The typical Rhodian oinochoae, like the contemporary Corinthian vases, owe much to the imitation of the textile embroideries of Assyria, of which we have already spoken under the other head (p. [312]). These had become familiar in Rhodes through the agency of the Phoenicians, but it is also possible that the Ionians were themselves proficient in this industry. The bands of lotos-ornament and friezes of animals also appear on the porcelain vases found in large numbers at Kameiros (p. [127]), which are sometimes most elaborately ornamented, and are clearly of Phoenician origin; the seventh century was, in fact, the time when the Greek world was most dominated by Oriental influences.
The ornamental patterns on the vases of this class fall under two heads—the smaller independent ground-ornaments, and the more elaborated bands of vegetable ornament. The former are best illustrated by the Euphorbos pinax, presently to be described; in contrast to the unvarying Corinthian rosette, they show a considerable variety of treatment, and are partly variations on the rosette theme, partly geometrical, like the fragments of maeander, or crosses with hooked arms, which recall in form the ubiquitous swastika. The band of lotos-flowers and buds actually occurs at a much earlier date in Boeotia, as we have seen, but it is at Rhodes that it first assumes the characteristic Greek form. On the pinakes a development of this motive, forming a fan-shaped combination of radiating leaves, is usually employed to fill in the “exergue” below the designs; a similar ornament is found on the black wares with incised patterns, and it is the forerunner of the pear-shaped radiations painted on the small bowls of a more recent date.[[1105]]
A typically Ionian motive is the plait-band, found at Naukratis and on the Clazomenae sarcophagi, and introduced from Assyria. The Mycenaean spiral, so prominent in Attica and Melos, retires into the background, or loses its geometrical significance, and becomes a mere vegetable motive, an adjunct to the floral combinations of bud and flower. The Rhodian vases are, in fact, the first in which spiral motives were freely used for calyx-ornaments, as, generally speaking, they were the first in post-Mycenaean times to raise floral motives from mere ground-ornaments to independent decoration.[[1106]]
The series of pinakes yield the most interesting examples of Rhodian vase-painting; they are usually decorated with a figure of a ram or other animal on a large scale (Plate [XXIV].), the exergue or lower portion of the field being filled in with a suitable pattern, such as a sort of fan-pattern of spreading rays or fronds (see above), or a free variation of the Egyptian lotos-flower. But one is of surpassing interest and importance, the famous Euphorbos pinax as it is generally called, which was found at Kameiros, and is now in the British Museum. The subject is the combat of Menelaos and Hector over the body of Euphorbos,[[1107]] a scene from the Iliad, but not reproduced in accurate detail, as, indeed, is seldom the case in archaic art. The figures are drawn partly in outline, with a lavish use of purple for details, and the whole of the ground is filled in with various ornaments, rosettes, etc., one at the top of the scene taking the form of a pair of eyes, with a conventionalised floral pattern between. Additional interest is given to the design by the fact that the figures are named, the words being in the Argive alphabet (see Chapter [XVII].).
This inscription does not necessarily affect the question of the place of fabric of the pinax, as it has been shown that the Argive alphabet was used in Rhodes in the seventh century[[1108]]; but it enables us to fix its date about B.C. 650, and the whole of the Rhodian ware may be regarded as belonging to the seventh century. It has, indeed, been suggested that the subject is copied from an Argive metal relief, and this might account for the unexpected presence of an inscription.
As to the place of fabric of Rhodian ware generally, it has been more than once suggested that it is to be sought, not in Rhodes, but in the neighbouring Ionian city of Miletos.[[1109]] Dümmler’s theory of an Argive origin, resting as it does almost exclusively on the Euphorbos inscriptions, is practically negatived by the absence of any similar pottery in the extensive finds at the Argive Heraion. Miletos, however, was in close connection with Rhodes, and in favour of the argument is the remarkable parallelism of the pottery of Naukratis, which was undoubtedly in close association with Miletos; it was, in fact, first colonised by Milesian Greeks, and the Milesian Apollo was worshipped there. But further evidence is needed before this view can be regarded as other than a mere hypothesis. At all events, no convincing argument has as yet been urged against the pottery being of local manufacture. In date, as has been said, it covers the seventh century, being thus contemporaneous with the Melian and earlier Corinthian fabrics.
PLATE XXIV
1. Pinax from Rhodes; 2. Bowl from Naukratis (British Museum).