A Hydria from Metropolis

Abstract

Entered under the inventory number 9/23/91 in the Ephesus Museum, a hydria (of lagynos type) of white body was recovered in the ancient city of Metropolis in the course of scientific excavation work conducted by Prof. Dr. Recep Meriç since 1989. The find spot of the hydria was located in a layer dated by coins in the north section of the city stoa. Two bronze Ephesian coins found in the same layer support a dating of 280-58 B.C.E. This time interval is significant for white-body ceramics; for it represents a date earlier than that of the white-body ceramics at Priene, Pergamon, and Ephesus. The ceramic jug, whose painted decoration is executed in dark colors on a white ground is an innovation of the Hellenistic period, a kind of decoration prevalent in the Mediterranean. At the same time, comparisons confirm that the plastic figure on the handle is a type continued from the Late Classical period. The horizontal handles, which curve toward the body, display influence of 3rd-century Ptolemaios. Handles of this type are supposed to have emerged either through Ptoliemaios influence in Anatolia or they may be an indigenous Anatolian feature.