connexion with the horses of
the Chigi vase by a writer with a special knowledge of equine types,2 and it is
manifestly true of the Chigi lion, and of the lions on Corinthian vases. Indeed,
as we shall see later, the distinction between Corinthian and Protocorinthian
lions is closely analogous to that between Assyrian and Hittite, and there can
be little doubt that the Hittite type, which is prevalent in the earlier seventh
century, was abandoned in the Corinthian period under Assyrian influence.
In the light of these coincidences one wonders whether the rows of marching
warriors on the Berlin lekythos of the Macmillan group are not also influenced
by Assyrian models; at any rate the contrast between the shields seen in
frontal and in side view, which is one of the striking features of this vase, is
also an Assyrian motive ;3 and is not the Corinthian banqueting scene, which
first appears in the late seventh century, also remarkably like a well-known
Assyrian composition?4 Finally, there are numerous four-winged monsters
on Corinthian,5 and none on Protocorinthian, vases; and such creatures are
very frequent in Assyrian art.
In isolation any one of these developments might be accounted pure
coincidence, and could scarcely be held to give evidence of any special con-
nexion between Corinth and the Near East. Taken together, they make a
considerable impression, and it seems improbable, to say the least, that they
are all fortuitous. It is, after all, by no means unlikely that in the later seventh
century, when the range of Corinthian trade is proved to have been con-
siderably extended (see p. 184), imported oriental products, principally
textiles and embroideries, should have reached Corinth in sufficient quantity
to set a new fashion. Corinth had important commercial connexions with the
East, especially with Rhodes, as well as with the West, and the mere fact that,
so far as the mainland was concerned, she had a virtual monopoly of the
manufacture and export of scent and unguent vases, suggests that the im-
portation of these substances, largely, no doubt, from the East, was also in
Corinthian hands. And literary history gives us several hints of connexions,
though not necessarily commercial, between Corinth and the Near East in
Periander's reign,6 the very period when the new influence was at its height.
1 Springer-Wolters12 figs. 150,159,170.
2 v. Lieres u. Wilckau, Zur Pferdedarstellung (see
p. 71). 3 Hall, Bab. and Ass. Sculpture, pi. 36.
4 See p. 118.
5 Gorgons, boreads, &c.; they become increasingly
common in the sixth century. The earliest examples
are those of the crater no. 1186 (cf. fig. 25 e) which
dates from c. 600 b.c.
6 Herod, iii, 48, Periander and Alyattes; the Corcy-
rean boys may have been simply a present, but the
incident proves a definite connexion between
Corinth and Lydia. Cf. also the stories of Periander
and Thrasybulus, Herod, i, 20, v, 92; and v, 94
(Sigeum); further, Periander's project of cutting a
canal across the Isthmus, to facilitate trade from
East to West: see Ure, Origin of Tyranry, 191.