Imports froms Pamphylia - article ; n°1 ; vol.1, pg 183-208

Virginia Grace

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Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Supplément - Année 1973 - Volume 1 - Numéro 1 - Pages 183-208
26 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: BULLETIN_DE_CORRESPONDANCE_HELLENIQUE
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1973
• Nombre de lectures: 51
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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Virginia Grace
Imports froms Pamphylia
In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Supplément 1, 1973. pp. 183-208.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Grace Virginia. Imports froms Pamphylia. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique. Supplément 1, 1973. pp. 183-208.
doi : 10.3406/bch.1973.5061
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bch_0304-2456_1973_sup_1_1_5061IMPORTS FROM PAMPHYLIA
earlier Among excavations the fragments in Delos of stamped were a commercial couple of handles amphoras bearing found stamps in the
which, while entirely legible, were remarkable and puzzling (Fig. 1).
In a summary report, published in 1952, on amphora stamps found in
Delos, thèse puzzles were covered by the item "variées" — miscellaneous.1
A suggestion in 1953 from Miss L. H. Jefïery on the source of Fig. 1, 1,
with its two digammas, has led to studies as a resuit of which we can
now attribute not only the Delos handles but also a number of others,
in particular a large group from the collection of Mr. Lucas Benaki in
Alexandria, to one or more centers in Pamphylia, on the south coast
of Asia Minor.2
(1) V. Grâce, BCH 76 (1952), pp. 514-540; see p. 517 for the table. For revised figures,
through the finds of 1965, see V. R. Grâce and M. Savvatianou-Petropoulakou, EAD XXVII
(1970), p. 281. Référence is to the chapter publishing the Greek stamps from the Maison des
Comédiens. The introductory texts of the various parts of this chapter probably still constitute
a fair review of the gênerai fleld of amphora stamps, if not without some regretted omissions.
Note however an exception: our Rhodian chronology of the 3rd century B.C. will probably be
revised downward, following intensive studies in 1971 of the séquence of eponyms named in
Rhodian stamps. This later dating must involve some of the Agora deposits. Rhodian
stamp dates of after about 200 B.C. are not now affected.
For the présent article, I owe the photographe in Figs. 3 and 4 to L. A. Benaki; those in
Fig. 7, b and c, were made by Eugène Vanderpool, Jr.; those in Fig. 7, d and e, and ail in Figs. 9
and 10, by Alison Frantz (record photographs) ; the stamps in Fig. 1, and no. 8 in Fig. 6, are by
Maria Savvatianou, now Mrs. Petropoulakou; the rest are my own. The profiles in Figs. 8 and
11 were made by Andréas Dimoulinis, the publication drawings as well as the pencil originale.
Mrs. Petropoulakou and Mr. Dimoulinis hâve as always made many other contributions to the
préparation of the article; a number of improvements in the accuracy of readings of thèse
inaccurate texts is due to Mrs. Petropoulakou. Interprétations of dipinti kindly suggested to
me in 1959 by Prof essor Mabel Lang are mentioned in the catalogue below under 15, 16, 18;
for illustration of the dipinti, and perhaps revised opinions, see Professor Lang's forthcoming
volume on graffiti and dipinti from the Agora Excavations. Other acknowledgements appear
below. In addition, I am obligea to Mrs. J. R. McCredie for help with the proof.
(2) See Year Book of the American Philosophical Society for 1955 (1956), p. 324 with note 4,
for the first published notice of the identification, in a report on stamps found in Alexandria; 184 VIRGINIA GRACE [BCH Suppl I
.}.■
2 1
Fig. 1. — Stamped handles in Delos. Nos. 1, 2. 1:1 (stamps) and 1:5 (side views). IMPORTS FROM PAMPHYLIA 185 1973]
The confirmed attribution is based on A. G. Woodhead's study, from
photographs and rubbings, of the contents of the stamps, that is, the
characteristic letters, names, and dialect forms. As firstfruits of this
study, Mr. Woodhead has provided commentary on the Pamphylian among
groups of stamped handles published from Nessana in Palestine, and
from the Maison des Comédiens in Delos.3 He plans a further publication
which will attempt to détail ail the stamps of this class so far known,
to be undertaken when he has completed certain présent commitments.
In the meanwhile, since the définition of the group dépends somewhat
on knowledge of the shape of the jar and the texture of the clay, and the
style also of the stamps, let us look at what évidence we hâve as to shape,
and what gênerai statements can be made about the clay, and the stamps.
