1

Petros G. Themelis
MACEDONIAN METALWORKING

The existence of gold, silver, copper and iron

mines in Macedonia, attested in the literary sources
(Herodotus III, 63. VI, 46-47. VII, 12; Thucydides I, 100,
2; Strabo VII, 331, . 34; A,
, 45 832b), has been confirmed by both
archaeometallurgical and archaeological investigations.1

1 R.J. Forbes, Metallurgy in Antiquity. A Notebook for

Archaeologists and Technologists, Leiden 1950, 198; C.
Renfrew, The Emergence of Civilisation, London 1972, 311;
N.G.L. Hammond, A History of Macedonia I, Oxford 1972, 312-
313, 317; J.F. Healy, Mining and Metallurgy in the Greek
and Roman World, London 1978, 46, 53, 57-62; W. Gentner et
al., Silver Sources of Archaic Greek Coinage, Die
Naturwissenschaften 65 (1978), 275-278; . , O
A, AAA XIX (1986), 180, n. 7; E.
Pernicka, Erzlagersttten der gis und ihre Ausbeutung im
Altertum: Geochemische Untersuchungen zur
Herkunftsbestimmung archologischer Metallobjekte,
JbZMusMainz 34 (1987), 607-714; I. Vokotopoulou - Ch.
Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, The Early Iron Age, in Ancient
Macedonia: Catalogue of Exhibition in Australia, Athens
1988, 84-89; I. B, N
X, M . ,
M , 1990,
111, 120
3 . .X.; X. K-X, T
, : M . ,
M , 1990, 493-514
; Z.A. Stos-Gale, C.F. Macdonald, Sources of
Metals and Trade in the Bronze Age Aegean, in N.H. Gale
(ed.), The Bronze Age Trade in the Mediterranean, SIMA 90
(Jonsered 1991), 270-281; M.Yu. Treister, The Role of
Metals in Ancient Greek History, Leiden 1996, 21; M.
B, . , G. A. Wagner, B. M,
: M
K, K, in Archaeometrical and archaeological
research in Macedonia and Thrace, Proceedings of the 2nd
Symposium, Thessaloniki 1966, 23-35. Iron mines, esp. on
the Chalkidike, were in use til the Roman period: D.
2

Stone moulds for casting weapons, tools and jewellery,

found at Assiros, are evidence of metalworking activity at
least from the Late Bronze Age, which is corroborated by
the presence of iron rust in levels of the same period at
Axiochori.2
Further indications of the operation of
metalworking workshops in Macedonia during the period from
the ninth to the seventh century BC are the stone mould for
casting jewellery, from Vergina, and the moulds recovered
from Saratse, Kastanas, Anchialos and the site of Koukos
Sykia at Sithonia in the Chalcidice.3 These attest a local
metalworking tradition, mainly in bronze and iron, which
apparently continued in the ensuing centuries. The
production of certain bronze objects in Macedonia began in
the ninth century BC. Occurring with greater frequency in
the late eighth and during the seventh century BC, these
continued to be made until around the fifth century BC and
come mainly from graves at Tsousitsa, Vergina, Potidaia,
Amphipolis, the area of Dion, Nea Michaniona near
Thessaloniki and other sites that are less well-known.
These objects are solid heavy bracelets, pins and bow
fibulae, and, primarily, small cast pendants in the form

Samsaris, Le mines et la metalurgie defer et de cuivre dans

laprovince romaine de Macdoine, Klio 69, 1987, 152-162; cf
A. Keramidciev, MacedActaArch 3, 1977, 103-115; .A.
, T ,
TEKMHPIA A, 1995, 66-76.
2 K.A. Wardle, Excavations at Assiros, BSA 1980, pl. 22.
Cf. also W.A. Heurtley, Prehistoric Macedonia, London 1939,
fig. 112b. Ancient Macedonia, op. cit., 145, no. 48; I.
Vokotopoulou, Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, op. cit., 84-89.
3 A. M, I. T,
B. , A M
IV (1986), 365-376; M. T, AEM 5 (1991), 236 and
245, fig. 1; idem, A
A (1990-1992) - O
, E 3 (1991/92), 216-217, figs 10-12;
J. Carington-Smith, J. Vokotopoulou, Excavations at Koukos,
Sykia, AEM (1992), 495-498, pls 502. 6a-b.
3

of: a) vases (oinochoe, lebes, pyxis), b) geometric shapes

(globule, spindle (fusiform), loop and disc), c) animals
(horse, ibex, birds) and d) combinations of geometric
shapes and animals, which were made in the southern parts
of Macedonia under the influence (via Thessaly) of large
workshop centres in the Peloponnese (Corinth, Argos,
Sparta), as well as of regions outside Greece, in Central
Europe.4
In the first half of the sixth century BC a new
era dawned for the Macedonians, most probably linked with
their expansion to the east of the River Haliacmon, which
had already commenced in the late seventh century BC. The
grave goods from the cemeteries at Sindos (560-450 BC),
Vergina (540-480 BC), Aghia Paraskevi (575-500 BC), Pydna,
Nea Michaniona (Aineia), as well as those from Aiane in
Elymiotis,5 bear witness to the cultural burgeoning around

4 I. Bouzek, Graeco-Macedonian Bronzes, Prague 1973, 52-

158; idem, Thessalian and Macedonian Bronzes, Ephem 1988,
47-59, with earlier bibliography; J.-I. Zimmermann, Les
chevaux de bronze dans lart geometrique grec, Mainz 1989,
260-267; Treister, op. cit., 50; cf. I. Kilian-Dirlmeier,
Anhnger in Griechenland von der mykenischen bis zur
sptgeometrischen Zeit, Mnchen 1979, 221-224, nos 1449-
1451, pls 103 and 107; see also Ancient Macedonia op. cit.,
178-180, nos 103-106; K. Kilian, Trachtzubehr der
Eisenzeit zwischen gis und Adria, PZ 50 (1975), 87-109,
pl. 86 (=map); . ,
A K, AAA (1988), 91-101; I. B, O
A, Athens 1990, 96-107, pls 61,
63, 66, drawings 50, 52 and 56; A Passion for Antiquities.
Ancient Art from the Collection of B. and L. Fleischman,
M. True, K. Hamma (eds), Catalogue of Exhibition in Malibu
13 October 1994-15 January 1995 and in Cleveland 15
February - 23 April 1995, Malibu 1994, 48, no. 11; cf A.
X, T N Z
, in M X, volume in memory of Mary
Siganidou, Theassaloniki 1998, 319.
5 M.A , A B, Prakt
1987, 126-128; M. A, A. K, A
B, Prakt 1988, 100-107, pls 71-77; K. ,
T A. ,
4

the middle of the sixth century BC, and to the influx of

considerable quantities of objects, mainly clay vases, from
the major centres of Southern Greece- Corinth, Athens -,
and Asia Minor.6 It is not fortuitous that around 550 BC the
first silver coins were issued by local tribes and colonies
of Macedonia.7 These artefacts give the impression that they

B, Thessaloniki 1987, 787-802; M. M, A

1989, AEM 3 (1989),
156-157; M. M, M. , , Katerini 1995; see
also . M, - , AEM 2 (1988), 283-
289; B, op. cit., 95-111; cf. the important
finds from the Kozani-Aiani area: . K-M,
K, E, Thessaloniki 1993, 46-69, figs
19-39; E. K, A
A, in M X, volume in the memory of Mary
Siganidou, Thessaloniki 1996, 115-124; cf. A. Johnston, On
some graffiti from Aiani, ZPE 104 (1994), 81-82 where the
term possibly implies smooth, undecorate metal
vases without engraved or embossed representations, rather
than clay ones.
6 In the first half of the 6th century BC Corinthian vases
held sway, from the mid-6th century BC Attic vases held
first place, followed by Corinthian and after them vases
from Ionian and other workshops: M. T, E
A
, 55 (1993), 557; E. K,
A A, in M
X, volume in the memory of Mary Siganidou, Thessaloniki
1996, 115-116 and notes 4-6.
The lid of a lekanis with representation of seated females
and a cock, which Tiverios designates, with reservations,
as Boeotian (op. cit. 559, fig. 9) displays close stylistic
similarities to the local vases of Pyrgadikia style and
with the so-called pre-Persian vases of Olynthos: see E.
, H X 4 . . X., in
KEPNO, . M,
Thessaloniki 1972, 6-9, pls 3-6; cf. also I. B,
M. , M. T, X 1988, AEM 2
(1988), 321-322, n. 13.
7 J. Svoronos, L'hellenisme primitif de la Macdoine
prouv par la numismatique et l' or du Pange, ENA 19
(1918/19), 92-100; M.J. Price, The Coin Hoards of the
Macedonians, London 1974, 119; M.J. Price, N.M. Waggoner,
Archaic Greek Coinage: The Assyut Hoard, London 1975; C.M.
5

express an economically flourishing and militarily powerful

aristocracy8 which, although not yet set off fully from the
local cultural substratum (characteristic of which are the
gold mask and bronze Illyrian helmet), nevertheless was
tending to link itself consciously with the Greeks in the
South and to forge its own new cultural and ethnic
identity.9 Moreover, excavations in the cemetery at Sindos,
and at the other sites mentioned above, have shown that in
Macedonia the habit of placing metal and other precious
objects in the grave, as a manifestation of the
aristocracy's social prestige, can be traced back to at
least the sixth century BC and is associated with
comparable customs in Thrace and Illyria.10
This period of zenith and cultural links with
the South coincides mainly with the reign of Amyntas I (548
(?)-498 BC) and of his son and successor Alexander I (498-
454 BC), and in part with that of Perdiccas I (454-413 BC),

