Transport Amphorae and Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean 8779341187

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Transport Amphorae and Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean Acts of the International Colloquium at the Danish Institute at Athens, September 26-29, 2002

Transport An1phorae and Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean Acts of the International Colloquium at the Danish Institute at Athens, September 26-29, 2002

Edited by Jonas Eiring and John Lund

Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens Volume 5

Transport Amphorae and Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean Acts of the International Colloquium at the Danish Institute at Athens, September 26-29, 2002

© The Danish Institute at Athens 2004 General editor: The Director of the Danish Institute at Athens Design and production: Narayana Press Printed in Denmark on permanent paper conforming to ANSIINISO Z39.48-1992

Published with financial support from: The Danish Research Council for the Hununities The National Museum ofDenmark Generalkonsul Gosta Enboms fond H.P. Hjerl Hansen Mindefondet for Dansk Pal::estinaforskning Dronning Margrethe og Prins Henriks Fond Politiken-fonden Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens Volum.e 5 ISBN 87 7934 118 7 ISSN 1397 1433 Distributed by AARHUS UNIVERSITY PRESS University of Aarhus DK-8000 Arhus C Fax(+45) 86198433 73 Lime Walk Headington, Oxford OX3 7AD Fax (+44) 1865 750 079 Box 511 Oakville, Conn. 06779 Fax (+1) 860 945 9468 Cover Illustration: A composite photograph of the am.phorae in situ at the Alonnesos wreck by the courtesy of the excavator, Dr. Elpida Hadjidaki.

Table of Contents Carsten U. Larsen & jfiJigen Mejer

Preface

]onas Eiring & John Lund

Introduction

Catherine Abadie-Reynal

Les amphores mediterraneennes d'importation trouvees Zeugma: presentation preliminaire

Donald T. Ariel

Stam.ped Amphora Handles from Bet-She'an: Evidence for the Urban Development of the City in the Hellenistic Period

23

Catherine Aubert

Le commerce antique en Phenicie d' apres les amphores locales et importees de Beyrouth

31

Rita Auriemma & Elena Quiri

Importazioni di anfore orientali nell' Adriatico tra prima e media impero

43

Nathan Badoud

Un dauphin aulete sur les tim.bres amphoriques de Thasos

57

Pascale Ballet & Delphine Dixnnif

Ateliers d' amphores de la chOra egyptienne aux epoques romaine et byzantine

67

Craig Barker

The Use ofRhodian Amphorae in Hellenistic Graves at Nea Paphos, Cyprus

73

Tamas Bezeczky

Early Roman Food Import in Ephesus : Amphorae from the Tetragonos Agora

85

Niculae Conovici

Les problemes actuels de la chronologie des timbres sinopeens

99

Hasan N. Erten, Dominique Kassab Tezgor, Istk R. Tiirkmen & Abdullah Zararszz

The Typology and Trade of the Amphorae of Sinope. Archaeological Study and Scientific Analyses

103

Gerald Finkielsztejn

Establishing the Chronology of Rhodian Amphora Stamps: the Next Steps

117

Yvon Garlan & Francine Blonde

Les representations de vases sur les timbres amphoriques thasiens

123

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Kristian Goransson

Transport Amphorae from Euesperides (Benghazi), Libya. A Presentation of Preliminary Results

137

Kristina Winther Jacobsen

Regional Distribution of Transport Amphorae in Cyprus in the Late Roman Period

143

Gerhard Johrens

Amphorenstempel und die Grundung von Tanais

149

Chrysa Karadima

Ainos: An Unknown Amphora Production Centre in the Evros Delta

155

Carolyn G. Koehler & Philippa M. Wallace Matheson

Knidian Amphora Chronology, Pergamon to Corinth

163

lviark L. Lawall

Archaeological Context and Aegean Amphora Chronologies: A Case Study of Hellenistic Ephesos

