tic Burials From Cyrenaica

8/3/2019 tic Burials From Cyrenaica

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/tic-burials-from-cyrenaica 1/6

Hellenistic Burials from CyrenaicaAuthor(s): T. Burton BrownSource: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 68 (1948), pp. 148-152Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/626306Accessed: 14/03/2009 06:35

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=hellenic.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the

scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that

promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend

access to The Journal of Hellenic Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/stable/626306?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=hellenic

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=hellenic

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

http://www.jstor.org/stable/626306?origin=JSTOR-pdf



NOTES

the grave, at the back of one body. The pottery,2 for whichsee Fig. i, was as follows:-

37/47. Pelike. Height 22 cm. Pinkish buff clay,covered with a (partly) streaky and slightlylustrous blue-black glaze.3

38/47. Jug. Height overall io cm. Pinkish red clay,

good black glaze.439/47. Oinochoe. Height overall 9-6 cm. Clay and

glaze as 38/47.540/'47. Hydria. Height 11-5 cm. Soft pinkish-buff

clay, unglazed. The two little handles oneither side are not separated from the body.6

4I1/47. Bowl. Width I3-2 cm. Rough surface, pinkishbuff clay. No glaze.

42/47. Bowl with two handles. Width including thehandles I6-8 cm. Red clay, good black

glaze. Underside of foot not glazed and

painted with two concentric circles and centraldot in black. Inside the bowl are four

impressed palmettes.743/47. Bowl similar to 42/47. Width overall I8-4 cm.

Inside the bowl an impressed circle two cm.

across, with six small impressed palmettes.

44/47. One handled bowl. Width I5-6 cm. Red clay,good black glaze. Inside the bowl twoconcentric circles of impressed dots, about

5 cm. across.8

45/47. One handled bowl. Width Io-8 cm. Pinkishbuff clay, and poor quality black glaze.

46/47. Lamp. Length 9'3 cm. Red clay, browny-black glaze. Broneer's type IV.9

47/47. Lamp. Similar to 46/47.

The bowls of this tomb may be compared with the bowlsfrom Tomb 33 at Rhitsona in Boeotia, dated by ProfessorUre to the later part of the fourth century. Except the

jug 38/47 none of the types of pottery, when found else-where, has been dated to the fifth century.

The other intact grave (Cyrene B.), was cut adjacentto Cyrene A. and at right angles to it. It measured

(inside) :-length 6' o", width 2' 3", height 2' 4", andcontained one body, extended, possibly on its back, withthe head to the north-east and the face turned to the north-west. The jaw had been dragged down to a position at

right-angles to normal. The contents of the grave were

pottery vessels and grain. The vessels were mostly at the

2 For many parallels see the very valuable paper byH. A. Thompson, HesperiaIII 311 ff.

3 For parallels to the shape see ClaraRhodos II, fig. 271,CVA, Musee Scheurleer, fasc. I, III, L and N, pl. I, no. 3(from Kertch.), and Thompson Hesperia II 333-334.

4 For parallels to the shape see CVA, Cambridge II,P1. XXX, no. 4 (dated by Dr. Lamb to Vth. century,a date perhaps too early), and references quoted therein,CVA, Sevres, P1. 25, CVA, Denmark fasc. 4, P1. I76, 6.7.8.,and

CVA, France, Compi6gne,P1.

24,no.

54. Anotherexample is illustrated by Breccia, Necropolis of Sciatbi,P1.L, no. 88.

5 For parallels to the shape see CVA, Sevres, P1. 25,nos. 9 and I (from Cyrenaica), and CVA, Oxford fasc. i,P1. XLVIII no. I3.

6 For parallels to the shape see CVA, S6vres, P1. 24,no. 7 (from Benghazi), which as Professor Beazley pointedout is to be dated as IVth century (in JHS LVI 253).See also C[A, Denmark fasc. 4, P1. I8I, no. 2 (from Rhodes),and CVA, Oxford fasc. i, P1. XLVIII, no. 35.

