Interpreting

the Seventh Century BC

Tradition and Innovation

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Edited by
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Xenia Charalambidou and Catherine Morgan

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Archaeopress Archaeology

© Archaeopress and the authors, 2017.

 Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
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ISBN 978 1 78491 572 8

ISBN 978 1 78491 573 5 (e-Pdf)

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© Archaeopress and the authors 2017

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Cover images: Sanctuary of Herakles by the Elektran Gates at Thebes.

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Foreground: dinos or louterion depicting Herakles killing the Centaur Nessos while abducting Deianeira
(© Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports: Archaeological Receipts Fund; photograph: S. Mavromatis).
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Background: concentration of unpainted jugs massed together in the ash altar (photograph: V. Aravantinos).
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or
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without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.

Printed in England by Oxuniprint, Oxford

This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com

© Archaeopress and the authors, 2017.

 Contents

Editors’ Preface������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� iii

Notes on Contributors ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ iv

1. Introduction: interpreting the seventh century BC�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1

Xenia Charalambidou and Catherine Morgan

2. Introduction: can one speak of the seventh century BC?�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������9

Roland Étienne

3. Ceramics, analytical scales and cultural histories of seventh-century Crete�����������������������������������������������������15

Antonis Kotsonas

4. The birthplace of Greek monumental sculpture revisited���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24

Georgia Kokkorou-Alevras

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5. On women and on lions�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������31

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Eva Simantoni-Bournia

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6. Greek art in the seventh century BC: the example of bronzes from Delphi��������������������������������������������������������38
Hélène Aurigny
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7. Al Mina and changing patterns of trade: the evidence from the eastern Mediterranean������������������������������47
Alexander Vacek
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8. Cypriot evidence in seventh-century Rhodes: discontinuity or change? ������������������������������������������������������������60

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Giorgos Bourogiannis
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9. Faience in seventh-century Greece: egyptianizing ‘bric a brac’ or a useful paradigm

for relations with Egypt?��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������71
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Virginia Webb
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10. A sea of luxury: luxury items and dyes of marine origin in the Aegean during the seventh century BC �������80
Tatiana Theodoropoulou
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11. Coarse, plain and cooking ware: seventh-century innovation for old-fashioned pots����������������������������������93
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Jean-Sébastien Gros

12. East Greek pottery workshops in the seventh century BC: tracing regional styles��������������������������������������100
Michael Kerschner

13. Old Smyrna: a window onto the seventh-century painted wares from the Anglo-Turkish excavations
(1948-1951)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������114
Stavros A. Paspalas

14. Euboea and the Euboean Gulf region: pottery in context�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������123

Xenia Charalambidou

15. Parian ceramics of the seventh century BC in Cycladic cemeteries and sanctuaries�����������������������������������150
Photini Zaphiropoulou

16. Beyond Athens and Corinth. Pottery distribution in the seventh-century Aegean: the case of Kythnos���160
Maria Koutsoumpou

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17. Conservatism versus innovation: architectural forms in early Archaic Greece��������������������������������������������173

Alexander Mazarakis Ainian

18. Fortifications in the seventh century. Where and why?��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������186

Rune Frederiksen

19. Corinthian sanctuaries and the question of cult buildings��������������������������������������������������������������������������������193

Catherine Morgan

20. Achaian interaction and mobility in the area of the Corinthian Gulf during the seventh century BC���212
Anastasia Gadolou

21. The sanctuaries of Herakles and Apollo Ismenios at Thebes: new evidence��������������������������������������������������221
Vassilis Aravantinos

22. A group of small vases with Subgeometric – early Archaic decoration from the sanctuary of
Herakles at Thebes�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������231
Kyriaki Kalliga

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23. Cult in Attica. The case of the sanctuary of Artemis Mounichia�����������������������������������������������������������������������245
Lydia Palaiokrassa-Kopitsa

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24. Athenian burial practices and cultural change: the Rundbau early plot in the Kerameikos cemetery

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revisited�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������260
Anna Maria D’Onofrio
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25. Special burial treatment for the ‘heroized’ dead in the Attic countryside. The case of the elite
cemetery of Vari���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������281
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Alexandra Alexandridou
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26. Cumae in Campania during the seventh century BC���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������293

Matteo D’Acunto
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27. Cultural dynamics in the seventh-century Sibaritide (Southern Italy)������������������������������������������������������������330

