• m10-cor-142-10
    Overview of preserved portion. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

A Large Preserved Portion of a Late Corinthian Hailstone Warrior Aryballos

Date
Ca. 570-550 BC, Lydian
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
P61.226A
Material
Ceramic
Object Type
Pottery
Pottery Shape
Aryballos
Pottery Ware
Late Corinthian
Pottery Attribution
Site
Sardis
Sector
HoB
Trench
HoB
B-Grid Coordinates
W9 / S102 *99.20
Description

Early in LC. A large portion, preserved from the shoulder to near the foot. The eighteen tongues remaining on the shoulder are long, thin, and spaced fairly evenly, but irregular in size. Three glazed lines appear below. On the belly is a frieze of warriors who walk to the right. Three warriors remain, each with a large shield covering his body. The shields have decorative incised centers: one has three vertical incised lines, another has a bird design. The warriors, whose heads are helmeted, hold spears with club-shaped ends. The warriors' faces are repetitive, with long narrow eyes, straight noses and small chins. Thin legs project beneath the shields. Hailstone fillers are placed throughout the field. A ground line of glaze is preserved beneath the warriors. Glaze: almost entirely vanished; black, shiny, and crackled where preserved. Clay: hard, fine, and smooth. Yellow-buff. Munsell no. 10 YR between 8/4 and 7/4 (very pale brown).

The hailstone aryballos was popular in LC, probably because the decoration was quick and showy. Payne assigned the entire group to the second quarter of the sixth century, but newer evidence from Rhitsona suggests that the style is obsolete by the end of the first third of the century.

Dimensions
P.H. 0.045; est. diam. 0.065; Th. 0.005
Comments
Cf. Payne, NC nos. 1244--49 and p. 320; Ure, Aryballoi 23 (Rhitsona); Corinth VII:1, pl. 43, no. 361; CVA Great Britain 12, Reading 1, III.C., pl. 4, nos. 5, 8, 9 (inv. nos. 26.vii.4, 26.vii.5).
See Also
Bibliography
Published: BASOR 166 (1962) 9, n. 18.
Author
JS