Description:
A large and decorative Greco-Italic amphora, made of brown terracotta, used for the transport of wine. As evidenced by the abundant marine deposits, the amphora has been lying on the seabed for a long time; the ship in which the amphora was transported has likely been shipwrecked.
Amphorae were made in many places and in many shapes during a period of thousands of years. The first one to create a systematic classification of (Roman) amphorae was the German archaeologist Heinrich Dressel (1845 – 1920) in his Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, XV,2: Inscriptiones urbis Romae latinae. Instrumentum domesticum (Berlin, Georg Reimer, 1899), part 3, p. 491-701 and plate 2. The material of his work has later been expanded and supplemented by various scholars. For an overview of types see Daniela Matos, Amphores.
Our amphora belongs to the category MGS 3 (Magna Graecia, Sicily) and is therefore of Greco-Italic production. Amphorae in this group have their origin in Sicily and Calabria, and are typically 60 to 65 cm high and about 35 cm wide. Their diffusion is Naples, Calabria and Sicily, and their date range is from the end of the 5th to the end of the fourth century B.C. Their contents was wine (Matos, p. 26).
In the ancient world much of the trade was done by boat; transport over water, be it river or sea, prevailed over land transport for financial reasons. Boats could carry significant quantities of goods, and the profits made far outweighed the losses from shipwreck, even though these were relatively common, caused by bad weather or hitting rocks.
The typical shape of amphorae, with their pointed base and two carrying handles on opposite sides, allowed upright storage, either in racks or in soft ground, such as sand; the base facilitated transportation by ship. Amphorae were tied together with ropes passing through their handles, to prevent shifting or toppling during rough seas; as an extra protection reeds were sometimes packed around them.
Amphorae were used for the transport and storage of various products, both dry (grain, grapes, olives etc.) and liquid (olive oil, honey, water and above all wine). They were carried on two handles, and this is where they derive their name from. The Greek noun φορεύς (phoreus, "carrier"), from the verb φέρειν (pherein, "to carry"), was combined with the word ἀμφί (amphi, "on both sides"), forming the word ἀμφιφορεύς (amphiphoreus, "two-handled", "carried on both sides"). This in turn was shortened by haplology to amphora.
Literature:
Daniela Matos, Amphores;
Martine Sciallano - Patricia Sibella, Amphores, comment les identifier? (Aix-en-Provence, Edisud, 1991; réédition 1994).
Dating:
Magna Graecia, end of the 5th - end of the 4th century B.C.
Size:
Height circa 63.5 cm; diameter circa 37 cm; height with stand circa 84 cm.
Provenance:
German private collection of Albert Schenk, collected between the 1950s and 1970s.
Condition:
Intact with lots of marine deposits; with a metal stand.
Price
€ 4,500
Stock number:
C1378