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Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Sine Grove Saxkjær and Gloria Paola Mittica
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28. From innovation to tradition: seventh-century Sicily������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������339

Gillian Shepherd
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29. An early orientalizing spouted krater from Naxos on Sicily�������������������������������������������������������������������������������349

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Maria Costanza Lentini

30. The city of Mende during the late eighth and seventh centuries BC����������������������������������������������������������������355
Sophia Moschonissioti

31. Panhellenes at Methone, Pieria (c. 700 BC): new inscriptions, graffiti/dipinti, and (trade)marks����������364
Yannis Tzifopoulos, Manthos Bessios and Antonis Kotsonas

32. Frontiers in seventh-century epigraphy: aspects of diffusion and consolidation����������������������������������������375

Alan Johnston

33. Skilled in the Muses’ lovely gifts: lyric poetry and the rise of the community in the seventh-century
Aegean����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������382
Jan Paul Crielaard

Bibliography�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������393
General Index���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������443
Topographic Index�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������447

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© Archaeopress and the authors, 2017.
 9. Faience in seventh-century Greece:
egyptianizing ‘bric a brac’ or a useful paradigm
for relations with Egypt?

Virginia Webb

Abstract: Egyptianizing objects found in seventh- and sixth-century contexts in east Greece and elsewhere are most often made
of faience. There are many problems, both of dating and attribution. I would like to discuss one particular group of faience
objects from seventh-century contexts, the small perfume vessels in double vase form (so-called Leopard Spot Group), and
will make some comments on the parallel group of small lekythoi, pyxides and alabastra. These are not stray imports brought
in on the whim of individuals for dedication or personal use, but the products of an intentionally established industry which
was certain of its market, and whose products could be traded widely. These were highly valued objects acceptable both as
dedications to the gods and as gifts for the grave. By examining the techniques and decorative motifs, strong links can be made
with Egyptian craft traditions and in particular with the iconography of good luck signifiers. A complementary strand is the
role of east Greece, in particular Rhodes, as an intermediary in the packaging and onward dispersal of oils. Around 650 BC, the
appearance of these specific faience vessel types in east Greece and the west suggests that faience factories had been set up on
the same model as for the terracotta aryballoi. It cannot be fortuitous that Egyptian models and techniques found such ready

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acceptance in the Greek world at this time.

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A very important phenomenon in Aegean contexts of both the Bronze and Early Iron Ages is the appearance of

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imported objects in exotic styles and materials. During the eighth and seventh centuries, such objects (particularly
those coming from the Near East) were an important catalyst for change in Greek art and culture. Central to
this chapter is a particular phase of foreign influence which appears in the middle of the seventh century, when
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Egyptianizing objects appear in great numbers in Greek votive deposits and burials. Much of this material is made
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of what is defined as faience, and the forms it takes – scarabs, amulets of Egyptian deities, and small containers for
precious liquid – are dependent on its origins in both the Levant and Egypt. These objects vary in the degree of
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closeness to their prototypes, and it is clear that in many cases we are dealing with crudely derived schemes whose
sources of typology and iconography may never be satisfactorily explained.
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However, there are distinctions to be made in the faience material. A second group of objects comprises clearly
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Egyptian imports, for instance those from the votive deposit found at Ialysos on Rhodes: the shrine decorated with
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cartouches of the Saite Pharaoh Necho, and gaming pieces for the Egyptian game of Senet (Skon-Jedele 1994). A
third category of objects, many of them closed vessel shapes, includes small containers of distinctive type. But while
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the shrine of Necho has a clear link with the period of historical contact between Greeks and Egypt, evidenced by
the foundation of Naukratis c. 630 BC, the groups of small vessels are almost 50 years earlier. They are now firmly
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dated, from find groups containing Greek ceramics of the second half of the seventh century. This is before we have
any incontrovertible evidence of Greek settlement in Egypt, or established contacts with that area. In this chapter, I
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want to look at two of these groups - the double vases in the form of a kneeling figure presenting a jar (Webb 1978:
11-35), and an equally popular group of small lekythoi, pyxides and alabastra in the ‘Low-relief Figured’ style (Webb
1978: 36-60, 61-5). These are high value, attractive containers designed to market their contents. They are fashioned
in a strongly Egyptianising style far in advance of the local (i.e. Greek) traditions of plastic vases, in terms both of
technical ability and of understanding of proportion and detail in the depiction of the human form. These can now
be dated much more accurately between Late Protocorinthian and Early Corinthian (middle-late), and they have a
precise distribution in Greece and the west. As discussed by Annette Rathje (Rathje 1976) and the present author
(Webb 1980), there is profound disagreement about the nationality of their makers, where they were made, and
the source of their iconography and techniques. However, I still believe that the techniques used can most closely
be analysed in the light of Egyptian working practices (Kaczmarczyk and Hedges 1983; Nicholson 1998; Nicholson
and Peltenburg 2000; Vandiver 1998), while the iconography employed indicates the intent to invoke the power of
Egyptian symbolic thought. Both groups were designed either with small mouths for dispensing a liquid (double
vases and lekythoi), or with wider mouths (pyxides and alabastra) which would have been used for more solid
unguent. By examining the techniques and decorative motifs, I believe that links can be made with Egyptian craft
traditions and with the iconography of good-luck signifiers current in the Egyptian cultural milieu.