7 For a near parallel see Ure, Black glaze pottery romRhitsona n Boeotia,P1.XVI, no. 24.

8 For a bowl with this shape of handle see CVA, Sevres,P1. 25, nos. 42-44.

9Broneer, Excavationsat CorinthIV, Part II, 39 ff. He

says that the latest examples of Type IV cannot be earlierthan the end of the IVth century, and that the horizontalhandle does not occur after the IVth century. Similarlamps are illustrated in Clara Rhodos VI-VII, fig. I87.It may be of interest to recall that this type of lamp doesnot occur at Sciatbi.

149

feet of the body, and the grain was on the floor of the grave.The pottery, for which see Fig. I, was:-

48/47. Lekythos. Height 14 cm. Buff clay, lustrelessblack glaze. Slight vertical ribbing on the

body, the ribs divided by incised lines.10

49/47. Bowl with two horizontal handles. Width

overall I8-7 cm. Buff clay and lustrelessblack glaze. Underside of foot reserved and

painted with two concentric circles and adot.1l

50/47. Flower-pot shaped vessel, with one horizontalhandle. Height I3-3 cm. Rough browny-buff clay with bands of dull red paint.

51/47. Jug. Similar to 38/47.52/47. Bowl. Similar to 41/47.53/47. Lamp. Similar to 46/47.54/47. Bottle with two vertical handles. Height

38-7 cm. Browny-buff clay with bands ofdull dark red paint.

There is no reason to date Cyrene B. differently fromCyrene A.12

A small deposit, which appeared to be intact, was foundon the floor

of,and at the entrance

to,a

roughlyhewn

room cut in the rock to the right of the forecourt of a finelydecorated Hellenistic tomb. This deposit consisted ofseveral glass bottles, some (three complete and four frag-ments) being of thick heavy glass, which presumablywould have been moulded, and others (one complete andfive fragments) of light thin glass. There were also piecesof lacrymateria,13of about 15 cm. in height when complete,and a lamp of Broneer's Type X, with one unpierced lughandle to the right.l4 This deposit was associated with a

quantity of human bones, representing at least twentyinterments. These bones were in a very confused state,and may have been brought from elsewhere."l

Another Cyrene tomb cleared, a fairly large one witha very simple facade partly cut in the rock and partlyfinished in masonry, had in front of it an interment undera stela, now broken and with no visible inscription, whichhad been erected on slabs cut

possiblyfrom the

originalfloor of the forecourt. The cavity of the grave (lengtheast-west) under the slabs was cut in the steps at the footof the facade. There was practically no trace of bones.The pottery, all at the eastern end, consisted of two rather

rough jugs (56/47 and 57/47, height 35-5 cm.) of buff

pottery, with traces of horizontal lines of red paint, a flatdish with a wide flat rim (58/47, width 4I-5 cm.) of roughbuff pottery,16 and a lamp of red clay, of Broneer's typeXXIV.17 One glass vessel (6 /47) was found in this grave,and another (62/47) was in a gap between slabs of thebase of the stela. 6I/47 was of thin glass, 62/47 of thick

heavy glass. A bronze mirror plate (64/47, width 14 cm.)was found towards the western end of the grave. Thishad fragmentary remains of an embossed plate attached

10For parallels

to theshape

seeCVA,

Denmarkfasc. 4,P1. I78, no. 13 and CVA, Cambridge, fasc. I, P1. XLI,

nos. 4-6.11 For parallels to the shape see CVA, Sevres, P1. 25

nos. 20 and 2I, CVA, Oxford fasc. I, P1. XLVIII, no. 44,CVA, Cambridge fasc. I, P1. XLI, no. 24, and CVA, MuseeScheurleer fasc 2, III L P1. 3, no. I7.

12 It does not seem unreasonable to suggest a date inthe later half of the fourth century for both these tombs.

13 ProfessorUre, opcit. 22, says of these vessels that theymight be from as early as the first half of the third century.

14 Broneer dates his type X at Corinth to the period of 250to I75 B.C. For these objects, see the group on the top lefthand corner of Fig. 2.