Kraay, Archaic and Classical Greek Coins, London 1976, 148;

N.G.L. Hammond, G.T. Griffith, A History of Macedonia II,
Oxford 1979, 69-71; N.G.L. Hammond, The Lettering and the
Iconography of Macedonian' Coinage, in W.G. Moon (ed.),
Ancient Greek Art and Iconography, Wisconsin 1983, 246-249;
cf. V. Poulios, Macedonian Coinage from the 6th century to
148 BC, in Ancient Macedonia op. cit., 54-55.
8 As the many helmets and the iron offensive weapons from
Sindos and other Archaic-Classical cemeteries indicate.
Cf. E.N. Borza, In the Shadows of Olympus. The Emergence of
Macedon, Oxford 1990, 88-89.
9 Borza 1990, op. cit., 277-282; cf. W. Volcker-Janssen,
Kunst und Gesellschaft an den Hfen Alexanders d. Gr. und
seiner Nachfolger, Mnchen 1993, 333, nn. 76-77. On the
survival or revival of Mycenaean cultural elements in
Macedonia in Archaic and Classical times see A. Cohen,
Alexander and Achilles-Macedonians and 'Mycenaeans', in
I.B. Carter, S.P. Morris (eds), The Ages of Homer, Austin
1995, 483-505.
10 J. Buzek, I. Ondrejova, Sindos-Trebenishte-Dubanli.
Interrelations between Thrace, Macedonia and Greece in the
6th and 5th Centuries BC, Mediterranean Archaeology 1
(1988), 94; cf.M. T, M, 26, 70-87.
6

although from 446/5 BC onwards he faced serious domestic

problems and was at loggerheads with the Athenians.11
Amyntas I was on good terms with Peisistratos, whom he
helped to found the colony of Raikelos on the east coast of
the Thermaic Gulf, as well as with his son Hippias, to whom
he offered the area of Anthemous in 510 BC. Alexander I
was honoured by the Athenians as proxenos and euergetes,
and was declared a Greek and a descendant of Herakles by
all the Greeks, at Olympia; he later received the honorary
title of Philhellene.12 He increased the territory of his
kingdom four-fold and was the first Argead monarch to mint
coins bearing his name, indeed using both the Macedonian
and the Attic weight standard of the colonies in an
attempt to bridge the differences.13
After the end of the Persian Wars new prospects
opened for Macedonia, with Athens playing a leading
political and cultural role. Alexander I conquered
Bisaltia on the west bank of the River Strymon and so
acquired the silver mines at Dysoros.14 Archelaos (414-399

11 R.J. Hoffman, Perdikkas and the Outbreak of the

Peloponnesian War, GRBS 16 (1975), 346-365; Borza 1990, op.
cit., 139-141.
12 Aristotle, Athenian Constitution 15. 2; Herodotus, 5.
94; Scholia on Thucydides I, 57,2; Dio Chrysostom 25;
Harpokration, s.v. Alexandros. See also J.W. Cole,
Alexander Philhellene and Themistocles, L'Antiquite
Classique 47 (1978), 45-47; Hammond, Griffith, op. cit.,
68; Borza 1990, op. cit., 108-109 and 113-118.
13 C.F. Edson, H M , in ..
, M. B. X (eds),
M, Athens 1980, 15; D. Raymond, Macedonian Royal
Coinage to 413 BC, Numismatic Notes Monographs 126, New
York 1953; Poulios, op. cit., 109; . A- B, T
M 6 4 ..X.,
in H M M
A, Catalogue of Exhibition, Bologna 1989, 163-164.
14 E.N. Borza, The Natural Resources of Early Macedonia, in
W.L. Adams, E.N. Borza (eds), Philip II, Alexander the
Great and Macedonian Heritage, Washington D.C. 1982, 18-19;
7

BC) transferred the new capital to Pella15 and, according to

Thucydides (II.100.1-2), also improved the equipment of his
army. To meet the demand for weapons, which were mass-
produced, as well as of metal parts for warships, large
local workshops were established under state control, in
Macedonia's case under the control of the royal court.16 The
excavations at Olynthos, which was conquered by Philip II
in 348 BC, have shown the sophistication of the siege
machines. The iron and bronze parts for these must have
been made in workshops of the Macedonian court, which also
had all the necessary sources of raw materials at its
disposal, including copper and iron mines. With the
kingdom's expansion under Philip II, the control and
exploitation of the rich deposits of gold and silver in
Mount Pangaion and the Orvylos range, and subsequently in
Dardania and Kratovo, was secured.17 The recruiting of an

I. Vokotopoulou, Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, Archaic and

Classical times, in Ancient Macedonia op. cit., 30.
15 . K, O A
M, Thessaloniki 1948, 77ff; Borza 1990, op. cit.,
168-171; F. Papazoglou, Les vills de Macdoine a l'poque
romaine, Paris 1988, 135-139; M.B. Hatzopoulos, Strepsa: A
Reconsideration, or New Evidence on the Road System of
Lower Macedonia, in Two Studies in Ancient Macedonian
Topography, Meletemata 3, Athens 1987, 41-44, argues that
the capital of Macedonia was not transferred to Pella by
Archaelaos but by Amyntas III (393-370/69 BC).
16 L. Neesen, Demiurgoi und Artifices: Studien zur Stellung
freier Handwerker in antiken Stdten, Frankfurt am Main
1989, 82-83; Treister, op. cit., 218-229.
17 Diodorus, XVI, 8.6; B. S. Straus, Philipp II Of Macedon,
Athens and Silver Mines, Hermes 112, 416-427; E. Photos, C.
Koukouli-Chrysanthaki, R.F. Tylecote, G. Gialoglou,
Precious Metals Extraction in Palaia Kavala, NE Greece. An
Archaeometallurgical Attempt to Locate Skapte Hyle, in
Archometallurgie der alten Welt, 1989, 179-190; D.
Tzavellas, Mount Pangaeus: Struggles around Gold Mines in
Antiquity, in Gold Jewelry: craft, Style and Meaning, from
Mycenae to Constantinopolis, Louvain-la-Neuve 1983, 163-
169; N.G.L. Hammond, The Macedonian State. Origins,
8

army largely of mercenaries led to the mass production of

weapons by the Macedonian court workshops.18 The output of
bronze arrow heads and lead missiles inscribed with the
name Philip,19 of sarissa points and other standardized
offensive and defensive weapons of bronze and iron, which
were then distributed to the troops, was prolific.20 The
practice of state distribution of weapons was a predecessor

Institutions and History, Oxford 1989, 180-182; Treister,

op. cit., 285-286.
18 Alongside the workshops involved with the mass
production of weapons, royal mints were developing in order
to pay the mercenaries: Treister, op. cit., 397-398.
19 Robinson, Excavations at Olynthus, 10, 382-383, nos
1907-1911, and 418-443, nos 2176-2380. H M
A, op. cit., no. 151. Cf.
B. Caven, Dionysius I War-Lord of Sicily, New Haven -
London 1990, 250; Borza 1990, op. cit., 299. Alessandro
Magno storia e mito, Catalogue of Exhibition in the Palazzo
Ruspoli, Rome 21 December 1995 - 21 May 1996, Rome 1997,
232-234.
20 Diod. Sic. 15.3.1. N.G.L. Hammond 1989, op. cit., 104,
n. 14. On Macedonian weapons see M.M. Markle III,
Macedonian Arms and Tactics under Alexander the Great,
Studies in the History of Art 10 (1971/72), 87-92; idem,
The Macedonian Sarissa, Spear and Related Armour, AJA 81
(1977), 323-328; idem, Use of the Sarissa by Philip and
Alexander of Macedon, AJA 82 (1978_, 483ff.; idem, Weapons
from the Cemetery of Vergina and Alexander's Army, in M
A 2300 , Thessaloniki
1980, 243ff.; P. Foster, Greek Arms and Armour. The Greek
Museum, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne 1978, 13
(=sauroter with inscription MAK); M. Lumpkin, The Weapons
and Armour of the Macedonian Phalanx, The Journal of the
Arms and Armour Society VIII, 3 (1975), 196-201; I.
T, T B.
, A M
(1986), 611-628; K. Liampi, Der makedonische Schild, Bonn
1978, 9-11, 45; . , T M
M T, (unpublished monograph, Thessaloniki
1994); cf. also A.H. Jackson, Hoplites and the Gods: The
Dedication of Captured Arms and Armour, in V.D. Hanson
(ed.), Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience,
London - New York 1991, 228-252.
9