It is clear that these objects are not stray imports brought in on the whim of individuals for dedication or personal
use, but are the products of intentionally established industries which were certain of their market, and whose
products could be traded widely. They were highly valued and acceptable as dedications to the gods (and thus are

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Virginia Webb

found in votive deposits) or as gifts for the grave. They were most popular in the East Greek littoral, starting with
the important cities on Rhodes, but also in the west, Etruria, southern Italy and Sicily and Phoenician sites in north
Africa. No secure finds have been made in Egypt or the Levant coast, though a small number have been found in
Cyprus. The focus of their distribution is still east Greece, with the greatest variety found on the island of Rhodes. I
discuss below the significance of this fact.

Double vases: Leopard Spot Group

I will first consider the large and widely distributed group of double vases (Rathje 1976; Webb 1978; 1980). These
take the form of a kneeling figure presenting a large two-handled jar with two openings. The larger opening is in
the form of a palmette in the head of the figure, such as was popular in Egyptian minor arts in the New Kingdom as
the opening for kohl containers (see for example Louvre 5787: Webb 1978: pl. 2). The second, much smaller, opening
is in the mouth of a frog which squats on top of the jar. The interior spaces interconnect, so that liquid inserted
through the larger opening could be shaken out through the smaller one. Moreover, in the most carefully made
pieces, the internal space is carefully moulded over a ‘form’ so that the walls are of a constant thickness, between
0.005 and 0.007m. The overall technical ability made clear by the accuracy of the moulded shape is also shown in
the modelling of the figures. It seems likely that moulds were also used for the external features, as evidenced by a
recently excavated example from the Heraion on Samos which demonstrates the failure of the material to fill out
the moulded profile of the leg.

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On closer inspection of the group as a whole, it becomes

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clear that there are two distinct types which, although
reproducing the same scheme, do it with different

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levels of care. In the Fine Group, production values are
closely controlled, and the conception and modelling
of the figures is of a high standard. By contrast, many
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of the pieces routinely accepted as being typical of the
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production group are in fact of much poorer quality,

with restricted space inside, crudely modelled features,
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and much less use of the internal ‘form’ and moulds.

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Fine Group
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1. Kneeling figure with short hair (Figure 9.1).

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The best examples show the ability to model faces and

other features in a clear and distinct style. A mould
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must have been used, as is visible in the profile of the

faces (Webb 1978: no. 1, pl.1, no. 82, fig. 6). Here the
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human figure has short hair and a face with distinctive

features (rounded forehead, short broad nose, broad
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lips and an undercut chin), which taken together

suggest an attempt to convey a specific racial type.
Other details include large, carefully modelled ears
with a central vertical division, and additional detail
added in the form of round rosettes (?) on the hair,
earrings, bracelets, and a finger ring.

2. Kneeling figure with short hair/wig and a beard

(Figure 9.2).

A comparable group adds a beard, and retains the short

Figure 9.1 Vase in the form of a kneeling figure presenting
a jar. Kamiros, BM 1860,0404.75. (© The British Museum;
photograph: V. Webb).
hair, though sometimes with a longer twist at the back
(Webb 1978: nos 89-96, 19, pl.2.) The beard varies in
type but normally follows the line of the jaw and ends
in a point. Some of this second group also have very
finely modelled features, with a thinner, longer nose
and smaller eyes; these examples come from Perachora
(James 1962: D777, pl.193; Webb 1978: no. 90) and

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 9. Faience in seventh-century Greece

Kamiros (Jacopi 1932-3: fig. 51, no. 18;

Rathje 1976: no. 34; Webb 1978: no. 91).

