Recent & Upcoming Conference Talks by Virginia Webb
As a fruit with a suggestive shape and contents the pomegranate takes on a wide range of meanings... more As a fruit with a suggestive shape and contents the pomegranate takes on a wide range of meanings. Its appearance in the Ancient World embodies fertility and feminine powers. In Ancient Egypt and the Near East, and in the wider Mediterranean world-influenced by these centres-plastic forms, jewellery, vase and wall painting persistently employ the fruit as the carrier of such meanings. Later it is adopted by the Christian church, and by Islam, and becomes a powerful symbol of world domination, and the membership of the church. However, now I want to concentrate on its use and meaning in Mycenaean and Archaic Greece, the sources of its derivation, and specifically its importance in female jewellery, faience and clay containers, and in the worship of certain goddesses. Finds made at the Heraion of Samos, and the temple of Hera in Southern Italy at Foca del Sele, show that objects in clay and wood, glass and faience, in the shape of the pomegranate were offered to the deity, and at Foca del Sele the Catholic congregation still worships "La Madonna del Granato". I hope to show how far back such usage goes and from where the influences come.
New excavations east of the Monumental Altar in the Samos Heraion have revealed deposits of disca... more New excavations east of the Monumental Altar in the Samos Heraion have revealed deposits of discarded votive material associated with sacrificial practices at the earlier altars. Faience objects make up a major part of this material and we now have a sequence of datable levels which span the fifty or so years prior to the new altar. This enables us to assess the significance of this material in the ritual landscape of the sanctuary. Direct links with Egypt can be established for a small number of objects, but the majority are in a style which borrows themes from Egyptian sacred animals and deities, but presents them in a ›mixed style‹. Other objects reproduce the sacred baskets of Bastet, as well as local shallow bowls. An imitative tendency, linked to strong ritual significance, shows faience as an important carrier of meaning. The question of their origin does not have a single answer.
Three small faience rosette discs now in the Museo Egizio of Turin, one of which has a given prov... more Three small faience rosette discs now in the Museo Egizio of Turin, one of which has a given provenance from Heliopolis, while another bears the inscription 'Tel el-Yahoudeh', form an intriguing introduction to a certain type of Egyptian palace architectural decoration. They also trace the sorry story of the pillage of Ramesside sites in the Delta. Not only was it possible for near contemporary Pharaonic activity to transport and relocate the majority of the stone monuments of a whole city (Qantir-Piramesses to Tanis), to the extreme puzzlement of Egyptologists, but the smallest elements of certain ritual buildings also proved irresistible, since for the sebakhin they were highly portable and saleable. The renewed commercial opportunities offered by European travellers in the nineteenth century sounded the death knell for buildings decorated with these attractive decorative elements. Here I shall take a detailed look at the rosette tiles, their possible sources, and the light they throw on techniques of faience manufacture. On voit continuellement des quantités d'hommes piocher ces décombres, tamiser ce qu'ils en retirent et transporter ce terreau à dos d'ânes et de chameaux à grandes distances, comme d'ailleurs cela se pratique partout où se trouvent les restes d'une ancienne ville égyptienne. (Linant de Bellefonds, 1825) 1 Faience, tjehnet, which glittered like the sun, the moon and the stars and like precious materials such as lapis lazuli and turquoise, advertised to the Pha-raoh's enemies that he was invincible, and unforgiving. Faience was considered to have magical powers of transference -it was used for substitute models in burial contexts, and the solar symbolism of the rosettes, as well as the many tiles depicting the subjects of the Pharaoh in bondage, amplified the message. It is this material which was used to cover the entrances and inner surfaces of an unusual and striking form of architecture belonging to the early Ramesside pharaohs. In particular, the depictions of the traditional enemies of Egypt, known conventionally as the Nine Bows, formed a central part of 2 the decoration, either shown bringing offerings, or bound as prisoners. The foundation of a new capital in the Eastern Delta by Ramesses II was, at least in part, a response to the threat from the Near Eastern powers, emphasized by the fact that the subject victims at the bottom of the stepped daises at Piramesses were invariably Asiatics, (and not the normally contrasted figure of the Nubian) being consumed by the Pharaoh's attendant lion. Three small faience rosette discs in the Museo Egizio in Turin form an intriguing introduction to this unusual and impressive phase of Egyptian Palace architectural decoration. We are all familiar with the artistic naturalism of the painted floors of Tell el-Amarna, and also with the many and varied tiles made in faience used in astonishing multiplicity to decorate the surfaces of columns, walls and floors in the Palaces of Akhenaten. 