15 The pottery and glass was, however, all together inone place on the stone floor of the room, and nestling justwithin the shelter of the edge of a small step down from thethreshold.

16 These types are well known at Cyrenaica. See Fig. 2

for illustrations.17 Broneer dates this type to the second half of the first

century A.D. at Corinth.



NOTES

371 47

48/47 40/47

44147

39147

41147

43/47

50/ 47

54 /47

FIG. i.-FoURTH CENTURY POTTERY FROM CYRENE.

150

38(47

4614 7

42/47



NOTES

58/47

56147

61 /47 62/47

8 /47 17/47

5 /47 23/47

19 /47 35 /47

34 /47

30/47

6/47

14/47

FiG. 2.-THIRD CENTURY AND LATER POTTERY FROM CYRENAICA.

CYRENE To 63/47: REMAINDER TOCRA.

'5'1

63/ 47

3/47

1/47

4 /47

22/47

20/47

21/47

c



15252 NOTESOTES

to one side, which was perhaps of silver and of which the

designs were architectural, including a columned facade,and floral. On the earth floor of the forecourt, where thestone floor had been partly cut away in front of the stelainterment, was another lamp of Broneer's type XXIV,covered by an inverted dish similar to 58/47, which hadbeen full of a substance now pale yellow in colour, and

possibly once a cereal food. A fire had been burnt roundthis lamp and dish. This tomb is perhaps of the first

century A.D.At Tocra, in July 1947, Arab workmen opened two built

tombs lying about one hundred yards south of the south-eastern angle of the city walls. The excavation was com-pleted by the Antiquities Department. The tombs layside by side, orientated east-west, and were constructedof two courses of beautifully cut blocks (internal heightof tomb I-17 metres),18 the top course of the sides being ofa single block of the full length of the tomb (2'43 metres),and the bottom course of twvoblocks, each of half that

length. A thin wall built of similarly shaped blocksdivided the tombs. The more northerly one had a simplechamfered cornice running along the top of the side walls.Both tombs were roofed by rather rough slabs laid acrosstheir length. In each, one body was laid extended on its

back, with its head to the west and the face looking upward.In the northerly one (Tocra A.), eight small white (?pottery) beads, covered with a powdery gilding, and some

fragments of a bronze plate covered with a thin sheet ofgold were found near the head of the body. At the otherend of the same grave two small pottery bearded maskswere found. These were of pinkish-red clay, and hadtraces of white and blue paint on the beards. The otherobjects in this grave were pottery vessels, describedbelow and illustrated in Fig. 2.

Thirteen saucers, two (22/47 and 28/47) being coveredwvith lustrous but rather poor quality black glaze, anddecorated with four impressed palmettes, were arrangedsym-metrically round the base. Another saucer is covered withan almost lustreless black glaze. The others are all ofbuff, greenish or pinkish clay, and are undecorated. Allare comparatively small, about 10 cm. across. In addition,

there were:-23/47. Bowl, with two horizontal handles, bent slightly

upwards. Width overall I3-5 cm. Pinkclay, covered with an almost lustreless blackglaze.

24/47. Lamp. 8 cm. across. Light red clay. Broneer'stype IX.19

I7/47. Amphora. Height 37'2 cm. Pinkish-buff clay.35/47. Amphora. Height 25 cm. Rough pink clay.2?14/47. Bottle. Height 2 cm. Rough iron grey clay.'215/47. Amphora. Height 88 cm. Rough pink clay.2216/47. Amphora. Height 69 cm. Rough pink clay.23In the other Tocra Tomb (Tocra B), a bronze mirror

plate (65/47, diameter 14 cm.) was found. The othercontents of Tocra B were pottery vessels:-

i/47. Lamp. Reddish buff clay. Length 7-8 cm.One unpierced lug to the right. Broneer's

type IX.2/47. Lamp. Similar to 1/47.3/47. Jug. Height 67 cm. Reddish-buffclay. Lustre-

less black glaze, burnt to reddish-brown inpatches.