3. Kneeling figure replaced with

seated ape (Figure 9.3).

A third type which shows similar fine

modelling takes the form of an ape or
cercopithecus monkey presenting an
identical jar with frog. The animal sits
upright and grasps the jar with his feet,
while he holds an oval fruit up to his
mouth in his right hand. The ‘ape’ has a
projecting dog-like snout, bared teeth,
a ruff round his face, and small high-set
eyes under a projecting brow, while his
body is covered in silky fur – a detailed
depiction which copies its features from
Egyptian observation of the animal.

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One ape vase suggests further links
with Egyptian or Egyptianising art: the

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jar has coalesced into its stomach (the
animal no longer presents a jar), and
is decorated with a scene of marsh life,
with lotus plants in an exergue below, Ac
Figure 9.2 Vase in form of kneeling figure with beard presenting jar. Bayraklı-
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and a duck flying up out of the marsh Old Smyrna.
(Reproduced by courtesy of E. Akurgal).
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(Webb 1978: no. 112, pl.2), such as occurs

on New Kingdom tomb paintings. This
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is a commonplace motif in scenes of

hunting in papyrus marshes, where
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the pleasures of the life hereafter are

depicted (Parkinson 2008: 122-32, for
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example); it appears on related vessels

of the Third Intermediate Period (Tait
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1963: no. 163, pl. 17) and carries on

into the repertoire of New Year flasks
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of early Saite date. The most carefully

modelled Ape vases include the same
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unusually elaborately formed ears

with vertical channels as those in other
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members of the Fine Group (above),

with which they must clearly belong.
This type of presenting ape/monkey is
familiar from New Kingdom Kohl vases
(see the wooden example, Louvre 5787;
Webb 1978: pl. 2). Of further interest
here is that the palmette opening in the
form of a bound palm-leaves capital,
which is used in the Louvre piece, is
exactly replicated in the best of our
groups (Webb 1978: 24, b).

4. A final group – mother kneeling

with baby on her back and an ibex
(Figure 9.4).

The same workshop (to judge by the Figure 9.3 Vase in the form of a seated ape presenting a jar, Thebes,
technique, style and type of faience) Boeotia, Berlin V.I. 4877. (© Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin-
adopted another motif in the form of Preussischer Kulturbesitz).

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Virginia Webb

a kneeling woman presenting a horned

quadruped, and with a baby suspended
centrally on her back in a basket. This
it adapted to the original double vase
format (Webb 1978: 22-3, no. 114). The
kneeling male figure is replaced by the
woman, and the separate jar disappears,
to leave only the frog opening positioned
on her lap (a nonsensical touch) so that
the liquid contents can, as in the main
group above, be shaken out. In the case
of this final pose we can identify the
type from which it is derived, both from
parallel finds made in the same East
Greek contexts, which vary from high
quality products to rather poor ones
(Webb 1978: 27-35, nos 121-45, pls 3-5)
(Figure 9.5), and in disparate pieces of

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Egyptian cultural background (Lagarce
and Leclant 1976: pl. 28; Webb 1978: C3,

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Figure 9.4 Vase in the form of a woman presenting an ibex, with baby at fig. 8, C4-6, pl. 6) (Figure 9.6) which
back. (Missing head). Didyma. (© K. Tuchelt). represent the original type and appear

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to stand much closer to Egyptian art.