of that type of redistribution of metal objects found in

the Hellenistic monarchies.21
Included in the category of defensive weapons
is the peritrachelion, a rare accessory rather like a
gorget, which was evidently distributed in northeast Thrace
(Jankovo, Varbica, Mal Tepe-Mezek) and Macedonia (Katerini,
Pydna,Vergina, Derveni), in the late fourth century BC,
while some centre in the wider Macedonian realm is proposed
as its place of production.22 It is known from an
inscription that between 320 and 317 BC Alexander the
Great's wife, Roxane, dedicated in the sanctuary of Athena
Polias on the Acropolis at Athens: a gold rhyton, gold
peritrachelidia and other objects.23 This is doubly
interesting, firstly because no rhyta of precious metals
have been found in Macedonia, although they are known from
Scythia, and secondly because Roxane's gold peritrachelidia
were not the Macedonian- Thracian defensive weapons but the
chest ornaments known from Scythia, only two examples of
which have been found so far.24 A further piece of

21 Treister, op.cit., 397.

22 Z.H. Archibald, The Gold Pectoral from Vergina and its
Connections, OxJA 4(2) (1985), 165-168; . ,
, A 40 (1985) (1991), M 1-16, pls 1-12;
idem 1994, op. cit., 66.
23 See IG II, 2, 1477, in which are recorded (in 304/3 BC)
precious ex-votos of gold and silver of the period 320-307
BC, which were stored in the Parthenon; cf. St.N.
Koumanoudes, S.G. Miller, Hesperia 40 (1971), 448-457; D.M.
Lewis, The last Inventories of Athena, in Comptes et
inventaires dans la cit greque, Actes du colloque de
Neuchtel en l'honneur de J. Treheux, Geneva 1988, 305-306;
I. Blanck, Studien zum griechischen Halsschmuck der
archaischen und klassischen Zeit (Dissertation), Cologne
1974, 16, 29-30 and 33. For the first appearance of the
word peritrachelidion in the inscription IG II, 2 , 1407.9
of 385 BC, in relation to one of the gold statues of Nike
that were kept in the Parthenon: Hesperia 1940, 311, no.
282. See also Blanck, op. cit.
24 R. Rolle, M. Muller-Wille, K. Schietzel, Gold der
Steppe. Archologie der Ukraine, Catalogue of Exhibition in
10

information that emerges from the epigraphic testimony of

the Athenian Acropolis is that rhyta and other rare vessels
and jewellery of gold, none of which has come to light as
yet, must have existed in the Macedonian royal court during
the period that followed Alexanders the Great campaign to
Asia.25
The possession of gold and silver vases, and to
a lesser extent of bronze ones, was always a characteristic
of the ruling class, an expression of social status and a
symbol of power and authority.26 Precious metal tableware
and vessels of all kinds were an essential part of the
Macedonian elite's cultural identity and played an
important role in the functioning of the regime, as a link
between the monarch and the aristocracy of the hetairoi.
The special significance of gold and silver vases also
emerges from their use as ritual vessels, as prizes in
contests and as gifts par excellence, mainly during court

the Landesmuseum Schleswig 1991, no. 104, pls 387-393 (by

Tolstaya Mogila); Greek and Roman Antiquities in the
Ermitage, Leningrad 1975, pl. 65 (Bolshaya Bliznitsa); .
1994, op. cit., 91, points out the similarity in
morphology between the piece of jewellery and the weapon of
the same name.
25 Only the lucky find of an unplundered royal tomb in
Macedonia can provide archaeological confirmation of this
epigraphic testimony. Athenian rhyta are mentioned by
Athenaeus XI 461b and 467a-c, who states tat the so-called
rhyton is attributed only to heros; this statement is
probably related to the presence of rhyta in the hands of
reclining heros in banket reliefs.
26 D.E. Strong, Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate,
London 1966, XXV-XXVII; G. Clark, Symbols of Excellence:
Precious Materials as Expression of Status, Cambridge 1986;
D. Gill, Expressions of Wealth: Greek Art and Society,
Antiquity 62 (1988), 735-743; M. Vickers, D. Gill, Artful
Crafts. Ancient Greek Silverware and Pottery, Oxford 1994,
35-54, 98-101. A similar funktion is attributed to the
precious metal vases of the Mycenaean period: R. Laffineur,
Les vases en mtal prcieux a l poque mycnienne,
Gtteborg 1977, 86-87.
11

symposia (banquets/drinking parties).27 According to

Plutarch (Moralia 177, 1. 531d-e), the tragic poet
Euripides received a gold cup as a gift during a symposium
at the court of King Archelaos, while Philip II tried to
offer slaves and 'drinking cups of gold and silver' to the
emissaries of Thebes whom he had invited to a symposium
(Demosthenes 19.139). At Pella and Amphipolis not only
were the coins of the monarch minted but also, among other
things, gold, silver and bronze vessels fashioned.28
Gold and silver vases were, however, rare in the
time before Alexander the Great, even in the reign of the
reformer of the Macedonian kingdom, Philip II, who
controlled and exploited all the mines in the land. This is
concluded not only from the literary testimonies but also
from the archaeological evidence. According to Herodotus
(VII, 119), the Acanthians made gold and silver cups and
bowls and all manner of service for the table, but these
were used by the Great King and those who ate with him, and
only for as long as they stayed in the land.29 Alexander,
in his address to the troops at Opis, speaks of the
inheritance he had found in his father's treasuries at
Pella: 60 talents and a few gold and silver vases, as well
as debts amounting to 500 talents (Arrian, Anabasis

27 A. E. Riz, Bronzegefsse in der romisch-pompejanischen

Wandmalerei, Mainz/Rhein 1990, 23026 (=ritual use); B.
Schrder, Der Sport im Altertum, Berlin 1927, 45ff.; P.
Amandry, BCH 95 (1971), 608ff.; M. T,
, Athens 1989, 30-32 (=prizes); Vlcker-Janssen,
op. cit., 185-186 (=symposia, gifts).
28 Livy, XLV.33. 5-8; . -,
M , A M V
(1993), 1191; M. -A,
, in M X, volume in the memory of Mary
Siganidou, Thessaloniki 1996, 128, n. 7 and 8.
29 The Akanthians used the silver loads in the Stageira
area: Treister, op. cit., 180; cf. . 1986, op.
cit., 180, n. 7.
12

7.9.6).30 Philip himself had inherited just as little

(Plutarch, Moralia 327d).
The Sindos cemetery, of the period 560-450 BC,
although rich in gold and silver jewellery,31 iron minor
objects and weapons, as well as bronze vases, yielded
relatively few silver vases and none of gold. The
contemporary finds from Vergina, Aghia Paraskevi
Thessaloniki, Pydna, the Kozani area and other sites with
finds sometimes dating down to the first half of the fourth
century BC, present a similar picture.32 On the contrary,

30 J. Touratsoglou, Die Baupolitik Kassanders, in Basileia:

Die Palste der hellenistischen Knige, Mainz 1996, 176-
181; I. T, O , in .
, I. T (eds), O ,
Athens 1997, 186-191.
31 Chemical analysis of the gold from some of the jewellery
from Sindos is similar in composition to the alluvial gold
still collected today in areas near the banks of the River
Gallikos (anc. Echedoros), which further corroborates the
view that the jewellery is 'local: Aik. Despini, Ancient
Gold Jewellery, Athens 1997, 17; , K ,
Athens 1985, passim. See also A. , X
, A M IV (1986). 159-169;
cf. S. Miller, New Development in Northern Greek Jewelry:
Sindos, Vergina and Other Sites from Archaic to
Hellenistic, in Ancient Jewelry and Archaeology, 1991;
Treister, op. cit., 184; M. B, M. K, E.
M,
K M, in Archaeometrical and archaeological
research in Macedonia and Thrace, Proceedings of te 2nd
Symposium, Thessaloniki 1996, 37-46; T 1993, op.
cit. 555 and idem 1991/92, op. cit., 216, suggests that the
gold found at Geometric Eretria and Protogeometric Lefkandi
comes from the River Echedoros.
32 A, K, op. cit., 100-107, pls 71-77;
, op. cit., 789-791; M , op. cit., 156-
157; M, , op. cit.; see also M, op.
cit., 283-289; cf. the important finds from the area of
Kozani-Aiani: K-M, op. cit., 46-49, figs
19-39. See the silver phiale from Kozani, which is similar
to that from Sindos: B, K, D. Feytmans, AE
1948/49, 92-96, figs 8-9 and . P - I. T,
E M, Athens 1985, 20 no. 2; M.
13

corresponding finds of the sixth-fifth century BC from

Trebenishte, Duvanjli and Asia Minor - to remain with these
regions - include a relatively large number of gold, gilded
and silver vases.33 The exceptions are the small silver
kantharos no. 8568, the silver bossed bowls (omphalos
phiale) nos 8574 and 8575, and the silver ladle no. 8532
from Sindos, the inscribed silver phiale from Vergina, the
similar silver phiale from Kozani, the silver phiale from
the Chalcidice and the silver hydria from Gefyra.34
The turning point was Alexander's Asian
campaign, in the course of which mythical riches were
amassed, part of which was brought back to Macedonia as

