A New Type of Knidos Amphora: Small Knidos Amphorae

Abstract

During the excavations and researches carried out in Knidos recently, small amphorae have been found which were left to the graves (presumably) as grave goods. It is noteworthy that such amphorae found in the graves have rarely been encountered during excavations within the city.

These amphorae have a long cylindrical neck and a downwardly narrowing ovoid body, with Base / bottom spinning top or cylindrical appearance. The form features show similarities with the Standard Knidos amphoras and the Zenon Amphoras, as named after its producer Zenon. However, with their small size, this type of amphora is different from both Standard Knidos and Zenon Amphorae. These 30 cm-high amphorae have 2.80 - 3.30 liter capacity. This new type, which resembles Knidos amphorae and Zenon Amphorae in model with its characteristics, of shape would be dated to the middle and last quarter of the 3^rd century BC. Other important aspects of these amphoras are that they are placed at a distinctive point in the Hellenistic tombs and represented by only one example.

Their characteristics of shape and dimensions require that these amphoras should be defined as a new type. Even though the Late Classical and Hellenistic Knidos amphorae with a wide geographical distribution are very well described in the literature, this small sized Knidos production amphorae which are hitherto undiscovered will be considered as a new type in this study. Therefore, this new type will be analyzed not only for its features of shape, but the place of little amphorae within the Knidos amphorae production will also be explained. This will be done by way of examining it as a grave good and its function as well as taking into account that they have been found in the graves as a single example.