We therefore have three schemes which present a jar - a short-haired figure with distinctive facial features and
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earrings, a male figure with a beard, an ape/monkey, and a final scheme of mother with baby at her back, presenting
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a horned cervid, probably an ibex. It is likely that both the jar and the ibex are intended as containers for the liquid.
The jar is identical to Late Period libation vessels such as those found in the Ptolemaic foundation deposits (Petrie
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1886: pl. 25), and the other nexus of meanings is discussed in connection with New Kingdom vases with a horn
(Webb 1978: 33). Thus we appear to have three distinct forms of the basic type, with finely modelled features and
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identical pose (the exception is the ape, who is physically not able to kneel), with the kneeling woman as a fourth.
Identification of these figures appears to be related to Egyptian minor arts, the ape/monkey is a clear candidate,
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often shown in New Kingdom and later as offering/presenting a kohl container. But what of the other depictions?
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The human figures, if we relate them to the figures of women with a suspended child or baby, start to look like racial
depictions. The motif of a centrally suspended container with a baby/or young child in it can be clearly identified
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in New Kingdom depictions of both Nubian and Syrian women. A number of these are conveniently illustrated by
Egyptian originals of mostly New Kingdom date (Webb 1978: fig. 8, 32; to these add the depictions on the walls of the
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inner court of the Temple of Ramses II at Beit el Wali). In the Nubian version, the baby stands up in a basket and its feet
do not protrude (Webb 1978: fig. 8 bi-ii) while the Syrian mother carries the baby suspended centrally in a cloth, with
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the feet protruding at the bottom (Webb 1978: fig. 8, c i, ii). The third type of depiction is of Egyptian servants carrying

Figure 9.5 Vase

(fragmentary) in the form
of a kneeling woman with
baby and ibex. (Note packing
of the material into the
mould). Kamiros, British
Museum GR 1864,1007.1335.
(© The British Museum;
photograph: V. Webb).

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 9. Faience in seventh-century Greece

Figure 9.6 Vase in

the form of a woman
presenting an ibex, with
baby at back. Unknown
provenance. Cambridge
E.269A.1939. (Photograph:
V. Webb, reproduced
by permission of the

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Syndics of the Fitzwilliam
Museum).

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the baby in a side-slung sling, so we can discount the representation as being of a normal Egyptian type (Webb 1978:
fig. 8, d i, ii). I have already argued that the figure of the woman is intended to represent a Nubian (Webb 1978: 33-
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4). Other depictions featured in parallel groups confirm this, for they show women with distinctive features such as
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broad lips, short hair in tight curls or a rectangular grid, and earrings, who cannot be mistaken for any nationality
other than Nubian (Jacopi 1932-3: fig. 51, group iv, no. 19; Lagarce and Leclant: 1976: pls 23, 7-9, 202-3; Webb 1978: no.
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130). Returning to the first two Fine Groups, I suggest that the group-one figure, with short hair, distinctive snub nose
and rounded forehead, is also intended to depict a Nubian/black. I propose this identification in the context of one of
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the Nine Bows, the traditional enemies of Egypt, two of whom (Nubians and Syrians) became the focus of depiction in
the New Kingdom and later, due to their contrasting appearance and geographical position at the north and south of
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the Egyptian sphere. In Tutankamun’s tomb assemblage, this scheme is very clear. The two figures appear entwined
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or counterbalanced on Tutankamun’s walking stick and sandals as decorative and powerful symbols of the Pharaoh’s
power. If this is so, then the group-two figure, with his pointed beard, may well be intended as a Syrian. A similar
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contrast, though this time between Nubian and Libyan (?) offering bearers, appears in ivory panels, intended for royal
couches or beds, found at Fort Shalmaneser, Nimrud (Hermann et al. 2004: 30, nos SO309-3015).
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The most common type: a representation of Hapy?

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Having considered the finely modelled groups, we now turn to the most commonly found version, which also has
the widest distribution. Here the figure has hair or a wig styled in two long locks ending in curls, conventionally
called ‘Hathor Locks’. Is this likely to represent the heavy wig worn by representations of Hapy, the god of the Nile
Inundation? It is from this feature that the whole class has gained its identification (Lagarce and Leclant 1976: 238-
41). But as we have already shown, the Fine Group stands close to another set of quite different Egyptian schemata
and must predate this more common group. The distinctive features –swelling stomach, and well-marked breasts
with nipples, and the accompanying frog – are all associated with water and fertility in Egyptian art. John Baines has
established the importance of these so-called ‘Nile Gods’ as personifications of non-sexual fertility (Baines 2001).

Indeed, although the identification seems obvious, a further caveat should be entered. The (Hapy?) figures with the
wig with long lappets should have a divine beard according to Egyptian representations, but with one exception,
they do not. Another feature which widens the field yet again consists of three vertical rows of darks spots on the
back. The more careful examples show that this is intended to be a spotted feline skin, hung centrally behind, and
tied by its two front paws round the figure’s neck; the skin is filled in with yellow glaze (Webb 1978: no. 1, pl. 1). Such
a centrally hung skin is not commonly linked with Hapy: the most likely identification is with the god Bes, a popular
figure for ointment and kohl containers in Egyptian minor arts. Bes is clearly shown in many representations with
a leopard skin worn centrally at his back, although the skin could also be associated with a Nubian figure. Most
striking for close comparison is a small double vase now in the British Museum (BM AES 65642) in the form of
a figure of Bes presenting an identical jar, and wearing a spotted leopard skin hanging centrally down his back,

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Virginia Webb

Figure 9.7 Vase in the

form of Bes presenting a
jar. Unknown provenance.

ss
British Museum EA 65242.
(© The British Museum;

ce
photograph: V. Webb).