171

John R. Leonard & Stella Demesticha

Fundamental Links in the Economic Chain: Local Ports and International Trade in Roman and Early Christian Cyprus

189

Georgiy Lomtadze & Denis Zhuravlev

Amphorae from. a Late Hellenistic Cistern at Pantikapaion

203

John Lund

Oil on the Waters? Reflections on the Contents of Hellenistic Transport Amphorae from the Aegean

211

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Vasilica Lungu

Un depot d'amphores thasiennes du IVe siecle av. J.-C. Orgame

Grzegorz Majcherek

Alexandria's Long-distance Trade in Late Antiquity the Amphora Evidence

229

Daniele Malfitana

Anfore e ceramiche fini da mensa orientali nella Sicilia tardo-ellenistica e romana: merci e genti tra Oriente ed Occidente

239

Sandrine Marquie

Un depot de la deuxieme moitie du rer s. de notre ere Kition-Kathari (Chypre)

Stifanie Martin- Kilcher

Amphorae in the Roman West: Discussion and Research since 1989

263

Henryk Meyza

Kouriaka again: An1phora Stamps from the Kourion Acropolis Excavations

273

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217

251

Vinnie Nerskov

Amphorae fi·om Three Wells at the Maussolleion of Halikarnassos: Something to Add to the Typology of Mushroom Rims?

285

Andrei Opaif

The Eastern Mediterranean Amphorae in the Province ofScythia

293

Karolina Paczynska & Svetlana A . Naumenko

Forlimpopoli Amphorae at Tanais in the Second and Third Centuries AD

309

Ewdoksia Papuci- VVladJ'ka & Tatiana N . Kokorzhitskaia

Greek Amphorae fi·om the Polish-Ukrainian Excavations at Koshary, Odessa District (Fourth and Third Centuries BC): a First Presentation

313

Kaare L. Rasmussen & John Lund

On the Clay Provenance of Rhodian Transport Amphorae

325

Nicholas K. Rauh

Pirated Knock-offs: Cilician Imitations of Internationally Traded Amphoras

329

Dalit Regev

The Phoenician Transport Amphora

337

Gonca Cankardas $enol, Ahmet Kaan $enol & Ersin Doger

Amphora Production in the Rhodian Peraea in the Hellenistic Period

353

Kathleen Warner Slane

Amphoras - Used and Reused - at Corinth

361

Vivien G. Swan

Dichin (Bulgaria) and the Supply of Amphorae to the Lower Danube in the Late Roman-Early Byzantine Period

371

]an.e Timby

Amphorae from Excavations at Pompeii by the University ofReading

383

Roberta Tomber

Amphorae fi·om the Red Sea and Their Contribution to the Interpretation of Late Roman Trade beyond the Empire

393

Anna de Vincenz

Stamped Handles from Ramla-Israel

403

Sergey Yu. Vnukov

Pan-Roman Amphora Types Produced in the Black Sea Region

407

Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan & Stavroula Apostolakou

New Evidence ofWine Production in East Crete in the Hellenistic Period

417

Malcolm Wallace

Standardization in Greek Amphora Capacities

429

Elizabeth Lyding Will

Mediterranean Amphoras in India

433

David F. Williams

The Eruption ofVesuvius and its Implications for the Early Roman Amphora Trade with India

441

Samuel R. Wolff

Punic Amphoras in the Eastern Mediterranean

451

Jonas Eiring, Gerald Finkielsztejn, Mark L. Lawall &John Lund

Concluding Remarks

459

Bibliography

467

List of Authors

535

Preface

In the morning of 17 April1902, Christian S. Blinkenberg and Karl F. Kinch disembarked at Rhodes. For the next twelve years, the two scholars and their associates intermittently excavated the acropolis of Lindos and investigated several other sites on the island. Thus began a tradition for Danish archaeological expeditions to the M editerranean, which has flourished ever since. The first scientific publication to emerge from the expedition to Rhodes was M .P. Niisson's Recherches sur les timbres de Lindos (1909). Hence, when it was decided to celebrate the centenary of the expedition by a colloquium at the Danish Institute at Athens, the theme "Transport Amphorae and Trade in the Eastern !vlediterranean." was a natural choice. It was natural, also, for the Danish National Museum and the Danish Institute at Athens to collabo-

