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The Temple Of Aphaia On Aegina: Further Thoughts On The Date Of The Reconstruction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2021

David W. J. Gill
David W. J. Gill*
Affiliation:
University College of Swansea
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Abstract

The publication of further ceramic material from the terrace fills surrounding the temple of Aphaia on Aegina brings into question the present date assigned to the reconstruction by the excavation team. The cumulative effect of black-figured, red-figured, and black-glossed pottery, as well as lamps and amphorae from the terrace fills, seems to indicate that the temple may be later than the Persian wars. Much of the late material finds parallels from contexts in the Athenian Agora which are usually thought, on the conventional chronology, to date from the time of the Persian wars. If the revised views of these contexts are taken into account, then the temple of Aphaia may have to be dated lower still.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 88 , November 1993 , pp. 173 - 181
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1993

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References

1 I am grateful to Alain Pasquier and Angelika Waiblinger for their help with the material from Elaious, and to Hugh Bowden, John Camp, Paul Cartledge, and Michael Vickers for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Abbreviations in addition to those in standard use:

Agora iv = R. H. Howland, Greek Lamps and their Survivals (Princeton, 1958)

Agoraxii = B. A. Sparkes and L. Talcott, Black and Plain Pottery of the 6th, 5th and 4th Centuries BC (Princeton, 1970)

Agora xiv = H. A. Thompson and R. E. Wycherley, The Agora of Athens: The History, Shape and Uses of an Ancient City Center (Princeton, 1972)

Agora xxiii = M. B. Moore and M. Z. Pease Philippides, Attic Black-figured Pottery (Princeton, 1986)

Agora xxv = M. Lang, Ostraka (Princeton, 1990)

Aphaia ii = D. Ohly, Aegina, Aphaia-Tempel ii: Untersuchungen in der spatarchaisches Temenosterrasse', AA 1971,505-26

Aphaia iv = D. Williams, Aegina, Aphaia-Tempel iv: the inscription commemorating the construction of the first limestone temple and other features of the sixth century temenos', AA 1982, 5568

Aphaia viii = M. B. Moore, Aegina, Aphaia-Tempel viii: the Attic black-figured pottery', AA 1986, 5193

Aphaia xi = D. Williams, Aegina, Aphaia-Tempel xi: the pottery from the second limestone temple and the later history of the sanctuary', AA 1987, 629-80

Aphaia xiii = A. W. Johnston, Aegina, Aphaia-Tempel xiii: the storage amphorae', AA 1990, 37-64

Aphaia xiv = D. M. Bailey, Aegina, Aphaia-Tempel xiv: the lamps', AA 1991, 31-68

Francis-Vickers, Agora = E. D. Francis and M. Vickers, 'The Agora revisited: Athenian chronology c.500-450 BC', BSA83 (1988), 143-67

Gill, ABP = D. W. J. Gill, Attic Black-glazed Pottery in the Fifth Century BC. Workshops and Export (D.Phil, diss., Oxford, 1986)

Gill, Aphaia = D. W. J. Gill, The temple of Aphaia on Aegina: the date of the reconstruction', BSA 83 (1988), 169-77

Roberts, Well = S. R. Roberts, The Stoa Gutter Well: a late archaic deposit in the Athenian Agora', Hesp. 55 (1986), 1-74

2 Gill, Aphaia'; this was based on the publication of the black-figured pottery in Aphaia viii.

3 Aphaia xi; xiii; xiv.

4 Aphaia xi. 629.

5 The contexts for the red-figured pottery are Found on the offerings table in the rear room of the temple' (nos. A 6, A 26); Found in fill behind outer terrace wall south of Propylon (A 8, A 28, A 41); South of Propylon' (A 28); Found south of Terrace wall in the neighbourhood of the sanctuary of Pan (A 9, A 45); 'Found under latest altar (A 60).

6 Aphaia xi. 669.

7 Aphaia xi. 670.

8 Aphaia xi. 671.

9 Aphaia xi. 671.

10 Aphaia xi. 647.

11 Aphaia xi. 647.

12 Gill, ABP 97-8. They are named after three examples found at Elaious, now in the Louvre. The type of base is also found on one-handlers such as the banded example in Amsterdam (Gill, ABP, no. O 1).

