Red-figure pottery from Ainos/thrace (Enez): Its spectrum from the earliest finds until the end of the 5th century BC

Abstract

The main subject of this article is red-figure pottery from Ainos (Enez) in eastern Thrace from the late 6th century to the late 5th century BC. The material comes from the fill layers of the necropolis and a limited number of grave contexts as well as from the ancient acropolis, which is known today as the Medieval Castle. Ainos was a member of the Delian League and an ally of Athens in the 5th century BC. Available finds indicate that Athenian red figure pottery was being imported throughout the 5th century BC. The identified painters, shapes and subjects on the vases show parallelism with Athens. Calyx and bell crater, skyphos and cups are the most represented shapes. The earliest red figure pottery can be attributed to the Pioneer Group. However, the finds from the timespan between 500 to 480 BC constitute 4% of all the sherds. Availablefinds indicate that redfigure and blackfigure pottery were in use simultaneously until the middle of the 5'h century BC. In the second half of the 5'h century, redfigure shows an obvious increase. In contrast to some settlements in western Asia Minor, Ainos continued to import Athenian redfigure pottery through the course of the 5th and 4,th centuries BC. The city's location on important trade routes between the North Aegean and the Black Sea and its large hinterland muşt have contributed to this situation. A remarkable increase in the quantity of redfigure pottery in Ainos can be detected at the end of the 5th century BC in parallel with the trade boom between the Black Sea ports and Athens. Among the various subjects depicted on the vases, Dionysos and related scenes are popular from the beginning until the end of the 5th century BC. Also, scenes from women's daily life, komos, soldiers 'farewells and sacrificial offerings are identified. Context graves in limited availability give us information about the intended purpose of the redfigure pottery in Ainos. Accordingly, pelikai and hydriai were used as urns for cremation graves and lekythoi were used as grave goods. Although the examples of local productions in black figure technique from the late 6th and 5th century BC were identified in Ainos, available examples of red figure pottery from this period show the features of the Athenian clay, glaze and the painting style. The finds, which differ from Athenian imports, can be classified as belonging to the 4'h century BC. On the other hand, the earliest examples of the local redfigure pottery in Mainland Greece can be traced to the second half of the 5th century BC.