Carsten U. Larsen Director ofThe National Museum of Denmark

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rate on taking this initiative. Blinkenberg was curator at the museum when the Rhodes Expedition was launched, and pottety studies have traditionally been a core research area for the Collection of Classical and Near Eastern Antiquity. The Danish Institute at Athens has also inaugurated a new era ofDanish archaeological fieldwork in Greece in collaboration with the Greek archaeological service, notably a survey of Southern Rhodes (1994), and excavations at Chalkis (1995-2001) and Kalydon (fi.·om 2002). On behalf of the two institutions involved, it is a great pleasure for us to thank the public and private foundations, which generously defrayed the expenses of the colloquium in Athens and this publication of the papers delivered at the conference. We extend our warmest thanks also to all individuals, who contributed to the success of the initiative.

Jergen Mejer Director of The Danish Institute at Athens 2001-2003

NATIONALMUSEET

national museum of den mark

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Introduction ]onas Eiring & John Lund The potential of transport amphorae for elucidating ancient economic history is well nigh universally recognized. In the words of D.P.S . Peacock and D .F. Williams: "amphorae ... provide us not with an index of the transportation of goods, but with direct witness of the movement of certain foodstuffs which were of considerable economic importance, and which were an essential part ofRoman culture. It is hard to conceive any archaeological material better suited to further our understanding of Roman trade" . 1 This applies equally to the Eastern Mediterranean before the ascent of the Roman Empire. The study of transport amphorae developed into a scientific discipline in the nineteenth century.2 Thus, in a lecture read in 1847, J.L. Stoddart stated "the ancient commerce of the Mediterranean is illustrated in many respects by the diotal manubria [i.e. amphora stamps], and by the knowledge now acquired of their origin". 3 It is no coincidence that he refers specifically to amphora stamps, because in those days, and for much of the twentieth centmy, the epigraphic aspect played a leading role in amphora research. For a large part of the twentieth centmy, many excavators in the Eastern Mediterranean countries disregarded- and often even discarded- un-stamped amphora fragments (complete amphorae were, of course, kept but rarely published). This situation did not begin to change until J.A. Riley and J.- Y. Empereur demonstrated the vital importance of taking un-stamped amphorae into account, 4 a realisation that had dawned earlier in other parts of the world, where amphora stamps occur more rarely.5 Riley's approach at Benghazi changed the entire face of Roman amphora studies, 6 and the Carthage volumes solidified the dominance of this method. 7 Still, it was rarely followed through completely, and Mark Lawall justifiably characterized amphora studies of the 1990s as being " in need of archaeology". 8 At the beginning of the twenty-first centmy, amphora studies might equally be called a discipline in

need ofhistmy. True, transport amphorae played a not inconsiderable role in M. Rostovtzeffs "Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World", but many historians who h ave dealt with the Eastern Mediterranean since then have largely ignored this class of evidence or stressed the many methodological uncertainties involved in their study. The picture is gradually changing, 9 but the full potential of transport amphorae as a source for histmy - economic and otherwise - has hardly yet been fulfilled. It would be a mistake, though, to conclude that amphora studies have reached an impasse; the case is quite the reverse, as witnessed by the increasing rate of scientific gatherings. The first, which was held in Rome in 1974, was devoted to the "Methodes classiques et methodesformelles dans !'etude des amphores" .10 It was followed in 1984 and 1986 by colloquia in Athens and Siena devoted to "Recherches sur les amphores grecques" ,11 and "Amphores romaines et histoire economique: dix ans de recherche". The 1990s saw two amphora conferences with geographical themes: the colloquium in Istanbul 1994 on " Production et commerce des amphores en Mer Noire", 12 and the conference at Seville in 1998 on Baetic amphorae. 13 In recent years a growing number of such meetings hav e been devoted to the Hellenistic and Roman potte1y of the Eastern Mediterranean: the workshop on "Hellenistic and Roman Pottery in the

