An amphora (plural, amphorae) is one of the main kinds of pottery vessels used in Greco-Roman times. Amphorae come in different shapes and sizes—depending on their place, date and purpose. These jars generally have an elongated body, a narrow neck and two vertical handles on opposite sides.
Amphorae served as storage and transport vessels for a wide range of commodities—liquid and dry alike—including oil, wine, milk, grain, olives and fish products. In ancient Greece, extra-large amphorae were also used for funerals and as grave markers.
Making a ceramic amphora required three major steps: preparing the clay, forming the vessel and firing the completed amphora in a kiln. After firing, the amphora may have received outer decoration or an interior treatment with resin to prevent the permeation of stored liquids. Stoppers and seals were supposed to prevent the contents from spilling and spoiling.
To indicate their place of origin, destination, date, contents or volume, amphorae were often marked with stamps (in their soft clay, before firing) and inscriptions (with pen and ink, after firing).
The most common containers of antiquity, amphorae survive in great numbers at archaeological sites around the Mediterranean and beyond, attesting to long-distance transportation and commerce. Numerous shipwrecks from the Black Sea to the Straits of Gibraltar tell us how the cargo was loaded, when the ship sank and from where it sailed; sometimes even the amphorae’s contents were preserved. Pictured above is a fourth-century B.C.E. wreck with a hoard of amphorae from the Greek island of Chios. It sank near Mazotos, Cyprus, where it has been explored by marine archaeologists.
In their role as the most common container, amphorae were supplanted by wooden and skin containers in the Middle Ages. Modern equivalents include stainless-steel kegs and tanks, aluminum-lined cartons and plastic containers of all kinds. Surprisingly, what these modern containers and amphorae have in common is the slow degradability and the related issues of waste disposal. As most amphorae were never reused, they were discarded upon emptying. One overwhelming example of the durability of pottery and of the accumulated mass of discarded vessels in one city is Rome’s Monte Testaccio, a 150-foot-tall pottery dump pile dating to the Roman Imperial period.
An amphora (plural, amphorae) is one of the main kinds of pottery vessels used in Greco-Roman times. Amphorae come in different shapes and sizes—depending on their place, date and purpose. These jars generally have an elongated body, a narrow neck and two vertical handles on opposite sides.
You have already read your free article for this month. Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.
