the excavation of the athenian agora twelfth season: 1947

EXCAVATION OF ATHENIAN AGORA, 1947 191
Arretine ware, indeed western sigillata of any sort, is rare in Athens by comparison
with a western site or with the Roman colony of Corinth. Yet occasional
pieces occur in contexts of the Augustan period, and among the examples found in
1947 are fragments of a krater of Dragendorff's Form 11 and of first-rate quality.'27
The decoration on the wall of the vase was Dionysiac; the bearded Dionysos himself
appears with thyrsus in hand while a leafy thyrsus stands in the field (P1. 69, 1).
The pottery of the later Roman period may be represented by two pieces found
at a level of the third century A.D. in a well at the north foot of the Areopagus. One
of the pieces is a small globular pitcher, coated in its upper part otily with thin brown
glaze, a type of vase exceedingly common in the period (P1. 69, 2).'28 The particular
interest of the present example is the inscription incised on its shoulder: eErzXs
8K/LUJ i. e., " fair measure." The vessel, filled to the brim, holds ca. 890 cubic centimetres,
i.e., just short of one quart, U. S. liquid measure. One would gladly take
the measure, or the tavern keeper, at his word; if. however, this boast be taken at its
face value, we must be sceptical of another measure of approximately the same period
which proclaims itself oiirqpO (SC. &TqS) 8&KaLQ. but which holds only 820 cc.'29
The second piece, from the same well and context as the jug, is a small incense
burner (P1. 69, 3).130 When the vessel was heated in mending it gave off the fragrance
of incense.
Finally, mention may be made here of three small containers, not of pottery but
of lead, found at the west foot of the Areopagus, in a Hellenistic context in the filling
of the Great Drain (P1. 69, 4)."' About the size of a thimble, they were cast in
two-piece moulds. Two of them bear inscriptions cast in relief, one 'AprTqEiECpov
XvKLOV, the other KXEaV(00ov?) XKKLOV (sic). On the reverse of the first is a tripod,
of the second a palm branch, both emblems of victory. Lykion was one of the common
drugs of antiquity, a decoction with purgative qualities made from the root of a
buckthorn native to Lycia and Cappadocia. The name in the genitive might be taken
most naturally as that of the manufacturing druggist. in similar instances, however,
it was sometimes that of the prescribing physician, and occasionally such little drug
containers bear the official stamp of the state, no doubt as a precaution against the
adulteration of drugs that is referred to by Pliny (Nat. Hist., xxvi, 59-61). 132
127 p 18,243. Diameter of rim, ca. 0.19 m.
128 p 17,499. Height, 0.145 m.
129 P 928. A jug of much the same scheme but more elongated. A third jug of the same type
but still more slender (P 10,556) has incised on its neck AIKEO[.
130 p 17,529. Height, 0.09 m. Brownish clay covered with white engobe. Traces of burning
in its bottom.
131 IL 853, 854, 904. Height, 0.026, 0.023. 0.024 m.
132 On the drug trade in antiquity see Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History of the Hel-
lenistic World, I, p. 241; Wiegand-Schrader, Priene, p. 429. For the references I am indebted to
Miss Virginia Grace who will deal with the subject in greater detail elsewhere.