Vases from Calymnos and Carpathos

Abstract

Of the vases figured on Pl. LXXXIII. nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5 come from the island of Calymnos. Nos. 1, 4, 5, and the large amphora of which a cut (Figs. 1, 2) is given below, belong to a series which has been described by Cecil Smith in the Classical Review, i. p. 80. The Bügelkanne (no. 2), was obtained by me subsequently, and was found on another site. The sponge-fishers of Calymnos have, by little and little in the last hundred years or so, come to regard the probability of invasion as more remote, and have consequently devoted their spare time and money to bringing their houses nearer the sea, until they have at length taken their lives in their hands and established themselves close to their native element. When Ross visited the island the only town was that which is still known as ‘ἡ χώρα.’ It is situated about two miles from the harbour and immediately underneath the still older medieval fortified town, now quite deserted. There is no evidence that there was an ancient city on this site, but the chief sanctuary of the island, the temple of Apollo, was in the immediate neighbourhood, on a ridge which overlooks two of the most productive valleys in this barren island. Most of the inhabitants have now moved down to the modern town which is close to the harbour and which bears the name of an ancient deme—Pothia. This name is probably genuine, as that tender regard for antiquity which finds a home for an outcast ancient name in the face of inseparable difficulties is not so developed here as in the kingdom of Greece.