K-, A 21 (1966) X 341, pl. 361

(=silver hydria from Gefyra). Even the bronze vases from
6th-, 5th- and 4th-century BC tombs in Macedonia are few:
. , X A, M 9 (1969), 135
(= hydria from Karabournaki). See also I. B,
A , Athens
1997, 105-108 (=hydria from Makrygialos Pieria), 109
(=hydria from Trikala, NAM X 18232), 116-117 (=cauldron
from Louloudia Kitrous Pydna), 149-150 (=hyudria from
Torone). Cf. K. P, Y
, in IIA EH . M, vol. III,
Athens 1989, 202-203 (=situla from the tomb in Dangli St.).
33 B.D. Filow, Die archaische Nekropole von Trebenischte am
Ochridasee, Berlin-Leipzig 1927; idem, Die
Grabhgelnekropole bei Duvanlij in Sdbulgarien, Sofia
1934; L. Popovic, Catalogue des objets decouverts prs de
Trebeniste, Belgrade 1956; D. Mano-Sixi, L. Popovic, Novi
Pazar, Belgrade 1969; I. Ozgen, J. Ozturk, Heritage
Recovered. Lydian Treasure, Istanbul 1996, passim; cf.
also B. Svoboda, D. Concev, Neue Denkmler antiker
Toreutik, II: Der Goldschatz von Panagjuriste, Prague 1956,
125-165; B.F. Cook (ed.) The Rogozem Treasure. Papers of
the Anglo- Bulgarian Conference, 12 March 1987, London
1989.
34 op. cit., 188, no. 309, 233, no. 374 and 147, no.
237; Prakt 1988, 104, pl. 77 (= from Vergina);
K- Feytmans, op. cit., 92-96, figs 8-9 (=from
Kozani); F.J. Hassel, IbZMusMainz, 14 (1967), 201, fig. 1,
pl. 49 (=from the Chalcidice); K-, op.
cit., 341, pl. 361 (=from Gefyra).
14

booty, salaries and gifts by the surviving hetairoi and

veterans.35 Among the first gifts that Alexander dispatched
to his mother Olympias, after the battle of Granikos, were
drinking cups (Plutarch, Alexander 16.8).36 In the view of
the author and I. Touratsoglou, the burials at Derveni,
with their highly ornate, opulent grave goods and vases of
gold and silver, date to the closing decades of the fourth
century BC and the opening ones of the third.37 The tombs
with analogous finds - cist-graves or of Macedonian type -
at Nikisiani and Vergina, Sedes, Stavroupolis, Tsagezi,
Potidaia, Sevasti in Pieria, Aineia, as well as elsewhere
in Macedonia and in other regions- Scythia, Thrace,
Illyria, Epirus, Thessaly, Aetolia, Southern Italy and
Sicily (Magna Graecia), and Asia Minor -, date from the
same period, around 320-280 BC.38 This new plethora of
precious metal vases and vessels, and their wide
distribution, helped bring about a change in attitude, even
towards precious ancestral heirlooms, which were no longer
bequeathed to the descendants but used to furnish tombs of
the next generations. Characteristic examples are the
fifth-century BC silver bowl from the sanctuary of Athena
at Megara, found in grave II at Kozani; the fifth-century
BC bronze tripod from the sanctuary of Hera at Argos, which
was used as a grave good in the late fourth-century BC

35 Vlcker-Janssen, op. cit., 188-189, with earlier

bibliography and sources.
36 See also B.R. Brown, Alexander the Great as Patron of
the Arts, in C.C. Mattusch (ed.), The Fire of Hephaistos.
Large Classical Bronzes from North American Collections,
Cambridge Massachussets 1996, 86-103.
37 , T, op. cit. 170-191.
38 , T, op. cit., 183-185. For
comparable finds from Aetolia see . , E
A, Ephem1906, lines 67-88, pl. 1; see also
True, Hamma (eds), op. cit., 78; I. . T,
, in M X, volume
in the memory of Mary Siganidou, Thessaloniki 1998, 236-
266, esp. 241.
15

Macedonian tomb II at Vergina; the fifth-century BC bronze

hydria from the late fourth-century BC grave 109 at Pydna;
the bronze hydria no. 7552, of 430 BC, from Aineia, which
was deposited in grave III of the second half of the fourth
century BC.39
There was indeed a spectacular increase in
metalwork products in the late fourth and early third
centuries BC. Nevertheless, the existence of metalworking
workshops in Macedonia from about the mid-sixth century BC,
producing vases and utensils mainly of bronze and iron, and
less of silver, for the needs of the local aristocracy, is
indisputable. These workshops were not necessarily located
near or inside the royal palaces; they were dispersed in
various urban centres in the realm40 and operated under the
control of the central authority.41 Naturally, metal vases
imported from the major workshop centres of the South, East
and West (or made in Macedonia by itinerant craftsmen from
these centres) prevailed initially,42 but even so imitations

39 M. Andronicos, Vergina. The Royal Tombs and the Ancient

City, Athens 1984, 165, fgis 133-134. There is an
identical inscription that that on the Vergina tripod on a
cauldron and three bronze hydries. A.H. Smith, The Tomb of
Aspasia, JHS 1926, 256; G.M. Richter, Bronze and Silver
Work Pamphlets. A Bronze Prize Hydria, AJA 50 (1946),
365ff.; M, op. cit., 157-158; B1997, op.
cit., 246, nos 105-108; I. B, H
A, in A A, op. cit., 157-169; ibidem 1990, op.
cit., 53-55. Cf. Vlcker-Janssen, op. cit., 199-200.
40 On the creation and form of the urban centres of
Macedonia see recently M.B. Hatzopoulos, Macedonian
Institutions under the Kings I. A Historical and Epigraphic
Study, Athens 1996, 105-123 and 404-471.
41 As happened in Ptolemaic Egypt, according to the
surviving testimonia of the 3rd c. BC; Treister, op. cit.,
371.
42 Athenian craftsmen must have moved to the provinces,
Macedonia included, particularly during the decade 330-320
BC when, in one view, drought in Attica affected the
Laurion mines and caused a rise in the price of grain,
16

appeared almost concurrently and products with a pronounced

local character were wrought soon after.
The issue is not whether or not metalworking
and toreutic workshops existed in Macedonia, but what are
the special features of Macedonian metalworking and
toreutics, or on the basis of what criteria can a toreutic
work or a metal vase be identified as 'Macedonian'. Its
issue is thus one of methodology and in no way differs from
the familiar problem of attributing works of art in general
to workshops in different parts of Greece or even to
specific hands, primarily on the basis of stylistic
analysis, in conjunction with the technological and
morphological features and consideration of excavation data
where these exist.43
As Julia Vocotopoulou rightly observed it
would be difficult to believe that only bronze pendants,
and indeed in a limited number of types, were produced in
the whole of Macedonia during the Archaic period,
particularly since these demanded great skill in casting,
and that there was not the possibility of making hammered
bronze vases with cast handles.44 In her opinion, the cast
billy goats adorning the so-called 'Argolic' kraters from
Trebenishte, the krater from a tomb at Aiane Kozani and the
krater from Western Macedonia in the Ortiz Collection,45
display stylistic affinities with the bust of a billy goat
on the so-called coin of Aegae and advocate the kraters'

while the conquest of Thebes by the Macedonians had already

made Athens one-eyed.
43 The excavation data, thanks to some categories of finds,
such as coins and stamped amphora handles, often offer the
possibility of more precise dating.
44 B1997, op. cit., 29.
45 Filow, op. cit., 53, no. 69, figs 52-54. Cf. True,
Hamma (eds), op. cit., 65, no. 21; The George Ortiz
Collection. In Pursuit of the Absolute Art of the Ancient
World. Catalogue of the Exhibition, London 1994, no. 111.
17

attribution to a Western Macedonian workshop.46 According to

Vocotopoulou, works such as the squatting male figure no.
01.7477 from Edessa, of 500-470 BC, now in Boston (fig.
1);47 the head of a youth no. 29.48 from Macedonia, now in
the Metropolitan Museum New York; the Herakles with bow no.
98.657 from the Amphipolis area, now in Boston (fig. 2)48
the cast and cut-out relief heraldic lions in New York;49 as
well as bronze vases from Thessaloniki and Pieria,50 could
all be attributed to local toreutic workshops open to
influences from imported Corinthian and Ionian works. We
suggest that the following pieces should be added to the
list: the bronze fifth-century BC trefoil-mouth hydria from
Drosia Edessa, with a repouss head of a papposilenus at
the bottom of the vertical handle and a head of a daemonic
figure, sculpted in the round and turned towards the inside
of the vase, as its finial (fig. 3),51 and three bronze
statuettes of symposiasts, attachments of a large bronze
vase or tripod from Northern Greece, of 550-525 BC, in the
Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Collection.52 The stylistic

