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A New Type of Early Christian Ampulla1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

J. W. Hayes
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Extract

A Type of small pottery flask which has so far received little attention from students of the Early Christian period appears regularly on sites of sixth- to seventh-century date throughout the eastern Mediterranean. It is fusiform in shape, with a short tubular mouth marked off from the body by a slight ridge, and tapers at the bottom to a roughly truncated point (Fig. I). In view of its general similarity in shape to the common fusiform unguentarium of Hellenistic times I have suggested elsewhere the name Late Roman Unguentarium for the type. The height of complete speciments may be estimated at c. 18–21 cm.; occasionally one meets larger examples (with small flat bases). Such a flask was obviously not meant to be stood up on its base, but is of a convenient shape and size to be clasped in the hand. One may assume that it was provided with a stopper to keep in the contents (presumably of some perishable material, since no examples survive); the ridge below the mouth may have served to secure this.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 66 , November 1971 , pp. 243 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1971

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References

2 See Dumbarton Oaks Papers xxii (1968) 212, 214. The name may serve as a convenient designation until such time as the true source and function of the flasks are revealed.

3 Of the 42 catalogued stamped examples from the recent Saraçhane (St. Polyeuktos) excavations in Istanbul, 32 have monograms built round a single letter, 5 have cruciform monograms, and 5 are of various other types (see n. 4 below). These figures appear to be fairly representative of the stamped series as a whole.

4 Examples from Kythera (1965 excavations, under Prof. G. Huxley; cat. no. χ 12 in current publication) and Saraçhane excavations, Istanbul (cat. no. RP. 75). The inscription is in Greek characters and retrograde; the probable reading (beginning at top right, above bird) is

The Kythera example is illustrated; photograph kindly provided by Mr. J. N. Coldstream, who has permitted me to reproduce it here.

5 For a comparable combination of wild beasts and symbols, see Barb, A. A., Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes xxvii (1964) 10–17Google Scholar, pl. 2a–b (on an Egyptian amulet in the British Museum, probably of sixth-century date). This was kindly brought to my attention by Dr. Barb, with whom I discussed the stamp.

6 PAE 1960, pls. 227, 228a. Photograph kindly provided by G. Konstantinopoulos.

7 Retrograde, in three lines, with small crosses above and below.

8 The bibliography on Menas flasks is considerable. See especially Michos, E., in Mélanges G.-B. De Rossi (MEFR Suppl., 1892) 183 ff.Google Scholar; De Waal, A., Römische Quartaischrift x (1896) 244–7Google Scholar; Dalton, O. M., BMC Early Christian Antiquities (1901) 154–7, nos. 860–96, pl. xxxiiGoogle Scholar; Strzygowski, J., Koptische Kunst (Cat. gén. Musée du Caire, Wien, 1904) 223–6, pl. xxi, nos. 8969–76Google Scholar; Wulff, O., Altchristliche Bildwerke (Königliche Museen zu Berlin, 1909) 263–73Google Scholar; Kaufmann, C. M., Die Ausgrabung der Menasheiligtümer (Cairo, 1906–1908) passimGoogle Scholar; idem, Die Menasstadt (Leipzig, 1910) passim; idem, Zur Ikonographie der Menasampullen (Cairo, 1910); Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie xi. 1, 380–5, figs. 7977–83, 7985; Frühchristliche Kunst aus Rom (Villa Hügel, Essen, exhibition 1962) 110–6, nos. 191–204.

For other classes of ampullae of similar date, see Leclercq, H., ‘Ampoules’, in Dict. d'arch, chrét. et de lit. i. 2 (1907) 1722–35Google Scholarpassim, with bibliography cited on cols. 1745–7; Bagatti, P. B., ‘Le ampolle-ricordo fittili di Palestina (ca. VI secolo)’, Faenza xliv. 6 (1958) 123–5, Pl. lixGoogle Scholar; ‘Ampolla’, in Enciclopedia dell'arte antica i (1958) 327–8, with refs. cited; Bull. Amer. Sch. Oriental Research clxxxii (April 1966) 16–18, figs. 12, 13; Kalantarian, A. A., ‘L'ampoule à l'image de Saint André de Dvine’, Sov. arch. 1968, I. 274–6Google Scholar (in Russian). Their counterparts in silver are studied by Grabar, A., Ampoules de Terre Sainte (Monza-Bobbio) (Paris, 1958).Google Scholar

9 Athenian Agora, Deposit O 13: 4. Context material: two coins of Theodoric (493–526) and pottery of mid-sixthcentury types.

10 Type B iv in the British series (following Radford, C. A. R., in Dark-Age Britain: Studies presented to E. T. Leeds … (London, 1956) 59–70)Google Scholar; cf. Robinson, H. S., Athenian Agora v, M 373, pls. 40–1.Google Scholar For the dating of the type, see forthcoming article by Professor A. C. Thomas, D. P. S. Peacock, and myself.

11 Cat. nos. C–56–1 to C–56–6, from a cistern-deposit, associated with a coin of A.D. 575/6.

12 DOP xxii (1968) 212, 214, fig. 19 (here reproduced as Plate 36a).

13 1964/5 excavations, from levels 2–3. For location, see Boardman, J. and Hayes, J., Excavations at Tocra 1963–1965, The Archaic Deposits i, 6–7Google Scholar, figs. 3–6. Thirty-three fragments; only one is stamped.

14 Finds principally from the late Professor R. G. Goodchild's excavations, noted in the Department of Antiquities' stores, Tolmeita (seen in 1964).

15 Baly, T. J. C., in Excavations at Nessana i (London, 1962) 278–9.Google Scholar

16 Kindly shown to me by Dr. A. D. Tushingham, the excavator.

17 Another contemporary ware which exhibits many similar features is the so-called Late Roman D ware, probably of Cypriot manufacture, which I have recently renamed Cypriot Red Slip Ware (for discussion see J. W. Hayes, Late Roman Pottery 371–86). I exclude this from consideration here since (1) flasks of the type under discussion have not as yet appeared in any quantity in Cyprus, and (2) major pilgrim-shrines from which they might have emanated are lacking there. The claims of Palestine seem much better substantiated.

18 The scanty literary evidence is of little help in determining the various sources of holy oil and of the containers used for it at this period. I thank Professor M. R. E. Gough and Professor J. Crehan for help with the literary sources.

19 For instance, various texts indicate that sacred oil was used for medicinal purposes on account of its alleged healing properties. For a discussion of the functions of ampullae in general (and the silver ones in particular), see A. Grabar, Ampoules de Terre Sainte 63–7.