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ARCHAEOLOGY

by the horns, much in the manner of the deities on Babylonian cylinders; in the other hand she carries an arrow; above is a line of water-birds. Some sites in Asia Minor and the islands adjoining, such cities as Samos, Cameirus in Rhodes, and the Ionian colonies on the Black Sea, have furnished us with a mass

Fig. 7.—Vase painting : Melos. Conze, Md. Thongefdsse, 4. of ware of the Ionian class, but it seldom bears interesting subjects; it is essentially decorative. For Ionian ware which has closer relation to Greek mythology and history we must turn elsewhere. The cemeteries of the great Etruscan cities, Caere in particular, have preserved for us a large number of vases, which are now generally recognized as Ionian in design and drawing, though they may in some cases be only Italian imitations of Ionian imported ware. Thus has been filled up what was a blank page in the history of early Greek art. The Ionian painting is unrestrained in character, characterized by a license not foreign to the nature of the race, and wants the self-control and moderation which belong to Doric art, and to Attic art after the first. Some of the most interesting examples of early Ionic painting are found on the sarcophagi of Clazomenae. In that city in archaic times an exceptional custom prevailed of burying the dead in great coffins of terra-cotta adorned with painted scenes from chariot - racing, war, and the chase. The British Museum possesses some remarkable specimens, which are published by Mr Murray in his Terra-Cotta Sarcophagi of the British Museum. On one of them he sees depicted a battle between Cimmerian invaders and Greeks, the former accompanied to the field by their great war-dogs. In some of the representations of hunting on these sarcophagi the hunters ride in chariots, a way of hunting quite foreign to the Greeks, but familiar to us from Assyrian wall - sculptures. We know that the life of the lonians before the Persian conquest was refined and not untinged with luxury, and they bbrrowed many of the stately ways of the satraps of the kings of Assyria and Persia. In Fig. 8 we engrave a curious product of the Ionian workshops, a fish of solid gold, adorned with reliefs which

(CLASSICAL) the more valuable on account of the spot where it was found — Vettersfelde in Brandenburg. It furnishes a proof that the influence and perhaps the commerce of the Greek colonies on the Black Sea spread far to the north through the countries of the Scythians and other barbarians. The fish dates from the 6th century B.c. From Ionia the style of vase-painting which has been called by various names, but may best be termed the “ orientalizing,” spread to Greece proper. Its main home here was in Corinth; and small Corinthian unguent-vases bearing figures of swans, lions, monsters, and human beings, the intervals between which are filled by rosettes, are found wherever Corinthian trade penetrated, notably in the cemeteries of Sicily. For the larger Corinthian vases, which bore more elaborate scenes from mythology, we must again turn to the graves of the cities of Etruria. Here, besides the Ionian ware, of which mention has already been made, we find pottery of three Greek cities clearly defined, that of Corinth, that of Chalcis in Euboea, and that of Athens. Corinthian and Chalcidian ware is most readily distinguished by means of the alphabets used in the inscriptions (see Ency. Brit. xix. p. 609), which have distinctive forms easily to be identified. Whether in the paintings coming from the various cities any distinct differences may be traced is a far more difficult question, into which we cannot now enter. The subjects are mostly from heroic legend, and are treated with great simplicity and directness. There is a manly vigour about them which distinguishes them at a glance from the laxer works of Ionian style. We figure (Fig. 9) a group from a Chalcidian vase which represents the conflict over the

Fig. 9.—Fight over the body of Achilles. Mon. d. Inst. i. 51. dead body of Achilles. The corpse of the hero lies in the midst, the arrow in his heel. The Trojan Glaucus tries to drag away the body by means of a rope tied round the ankle, but in doing so is transfixed by the spear of Ajax, who charges under the protection of the goddess Athena. Paris on the Trojan side shoots an arrow at Ajax. The other combatants of the group we omit for want of space. In Fig. 10 is a scene from a Corinthian vase. Ajax falls on his sword in the presence of his colleagues, Odysseus and Diomedes. The short stature of Odysseus is a wellknown Homeric feature. These vases are black-figured; the heroes are painted in silhouette on the red ground of the vases. Their names are appended in archaic Greek letters. The early history of vase-painting at Athens is complicated. It was only by degrees that the geometric style gave way to, or developed into, what is known as the black-figured style. It would seem that Atheasuntil the age of Pisistratus Athens was not notable in the world of art, and nothing could be ruder than some of the vases of Athens in the 7 th century, for example that here figured, on one side of which are represented the winged Fio. 8. Fish of gold. Furtwangler, Goldfund v. Vetters/elde. Harpies (Fig. 11) and on the other Perseus accompanied by Athena flying from the pursuit of the Gorgons. This represent a flying eagle, lions pulling down their prey vase retains in its decoration some features of geometric and a monstrous sea-god among his fishes. This relic is style; but the lotus and rosette, the lion and sphinx,