Two jars in the Musée Gréco-Romain in Alexandria, one complète
and one nearly so, bear stamps which belong to the séries, see numbers 3
and 4 of the catalogue at the end of this article; both are illustrated, with
their stamps, in Fig. 2.4 From thèse and from the larger stamped
fragments known, we take our idea of the distinguishing features of the
stamped Pamphylian amphora, completely exemplified so far as I know
only in our 3: full body, short neck and handles, plain rim with little
projection, drip-shaped toe. The neck curves out above toward the
rim, and below, without break, toward the body. The opening is narrow,
barely, if at ail, accommodating one's arm (e. g. to facilitate cleaning).
cf. the résumé of this article by J. and L. Robert, REG 71 (1958), p. 183. See further my text
apud H. D. Colt and others, Excavations at Nessana I (London 1962) (hereinafter Nessana I),
p. 126; the article there planned for publication in Hesperia, postponed because of other pressures,
has been replaced by the présent one. The development of the study was due originally to
Lucas Benaki's persistent interest in the Pamphylian class of stamps, to which, during a casual
meeting in Greece in the summer of 1954, he introduced Mr. A. G. Woodhead (see text above)
and on which, for as long as he remained in Alexandria, he continued to make prompt reports
and replies to both of us. He supplied the photographs of his material published hère, see note 1.
For a summary on his collection in gênerai, see Ε AD XXVII, p. 285 with note 1. Add Hesperia
40 (1971), p. 53 with note 2; and note hère the change in spelling of the collector's name from
Benachi to Benaki. The greater part of the Pamphylian from the Benaki collection, 547 stamped
pièces, hâve been installed in the Musée Gréco-Romain in Alexandria, while perhaps 50 more
are to be added following study; for the figures, and an account of the gift of the collection to
the Musée, see Archeology 19 (1966), p. 286. The great numerical prépondérance of the Benaki
Pamphylian over other known examples of this class (cf. notes 11 and 12 below for an account
of the others) makes this group a proper basis for gênerai statements on the class. See Addendum.
(3) Nessana I, p. 127, commentary on nos. 34-36; EAD XXVII, pp. 367-369, the introductory
text on Ε 250 and Ε 251.
(4) Permission to publish thèse two jars was originally given to me, in 1955, by Dr. Victor
Guirguis, then Director of the Musée Gréco-Romain in Alexandria. The greater part of our
recording of the huge collections in Alexandria, and of the installation in the Musée of some
13,800 handles from the Benaki collection, was done during his term of office or that of his
successor, Dr. Henri Riad, when the présent Director, Dr. Yussef Hanna, was assistant Director.
I repeat my gratitude to thèse offlcers for their attitude of welcome and appréciation, which
so greatly lightened and forwarded our work. Dr. Riad is now Director General of Antiquities
of Egypt. 186 VIRGINIA GRACE IBCH Suppl I
Fig. 2. — Stamped Pamphylian amphoras in Alexandrie. Nos. 3 and 4. 1:10 (jars) and 1:1
(stamps). IMPORTS FROM PAMPHYLIA 187 1973]
The undistinguished rim is, in some examples, further blurred by the
way the handles hâve been applied. Thèse are lightly ribbed, with no
finger impressions on their lower attachments. They hâve little latéral
projection, and little rise, from their upper attachments, in comparison
for instance with the commonly known amphoras of Thasos and Rhodes.5
The shoulder shows no stop or offset where it meets the neck, but there is
a continuous running curve. The toe does not open into the body, it
forais a solid tapering peg.
Comparing with the complète 3 the jar beside it in Fig. 2, discount
first the lack of toe on the second jar — - it has been broken ofï, but the jar
remains watertight — then note that the body is less full, the neck and
handles less short, yet the gênerai appearance is similar. Study of the
group as a whole, especially the large fragments in the Benaki collection,
discovers numerous examples of the two handle profiles hère illustrated:
the rounded one, sometimes even more spreading than in 3, and the other
type which has a longish and defmitely vertical lower arm. See Fig. 4 for
a sélection. The différence need not be one of class (source) of jar, nor
even of date, but sometimes such différences are brought about by the
need to hâve containers of various capacities, the relative lengthening
of handle (and neck) corresponding with a contraction of the body that
steepens the slope of the shoulder. Scale réductions seem not to hâve
been demanded for fractional containers; in the Samian class, for instance,
some modifications of shape were apparently