Keramik aus klassischen Kontexten im Apollon-Heiligtum

This volume publishes and discusses pottery finds from the excavations at Aegina-Kolonna in the ancient capital of the island of Aegina. The island is situated in the Saronic Gulf, in front of Athens. It was in Archaic and Classical times one of the most important centres of the central Aegean and an important trade-power with far distant connections up the Pontos region at the Black Sea, North Africa and Italy. Aegina-Kolonna was the religious centre and acropolis of the ancient town, where amongst other goddesses Apollo was worshipped in a peripteros erected in late Archaic times. The pottery discussed in this volume originates from a number of wells and shafts excavated in various buildings at the acropolis and its slopes, all situated within the limits of the ancient sanctuary. The first part of the book is devoted to the stylistic and chronological discussion and analysis of the pottery. This analysis also forms the basis for the chronological and functional interpretation of the architectural setting in which the pottery was found. The finds are mainly to be dated between the late first quarter and the late third quarter of the 5th century BC, respectively the late Archaic and early Classical times, and thus belong to a period of wealth and prosperity when a large scale building program at the acropolis was undertaken. The contexts the pottery originates from contain a number of imports, such as from Attica, Corinth, Laconia, Ionia and the Northern Aegean, but also a significant amount of locally produced pottery. The repertoire of shapes indicates that the buildings the pottery originates from should be associated with meals and symposia; furthermore the general setting of the buildings at the edge of the acropolis and within the sanctuary implies a cultic function of the structures and thus the meals and symposia. A main part of this volume is the local pottery production, a thus far almost totally neglected topic in ceramic studies. The analysis of the locally produced pottery includes also scientific studies, undertaken by the Fitch Laboratory of the British School at Athens, and the discussion of ancient sources by Jörg Weilhartner. The emerging picture is that of an important production centre of cooking pottery with a large repertoire of shapes, special manufacturing techniques and exporting its products to distant regions. All this shows that the ancient nickname "pot seller" for Aegina is to be understood mainly for the locally produced cooking pottery. The studies presented here also show that Aegina produced cooking pottery for the local needs, but had to import fine table-ware from other areas, as the locally produced table-ware was of insufficient quality. The analysis of pottery also tries to shed light on the historical and economic role of Aegina as an important trading centre and rivalry of Athens. The distribution of Aeginetan pottery and the range of imports found at Kolonna illustrate the far reaching connections of Aegina. It is apparent now that Aegina, even though defeated and occupied by Athens in 456 BC, remained to be an active and wealthy trading centre with an important fleet in the first three quarters of the 5th century BC. This situation changes in the last quarter of the 5th century when a massive decline in the locally produced pottery and in the imports from abroad happens. This decline is to be connected with significant changes in the political situation at Aegina, as the local population was exiled from the island according to the ancient sources. Thus our studies of pottery and the associated contexts confirm the picture of the rise and decline of the trading centre Aegina as it has already been drawn from ancient literature and other sources.