46 B 1997, op. cit., 29.

47 M. Comstock, C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan and Roman
Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston 1971, 33,
no. 31.
48 Comstock, Vermeule, op. cit., 23, no. 21.
49 Comstock, Vermeule, op. cit., 300, no. 426.
50 B1997, op. cit., 29-30, figs 76, 87, 105-108,
114-117. There is a parallel for the squatting satyr
upholding, Atlas-like, the rings of the handles on the
Pieria dinos, from the Athenian Acropolis: see . K,
A A A. T A
, XII
, A 4-10 1983, col. OOO, Athens
1988, 94, pl. 18,1. Cf. also True, Hamma (eds), op. cit.,
59-60, no. 19.
51 1969, op. cit., 176, no. 69, pl. 83-. For
handles of the same type see , T, op.
cit., A7, pl. 41.
52 Tru, Hamma (eds), 56-58, no. 17, with bibliography on
similar symposiasts from Dodoni, now in Berlin.
18

traits which, in addition to the common provenance, closely

link the above works with each other (except for the head
of the youth 29.48 in New York) and characterize them as
'Macedonian' can be summarized as follows:
a) swollen cheek bones,
b) exaggerated eyelids, with no particular
differentiation of the upper from the lower,
c) nose with wide nostrils, modelled with little
plasticity,
d) a tendency towards schematization, standardized
repetition and a linear rendering of details (as on the
curls of the coiffure, the moustache and the beard or the
ears, as well as on the folds of the garments),
e) ptonounced deep engraving,
f) lack of proportion between body, head and limbs
(regardless of the fact that the squatting male from Edessa
represents a dwarf figure),
g) indifferent expression ('bored' according to
Vocotopoulou).
These same characteristics are encountered on
the male figures on the silver octadrachms of the Edonians
and Bisaltians (fig. 4a-b), as well as on the maenad-satyr
group on the silver staters of Lete (fig. 5).53 The gold
necklace bead Z4, in the form of a Herakles head, from tomb
Z at Derveni,54 and possibly the bronze Poseidon from
Pella55 bear witness, in my opinion, to a continuity of this
particular artistic tradition into Late Classical and
Hellenistic times. Noteworthy as far as continuity is
concerned is an assemblage of 11 bronze works from Ritini

53 , X, op. cit., 41, figs 22-23 and

44, figs 25-26.
54 , T, op. cit., pls 23 and 42.
55 A M, Athens 1979, 69 no.
255; C. Rolley, Greek Bronzes, Fribourg 1986, 198-199, fig.
172; R. Thomas, Griechische Bronzestatuetten, Darmstadt
1992, 126-127, fig. 124.
19

near Serres, the heterogenity of which in terms of date

(6th-2nd century BC) and kind probably points to hoarding.56
Apart perhaps from the Eros statuette (h. 0.124 m),57 the
rest of the pieces seem to be products of local workshops.
The schematic, elongated, horned animal58 from Ritini is
most probably the handle of a bronze vase, comparable to
the cauldron handles from Perivoli Grevena.59 The latter
seems to be a local imitation of analogous Oriental-Cypriot
examples. The amphora from the area of Kastoria, with the
peculiar repousse figural representations on the backs of
its handles, is alien to the Macedonian artistic tradition
and probably of later times.60
Barr-Sharrar recognizes stylistic similarities
with special features between the heads of the figures on
krater B1 from tomb B at Derveni and the heads of Apollo on
the silver coins of the Koinon of Chalcideans and of King
Archelaos of Macedonia. In her view it is thus quite
possible 'that figural tradition in low relief metalware
existed in the North as early as the last quarter of the
fifth century B.C.'61 The specific stylistic traits of the
Macedonian figural tradition can be identified from at
least the mid-sixth century BC, as demonstrated by the
works discussed above. They occur in toreutic works and in
the minor arts, as well as in bronze statuary and funerary
sculpture, as indicated for example by the Aiane stele in

56 1969, op. cit., 190, no. 141, pls 94-100

(Thessaloniki Museum inv. nos 10.196-10.207, 10.257).
57 1969, op. cit., pl. 95.
58 1969, op. cit. pl. 99.
59 . , X A, M 7 (1967),
no. 246, pl. 59-. Ibidem, X A 1968-1970,
M15 (1975), 301-302, no. 186, pl. 216. See also
Stephi Korti-Konti, The Orientalising Period in Macedonia,
in O. Plagia (ed.), Greek Offerings. Essays on Greek Art in
honour of John Boardman, Oxford 1997, 60, fig. 6.
60 1967, op. cit., 351, no. 246, pl. 59.
61 B. Barr-Sharrar, Dionysos and the Derveni Krater,
Archaeology 35, 6 (1982), 15.
20

the Louvre, no. Ma804, the marble cippus 11265 in the

Thessaloniki Museum, with a relief kore figure, or the
stele from Pydna in the Dion Museum, and other pieces.62
The Thessaloniki cippus and the Pydna stele
also reveal the close stylistic and iconographic
relationship between Macedonian and Thessalian works of
art. Bosnakis, examining the total of Thessalian funerary
reliefs of the fifth and fourth centuries BC, stresses the
following distinctive characteristics of them: a) the low
relief due to the use of 'painterly' rather than sculptural
means, b) the conscious choice of archaizing elements,
commitments from both Archaic art and the Severe Style
which live on well into the fourth century BC, c) an
eclectic synthesis of formal elements expressed in a flat-
sculpted, linear-sculpted and linear-decorative manner, d)
a local Ionianizing iconographic conception alongside the
Attic Koine tendency of automatically copying models of
foreign origin.63
The discussion prompted by Vocotopoulou's
concise yet perceptive remarks on the Macedonian metalware

62 M. Jamiaux, Les sculptures grecques, I. Des origines a

fin du IVe siecle avant J.-C., Paris 1992, 247 no. 263.
.
O , Athens 1986, 20-21, fig. 6; F. Felten,
Themen makedonischer Grabdenkmler klassischer Zeit, A
M, E , Thessaloniki 1993, 412, figs
1 and 418, fig. 14; A. ,
M , in A,
Thessaloniki 1987,
293-300; E. Kostoglou-Despinis, in Kanon, Festschrift E.
Berger, Basel 1988, 180ff. Cf. also . -
T, , Ephem1980, 47-50.
Also I. B, O A M
, Athens 1997, 24-25 (= grave stele from
Ierissos); True, Hamma (eds), op. cit., 109-111, no. 48.
63 D.N. M,
5 4 . .X., (PhD thesis),
Ioannina 1990, 87-147; cf. H. Biezantz, Die thessalischen
Grabreliefs, Mainz 1965, 146, 163-167.
21

workshops, can be extended to various metal artefacts

(vessels, vases, weapons etc.) that do not bear figural or
vegetal decoration. The iron weapons, models of furniture,
chariots and carriages, and iron spits from the Sindos
cemetery, which are undoubtedly products of local
workshops, belong in this class (category). It is also
possible that a variation of the Late Archaic Illyrian
helmet (550-540 BC), Plug's type IIIA, many examples of
which have been found in Macedonia, including Sindos, was
made in Macedonian workshops.64 The making of the so-called
Chalcidian helmet type 2, examples of which again come from
Macedonia, is likewise attributed to a workshop in Northern
Greece.65 The small silver kantharos no. 8568 (h. 0.43 m)
from the female grave 10 at Sindos, 510-500 BC,66 is
particularly interesting because its shape refers to
traditional Macedonian models and it seems to be a local
product.67 The bronze jugs from Sindos, particularly those
with cut-away spout and beak spout, appear to be local
imitations of Corinthian ones.68 I think too that a local

