A Panathenaic prize amphorae network?
A network approach on the Panathenaic Games
and their prize amphorae in the 5th and 4th century B.C.
The Great Panathenaic Games were one of the, if not the most important festivals of Athens. This festival was celebrated for almost a thousand years, from 566 B.C. until 395 A.D. There were two kinds of Panathenaea, one held annually and from 566 B.C one held every four years. The biggest difference between these two was the scale. The one held every fourth year was larger in scale, with elaborate international athletic contests and a large procession to the acropolis. This research will focus on these early Great Panathenaic Games from the fifth and fourth century B.C.
With these athletic competitions came prizes. Potters created a special type of vase, the prize amphorae, to hold valuable olive oil which was given to the winner of each category (see figure 1). There was a pretty standard form of making these amphorae from ca. 530 B.C onwards. One side always depicted the category of the winning athlete. The other side showed the goddess Pallas Athena, and had the standard inscription: TON AΘENEΘEN AΘΛON, meaning something like “I am of the Panathenaic games”. The Great Panathenaic games were Panhellenic. This meant that from all over the Mediterranean world athletes would come and participate in these games. These prize amphoraea are therefore found widely spread through the Mediterranean world. These amphorae are today found in sanctuaries, habitations and graves from all over the Greek world and beyond, for instance Vulci, an Etruscan city on the west coast of Italy, and Tocra on the east coast of Libia. We know from inscriptions that others victors came from Baghdad, Asia Minor, Palestine, Syria, Egypt and all of Greece. This suggests that there was some kind of network of prize winning amphorae linking all kinds of cities to Athens. Thus, the question this research will focus on is: what kind of Panathenaic Network was created by these athletes and their prize amphorae? |
The Panathenaia , a short video explaining a bit more about the festival.
|
A good way to gain some kind of insight into the spread of these amphorae is to focus on a large collection, in this case that of the British Museum. By using a museum inventory we could get a first idea of the locations of these Panathenaic Amphorae. The choice for the British Museum is motivated by the fact that they have 34 Panathenaic amphorae in their collection, most of them including place of finding. There was no other museum collection with the same extensive and clear inventory. This is a small sample, but it will give a good insight in the network the Panathenaic Amphorae created. To make it more visual, the data has been processed in a map to show the spreading of the vases (see figure 3).
The first thing that stands out is that the finding places of the prize amphorae are very widely spread. They are found in Naukratis, Eretria, Gela, Calabria, Tocra, Capua, Nola, Kameiros, Carvateri and Kouklia. Secondly, there is a concentration seen in Italy. Of the thirteen finding places, six are in Italy. What is not very noticeable on the map is that Vulci, the most northern Italian city on the map, has most of these found amphorae. This could suggests that there was a special relation between Athens and this city. It could be possible that there were outstanding athletes in Vulci, we don’t know that. Another explanation could be that the Etruscans were interested in the vases because of their aesthetics, and they bought them from the prize winners who had used op the olive oil and needed the money. Etruscan art imitated Greek examples, and many vases were found with the well-known black and red Greek looking figurines (see figure 2). So what could have been other motives for the fact that athletes from all over the Mediterranean world would participate in the Panathenaic Games? |
Click on the button to go to the British Museum collection
of Prize Amphoras |
Motives for awarding prizes
Apart from the fact that prizes in athletic games were a tradition where one could not exist without the other ( Athlon was the word for a prize in a competition), there is also evidence for a more political motive for the Athenian prize-giving. The prize amphorae did not only serve a purpose as gift for the winner, but also served as a promotion of the state of Athens. Athens gave out these prizes to rival other states or to earn honour, which could bring economic and political benefits. They were given to establish relationships with other states, but also to declare the status of Athens. The goddess of the city was on the amphora for a reason. There was no more effective way to glorify the goddess, and the city it belonged to (see figure 4). Could this have been marketing in its earliest form?
|