Ceramic patchwork in Hellenistic to Byzantine Phoenicia: regionalization and specialization of vessel production

Abstract

An analysis of pottery production in ancient Phoenicia reveals not only the land division into city-states in Hellenistic times, but also the blending in individual periods of the multifarious cultural influences reaching in from the western coast of Asia Minor, the Aegean, North African coast and Italy. The native Phoenician tradition clearly loses in significance with the arrival of the Romans in the East.

Porphyreon. Hellenistic and Roman pottery production in the Sidon hinterland. PAM Monograph Series 7

“…It was continued in late Roman times when two types of amphorae, AM 14 and Agora M 334, were produced. Evidence of this comes in the form of production wasters and has also been confirmed by chemical analyses of the fabric of the sherds discovered on site (Roumié et al 2010;Wicenciak 2016).…”

“…For this type of casserole, direct parallels are found in the well deposit in Saida/Sidon, together with material dated to the early Roman period (Wicenciak 2016). The production of casseroles of this type has been noted also in the vicinity of Akko/Ptolemais, where they were made in the late Hellenistic period in the so-called Carmel Coast Sandy Cooking Ware (Wicenciak 2016).…”

“…Four types of wares were distinguished, reflecting the different production phases in Porphyreon: Late Hellenistic Jiyeh Ware, Early Roman Jiyeh Ware, Late Roman Jiyeh Ware, Byzantine Jiyeh Ware. Not all of them are discussed here in the same amount of detail, as only in the case of late Hellenistic and early Roman wares is there sufficient data on the local vessel production (Wicenciak 2016).…”

“…Paul Reynolds sees the prototype of the Beirut 1a and the type 2 amphora from Jiyeh in the so-called Greek-Italian Sidon 3 type (Wicenciak 2016), which is dated to the period from the mid-3rd to the mid-2nd century BC.…”

“…Frangié classified them as water containers. Most of them were produced in Phoenician Semi-Fine Ware, typifying the production of vessels in the Hellenistic period in the Tyre region (Wicenciak 2016). Jug sherds from Beirut are preserved mostly without handles.…”