Brief Identification[]
Terracotta jug 700-600 BCE
This decorated terracotta jug was produced sometime between 700 and 600 BCE and was found in the ruins of the ancient city of Kition near the modern city of Larnaca in Cyprus. It is believed to have been created by Phoenicians from the city of Tyre who colonized Cyprus and revived Kition after decades of being abandoned. The piece has been at the Ashmolean, the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, since 1885 ["Pottery Jar, Kition"].
Technical Evaluation[]
Map of Cyprus during the Iron Age. http://www.archaeoillustrator.com/GIS.html
The jug is made from terracotta, meaning it was formed from clay then cooked. It was a very popular material for crafting due to how easily accessible it is, how cheap it is, and how malleable the clay is in its wet state ["Terra-Cotta"]. The jug is easily identifiable as the work of a Phoenician artisan due to its crafting style and decoration. The globe-shaped body and ridged neck are features specific to Phoenician pottery at the start of the Iron Age. The thick red band surrounded by thinner black ones, a pattern known as Phoenician bichrome, is another indicator that they are the culture who produced it. Phoenician artisans were unique in the fact that despite the Iron Age transition, many stuck to traditional practices when creating their goods. Pottery was made either on a ceramics wheel but was more often than not formed by hand. The revolutionary qualities of the jug, however, are seen in the design. Outside of the traditional bichrome ware, the intricate motifs and icons on the exterior show a transition in style [Anderson 1990, 36]. The Cypro-Archaic Period (8th-6th century BCE) saw a drastic increase in the artistic detail and intricacies in pottery [Kition]. Before then, Phoenician pottery was very dull and bland, being described as "quite pedestrian and often even crude"[Anderson 1990, 35]. This means that the artifact is an outlier and held some significance. The use of icons like stags, birds, and palmettes that were commonplace in the cultures of the region suggests that it may be a display of good relations between the Phoenicians and their neighbors in the Mediterranean ["Pottery Jar, Kition"]. The jug was discovered in 1884 by Max Ohnefalsch-Richter, a German archaeologist, who sold it to the Ashmolean the following year ["Pottery Jar, Kition"]. It has remained and been studied at the institute up to today.
Local Historical Context[]
While Kition is believed to have been settled sometime between 1500 BCE and 1300 BCE, the Phoenician recolonization of it in the late 9th century BCE really saw it grow into a flourishing city [Kition]. After centuries of failure, the port city was turned into a powerful asset in the sea trade due to its port and the vast resources found in Cyprus. The trade-focused civilization composed of several mostly independent city-states located in the eastern Mediterranean. While Phoenicia only occupied a rather small area of land, it dominated the sea with excellent maritime navigation and ship-building skills. Outside of merely being merchants, Phoenician resources and manufactured goods, such as the terracotta jug, were coveted among the people within the sphere of their influence. The skilled craftsmen produced figurines, ivories, sculptures, and other decorations that were treasured by the elites of the Mediterranean [Cartwright 2016, "Phoenician Art"].
At the end of the 8th century BCE, Kition and its fellow Cypriot kingdoms are recorded to have been conquered by the Assyrians in 709 BCE ["Geometric and Archaic Cyprus"]. While the kingdoms paid tribute to the empire, they saw little direct ruling over them and continued to operate mostly autonomously. Phoenician was still the language of business and governance for the kingdoms and the cultural and artistic practices of the people, as seen with this pot, remained largely untouched ["Kition"].
World-Historical Context[]
Trade Routes of Greeks and Phoenicians https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Phoenicia/276403/media
While it is not necessarily the most advanced piece of technology, the jug is by no means insignificant. It is a symbol for the success of the Phoenician people and the culture they were creating through trade in their area. The vast network the Phoenicians had is an incredible feat, especially for a civilization that was more of a loose group of trade partners rather than a structured bureaucracy [Mark 2018, "Phoenicia"].
Goods like this artifact produced and traded by the Phoenicians united the vast cultures of the Mediterranean, meshing very different cultures together and revolutionizing their own. One such connection would be the link created between the Egyptians and the Greeks, the latter of whom would be greatly influenced by the pottery styling and motifs of the former [Mark 2018, "Phoenicia"]. Greek artisans also produced very similar ceramic pieces to their Phoenician contemporaries, using earthen materials and red and black pigments to create and decoration vases, jugs, amphorae, and more [Cartwright 2018, "Ancient Greek Pottery"]. This could be attributed to the similar resources at their disposal, but the intense trade between the two would imply that some cultural aspects would transfer as well. These connections would revolutionize human history and Phoenician influence would carry on past its lifetime.heir words for goods foreign to different ports were often incorporated into the language of the region, leaving tiny traces of the people throughout the sea [Cartwright 2016, "Trade in the Phoenician World"]. Their maritime trade practices would be the strongest of their legacies, being adopted by future civilizations and prevailing in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries to come. These people blew past the limits of nautical travel and expanded the trading world immensely.
The terracotta jug represents a time that was more primitive but by no means simpler. It was made by a culture filled with gifted artisans and excellent traders who dominated a very prominent area of the civilized world despite being based out of a few loosely aligned cities. This ceramic masterpiece is a treasure that lay buried at a port city that was integral to the sea routes for millennia. It is a small piece that has played a role in telling the story of the Phoenicians, a very influential yet mysterious civilization from so long ago.
Bibliography[]
Anderson, William P. "The Beginnings of Phoenician Pottery: Vessel Shape, Style, and Ceramic Technology in the Early Phases of the Phoenician Iron Age." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 279 (1990): 35-54. doi:10.2307/1357207.
Cartwright, Mark. “Ancient Greek Pottery.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. UNESCO, March 16, 2018. https://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Pottery/.
Cartwright, Mark. “Phoenician Art.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. UNESCO, April 21, 2016. https://www.ancient.eu/Phoenician_Art/.
Cartwright, Mark. “Trade in the Phoenician World.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. UNESCO, April 1, 2016. https://www.ancient.eu/article/881/trade-in-the-phoenician-world/.
“Geometric and Archaic Cyprus.” metmuseum.org. The MET. Accessed December 3, 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gcyp/hd_gcyp.htm.
“Kition.” Livius. Livius.org, November 11, 2018. https://www.livius.org/articles/place/kition/.
Mark, Joshua J. “Phoenicia.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. UNESCO, March 19, 2018. https://www.ancient.eu/phoenicia/.
“Phoenicians and the Greek Pottery Trade.” Classics. University of Colorado, August 21, 2019. https://www.colorado.edu/classics/2018/06/15/phoenicians-and-greek-pottery-trade.
“Pottery Jar, Kition.” Ashmolean. University of Oxford. Accessed December 2, 2019. https://www.ashmolean.org/pottery-jar-kition#nav.
“Terra-Cotta.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., February 26, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/art/terra-cotta.