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Alabaster alabastron. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul)
Alabaster alabastron
The Lydians and their World
(2010)
Cat. 205
- Date
- Probably fifth century BC, Late Lydian (Persian)
- Museum
- Manisa, Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum, 9082
- Museum Inventory No.
- 9082
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- S03.132
- Material
- Alabaster, Stone
- Object Type
- Stone Vessel
- Site
- Sardis
- Sector
- Nec
- Trench
- Tomb 03.1
- Locus
- Tomb 03.1 Locus 1
- B-Grid Coordinates
- W540 / S995
- Description
- Calcite (Egyptian alabaster) alabastron. Elongated ovoid body with round bottom; horizontal rim with rounded lip. Two small lug handles below rim. Mended from fragments, a few fragments missing. Fine lathe marks over interior and exterior surfaces. Height 0.132 m, diameter 0.044 m.
- Comments
- From the same tomb as Nos. 196-204; found near at mid-body of a skeleton, near one of the lekythoi (see Baughan, “Lydian Burial Customs”). The alabastron was named after the most typical material from which they are made (or vice-versa, the stone named after the vessel). It originated in Egypt, but became popular throughout Anatolia and Greece from the seventh through the fourth centuries BC. In addition to examples made from this translucent stone, the same shape was copied in pottery and, occasionally, in silver and other materials; four silver examples were found in tombs near Güre (Özgen, “The Lydian Treasure”). As a container for perfumed oils it was probably functionally equivalent to, but of much greater prestige than, the ceramic lekythoi placed as an offering on the couch opposite (No. 203).
- See Also
- Baughan, “Lydian Burial Customs”.
- Bibliography
- Greenewalt 2005, 82-3; Roosevelt 2008; forthcoming study by Susanne Ebbinghaus.
- Author
- NDC