Amphora is a special kind of tableware that has become widespread in ancient Greece and ancient Rome. Amphoras come in different sizes and shapes. In addition, they also carry a certain symbol. Which one? You will learn about this from our article.
Amphora is ...
First of all, you need to find out what is an amphora?
The meaning of the word amphora is very interesting. From Greek, it translates as "a container with two handles."
Amphora is a vessel of special elongated shape, having handles on both sides. Quite often, the bottom of the amphora is conical, pointed. The material from which this dish was made in antiquity is most often clay. Less commonly found are bronze amphorae.
In ancient Greece, as well as Rome, amphoras performed different functions. For example, they were used:
- as a container for storing liquid products (various oils, wine, milk, juice or honey);
- as a reward for victories in sports;
- like funeral urns for ashes or for installation on burial mounds.
Amphora sizes can be very different. In general, they contain from 5 to 50 liters of liquid. And in ancient Greece, an amphora (the volume of which was 26.03 liters) was even used as a unit of measurement - the Greek "talent".
Amphora classification
Heinrich Dressel is a German scientist and archaeologist who was just studying ancient amphorae. Below you can see what this man looked like. In particular, he developed a detailed typology of ancient amphoras. Among domestic researchers, archaeologist Sergei Monakhov made a significant contribution to the study of this type of cookware .
In his catalog (published back in 1899 in Germany), Heinrich Dressel presented 45 varieties of ancient Roman amphorae. He was able to establish the age of each of them. The names of the consuls, who often printed on all amphoras, helped him in this. It is worth noting that Dressel's classification is still used when it is necessary to identify a particular archaeological find.
The first 6 forms in Dressel’s typology are the ancient Roman amphora for wine. They date back to Art. BC e. - II Art. n e. Amphoras from 7th to 12th in this catalog are Spanish vessels for storing fish. Further in the catalog of the German scientist are given later specimens of amphorae, which are dated to the III century or even later.
Greek amphora - a symbol of life and death
Amphoras symbolize both life and death. How can this be?
Once, during the excavations of Khersones, an ancient Greek city in the Crimea, archaeologists discovered strange amphoras, in which were the remains of buried children. Thus, these vessels in ancient times played the role of coffins. In addition, amphorae mounted on top of the graves of adults were also often found.
On the other hand, the Greek amphora symbolizes the female womb. Moreover, she was deliberately endowed with feminine traits. So, even amphora elements were named as follows: throat, trunk, leg and arms. And such names were not given to the amphora by accident.
Thus, an amphora is a vessel symbolizing in itself both life and death.
Where and how are ancient amphorae found?
Archaeological excavations are carried out regularly and in different parts of our planet. During these excavations very often find various valuable artifacts, including ancient amphorae.
These ancient vessels are found both on land and under water. In the first case, special archaeological tools are used: shoulder blades and brushes. For a targeted search for metal amphoras, metal detectors or the so-called magnetometers are used, which respond to all kinds of changes in the magnetic field of a particular area. By the way, most clay amphoras also have their own magnetic field, because clay during the burning process receives a large amount of oxidized iron.
From the depths of the sea, amphora will help raise ordinary air to the surface. At the bottom of the seas there are whole "cemeteries" of such ancient utensils. They could be formed either as a result of the collapse of a ship with a similar load, or as a result of a simple throwing of used amphoras overboard the vessel. One way or another, amphoras are at the bottom of the deep sea.
Today , archaeologists quite often extract amphoras from the waters of the Black, Adriatic or Mediterranean Sea. The origin of these amphoras, most of them ancient Greek, Roman or Phoenician.
Finally...
Thus, amphora is not only an ancient element of utensils. They were used not only for food storage. Archaeologists have repeatedly found the ancient Roman or Greek amphora with the ashes of the deceased, and even with babies buried in them.
Ancient amphoras were made from clay, less often from wood or some metals. Clay amphoras were sculpted by hand. Often they were also decorated with paintings, ornaments or certain drawings. Today, archaeologists find many ancient amphorae, which are the most important artifacts of a particular culture or historical era.