Ac
n
although, since Bes has short legs and arms, he does not present his jar by kneeling up, but merely stands up with it
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(Webb 1978: C1, 144, pl. 2) (Figure 9.7). The spotted feline skin is a constant feature of the iconography of Bes, and
is probably intended to represent the cheetah, symbol of the god Seth, the enemy of Horus, whom Bes has killed.
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Faience vessels in the form of Bes from Third Intermediate and Late period Egypt invariably show him wearing this
skin (Friedman 1998: nos 73, 74; and see the Egyptian Blue example from Persepolis: Abdi 2002: figs 15, 142). This
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is one feature of his iconography which intensifies his power to defeat evil forces: the convention appears again in
sixth-century faience aryballoi of the Greco-Egyptian style (Böhlau 1898: 45, grave 44, no. 8, 160-161; 1900: pl. 6, 210;
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Webb 1978: no. 824, pl.19).

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The significance of the multiplicity of motifs

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What are we to make of this multiplicity of motifs? Does their presence indicate confusion and misunderstanding,
or is there another explanation? It would seem that models were derived from a range of sources not by a direct
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or creative process of development, but by borrowing and combining different schemata which did not originally
belong together. In the present state of our knowledge of such prototypes, this would explain the difficulties of
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defining the meaning of the depiction, if indeed any coherent meaning was intended. Similar ambiguities attend
certain groups of figured vases from the New Kingdom, in particular the Red Ware vessels in the form of a kneeling
mother with child (Brunner Traut 1970; 1972: 192; Rand 1970; Riefstahl 1968: nos 37 and 38), although other forms
appear as a seated scribe (BM AES 24653) or a musician (BM AES 5114) (Barnett 1975: 94 n. 8), and it may be that some
of the confusing features of these vases were present in the Egyptian prototype. Further discussion has surrounded
a faience figurine of a foreigner which also shows confusion (Reifstahl 1972).

If we accept that the strongest source of motifs is likely to be Egypt, one other group of material of a similar date
may provide a parallel use of related concepts. This group comes from the eastern Delta and can be dated in its
latest phase to the second half of the seventh century. It consists of two main talismanic figurines and a number of
other related figures, and is widespread and popular both in Delta Egypt and outside it. The most distinctive are a
figure of Bes nursing a miniature Bes or Horus child and standing on a papyrus colonnette (Bulté 1991: nos 1-70),
cercopithecus monkeys in protective poses (Bulté 1991: nos 71-92), and a group of standing women figurines, some
nursing a baby or babies, some with cats and aegides (Bulté 1991: nos 93-a 48), all of which have been studied in
the light of finds from Tanis and Bubastis (Bulté 1991). A similar nexus of beneficent and powerful ideas can be
identified in these two groups.

These representations, Bulté argues, are powerful fertility signifiers, enhanced by an agglomeration of other symbols
and motifs. Thus we find Bes with nursling (compare the link with Bes already established for our group of vases),
and Nubian women with babies (at least one of whom carries a baby at her back in a central sling or basket identical

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 9. Faience in seventh-century Greece

to that seen in vases of our final group [Bulté 1991: doc.

121 bis, pl. 24 c-d]) (Figure 9.8), both motifs intensified
by generous use of dark spots, jewellery, monkeys, cats
etc. These popular objects have a specific distribution
in the eastern Delta, focused particularly on Bubastis
and Tanis (Bulté 1991: fig. on p.113). They date to
the 22nd Dynasty and later. But in fact, examples are
found in East Greek contexts which can be dated to the
seventh century. There are three pieces of the same
type from the votive deposit at Ialysos (Skon-Jedele
1994: nos 4415-17, 2396-7) and another, fragmentary
piece, from the Samian Heraion (Webb 2016: V 1090) as
well as a very fine bronze statuette showing Bes riding
on the shoulders of a Nubian (?) double-flute player
(Jantzen 1972: 353 pl.18), a pose which has close links
with the Tanis pieces (Bulté 1991: pls 14-15). The faience
parallels from east Greece confirm that they were still
in circulation in the second half of the seventh century,

ss
during the same period when the perfume vases under
discussion were current. A note of warning should be

ce
sounded, however as while there may be some overlap
in the use of Bes, in the figurines from the eastern