13 The same phenomenon of not assigning Agora dates to Aphaia objects is also found with the black-figured pottery; see Gill, Aphaia1, 173 n. 11. Sparkes and Talcott (Agora xii. 99) assigned dates from the end of the 6th century to 480 BC to this type of cup.

14 Parallels for no. B 23: London 64.10-7.2117, from Kameiros, Fikellura cemetery, grave 3 (Gill, ABP no. J 9, pl. 49). For B 24: Paris, Louvre R II 142 (CA 3885/Ele 142), from Elaious, S-29 (Gill, ASP no. J 2, pl. 48). For B 27: Paris, Louvre CA 3884, from Elaious, sarc. 9 (Gill, ABP no. J 3, pl. 48).

15 Alabastron: London 64.107.1167. Squat lekythos: London E 662.

16 Details of the excavation may be found in [E. Pottier], Fouilles archeologiques sur l'emplacement de la necropole d'Eleonte de Thrace (juillet-decembre 1915)', BCH 39 (1915), 135-240; A. Waiblinger, La ville grecque d'Eleonte en Chersonese de Thrace et sa necropole', CRAI 1978, 84357. I am grateful to Alain Pasquier and Angelika Waiblinger for granting me access to the material in the Louvre.

17 Aphaia xi. 669. Williams was probably unaware of the Elaious grave-groups. Further Elaious cups have been found at the Thesmophorion, Eretria: I. R. Metzger, Das Thesmophorion von Eretria: Funde und Befunde eines Heiligtums (Eretria, vii; Bern, 1985), 13, figs. 3-5, nos. ] 05-72.

18 Agora xii, nos. 1345, 1347.

19 D. P. S. Peacock and D. F. Williams, Amphorae and the Roman Economy: An Introductory Guide (London, 1986), 16.

20 Aphaia xiii. 37-8; 39; 60.

21 Aphaia xiii. 37.

22 Roberts, Well', nos. 412-13. Johnston (Aphaia 13, 47) notes material from Kalabaktepe without giving specific details. He refers to P. Dupont, Amphores commerciales archaiques de la Grece de Test', PP 37 (1982), 203-6. The Kalabaktepe context is not straightforward; see A. von Gerkan, Kalabaktepe, Athenatempel und Umgebung (Milet, i. 8; 1925), 12-13. See also E. D. Francis and M. Vickers, Leagros kalos', PCPS 207 (1981), 113.

23 Aphaia xiv.

24 Aphaia xiv. 65. It should also be noted that Bailey considers that the East Terrace fill can no longer be used as evidence for dating the temple, since it contains material which can be as late as the mid-fourth century BC (p. 65).

25 e.g. no. 170 of Howland type 11, from the South-west Terrace fill, should normally be dated to the late 7th century BC and well into the 6th (Agora iv. 23).

26 Aphaia xi. 629; cf. Aphaia xiv. 67.

27 Agora iv. 26.

28 Agora iv. 3, 33.

29 Agora iv. 46. Bailey (Aphaia xiv. 67) notes that, since these type 21 lamps are not Athenian, caution should be used when trying to assign dates.

30 Aphaia xiv. 65: the contexts are noted as being 'earlier than c.480 BC and the lamps can be dated down to about 480 BC'.

31 Aphaia xiv. 67. This is a response to Gill, Aphaia'.

32 E. Vanderpool, The rectangular rock-cut shaft: the upper fill', Hesp. 15 (1946), 266.

33 As demonstrated by Francis-Vickers, Agora'.

34 e.g. Agora xii. 390; Agora xxiii. 331. This date continues to be accepted: Roberts Well', 4: early 5th century and contemporary with the Stoa Gutter Well.

35 Agora xxv. 25, Deposit E 8.

36 As has been argued by D. M. Lewis, The Kerameikos ostraka', ZPE 14 (1974), 1-4, and reportedly supported by Willemsen (cf. H. R. Immerwahr, An inscribed cup by the Ambrosios painter', AK 27 (1984), 12). Contra, Agora xxv. 5. Lewis (p. 4) realizes that the Shaft is linked to the argument.

37 Francis-Vickers, Agora', 151.

38 Gill, Aphaia', 172-3.

39 Aphaia viii.

40 Agora xxiii, nos. 1580, 1584.

41 Agora xxiii, nos. 1506-11.

42 Aphaia xi. 669.

43 Agora xii.

44 Agora xii. 390.

45 Agora iv. 239; cf. Agora xii. 390-1, POU: c.500-480 BC (?); U: c.480-470 BC or soon after; Agora xxiii. 332, POU: c.500480 BC; U: c.480470 BC or soon after.