Peacock & Williams 1986, 2. Cf Garlan 2000,11-20. 3 Stoddart 1850, 50; cf also idem 1853. 4 Riley 1979; Empereur 1982a. 5 Peacock (ed.) 1977. 6 Riley 1979. 7 H ayes & Riley 1976; Riley 1976; Riley 1981b. 8 Lawall 2001b, 533 . 9 In the case of Rhodes, if Gabrielsen 1997, 64-71 ; Rauh 1999; Wiemer 2002, 576- 586. 10 1\!Iethodes classiques. 11 Garlan & Empereur (eds.) 1986; A rnphores romaines 1989. 12 Garlan (ed.) 1999. 13 Ex Baetica Amphorae 2000. 1

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Eastern Mediterranean. Advances in Scientific Studies" at Nieb6row in Poland in 1993,14 the colloquium on "Les ceramiques en Anatolie aux epoques hellenistique et romaine: production et echanges" in Istanbul 1996, 15 a colloquium on "Byzantine and Early Is lamic Ceramics in Syria-Jordan" at Amman in 1994, 16 a Ph .D-seminar for young scholars at Sandbj erg in February 1998 on "Trade Relations in the Eastern Mediterranean from [the] Late Hellenistic Period to Late Antiquity: the Ceramic Evidence", 17 the XXI International RCRF Conference at Ephesos and Pergamon in 1998,18 and the conference in Lyon in 2000 on "Ceramiques hellenistiques et romaines . Productions et diffusion en Mediterranee orientale (Chypre, Egypte et cote syro-palestinienne)" .19 Also, one should not forget the conferences in Greece on Hellenistic pottery, which have been held since 1986, 20 and the Roman pottery workshops in Leuven, hosted by the ROCT Network, even if the latter have a wider scope. 21 However, before the colloquium at the Danish Institute no scientific gathering had focused on the transport amphorae of the Eastern Mediterranean. The purpose of the colloquium in Athens was to create a forum for an informal dialogue between the acknowledged experts in the field of amphora studies, the amphorologues proprement dit, and those scholars who are equally versed in a wide range of ceramic types , as well as newcomers to either of the two fields. By doing so, we hoped to break down barriers , which might in any event be more imaginary than real, between different scholarly and national traditions and also between specialists in various periods and/ or geographical regions. In consideration of the inter-regional circulation of amphorae, it also seemed logical to include some contributions dealing with amphora finds outside the Eastern Mediterranean. O ur goal was twofold: on the one hand to describe the current state of the art, and on the other to attempt to define fruitful venues for future research, on the basis of the contributions in the form of papers and posters, and also during the discussions. To help us chart possible future directions of amphora studies, we invited Mark L. Lawall and Gerald Finkielsztejn to contribute their perspectives to the concluding chapter, and we are most grateful 12

to them for having accepted to j oin forces with us in this unthankful task. We want to thank the participants in the colloquium for having heeded our call to contribute papers or posters, 22 for having taken part in the lively discussions, and for having complied with the deadline in sending us their m anuscripts. Nicholas K. Rauh was enormously helpful throughout the planning process. Special thanks are also due to " the dynamic duo": John W. Hayes and Paul Reynolds , who consented to serve as a permanent panel of respondents. T he latter distributed a handy map of the distribution of regional amphora classes in the Levant, of which he has allowed us to publish an updated version (Fig. 1). 23 We are no less thankful to the doyen of amphora studies, Yvon Garlan, for having supported our efforts from the beginning and for presenting the inaugural paper: "Comment peut-on etre amphorologue?" at the Ecole fran