2 But in the ambitious days of the early Ramesside pharaohs -Seti II, Ramesses II and III -palace decoration reached the extremes of ingenuity by using inlaid and over-glazed faience tiles to decorate and construct doorways, walls, columns, floors and throne daises. At Qantir, in addition, there were enormous sculptural figures of lions grasping Asiatic captives, set at the base of the dais steps to form newel posts. In the Eastern Delta at Tell el-Yahudiyeh and at Qantir (ancient Piramesses), and, as it now appears, at Heliopolis as well, and undoubtedly at Medinet Habu in Thebes, the pharaohs of the Ramesside period used faience tiles to make vivid assertions of their power in the decorations of their palaces. Other possible sites that contained such structures may include Elephantine. 3
A common find on archaic sites in East Greece, these faience figures of humans and animals also o... more A common find on archaic sites in East Greece, these faience figures of humans and animals also occur at the trading post of Naukratis, established by the Greeks in the North Western Delta of Egypt. They demonstrate a mixed style combining Egyptian and Greek concepts and represent a significant part of the products of the faience industry which ranges in date between 630 and 550. They reproduce amuletic figures of humans - offering bearers, musicians, and naked women, as well as representations in Egyptian style of sacred animals such as the Apis/Mnevis bull, the ram of Amun, the hippopotamus Thoueris, and most popular – the Horus falcon. They range in quality from very fine to extremely crude and basic. The two most frequent find places are Naukratis and Rhodes, and though it would seem most likely that the concepts and technique originate in the Egyptian sphere, the actual distribution of find types suggests a complex history of imitation and re-invention, with manufacturing centres in both East Greece and Naukratis. This article discusses the finds made in Naukratis, and their relationship to the material elsewhere.
Greece, but, having been lost, was reintroduced to the Greek world only in the first half of the ... more Greece, but, having been lost, was reintroduced to the Greek world only in the first half of the first millennium BC. The Greek island of Rhodes and the Greek-Egyptian trade harbour of Naukratis in the Nile Delta are suspected to be key centres of early Greek-style faience production, exporting amulets and vessels across the Mediterranean region. Yet the nature and scale of their production and their role in technology transfer, vis-à-vis Egyptian and Levantine/Phoenician production, remain little understood. The main aim of this study was to discover whether it is possible to define chemical characteristics for the faience produced and found at Naukratis, and to use this data to differentiate between artefacts produced here and elsewhere.
by Panagiotis Kousoulis, Grigorios Kontopoulos, Electra Apostola, Anna Kalaitzaki, Matthew L Skuse, Virginia Webb, Alexandra Villing, Dominique Barcat, Aurelia Masson-Berghoff (Masson), Fani Seroglou, Natasha (Anastasia) Psarologaki, Justin Yoo, Dalit Regev, Georges Mavroudis, and Giorgos Bourogiannis The Aegyptiaca Symposium is the second international colloquium in the Ex Oriente Lux series and ... more The Aegyptiaca Symposium is the second international colloquium in the Ex Oriente Lux series and it was born out of the interdisciplinary research project Aegyptiaca: Ecumene and Economy in the Horizon of Religion, which is coordinated by the University of the Aegean (Department of Mediterranean Studies), the University of Bonn (Institute of Egyptology) and the University οf Thessaly (Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology) since 2007. The Project and the Symposium focuse on the Egyptian and egyptianised material from archaic Greece and on the re-evaluation of the Egyptian cross-cultural interactivity with the Aegean world and the Early Iron Age eastern Mediterranean in the sphere of economy and religion.