64 H. Pflug, Antike Helme, ch. Illyrische Helme, 1988, 61-

63, fig. 19.
65 Pflug, op. cit., ch. Chalkidische Helme, 140-141;
Treister, op. cit., 205.
66 , op. cit., 90, no. 135.
67 This is shown, in my opinion, by the numerous clay
kantharoi of similar shape of Iron Age date. See M.
A, B I, , Athens
1969, 185, fig. 34; . , A
B, Deltion 17 (1961/2), Part I, 216-
288, pls 149, 151; H M
M A, op. cit., 67 no. 16 and 83 no. 55; see
also J. Carington-Smith, T
K , AEM 5 (1991), 336-339, fig. 2.
68 , op. cit., 94 no. 140, 282 no. 467, 109 no. 161,
187 no. 305, 235 no. 376. I. B, X
.
, Athens 1975, 44-47, pl. 28o; cf.
also M. T, E , AEM 2 (1988),
299.
22

workshop should be accepted as the provenance of the

shallow bronze cauldrons with straight wall,69 as well as of
other classes or types of bronze vases prevalent in
Macedonia and Northern Greece in general, such as the
oinochoai-dippers,70 or of the rare shapes of bronze vases
and vessels that are mainly encountered in Northern Greece.
In the last class belong the lampstands from Vergina and
Derveni or the amphorae of Derveni B22 type with a lid and
a third arched, movable handle.71 Of interest are the
contents of the wrecked merchant ship, of around 400 BC
(the reign of King Archelaos in Macedonia), located off the
coast of Alonnisos in 1985 and explored in 1991-93. This
included, in addition to a host of wine amphorae from Mende
and Peparethos, vases from Attica and possibly from Magna
Graecia, and fragments of a bronze basket-shaped situla and
a kyathos (ladle), which most probably came from Mende.72
To return, however, to the figural subjects that
accompany some classes of metal vases and facilitate their
attribution to workshops: the prevailing view is that the
stamnoid situlae with cast lion-head spouts and applique
masks, usually of Silens, at the base of their twin handles
(opposite the spout), were made from the late fourth to the

69 , op. cit., 47 no. 65, 93 no. 138, 147 nos 233,

234 and 236, 186 no. 304, 282 no. 466. Cf. J.
Vocotopoulou, Le tresor de vases de bronze de Votonosi, BCH
99 (1975), 781-784.
70 The shape occurs in Macedonia from the Early Iron Age
until at least the Middle Hellenistic period, with minimal
morphological differentiation. Cf. Vocotopoulou, op. cit.,
754-756, figs 16-17.
71 M, A 1963, X, pl. 225;
A M, Exhibition Catalogue, Thessaloniki
1979, 57 no. 160, pl. 33. Andronicos, op. cit., 162, figs
130-131. , T, op. cit., 74, no. B22, pl.
82; cf. also Comstock, Vermeule, op. cit., 300, no. 426.
72 E. Hadjidaki, Underwater Excavation of a Late Fifth
Century Merchant Ship at Alonnesos, Greece, BCH 120/ii
(1996), 585-587, figs 31-32.
23

early third centry BC in Macedonian workshops; their models

should be sought in Italy, while imitations of them are
found in the Bosporos area and Chersonessos.73 The criteria
on which scholars base this conclusion are mainly
morphological and, convincing as they may seem, they are
not sufficient to support by themselves, without the
contribution of stylistic analysis, the Macedonian
provenance of the stamnoid situlae of Zahlhaas's type C74
from tombs A (A2), B (B29) and (5) at Derveni,
Macedonian tomb II at Vergina, Pieria, Nikisiani and other
parts of Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly and Scythia.75

73 B. Barr-Sharrar, Macedonian Metal Vases in Perspective:

some Observations on Context and Tradition, in B. Barr-
Sharrar, E.N. Borza (eds), Studies in the History of Art
10, Symposium Series I, Macedonia and Greece in Late
Classical Times, National Gallery of Art, Washington 1982,
129-130; M. Pfrommer, Italien-Makedonien-Kleinasien.
Interdependenzen sptklassischer und frhellenistischer
Toreutik, JdI 98 (1983), 239-263. Cf. K. Schauenburg, Zu
unteritalischen Situlen, AA1981, 469ff.; I. Venedikov, Les
situles de bronze en Thrace, Thracia IV (1977), 59-103; J.
Boucher, Trajets terrestres du commerce trusque aux V et
IV s. av. J.-C., RA 1973, 91-96; T1986, op.cit.,
613ff; cf. . , K. P, I. T, O
N, Athens 1992, 63, with a concise
discussion of the problem of Macedonian metal-working and
toreutic art, and relevant bibliography. On situlae in
particular see P. ,
H, Deltion 34 (1979) M, 114-
125, with catalogue and bibliography, see also P,
op. cit., 195-197, with study of the type A bell-shaped
situla and discussion on the various workshops, including
the 'Macedonian.
74 . G. Zahlhaas, Grosgriechische und rmische Metalleimer,
Mnchen 1971.
75 M, op. cit., 194, pl. 227 (erroneously as grave
B); AM 1979, 57 no. 158; M, 1982, 102, fig. 65;
Ancient Macedonia, op. cit., 283 no. 232; Bologna 1988, 146
no. 174. Montreal 1993, 225 no. 262. Situlae of the same
type: Vergina 1984, 146, figs 104-106 (Macedonian tomb
III), Pieria 3 (1990), 76 (tomb 3 at Methoni), Nikisiani
1992, 27-28, pl. A bottom, no. A1403 with earlier
24

The stamnoid situlae and other types of metal vases

bearing embossed, cast or even engraved decoration
(vegetal, zoomorphic or anthropomorphic) are particularly
useful for stylistic analysis that bolsters the
morphological features. This category of metal vases
includes the silver calyces which scholars consider to be
products also of Macedonian workshops following Achaemenid
models.76 The fact that only two silver calyces with head on
the boss come from regions outside Macedonia-Thrace, one
from southern Asia Minor and another from Kurgan

bibliography (tomb 3 at Nikisiani). Other examples from

Macedonia, Thrace, Thessaly and Scythia see I.
T, A M IV (1986), 633-635, with
discussion on the imitations in clay. Cf. also D. v.
Bothmer, MMA (Summer 1984), 47 no. 74 (Prousias); L.
Marangou, Ancient Greek Art, The N.P. Goulandris
Collection, Athens 1985, 166 no. 264 (Pelagia, Thessaly).
Gold der Steppe. Archologie der Ukraine, op. cit. 312 no.
103f (from the Pescanoe Hoard, Southern Russia); W. Gauer,
Die Bronzegafsse von Olympia, Teil I, Berlin - New York
1991, 267-268, nos E7-E8 (Olympia). On the type see M.
Candela, Situle metaliche e ceramiche a beccucio nel IV
secolo a.C. e diffusione, BABesch 60 (1985), 24-61; cf.
also B.B. Shefton, Magna Grecia, Macedonia or neither? Some
Problems in 4th c. BC Metalwork, in Magna Grecia, Epiro e
Macedonia, Atti del 24. Congresso di studi sulla Magna
Grecia Taranto 1984, Taranto 1985, 399-410. On clay
situlae of type C in Southern Italy see A. Kossatz-
Deissmann, Eine neue Phrygerkopf-situla des Toledo-Malers,
AA 1990, 505ff. On etruscan sitilae see O.-H. Frey,
Beziehung der Situlankunst zum Kunstschaffen Etruriens, in:
L. Aigner-Foresti (ed.), Etrusker nrdlich von Etrurien,
Proccedings of the Symposium Wien Schloss Neuwaldegg 2-5
Okt. 1989 (Wien 1992) 93-101.
76 M. Pfrommer, Studien zur alexandrinischen Toreutik
frhellenistischer Zeit, Berlin 1987, 56-61 and 236-238; B.
Barr-Sharrar, The Hellenistic and Early Imperial Decorative
Bust, Mainz/Rhein 1987, 11 n. 40; P, op. cit.,
211-212, where the type is discussed with reference to
known examples from Northern Greece and Bulgaria, and with
bibliography. See also v. Bothmer, op. cit., 48 for
kalykes from Acarnania and Thessaly.
25

Karagodeuasch on the Bosporos,77 reinforces substantially

their purported provenance from Macedonian workshops.
However, no stylistic and comparative analysis has yet been
attempted of the repouss heads decorating the bottom of
many calyces as bosses - representing mainly members of the
Dionysiac thiasos, sometimes Herakles, Aphrodite or a
gorgoneion -, in order to identify their common traits and
ultimately to attribute them to one or more Macedonian
workshops.
I shall necessarily repeat some observations
that have already been published.78 The heads of the calyces
from the cist grave in Oraiokastrou Street at Stavroupolis
Thessaloniki,79 Macedonian tomb II at Vergina,80 tomb 2 in
the Pappas tumulus at Sevasti of Pieria81 and tomb in the
Nikisiani tumulus82 present common stylistic and technical
characteristics, sufficient to ascribe them to the same
workshop (workshop A), if not to the same craftsman.
These characteristics may be described as follows:
a) full modelling, verging on sculpting in the
round.
b) rather dumpy proportions of the head,
c) emphasized cheek bones and hollows around the
eyes and the mouth,
d) lower and upper eyelids of equal thickness.
e) intense targeted gaze,

