Jane Francis

Ceramic fabric analysis and survey archaeology: the Sphakia Survey

Macroscopic Fabric Analysis, the systematic study and description of ceramic fabrics with the aid of a handlens and other simple equipment, has grown in importance along with systematic archaeological survey. Microscopic Fabric Analysis, or ceramic petrology, is better known, but more expensive and time-consuming. Using examples drawn from Sphakia Survey material, the authors show that Macroscopic Fabric Analysis of large pottery collections with a high proportion of coarse ware sherds, when combined with targeted microscopic analysis, provides detailed, reliable information on crucial topics such as chronology, in this case from FN/EM I–Turkish; function (cooking, transport, storage, and beehives); and regional interaction. The authors also discuss issues connected with publication, including the use of electronic publications such as the Sphakia Survey website, and the rigorous comparison of individual fabrics, and they make a case for adopting standard ceramic terminology.

A Roman Battle Sarcophagus at Concordia University, Montreal

IN 1966 A MONTREAL ART COLLECTOR DONATED a Roman/early Christian sarcophagus to Loyola College in Montreal. In 1992 this artifact was moved to the newly created Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery at Concordia University. It is composed of a long, narrow casket carved with a scene of Romans fighting barbarians on the front (Plate 1) and a single griffin on each short side. The lid is flat and shows episodes from the Old and New Testament (Plate 2). These two pieces were purchased together in Rome, but on the basis of style and subject matter do not seem to be contemporary. The shape of the lid indicates that it is a re-cut front panel from a later, early Christian casket (Plate 2).1 This is a column sarcophagus with composite capitals and plain, uncarved shafts; its entablature carries alternating pointed and rounded arches. This colonnade creates seven niches, each showing a separate scene. Between each arch are figures of putti with grapes. The scenes represented are as follows, from left to right: the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22); Moses receiving the tables of the law (Exodus 20.1-17); healing of the blind man (John 9.1-35); Peters denial (Matthew 26.38); woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8.43-48); the loaves and fishes; and Moses smiting the rock (I Corinthians 10.4). Although the panel is now very worn, it is evident that the carving is flat and simplistic, with little modelling of forms. However, all its scenes are well-documented in early Christian art: a much better version of the same scenes and composition can be seen in a casket now in the Vatican.2 Its inscription, iconography, and style date the Vatican casket to the midto late-fourth century A.D., and the Concordia lid panel is probably contemporary with it.3 Less well understood is the battle scene on the front of the Concordia sarcophagus (Plate 1). Its front and sides are made of a white-grey marble with light-grey veins and mediumto fine-grained crystals, most likely from Proconnesus, the most common source of marble imported into Italy and the

The Roman Crouching Aphrodite

Le motif de l’Aphrodite accroupie, très populaire chez les Romains, serait copié d’un original de Didalsas, du début de l’époque hellénistique. Or, cette attribution, tout comme la datation qui en résulte, doivent être rejetées car elles s’appuient sur une mauvaise interprétation des témoignages littéraires. L’étude des œuvres conservées qui ont été créées pour répondre aux demandes de la clientèle romaine constitue une meilleure approche. On remarque que la composition en est plate et que la compréhension des points de vue y est minimale, ce qui correspond davantage à la mentalité romaine que grecque. Ce motif présente un trompe l’œil typiquement romain, une grande adaptabilité aux différents emplacements et un éventail de significations qui plaisaient aux goûts des Romains.

The National Roman Fabric Reference Collection. A Handbook by Roberta Tomber and John Dore (review)

the world of Roman banqueting and the depth of research on which they are based. Here, the same scholarly approach is artfully packaged into an attractive book-length format, in which a lively text and rich assortment of illustrations, some in colour, combine to offer the reader a stimulating introduction to the world of Roman banqueting and to the issues raised by the many surviving images of Roman conviviality.

The Modern Problem of Roman "Copies"

Every student of Classical Archaeology has been confronted at some point with images of ancient marble sculptures that are said to be Roman copies of now-lost bronze Greek originals. These art works have been valued primarily for the information they are thought to provide about their Greek prototypes: style. composition, pose, and overall appearance. Multiple versions of the same statue are subjected to a comparative analysis called Kopienkritik, wherein individual works are diluted to their greater common denominators, namely the elements thought to have been present in the originals. Any references in ancient literature, mostly Roman, to Greek artists, their sculptures, themes, and circumstances of artistic creation are matched to extant works in an effort to provide attributions, and much of what is known about the history of Greek sculpture is derived from this process. For iIlstance, Pliny mentions that the artist Lysippos made a statue of an athlete destringens se (Nat. 34.62). This reference is matched to the statue-type called the Apoxyomenos. and its style and composition said to exemplify that of Lysippos and trends of the late fourth century B.C.. upon which hang attributions and dates for other sculptures. The concept of Meisterforschung. or association with a master, has a long history. going back to the middle of the eighteenth century when Winckelmann insisted on the artistic supremacy and aesthetic dominance of Greek art over ROlnan (1755 and 1764). The invention of Kopienkritik a century later led to an explosion of its application, and it soon became the aim of scholarship to attach an artists name to every sculpture (Furtwangler [1893]). This practice continues today (Moon [1995]: Beck and Bol [1993]), despite obvious problems. First, many of the texts on which attributions and descriptions of sculptures are based are corrupt or vague passages, some with only one or two letters of the artists

Agiasmatsi: a Greek cave sanctuary in Sphakia, SW Crete 1

The Agiasmati cave in SW Crete, investigated as part of the Sphakia Survey, served as a sanctuary in the Hellenistic-Early Roman period. It has four points of interest, (1) Two of its principal types of artefacts, ladles and multiple-nozzle lamps are rare or even unique to this site. (2) Fabric analysis has enabled significant progress to be made with the interpretation of the pottery. (3) Cave worship in this period is not well known on Crete. (4) Intensive exploration by the Sphakia Survey of the region in which the cave lies enables us to place the cave in the context of the contemporary settlement pattern and to reconfirm the value of archaeological survey.