to one side, which was perhaps of silver and of which the

designs were architectural, including a columned facade,and floral. On the earth floor of the forecourt, where thestone floor had been partly cut away in front of the stelainterment, was another lamp of Broneer's type XXIV,covered by an inverted dish similar to 58/47, which hadbeen full of a substance now pale yellow in colour, and

possibly once a cereal food. A fire had been burnt roundthis lamp and dish. This tomb is perhaps of the first

century A.D.At Tocra, in July 1947, Arab workmen opened two built

tombs lying about one hundred yards south of the south-eastern angle of the city walls. The excavation was com-pleted by the Antiquities Department. The tombs layside by side, orientated east-west, and were constructedof two courses of beautifully cut blocks (internal heightof tomb I-17 metres),18 the top course of the sides being ofa single block of the full length of the tomb (2'43 metres),and the bottom course of twvoblocks, each of half that

length. A thin wall built of similarly shaped blocksdivided the tombs. The more northerly one had a simplechamfered cornice running along the top of the side walls.Both tombs were roofed by rather rough slabs laid acrosstheir length. In each, one body was laid extended on its

back, with its head to the west and the face looking upward.In the northerly one (Tocra A.), eight small white (?pottery) beads, covered with a powdery gilding, and some

fragments of a bronze plate covered with a thin sheet ofgold were found near the head of the body. At the otherend of the same grave two small pottery bearded maskswere found. These were of pinkish-red clay, and hadtraces of white and blue paint on the beards. The otherobjects in this grave were pottery vessels, describedbelow and illustrated in Fig. 2.

Thirteen saucers, two (22/47 and 28/47) being coveredwvith lustrous but rather poor quality black glaze, anddecorated with four impressed palmettes, were arrangedsym-metrically round the base. Another saucer is covered withan almost lustreless black glaze. The others are all ofbuff, greenish or pinkish clay, and are undecorated. Allare comparatively small, about 10 cm. across. In addition,

there were:-23/47. Bowl, with two horizontal handles, bent slightly

upwards. Width overall I3-5 cm. Pinkclay, covered with an almost lustreless blackglaze.

24/47. Lamp. 8 cm. across. Light red clay. Broneer'stype IX.19

I7/47. Amphora. Height 37'2 cm. Pinkish-buff clay.35/47. Amphora. Height 25 cm. Rough pink clay.2?14/47. Bottle. Height 2 cm. Rough iron grey clay.'215/47. Amphora. Height 88 cm. Rough pink clay.2216/47. Amphora. Height 69 cm. Rough pink clay.23In the other Tocra Tomb (Tocra B), a bronze mirror

plate (65/47, diameter 14 cm.) was found. The othercontents of Tocra B were pottery vessels:-

i/47. Lamp. Reddish buff clay. Length 7-8 cm.One unpierced lug to the right. Broneer's

type IX.2/47. Lamp. Similar to 1/47.3/47. Jug. Height 67 cm. Reddish-buffclay. Lustre-

less black glaze, burnt to reddish-brown inpatches.

1" The width of the tombs was the same as their height.19 For a parallel see Broneer, op. cit., P1. IV, no. 142(type IX, of a date of' not before the third century ').20 For a parallel see Breccia, op. cit., fig. 52.

21 For a rather remote parallel see Breccia, op. cit.,fig. 47.

22 The shape of the high neck and the handles, thoughnot that of the body, is paralleled at Sciatbi, Breccia, op.cit. fig. 53. A not dissimilar vessel is illustrated in Petrie,NJaucratis, PI. XVI, no. 7.

23 For thisshape, compare Breccia, op.

cit.fig. 55. andAnn IV-V, 251 and fig. 2. (The Italians dated this

amphora to about 200 B.C.) See also Petrie, Tanis II.P1. XXXIII, no. 12 and p. 65, and Petrie Naucratis I,P1. XVI, no. 2.

1" The width of the tombs was the same as their height.19 For a parallel see Broneer, op. cit., P1. IV, no. 142(type IX, of a date of' not before the third century ').20 For a parallel see Breccia, op. cit., fig. 52.

