Original scientific paper
The influence of the Dyrrachium pottery workshops in the central Dalmatia
Lucijana Šešelj
Abstract
The article discusses the influence of the pottery workshops from Dyrrachium in the central Dalmatia during Hellenistic period. The direct import is presented here, but also some forms of pottery that
imitate Dyrrachion products.
During archaeological research at Resnik a few bowls that belong to Aristen’s and Sopatros’workshops were found there. These are archaeologically confirmed in Dyrrachium, and the moulds for their production have been found. One relief bowl has the mark with the name of the potter Aristen, but there are few more bowls, which could belong to this workshop. They wear very distinguishable decoration, characteristic of the master’s workshop. These bowls belong to the “Delian” type of relief pottery. The colour of the clay is pale red and the slip varies from the reddish-brown, dark brown to red. Another bowl that has the potters’ name Sopatros on it has grey clay and a dark grey slip.
Beside these relief bowls there is one less attractive, but interesting form: articulated kantharos. It appears in the area of the south part of the east Adriatic. There was a local workshop in Dyrrachium that produced this type of pottery and distributed it in the neighbouring Illyrian territory. There is a great number of these kantharoi on the Cape Ploča, Resnik and Spila Nakovana. It seems that they were very popular during the late Hellenism. This type can be seen on old photographs from Budva.
Until recently the connections between the central Dalmatia and Albania were archaeologically interpreted only through numismatic finds. But when the pottery analyses are once thoroughly done, they will show more complex relationships than they are considered to have been at the time.
Keywords
relief pottery; Dyrrachium; Aristen; Sopatros; articulated kantharos
Hrčak ID:
2344
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2005.
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