[3330]. Die Formen der röm. Thongefässe, diesseits und jenseits der Alpen (Stuttgart, 1897). For the forms peculiar to the ornamented wares, reference should be made to Dragendorff’s article in Bonner Jahrb. xcvi. pls. 1-3, and Déchelette, Vases de la Gaule Romaine, passim.
CHAPTER XXII
ROMAN POTTERY, HISTORICALLY TREATED; ARRETINE WARE
Roman pottery mentioned by ancient writers—“Samian” ware—Centres of fabric—The pottery of Arretium—Characteristics—Potters’ stamps—Shapes of Arretine vases—Sources of inspiration for decoration—“Italian Megarian bowls”—Subjects—Distribution of Arretine wares.
In the present chapter we propose to discuss the origin and character of the finer Roman pottery, or red glazed ware with designs in relief, which is usually known to modern writers under the convenient designation of terra sigillata, a phrase which has already been explained (p. [434]). Not only in clay and glaze but in decoration these wares are characteristically Roman; but the question as to the actual centre or centres of their manufacture still admits of some discussion.
Relying principally upon the testimony of Pliny, Martial, and other ancient writers, archaeologists have been accustomed to classify the red ware with reliefs, on a rough system of distinction according to artistic merit, as Arretine, Samian, and “false Samian.” The latter term “Samian” has indeed acquired such popularity that it has passed into the language as a conventional term of almost every-day use; but to the scientific investigator it has long been apparent that in point of accuracy it almost stands on a level with that of “Etruscan vase.” That of “false Samian” has usually been applied to a certain class of provincial wares, technically inferior to the “Samian.” But though both terms may still retain currency in popular language for the sake of convenience, it must not be supposed that they are impressed with the hall-mark of scientific terminology.
Before however we attempt to distinguish the different fabrics on the basis of recent researches, it may be as well to investigate the statements of the classical writers and weigh the evidence which they afford on the various kinds of pottery in use in Italy under the Roman Empire.
The most valuable information is found in the pages of Pliny, supplemented by Isidorus of Seville, who, writing in the seventh century, probably gives merely second-hand information. The former[[3331]] says: “The majority of mankind use earthenware vessels. Samian ware is commended even at the present day for dinner services; this reputation is also kept up by Arretium in Italy, and for drinking-cups by Surrentum, Hasta, Pollentia, Saguntum in Spain, and Pergamum in Asia. Tralles is also a centre for pottery, and Mutina in Italy ... and exportation from the celebrated potteries goes on all over the world.” Isidorus, who largely quotes from Pliny, gives the tradition that Samos was the seat of the original invention of pottery, “whence too came Samian vases.”[[3332]] He goes on to say that “Arretine vases are so called from Arretium, a town in Italy where they are made, for they are red.” But in regard to “Samian ware” he admits that there is another explanation of the term, namely that it is a corruption of Samnia. Herein he is possibly not far from the truth, for we have already seen that the adjacent region of Campania was in the last few centuries of the Republic famous as a centre for relief-wares, and it is possible that the manufacture of such pottery was carried on in the district, as for instance at Puteoli, long afterwards. We also know that Allifae in Samnium was a seat of this industry,[[3333]] and that a special class of pottery was made at Ocriculum and at Mevania in Umbria about 200 B.C. (see below, p. [490]).
On the other hand there is no doubt that Samos had a reputation for its pottery for many centuries, as is implied by the tradition which Isidorus quotes and by the words of Pliny: “even at the present day it is commended.” In a previous chapter it has been suggested that the so-called Megarian bowls, which undoubtedly are a prototype of the Roman wares, represent the Samian pottery of the Hellenistic period; but whether this is so or not, the most probable conclusion is that the term “Samian” connotes in the first instance a Greek, not a Roman, fabric; that this Greek ware was imported into Italy; and that it became so popular that the term really came into use for native products, just as now-a-days we are able to speak of “China” which has travelled no further than from Worcester, Sèvres, or Dresden. It may thus have become a generic name for table-ware. Plautus mentions Samian ware more than once (see above, p. 456), usually with reference to its brittleness, as in the Menaechmi,[[3334]] where Menaechmus says, “Knock gently!” to which the parasite Peniculus replies: “I suppose you are afraid the doors are Samian.” Again in the Bacchides,[[3335]] with a jesting allusion to Samos as the home of one of the two heroines: “Take care, please, that no one handles her carelessly; you know how easily a Samian vase gets broken.” In another passage he speaks of a Samiolum poterium.[[3336]] And Tertullian, speaking of Numa’s times, says that only Samian vases were as yet in use.[[3337]]
Pliny also mentions Pergamum and Tralles as centres of fabrics, and speaks of the firmitas or toughness of that of Kos, but of these we know nothing further. It has been pointed out by Dragendorff that there was some manufacture of terra sigillata in Asia Minor under the Empire,[[3338]] probably an imitation of the Italian ware, as the examples known present the same characteristics as the provincial wares of Central Europe, and the forms are also those of the Arretine vases. The same writer has shown that there were also manufactures of terra sigillata in Greece itself, in Egypt, and in Southern Russia, which were of similar character.
To return to Italy and its local fabrics. It is not to be supposed that there was any one principal centre, for different towns excelled in their respective wares, and these were imported from one to the other, and especially into Rome. This city was of course originally supplied with earthenware by the Etruscans, whose mantle fell on the town of Arretium, but it cannot be doubted that the manufacture of pottery must have been carried on to some extent in Rome itself after the absorption of the Etruscan people. We read that even in Numa’s time there was a Guild of Potters (see p. [372]), but it never appears to have excelled in any of the finer wares, and is ignored by Pliny, though we have evidence from other sources. Thus Martial speaks of cadi Vaticani,[[3339]] and Juvenal of fragile dishes from the Vatican hill.[[3340]] Cato says dolia are best bought in Rome, tiles at Venafrum.[[3341]] And the evidence of a pottery in the third and second centuries B.C. on the Esquiline which is given by the find of lamps described in Chapter XX. is supported by Festus.[[3342]]