21 For a rather remote parallel see Breccia, op. cit.,fig. 47.

22 The shape of the high neck and the handles, thoughnot that of the body, is paralleled at Sciatbi, Breccia, op.cit. fig. 53. A not dissimilar vessel is illustrated in Petrie,NJaucratis, PI. XVI, no. 7.

23 For thisshape, compare Breccia, op.

cit.fig. 55. andAnn IV-V, 251 and fig. 2. (The Italians dated this

amphora to about 200 B.C.) See also Petrie, Tanis II.P1. XXXIII, no. 12 and p. 65, and Petrie Naucratis I,P1. XVI, no. 2.

8/47. Hydria. Height 40-3 cm. Rough pinkish-buffclay.24

In addition, there were five saucers, of pink or buff clay.One was covered with nearly lustreless black glaze, anotherwith good lustrous reddish orange wash.25

T. BURTON BROWN.

The North-West Stoa of the Athenian Agora.-The stoa investigated by the Americans in the N.W. cornerof the agora of Athens has won with good reason a notable

place among ancient monuments, both as a subject of topo-

graphical controversy and as an interesting architectural

type. I should like to turn to it again for a short time andin particular to examine at greater length than was possiblein a brief review 1 C. Anti's theory of its genesis, given in

Chap. IX of his TeatriGreciArcaici. As the non-committalname given to it in my heading shows, I should like for the

present to steer clear as far as possible of the difficult

problem of its identification. Anti confidently assumesthat the building was the Stoa Basileios; indeed his theoryof the origin of the type depends partly on the correctnessof this assumption. But the identification has been the

subject of a good deal of dispute; even H. A. Thompson,while putting forward with sober confidence his view thatthe stoa is both the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios and the

Basileios, admits in the end that ' an element of uncertaintymust persist '.2 I accept Thompson's view, but certainlynot with sufficient confidence to use it as a corner-stone in

building up any theory. It is very distracting when onefinds that whereas Anti links up his Royal Stoa withoriental palaces, A. Rumpf3 looks the other way in spaceand time and regards his Royal Stoa (a building of verydifferent type-the spacious hypostyle hall west of theNorth-West Stoa and north of the temple of Hephaestus) asthe Stamnmutterf the Roman basilica. ' They ran away in

opposite directions, and vanished to the east and to the west.'Both of course use the name Basileios to support theiridentifications. One may perhaps be excused for givingup the riddle for a while and concentrating on the archi-

tectural form of the North-West stoa as we undoubtedlyhave it.

Anti is of course primarily concerned with the theatre,and in Chap. IX with the origin of the scenaa paraskeni,withwhich he very reasonably thinks the Stoa Basileios hasaffinities. The Stoa is only of secondary importance for

him; I should like to reverse the emphasis and not concern

myself greatly with the skene,but even so it will be necessaryto say a little about Anti's main theory. He points out aclose resemblance between the skene with paraskeniaand a

type of palace-building which occurs over a wide range in

place and time, and is found in the east, especially Persia,and at Larissa on the Hermus, and is assumed by him forthe palaces of Greek rulers, including Peisistratus and other

tyrants. He thinks that this type was consciously adopted,in what he calls the theatre of Euripides, as the most

appropriate form for a permanent standardized scene-

building, carried out in stone, and that it was not fore-shadowed by the earlier and flimsier scene-structures,which in his opinion were flat-fronted. As regards the dateof the first stone skene,with its paraskenia,Anti had not hadan opportunity of studying Pickard-Cambridge's views onthe subject in The Theatreof Dionysus; Pickard-Cambridge

pushes the date down into the fourth century, which wouldmake it more difficult to link up the skene with its alleged

8/47. Hydria. Height 40-3 cm. Rough pinkish-buffclay.24

In addition, there were five saucers, of pink or buff clay.One was covered with nearly lustreless black glaze, anotherwith good lustrous reddish orange wash.25