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Delta he does not wear a spotted cheetah/panther skin
at his back, although he has a lion’s tail, and dark spots
are distributed in a random fashion.
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Another apparent similarity, the couchant ibex, which

our groups present as an apparently calm and unbound
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presence, here has its legs bound up underneath it as

for sacrifice, together with other cervids like oryx
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(Bulté 1991: pl. 6 c-d, pl. 7 c-d). However, there is some

overlap: the ibex presented by a Bes from Toukh el
re

Quramus (Bulté 1991: 12b, pl. 12) is shown in exactly

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the same pose as the routine ibex presented by the

women with baby at back (Webb 1978: nos 117, 120).
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At this point it would seem that the ibex, which I have

hitherto argued has a beneficent significance (Webb
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1978: 34-5, fig. 9), may actually be closely linked with

the animals offered for sacrifice in Bulté’s group. If
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so, then there is another strong link between the two

Figure 9.8 Walking Nubian female figure with baby on back. groups of material.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, William Stevenson Smith Fund
The ‘low-relief’ figured style - the Workshop of the
1984.168. (Photograph © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).
Pyxides and Alabastra

The other class of objects for more brief discussion is a group of aryballoi, pyxides and alabastra which occur in
similar contexts and in a similar time-frame to the double vases discussed above. These have a distinctive incised
style of figure drawing which imitates the effect of low relief. The decoration features animals, herbivores and
lions threatening them, backed by specific vegetation. Other scenes contain fish, water birds and marsh plants. It is
possible to categorize the animals (Webb 1978: figs 18 and 19) as closely related to New Kingdom depictions. Gazelle,
ibex, and hunting dogs, for instance, bear an uncanny resemblance to those shown in the tombs, while the form
taken by trees and plants (Webb 1978: fig. 20) is very close to similar depictions on low relief wares current in Egypt
during the Third Intermediate period - so-called Tuna Ware chalices, and related vessels. These contain scenes of
animals grazing and being herded, lions lying in wait, and marsh scenes with cows against a background of papyrus
stalks, executed in low relief (Webb 1978: 51-8). The vessel shapes also show strong links with Egyptian forms. The
pyxides in particular have a firmly modelled, heavy shape with wide flat lip, smaller circular foot and a flattened
globular body. The interior of the vase closely follows the exterior profile with a wall of consistent thickness, thus
showing skill in the handling of the material. Matching lids are flat on the underside, with a circular projection to
seal or locate them: on the upper surface a rosette or lotus flower radiates from a raised knob in the centre. Small

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Virginia Webb

Figure 9.9 Poor quality

products: two differently
sized vases. Louvre S568, and
S 686 (Rhodes?) (Photograph:

ss
V. Webb; reproduced by
permission of the RMN-Grand

ce
Palais [musée du Louvre]).

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perforations (either two or four) near the edge of the lid correspond with a similar number on the lip itself. Parallels
n
for the different features of the shape can easily be found in earlier Egyptian work in hard stone or calcite (Carter
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n.d.: nos. 480, 485) and in faience as well. But the final feature – the combination of a crouching animal or human as
knob on the lid with a rosette or lotus flower decoration – is not usually seen in Egyptian forms. This combination
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of Egyptian features in an atypical whole echoes the peculiarities of our industry.