46 J . M. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Excavations in the Heart of Classical Athens (London, 1986), 44, 77; see also id., The Athenian Agora: A Guide to the Excavations and Museum (4th edn; Athens, 1990), 4754. This follows the original views of Thompson and Wycherley (Agora xiv. 42).

47 H. A. Thompson, Archaeology, 31.5 (1978), 63; id., 'The Pnyx in models', in Studies in Attic Epigraphy, History and Topography Presented to Eugene Vanderpool (Hesperia supp. 19, 1982), 136; id., Athens faces adversity', Hesp. 50 (1981), 345.

48 Francis-Vickers, Agora', 154.

49 Agora xxiii, no. 1542, ca. 480470 BC'. This skyphos is noted in Agora xii. 391 as probably to be dated ca. 475-465 BC'.

50 Agora xii. 397. See also Roberts, Well'.

51 Agora xii. 397; Agora xxiii. 335.

52 Roberts, Well', 4, cf. 2.

53 Agora xxiii, no. 1582.

54 Aphaia xiii. 39; Roberts, Well', nos. 419-20.

55 Roberts, Well', nos. 408-11.

56 Roberts, Well', nos. 421-2.

57 Roberts, Well', nos. 414 (A), 415-417 (B). Aphaia xiii, no. 85, is a type which Johnston (p. 44) compares with Roberts, Well', no. 417.

58 Roberts, Well', nos. 412-13.

59 Roberts, Well', nos. 395401, 404. Other types in the Well are 5, 16 B variant, and 17 A.

60 Aphaia xi. 669.

61 Aphaia viii, esp. 53.

62 See the published stratigraphic cross-sections published in Aphaia ii. 512, figs. 45. The importance of these sections is discussed in Gill, Aphaia', 169-70. The apparent sequence for the North Terrace is: (i) Bedrock, (ii) Layer of soil and humus, sealed by (iii) burnt debris in thin layer, (iv) Terrace wall built (as both the natural and burnt layers were cut back). (v) Area behind terrace walls filled with debris from clearing of site; this included material from the temple and the pottery fragments, (vi) Foundations for the new temple prepared and cut through the layers of fill and burnt debris; the stone foundations packed with sand and earth fill, (vii) Layer of poros chippings from the work on the temple; this seals the fill behind the terrace wall, (viii) The poros chippings were packed with sand and earth; sealed by (ix) a layer of red day in which there were small pockets of poros chippings. (x) Some further poros chippings. (xi) Site levelled with earth.

63 Aphaia xi. 669.

64 Aphaia xi. 669.

65 Aphaia xi. 670.

66 E. D. Francis a n d M. Vickers, Signae priscae arlis: Eretria and Siphnos', JHS 103 (1983). 49-67; E. D. Francis, Image and Idea in Fifth-century Greece: Art and Literature after the Persian Wars (London, 1990), 8-15; contra, J. Boardman, Signa tabulae priscae artis', JHS 104 (1984), 161-3; R. M. Cook, The Francis-Vickers chronology', JHS 109 (1989), 168.

67 Aphaia xi. 670.

68 J. Boardman (Gitfiv8, plates vol., 100, text to pi. 117 b) now dates the building after the battle of Marathon ('this is generally accepted now although for some time scholars preferred an earlier date, on stylistic grounds). See also Cook (n. 66), 168.

69 Gill,'Aphaia', 176.

70 Aphaia xi. 671.

71 After Aphaia xi. 670.

72 Aphaia xi. 671. This is a change from his earlier position in Aphaia iv. 65.

73 Aphaia xi. 6723.

74 Aphaia xi. 673.

75 B. A. Sparkes, Greek Art (G&R New Surveys in the Classics, 22; Oxford, 1991), 26. It should be noted that he considers that there are valid criticisms of the [conventional chronological] system that have still not been answered (p. 7). For further discussion of chronological matters by a historian, see H. Bowden, The chronology of Greek painted pottery: some observations', Hephaistos, 10 (1991), 49-59. For a more recent consideration of the chronological problems, see W. R. Biers, Art, Artefacts, and Chronology in Classical Archaeology (London, 1992), 82-5.