77 B. Segall, AA 1965, lines 567-568, fig. 11. The gold

gorytos identical to the one in Macedonian tomb II at
Vergina is from the same kurgan: V. Schiltz, Deux gorytes
identiques en Macedoine et dans le Kouban, RA 2 (1979),
305-310; 1994, op. cit., 214, with bibliography.
78 . , E , in ,
T, op. cit., 170-182.
79 P, op. cit., 211 no. 7427, pl. 54.
80 Andronicos, op. cit. 212, figs 179-180.
81 Ancient Macedonia, op. cit., nos 2546 and 2548, pls 204-
205.
82 , P, T, op. cit., 31 no.
A870, pl. 16.
26

f) generally pleasing sentimental expression

indicated by the slight curling of the lips and the
intensity of the gaze, as well and the inclination and turn
of the head,
g) obvious use of a drill (on the nostrils, the
ends of the mouth and between the nose and the upper lip).
All the aforementioned works are excellent
creations of minor art, infused with the renovating current
of Early Hellenistic art of the late fourth and the early
third century BC, with overt tendencies towards realism.83
The provenance of two calyces of exceptional quality from
the area of Pydna permits us to name workshop A, albeit
conventionally, the Pydna workshop,84
Comparable characteristics and tendencies can
be seen in the Silenus head decorating the bottom of silver
calyx Z12 from tomb Z at Derveni, in the corresponding head
on the silver calyx from the Macedonian tomb II at Vergina85
and in the daemonic head of Pan or Silenus on the bronze
lampstand from the same tomb at Vergina.86 In all
probability these are products of the same workshop A but
from the hand of a second crafstman.87

83 These same tendencies are particularly pronounced in the

portrait features of the small ivory heads that ornamented
the bier in Macedonian tomb II at Vergina: Andronicos, op.
cit., 126-130, figs 81-86.
84 The city is first mentioned by Thucydides, I,137,1. A
coastal city of Macedonia, already prosperous in the reign
of Alexander I and for all the duration of the
Peloponnesian War, it issued its own coinage in the reign
of Amyntas III: Papazoglou, op. cit., 38, no. 3 and 106-
108.
85 Andronicos, op. cit., 150-151, figs 113-114.
86 Andronicos, op. cit., 162-163, figs 130-131.
87 Cf. the comparisons made by P, op. cit., 212.
See also C. Reinsberg, Studien zur hellenistischen
Toreutik, Hildesjeimer gyptologische Beitrge 9 (1980),
no. 75 (Derveni kalyx Z12) and nos 26, 33, 45, 52.1.
27

Silver calyx B11 from tomb B at Derveni, with

the daemonic mask on the boss, displays different stylistic
traits from the above kalykes. These can be summarized as
follows:
a) frontality,
b) flatness,
c) archaistic standardization and repetition,
d) symmetry,
e) calligraphic-decorative disposition,
f) linear rendering of the coiffure with
spiralling hairlocks in radiate arrangement around the
flattened face with absolute symmetry between the left and
right sides of the head,
g) highly elliptical eyes with the line of the
upper lid continuing beyond the outer corner.
Exactly the same features are recognized in the
relief decoration of a fair number of vases from Derveni:
the 'rilievo stiacciato' gorgon mask of the frying-pan
phiale B36; the personified, 'cold' gorgon masks fully
incorporated in the vegetal motif of the handles of amphora
B22; the broad Dionysiac masks of frying-pan phiale A8; the
Pan mask on the finial and the full-bodied Pan playing the
syrinx at the base of the handle of oinochoe A5; the
addorsed billy-goat heads incorporated in the vegetal motif
at the end of the twin handles of lagenos B34; the Silenus
mask on situla A2. The badly eroded and incomplete lead
mask B69 from situla B29 (?), which has become detached
from the hammered bronze sheet, seems to belong to the same
ensemble. The limited thematic repertoire of this toreutic
artist of 'workshop B' is evident in the inanimate daemonic
masks of Medusa, Pan, billy goats, chthonic Dionysos,
Silenus and the penchant for symmetry and the archaistic
standardized repetition. The fact that the above metal
28

vases come exclusively from Derveni enables us to name

workshop B the Lete workshop.88
Different tendencies and stylistic features are
observed in the female protome on stamnoid situla 5 from
tomb at Derveni. Envelopped in her himation, which she
holds tightly round her neck with the right hand, she is
characterized by:
a) severe, heavy and deeply mournful expression.
b) oval face,
c) cheek bones, cheeks and chin in a single
rounded mass,
d) thick nose,
e) half-closed eyes, wandering gaze,
f) pursed lips with characteristic S-shaped groove
between them,
g) hair arranged in two groups of luxuriant wavy
locks crowning the furrowed forehead.
Almost all these features (strongly mournful
expression, facial structure, shape of nose, lips, eyes),
with differentiations only in the coiffure, can be seen on
four female heads, attached to an equal number of handle
finials on thebronze volute krater from tomb 2 in the
Pappas tumulus at Sevasti in Pieria,89 as well as on the
appliqu female head below the handle of the bronze
oinochoe from the Macedonian tomb II at Vergina.90 Barr-
Sharrar finds resemblances between the female protome 5

88 Papazoglou, op. cit., 213-215. On the most recent

research at Lete K. T-T, A
, AEM 3 (1989), 307-312;
idem, X , in M M. A,
Thessaloniki 1997, 349-361.
89 J. Vokotopoulou, The kalyk Krater of Sevaste in Pieria,
in I. Worthington (ed.), Ventures into Greek History,
Oxford 1994, pl. 10.5.
90 Andronicos, op. cit., 158-159, fig. 124.
29

and the emblem on a Calenean skyphos of 300-275 BC, now in

Heidelberg.91
The similarities between the Sevasti and
Vergina heads was pointed out by J. Vocotopoulou, who
indeed came to the conclusion that both vases must have
been made in the same workshop.92 The similarities are so
close that it is possible to attribute the two works not
merely to the same workshop (workshop C) but to the same
craftsman. Stamnoid situla 5 and the corroded fragmentary
female head from oinochoe 14 from Derveni, of which only
the handle Z13 has survived, should be ascribed to him too.
The thematic and close stylistic affinity of the two works
from Derveni to the above heads from Sevasti and Vergina,
even to the type of coiffure, is remarkable. The figure's
identity is difficult to determine, on account of the
iconographic singularities of the type. Vocotopoulou (op.
cit.) suggests a Maenad, Andronicos (op. cit.) Medusa. The
detail of the swathing in the himation, on the figure from
situla 5, the intensely sorrowful expression on all the
heads and the iconographic parallels in general advocate
its identification as a chthonic deity, or even a Moira or,
more likely, a Nymph-Nereid.93 I propose that the two
Herakles heads with the exaggerated lionskins, from the
small silver alabastroid amphora in Macedonian tomb II at
Vergina, can be attributed to the same workshop C.94
Although the subject is different, the close stylistic
affinity with the above female heads is overt in the facial
structure, the uniform rounded volumes, the shape of the

91 Barr-Sharrar 1987, op. cit., 11-12, n. 40, no. TC27.

92 Vokotopoulou 1994, op. cit., 129.
93 On Nereids with emblem on the head see Ch. Delvoye,
Elments classiques dans l'illustration de la lgende
d'Achille, XII
, A 4-10 1983, vol. II, Athens
1988, 68. Lamenting Nereids were presumably included in
Aeschylus's lost tragedy Nereids.
94 Andronicos, op. cit., 154-155, figs 118-120.
30

broad coarse nose, and even in the shape of the lips with
the slightly undulating groove of the mouth, as well as the
severity of the expression.
Andronicos, in his overall assessment of the
stylistic tendency represented by the female head on the
bronze oinochoe from Vergina, notes that the head of
Medusa ... still retains the chunky solid shape of the
classical tradition not yet overturned by the exuberance of
the new age.95 The toreutic artist of workshop C does
indeed seem to represent the classical tendency of the
transitional period of the late fourth-early third century
BC, a tendency nevertheless contemporary and parallel to
the modernizing one followed by the toreutic artists of
workshop A at Pydna, as well as to the conservative-
archaistic one represented by the artist of workshop B at
Lete.96
The artist of krater B1 appears as
representative par excellence of the classical tendency.97
The stylistic relationship between this krater and the
earlier bronze krater in Berlin,98 which is ascribed to a