T. BURTON BROWN.

The North-West Stoa of the Athenian Agora.-The stoa investigated by the Americans in the N.W. cornerof the agora of Athens has won with good reason a notable

place among ancient monuments, both as a subject of topo-

graphical controversy and as an interesting architectural

type. I should like to turn to it again for a short time andin particular to examine at greater length than was possiblein a brief review 1 C. Anti's theory of its genesis, given in

Chap. IX of his TeatriGreciArcaici. As the non-committalname given to it in my heading shows, I should like for the

present to steer clear as far as possible of the difficult

problem of its identification. Anti confidently assumesthat the building was the Stoa Basileios; indeed his theoryof the origin of the type depends partly on the correctnessof this assumption. But the identification has been the

subject of a good deal of dispute; even H. A. Thompson,while putting forward with sober confidence his view thatthe stoa is both the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios and the

Basileios, admits in the end that ' an element of uncertaintymust persist '.2 I accept Thompson's view, but certainlynot with sufficient confidence to use it as a corner-stone in

building up any theory. It is very distracting when onefinds that whereas Anti links up his Royal Stoa withoriental palaces, A. Rumpf3 looks the other way in spaceand time and regards his Royal Stoa (a building of verydifferent type-the spacious hypostyle hall west of theNorth-West Stoa and north of the temple of Hephaestus) asthe Stamnmutterf the Roman basilica. ' They ran away in

opposite directions, and vanished to the east and to the west.'Both of course use the name Basileios to support theiridentifications. One may perhaps be excused for givingup the riddle for a while and concentrating on the archi-

tectural form of the North-West stoa as we undoubtedlyhave it.

Anti is of course primarily concerned with the theatre,and in Chap. IX with the origin of the scenaa paraskeni,withwhich he very reasonably thinks the Stoa Basileios hasaffinities. The Stoa is only of secondary importance for

him; I should like to reverse the emphasis and not concern

myself greatly with the skene,but even so it will be necessaryto say a little about Anti's main theory. He points out aclose resemblance between the skene with paraskeniaand a

type of palace-building which occurs over a wide range in

place and time, and is found in the east, especially Persia,and at Larissa on the Hermus, and is assumed by him forthe palaces of Greek rulers, including Peisistratus and other

tyrants. He thinks that this type was consciously adopted,in what he calls the theatre of Euripides, as the most

appropriate form for a permanent standardized scene-

building, carried out in stone, and that it was not fore-shadowed by the earlier and flimsier scene-structures,which in his opinion were flat-fronted. As regards the dateof the first stone skene,with its paraskenia,Anti had not hadan opportunity of studying Pickard-Cambridge's views onthe subject in The Theatreof Dionysus; Pickard-Cambridge

pushes the date down into the fourth century, which wouldmake it more difficult to link up the skene with its alleged

24 For a parallel to this shape (including the veryunusual type of foot) see Breccia, op. cit., P1.XXXVI.

25 Grave 66. at Rhitsona (Ure op. cit. P1. XVIII) con-tained a lamp of Broneer's type IX and saucers of theoutline of saucers found at Tocra. It also containedvessels of red, glazed black, unglazed buff and unglazedpink, as also found at Tocra. Ure dates this tomb toabout the middle of the third

century,'or

possiblyfrom

the first half of it ' (p. 22).1

JHS, LXVII, I37 f.2 Hesperia,VI, 226.3 Jahrbuch,LIII, I 7 ff.

24 For a parallel to this shape (including the veryunusual type of foot) see Breccia, op. cit., P1.XXXVI.

25 Grave 66. at Rhitsona (Ure op. cit. P1. XVIII) con-tained a lamp of Broneer's type IX and saucers of theoutline of saucers found at Tocra. It also containedvessels of red, glazed black, unglazed buff and unglazedpink, as also found at Tocra. Ure dates this tomb toabout the middle of the third

century,'or

possiblyfrom

the first half of it ' (p. 22).1

JHS, LXVII, I37 f.2 Hesperia,VI, 226.3 Jahrbuch,LIII, I 7 ff.

tic Burials From Cyrenaica

Documents

Transcript of tic Burials From Cyrenaica