Aegyptiaca Project website: http://aegeanegyptology.gr/the-aegyptiaca-project-ecumene-…/
BOOKS Archaic Greek Faience, Warminster, 1978 by Virginia Webb
BOOKS Faience Material - the Samos Heraion DAi by Virginia Webb
Talks by Virginia Webb
Papers by Virginia Webb
Journal of Ancient Egyptian Connections, 2021
The faience industry in Rhodes has been, and still remains, the subject of much debate. The objec... more The faience industry in Rhodes has been, and still remains, the subject of much debate. The objects found
appear to form a unique phenomenon of acculturation with styles and objects taken from one or more
cultures and transplanted to another. A number of discrete groups of faience objects can now be
distinguished, but a great deal still remains to be done. In the 7th century BCE, both closed and open shapes
intended to market precious liquid were made locally, while their symbolic messages are ultimately derived
from the Egyptian world. Other objects imitate prototypes from the Near East. Amulets and scarabs present
another varied and challenging field of investigation, and recent work on the Kamiros votive deposits
presents some interesting possibilities for categorizing these. Discrete groups of faience material can now
be distinguished, and this paper is intended to show, with a restricted number of examples, what can be
achieved. Concentrating on the 7th-century BCE material from the two deposits on the acropolis of Kamiros,
this study outlines the contact with the non-Greek world that these objects suggest.
Technè
Faience technology was known in Egypt since the Predynastic Period and practiced for a period als... more Faience technology was known in Egypt since the Predynastic Period and practiced for a period also in Bronze Age Greece, but, having been lost, was reintroduced to the Greek world only in the first half of the first millennium BC. The Greek island of Rhodes and the Greek-Egyptian trade harbour of Naukratis in the Nile Delta are suspected to be key centres of early Greek-style faience production, exporting amulets and vessels across the Mediterranean region. Yet, the nature and scale of their production and their role in technology transfer, vis-à-vis Egyptian and Levantine/Phoenician production, remain little understood. The main aim of this study was to discover whether it is possible to define chemical characteristics for the faience produced and found at Naukratis, and to use this data to differentiate between artefacts produced here and elsewhere. A programme of ion beam (PIXE and PIGE) analysis was conducted under the CHARISMA transnational access scheme, known to be a suitable tool for studying ancient vitreous artefacts as it provides a non-destructive means of obtaining precise and accurate quantitative compositional data. Both the internal body of damaged objects as well as the outer glaze layer were analysed, of which only the latter are discussed here. The results of this study indicate that the faience found at both Naukratis and on Rhodes is compositionally similar. However, some small differences were found in the raw materials used in its production which may help us to better characterise the production of different faience manufacturing centres.
The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 1983
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Recent & Upcoming Conference Talks by Virginia Webb
Aegyptiaca Project website: http://aegeanegyptology.gr/the-aegyptiaca-project-ecumene-…/
BOOKS Archaic Greek Faience, Warminster, 1978 by Virginia Webb
BOOKS Faience Material - the Samos Heraion DAi by Virginia Webb
Talks by Virginia Webb
Papers by Virginia Webb
appear to form a unique phenomenon of acculturation with styles and objects taken from one or more
cultures and transplanted to another. A number of discrete groups of faience objects can now be
distinguished, but a great deal still remains to be done. In the 7th century BCE, both closed and open shapes
intended to market precious liquid were made locally, while their symbolic messages are ultimately derived
from the Egyptian world. Other objects imitate prototypes from the Near East. Amulets and scarabs present
another varied and challenging field of investigation, and recent work on the Kamiros votive deposits
presents some interesting possibilities for categorizing these. Discrete groups of faience material can now
be distinguished, and this paper is intended to show, with a restricted number of examples, what can be
achieved. Concentrating on the 7th-century BCE material from the two deposits on the acropolis of Kamiros,
this study outlines the contact with the non-Greek world that these objects suggest.
Aegyptiaca Project website: http://aegeanegyptology.gr/the-aegyptiaca-project-ecumene-…/
appear to form a unique phenomenon of acculturation with styles and objects taken from one or more
cultures and transplanted to another. A number of discrete groups of faience objects can now be
distinguished, but a great deal still remains to be done. In the 7th century BCE, both closed and open shapes
intended to market precious liquid were made locally, while their symbolic messages are ultimately derived
from the Egyptian world. Other objects imitate prototypes from the Near East. Amulets and scarabs present
another varied and challenging field of investigation, and recent work on the Kamiros votive deposits
presents some interesting possibilities for categorizing these. Discrete groups of faience material can now
be distinguished, and this paper is intended to show, with a restricted number of examples, what can be
achieved. Concentrating on the 7th-century BCE material from the two deposits on the acropolis of Kamiros,
this study outlines the contact with the non-Greek world that these objects suggest.