95 Andronicos, op. cit., 159.

96 These three 'tendencies' or 'currents' in the 4th c. BC
proceed in parallel in both monumental sculpture and vase-
painting: Cf. . , E- ,
, in THH N.
K, Athens 1978, 265-271; idem, ,
AE1979, 121-128.
97 . M, A , Thessaloniki 1967,
considered the work to be Tarantine, while K. Schefold, Die
Griechen und ihre Nachbarn, 1967, 207 identified it rather
as Alexandrine; E. , O , Athens
1978, 71-72 suggests that the toreutic artist of krater B1
had learnt his craft in Athens but probably worked in an
Ionian city in the Chalcidice; cf. R.W. Hartle, An
Interpretation of the Derveni Krater: Symmetry and Meaning,
AM 4 (1986), 257-278.
98 W. Zuchner, Der Berliner manadenkrater, BWPr 98 (1938),
3-27; Lori-Ann Touchette, The Dancing Maenad Reliefs,
London 1995, 7, fig. 51.
31

Kyzikos workshop or to some other northern workshop, may

in some measure be taken as confirmation of a stylistic
history leading up to a Macedonian court art, in the
opinion of B. Barr-Sharrar.99 In my view the fleshy and
effeminate head of Pan, a masterpiece, on oinochoe B33, as
well as the Silenus heads from the two silver oinochoai
found in Macedonian tomb II at Vergina,100 should be
assigned to the highly accomplished artist of krater B1
(workshop D). This emerges from comparison of their
overall and individual characteristics with the heads
(repouss or cast) of the Dionysiac thiasos on krater B1.
Identical in these toreutic works are:
a) the treatment of the hairstyle, arranged in
'calligraphic' groups of wavy locks,
b) the rendering of the eyes,
c) the structure of the face with voluminous
cheeks and lower jaw,
d) the mouth with prominent lower lip,
e) the vague, idealistic, passive expression, even
on the Maenads replete with enthusiasm and Dionysiac
frenzy.
The toreutic artist of workshop D, clearly
highly accomplished, adhered to classical models that
continued to exist in the innovative current of the period

99 B. Barr-Sharrar, Towards an Interpretation of the

Derveni Crater, in Bronzes hellnistiques et romains,
tradition et renouveau, Actes du Ve colloque international
sur les bronzes antiques, Lausanne 1978, Cahiers
d'Archeologie Romaine 17 (Lausanne 1979), 58. Cf. ibidem
1982, op. cit., 15 and 17, where a stronger case is made
for krater B1's provenance from a Macedonian workshop.
100 Andronicos, 152-153, figs 115-116. The similarities
between the satyr on krater B1 and the Silen on the silver
oinoche from Vergina have been pointed out already by B.S.
Ridgeway, Court Art and Hellenistic Art: The Role of
Alexander the Great, ArchNews XI 3/4 (1982), 56.
32

even in Attica.101 Works in the same spirit and style, but

not from the same workshop or artist, are the two hammered
silver heads B79 (female) and B80 (male), accoutrements of
horse trappings from tomb B at Derveni. The classical
Atticizing artistic current is shown to be the prevailing
one in the art of the period from the late fourth to the
early third century BC and popular in regions such as
Macedonia, with many exponents and workshops, according to
the extant works not only in toreutics (metal vases, box
mirrors, harness fittings and breastplates, cheekpieces
etc.) but also sculpture.102
B. Ridgeway considers krater B1 from Derveni as
representative par excellence of Macedonian court art.
From her iconographic and stylistic analysis of the work
she concludes that it combines characteristics of the rich
style of the fifth century BC with precursors of those that
were typical in the Hellenistic period. Indeed, in her
opinon the fifth-century characteristics appear
exaggerated, amplified, made dramatic and baroque by the
fact that they are no longer functional as part of a living
style.103 However the mixing of old and new elements [in
this case Classical of the rich style in mannerist excess
and Hellenistic] is not exclusive to Macedonian art, but
commonplace in the art of the time of Alexander the Great,
or in other words of the early Hellenistic phase. This was
pointed out by the late G. Bakalakis, back in 1956, in his
unpublished university lecture notes, and the author has
reached the same conclusion after analysing works from the
period 320-300 BC, mainly from Macedonia and including the

101 A. Stewart, Attika. Studies in Athenian Sculpture of

the Hellenistic Age, Plymouth 1979, 4.
102 Cf. . A, A , in
, M. A, Thessaloniki
1987, 15-28; E. B, H , E 2
(1990). 130, n. 25, with bibliography. See also n. ....
below.
103 Ridgeway, op. cit., 55.
33

Derveni krater.104 Regrettably we ascertain that some

colleagues are either unaware of the Greek publications or
misunderstand them.105
The toreutic artist of workshop D, that is of
krater B1 and oinochoe B33 with the Attic influences, was
contemporary with the Athenian toreutic artist Nikokrates106
and almost certainly based in a workshop of an Athenian
colony in Macedonia. The existing evidence on the
modernist' artists in workshop A at Pydna, who were
particularly skilled in making silver kalykes of
Achaemenid type, advocates their origin from Asia Minor
or their relationship with workshops in ities of Asia
Minor. The toreutic artist of workshop B, with the
archaistic tendencies and the decorative disposition, some
ten works of whom are known at present -- all from Derveni
--, could be considered indigenous, based in a workshop in
the city of Lete. He is the most Macedonian of all, in the
sense that he presents more intensely than the others the
characteristics of the local artistic tradition, which is
expressed from as early as the sixth century BC, in works
such as the Silenus on the handles of the dinos from
Louloudia Kitrous or the squatting male from Edessa, in
Boston, and continued into Hellenistic times. The toreutic

104 . M, I
. , Thessaloniki 1956, 3, 9
and 21; 1979, op. cit., 120-128.
105 See B.S. Ridgeway, Hellenistic Sculpture I. The style
of ca. 331-200 B.C., Bristol 1990, 354, who notes
concerning the statuette of Aphrodite from Eretria -- which
I happened to have found in a deposit of the 3rd-4th c. AD
--, that it is dated to the 4th c. BC (by whom?), whereas
it is Hellenistic (whoever said otherwise?). Furthermore,
she rather oddly cites LIMC and not the original
publication Prakt 1978, 26 and Prakt 1982, 179, in which
the work is dated to the 2nd c. BC and not to the 4th.
106 Whose period of artistic activity is dated between 320
and 370 BC: see D. Harris, Nikokrates of Kolonos,
Metalworker, Hesperia 57 (1988), 329-337.
34

artist of workshop C can also be considered a native

Macedonian.
The overall picture of the above toreutic
works, in which at least three contemporary and concurrent
stylistic-artistic tendencies are discerned, also reveals
the eclecticism that characterizes Macedonian art and its
recipients in general, an eclecticism visible in
architecture,107 and in funerary sculpture,108 as well as in
painting.109

107 S. Grobel-Miller, Hellenistic Maceonian Architecture,

Ann Arbor Michigan 1972, 228; idem, The Philippeion and
Macedonian Hellenistic Architecture, IstMitt 88 (1973),
189-218; cf. also N. K,
M, Athens 1988, 69-90; X.
M, E. , O E
, Athens 1989, 157-173.
108 M. Andronicos, Steles funerarires de Vergina, BCH 79
(1955), 97-100; X. -, T
B (unpublished PhD thesis),
Thessaloniki 1984, 81, 183; cf. A, op. cit., 15-28.
A. , M
, in M.
A, Thessaloniki 1987, 299; cf. B, op. cit.,
130, n. 25 with bibliography; Felten, op. cit., 406 and 417
nn. 3 and 5; . P, I. T, A M,
E , Thessaloniki 1993.
109 B 1990, op. cit., 27-28, where eclecticism
is called creative. Cf. M. A, H
M, Ephem, 1987, 363-382. Interesting
observations on Macedonian toreutic art: Barr-Sharrar 1982,
op. cit.,122-139; idem, Eastern Influence on the Toreutic
Art of Macedonia before the Conquest of Alexander the
Great, ArchNews 13 (1984), 1-12 and AM 4 (1986), 71-82.
The style of the vases in the Pyrgadikia group, which
come mainly from the Chalcidice, may also be considered
eclectic in the sense that it borrows decorative subjects
from Rhodes, Euboea, Boeotia and Italy, which it synthsizes
into an original and singular local product: 1972,
op. cit., 6-9, figs 3-6, with earlier bibliography. The
peculiar decorative style of the Sub-geometric krater from
Karambournaki can also be considered local: 1967,
op. cit., 303 no. 84, pl. 15.
35

FIGURES
Fig. 1a-b. Squatting male figure, from Edessa (Boston
0.17477).
Fig. 2a-b. Herakles with bow, from the Amphipolis area
(Boston 98.657).
Fig. 3. Trefoil-mouth oinochoe, from Drosia Edessa.
Fig. 4a-b. Octadrachms of the Edonians and Bisaltians.
Fig. 5. Silver stater of Lete.