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Conclusions
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In short, it seems that our vessels demonstrate related phenomena. The apparent inconsistencies and confusions
inherent in the combination of different ideas are, in fact, a valid attempt to ensure powerful good magic for the
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owner. Secondly, the extremely sophisticated technical handling which the vases display can be explained by an
Egyptian origin. Moreover, the actual use of faience in itself is of prime importance, as it has now been established
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that faience is a powerful signifier in Egyptian material culture, used as a magical substitute (Patch 1998). I therefore
suggest that the Leopard Spot Group, with its mixture of different symbolic figures, finds a parallel in the Bes flags
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and the Nubian women with babies. Although it is obvious that we are dealing with symbolism which originates in
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an Egyptian cultural milieu, and that the technical skills displayed in the Fine Group are most closely paralleled in
Egyptian work, may we take the further step of arguing (with von Bissing 1941) that there were Egyptian workers
established in Rhodes? The major problem is that we have no exactly parallel finds with a secure provenance in
Egypt, although a number of pieces are found in collections of Egyptian antiquities, and a subordinate piece has
a firm Egyptian provenance (Webb 1978: C8, fig. 29). Annette Rathje (1976) argued for a Phoenician manufacture
of the double vases, basing her argument on the fact that the greater number known at that time occurred at
Phoenician sites in the west. There are now more known from east Greece than from the west, but the conclusion
is no clearer, although it still appears that the island of Rhodes holds a central place in the distribution pattern not
only of these vases, but also of other objects of faience (Figure 9.10).

What hypothesis can we advance to explain this complex situation? In the case of the Double Vases it could now
be argued that the Fine Group (a smaller number of very fine pieces) acted as a catalyst for the main group. Were
they brought in to market their contents and quickly copied locally in an inferior style? Or were all the groups
produced in the same place, but some to a much higher standard than others? A similar pattern can be seen in the
development of the faience lekythoi (Webb 1978: 61-8). Here we may note the valuable work of Giorgos Bourogiannis
(Bourogiannis 2009; this volume) on the related phenomenon in which Cypriot and Near Eastern perfume vessels in
clay are imported into Rhodes, and then copied locally and exported westwards. This was a process which started
in the ninth century, and continued through to the seventh. Earlier scholars had already pointed to aspects of
this. Can this template be applied to faience perfume containers as well? Indeed, was Rhodes capable of making

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 9. Faience in seventh-century Greece

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ce
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n
Figure 9.10 Distribution map of the Double Vases, compared with other material from the
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seventh-century phase of the industry. (© V. Webb).

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faience? It appears from a series of Egyptian style deities, like the small figurines of Nefertum (British Museum GR
1864.10-7.764, 765, 770, 875 et al.), and from small figurines in the form of offering bearers (Webb 1978: pl. 12, nos
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354-6), that closely similar groups made in the same firing and with the same material and colouring, survive in
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the archaeological record (see material from the Kamiros Well). The homogeneity of these groups strongly suggests
local manufacture. Similarly, we could adduce the evidence of poorly made ‘wasters’ - miniature versions of the
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double vases, which it can be argued would not have been traded out of their centre of production (Webb 1978: no.
8, 14). (Figure 9.9). Gladys Weinberg used a similar argument to assert that glass amphoriskoi and other forms of
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small perfume container in core-wound glass were made in Rhodes from the middle of the sixth century onwards
(Weinberg 1966), a view which is well supported by the evidence she adduces. Recent scientific analysis of glazed
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ware flasks from a seventh-century Rhodian tomb at Kamiros proves that local clay was used to produce what
appear to be alien, Near Eastern type flasks intended to market some expensive unguent (Coulié 2015).

All of these elements fit together to build a picture of Rhodes as a vibrant and energetic centre for the onward
trading of precious oils, and the manufacture of their containers. If Cypriot or Phoenician traders did bring in their
ceramic containers, then we may be confident that a similar process could have sprung up associated with high-
value faience vessels. Is there any indication of links with Phoenician or Cypriot faience technology? The technique
of faience manufacture in the Levant, as seen for example in the Early Iron Age material from Megiddo and imports
into Iron Age Crete (Peltenburg 2002; Webb 1996: T219.f62, fig. 180, pls 298-300, 606-7), though very skilful, is quite
different from that to be seen in the material discussed here.

There must initially have been a strong link with Egyptian working practices and iconography, which were first
adopted at a high level and later began to deteriorate. Whether the intermediaries were Cypriot or Phoenician
merchants, or enterprising Greeks, we may never know; but we must admit that there was contact with Egypt, or
Egyptian craft knowledge, as early as the beginning of the localized industry at the end of Late Protocorinthian
(around 650 BC). Indeed, the evidence of the very first prototype-group lekythoi from Cumae (Webb 1978: pl.9, nos
209-11, 62-3) suggests that there was contact of some sort with the Egyptian cultural milieu, through the medium
of long-distance trade routes from the Levant and in the same field of endeavour around 700 BC, although it took
another 50 years before that industry really became established.

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