In the region covered by the “heel” of Italy the most important site, as also the most important city in ancient times, is Taranto or Tarentum. Chiefly on the authority of M. Lenormant,[[278]] this city was for a long time regarded as the centre of many South Italian fabrics, including the vases with burlesque scenes (φλύακες), those of Paestum, the Fasano ware, and, in fact, all Apulian fabrics. But the extensive excavations that have taken place at Tarentum of late years have shown that Lenormant and those who followed him were quite misled. Few Apulian vases have come to light, the Paestum fabric is unrepresented, and although the φλύακες of Tarentum were no doubt specially famous in antiquity, there is no authority for connecting this class of vases with them to the exclusion of other sites. Vases, in fact, are extremely rare at Tarentum, which made a much greater speciality of terracottas, especially of a votive kind; a few B.F. and R.F. specimens are known,[[279]] including the remarkable fragment of a R.F. krater in the British Museum (E 494), and a fine krater with an Amazonomachia (Bibl. Nat. 421).
Vases from Metapontum also are few and far between; the British Museum possesses a specimen with figures in relief on black ground; and finds are also reported from Lecce, Brindisi, and Oria.[[280]] Many examples of local fabrics, described in Chapter [XVIII]., have been found in this district, and specimens are preserved in the museums at Bari, Lecce, and elsewhere. Lastly we have to speak of the finds made at Locri on the east side of the “toe” of Italy, the only important site in that district which has yielded Greek vases. Many of these are white lekythi with figures in outline and polychrome, resembling the well-known Athenian fabrics. They were originally (like those of Gela) thought to be local products, but it is more likely that they were made at Athens and imported, the Locrians having a particular preference for these vases, as the people of Nola had for the slim amphorae. Some of the B.F. and R.F. vases found here are of a very fair order of merit.[[281]]
Sicily, so celebrated for its magnificent works of art, has yielded a considerable number of painted vases of all periods. The cities of the southern coast have produced the greatest number, especially Syracuse, Gela (Terranuova), and Agrigentum (Girgenti). Many have also come from the cemeteries of Acrae, Leontini, and Megara Hyblaea. Palermo, Messina, and Catania have produced isolated examples. The richest finds have been in the recently excavated cemeteries of Syracuse. The discoveries of early vases and fragments made here by Dr. Orsi are of the utmost importance, and include quantities of specimens of Mycenaean and “Proto-Corinthian” wares.[[282]]
At Terranuova or Gela, one of the earliest settlements of the island, vases with black and with red figures were found as long ago as the eighteenth century,[[283]] and in 1792 a pottery with furnaces and vases was discovered in the neighbourhood.[[284]] Of late years vases with black and red figures, some of the latter being of the finest style, have been discovered in large numbers, as well as white lekythi, probably imported from Athens. Of these finds we have already given some description (p. [37]). In 1862 Mr. George Dennis found a series of fine R.F. lekythi of the “severe” period, together with B.F. vases and archaic terracottas, now in the British Museum; and these have been fully rivalled by Mr. Arthur Evans’ discoveries in later years. The site has also yielded vases of a primitive character, imitating early Greek wares. Gela was always noted for its potteries, as the ceramic decorations of the Geloan Treasury at Olympia show (p. [100]); many of the vases have characteristic Sicilian subjects, and there was undoubtedly a considerable local fabric.
Of the vases found at Girgenti (Agrigentum) the most noteworthy is the beautiful lebes now in the British Museum,[[285]] of the finest R.F. style, described as “one of the finest specimens of Greek ceramography that has come down to us, absolutely unsurpassed in its combination of artistic merit and mythological interest.” It was found in 1830, and belonged to the poet Samuel Rogers; the subject is the combat of Theseus with the Amazons. Other B.F. and R.F. vases of fine style have come from this site,[[286]] as well as a series of moulds for vases with reliefs, of the Hellenistic period.[[287]] Fine vases are said to have been found at Kamarina,[[288]] a few with red figures at Himera, and some archaic lekythi at Selinus.[[289]] From Lentini Jahn records polychrome and R.F. vases, the latter of the “strong” and later periods.[[290]] At Palazzolo (Acrae) B.F. and R.F. vases have been found, including a B.F. kotyle in the British Museum (B 79), representing Dionysos in a car formed like a ship. At Centorbi (Centuripae) almost the only find of note was a conical cover of a large bowl ornamented with encaustic paintings, the colours having been prepared with wax; parts of two bowls were also found decorated with designs in relief and gilt, of scrolls, small Cupids, and heads of Medusa.[[291]] Other sites that may be mentioned are: Hybla Heraea (Ragusa),[[292]] Catania, Alicata,[[293]] Aderno[[294]] at the foot of Etna, and Monte Saraceno.[[295]]
At Tharros, in Sardinia, extensive excavations were made in 1856, and a long series of tombs found containing Phoenician objects in porcelain, engraved scarabs, terracotta figures, and other objects, but little painted Greek pottery of any importance.[[296]] An interesting krater of late date, with the head of the Satyr Akratos, from the island of Lipari is now in the collection of Mr. J. Stevenson at Glasgow[[297]]; and in Ischia was found a krater with the subject of the infant Dionysos confided to the Nymphs.[[298]] In the public museum of Malta some Greek vases are to be seen,[[299]] but it is not known whether they were actually found there.
We have now completed the circuit of the ancient world, so far as finds of Greek pottery are concerned, as with the exception of Marseilles, already alluded to none can be traced in Spain or Central Europe.
[48]. Curiously enough, the relative proportions of Greek and Oriental civilisation in Asia Minor are almost exactly the same at the present day as in the sixth century B.C. The Greeks are mostly to be found in towns like Smyrna, and the adjoining islands, while the central part of the country is almost entirely Turkish.
[49]. See for references to descriptions of tombs Hermann, Lehrbuch d. Antiq. iv. (1882), p. 377.