6th Century BC Corinthian Aryballos (Athlete’s Oil Flask) from Varna Becomes April 2021 ‘Exhibit of the Month’ of Bulgaria’s National Museum of Archaeology
This 6th century Ancient Greek Corinthian pottery aryballos was discoved in the Black Sea city of Varna, ancient Odessos, and donated to the National Museum of Archaeology in Sofia in the early 20th century. Photo: National Institute and Museum of Archaeology
Another piece of Ancient Greek pottery, a 6th century AD Late Corinthian aryballos – a pottery flask for oil or perfume found in the Greek colony of Odessos, today’s city of Varna on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast – has been declared “Exhibit of the Month” for April 2021 of the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia.
The aryballoi are small globular or spherical ceramic flasks said to be stemming from the oenochoe, an ancient ceramic wine cup.
The Museum’s September 2020 “Exhibit of the Month” was a 4th century BC Ancient Greek lekythos – a vessel for storing oil – featuring a scene of the gods from the Eleusinian Mysteries, and its November 2020 “Exhibit of the Month” were bizarrely shaped “Trojan Cups” from the 3rd millennium BC, or the Early Bronze Age, which are believed to have originated in ancient Troy
Used for oil or perfume, an aryballos was often depicted on Ancient Greek pottery as being used by athletes during bathing. The vessel is thus a reminder of an exhibition on Ancient Greek and Greco-Roman sports culture in Ancient Thrace organized by Bulgaria’s National Museum of Archaeology back in 2018.
“[The April 2021 Exhibit of the Month] is a ceramic vessel that is a rarity for the Bulgarian lands, and whose function is connected with the convenient transporting of oils and perfumes,” the Museum says.
“Among the vessels from the Ancient Greek tradition having to do with dressing, the aryballoi with their small size and spherical body are the ones in closest connection with athletic activities,” it adds.
Bulgaria’s largest archaeological museum further notes that the little Ancient Greek pottery flasks can be seen in images of athletes on painted vases and burial relief slabs, usually depicted hanging on the neck.
This 6th century Ancient Greek Corinthian pottery aryballos was discoved in the Black Sea city of Varna, ancient Odessos, and donated to the National Museum of Archaeology in Sofia in the early 20th century. Photo: National Institute and Museum of Archaeology
The aryballos declared “Exhibit of the Month” for April 2020 is part of the Museum’s permanent exhibition. It is 7 centimeters tall, has a wide disc-like mouth, a short and narrow neck, a spherical body, and a wide, flat handle.
“The Ancient Greek vessel’s well preserved smooth beige surface has painted decoration in dark brown and dark red. The upper surface of its mouth has concentric dark lines, with a dot row on the side surface. Its shoulders are decorated with radial short lines (a simplified version of a tongue ornament,” explains the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia.
The face of the aryballos’ body is decorated with a stylized floral motif of elongated leaves, arcs, and a net-like motif. The space on the sides and behind, beneath the handle, is decorated with circles with an “X” inside them.
“The shape, the painted decoration as well as the clay’s specific categorize the [Ancient Greek aryballos vessel as part of] the product of the pottery workshops of Corinth in the second quarter of the 6th century BC (575 – 550 BC) – one of the most important centers for the production of fine painted ceramics at the time,” Bulgaria’s National Museum of Archaeology states.
It also informs further that aryballos now named exhibit of the month for April 2020 became part of the Museum’s collection as a donation in the beginning of the 20th century.
“Unfortunately, we have no data about its discovery site besides the information that it originated in Varna, the Ancient Odessos, which was probably founded in the second quarter of the 6th century BC by settlers from the eastern [part of Ancient] Greece,’ the Museum reveals.
This 6th century Ancient Greek Corinthian pottery aryballos was discoved in the Black Sea city of Varna, ancient Odessos, and donated to the National Museum of Archaeology in Sofia in the early 20th century. Photo: National Institute and Museum of Archaeology
“The good condition of the aryballos leads to the presumption that it was laid as a burial gift, and the data about its dating [ indicate] that it belonged to some of the earliest inhabitants of the Greek colony [of Odessos, today’s Varna,” concludes that National Institute and Museum of Archaeology in Sofia.
Learn more about the Ancient Greek, Thracian, and Roman city of Odessos, today’s Varna on the Black Sea coast, in the Background Infonotes below!
Also check out these other relevant stories:
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The dawn of Varna‘s history dates back to the dawn of human civilization, the Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis being especially well known with the discovery of the world’s oldest find of gold artifacts which date back to the 5th millenium BC (the Varna Gold Treasure).
Ancient Odessos (known as Odessus in Roman times) is considered the precursor of the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna. It was founded by Miletian Greek colonists at the end of 7th century BC, the earliest Greek archaeological material dating back to 600-575 BC.
However, the Greek colony was established within an earlier Ancient Thracian settlement, and the name Odessos had existed before the arrival of the Miletian Greeks and might have been of Carian origin. Odessos as the Roman city of Odessus became part of the Roman Empire in 15 AD when it was incorporated in the Roman province Moesia.
Roman Odessos is especially known today for its well preserved public baths, or thermae, the largest Roman single structure remains in Bulgaria, and the fourth largest Roman public baths known in Europe.
The First Bulgarian Empire (680-1018 AD) conquered Odessos (Varna) from Rome‘s successor, the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium, in the late 7th century.
It is even believed that the peace treaty in which the Byzantine Empire recognized the ceding of its northern territories along the Danube to Bulgaria was signed in Odessos. The wall (rampart) that the first ruler of Danube Bulgaria, Khan (or kanas) Asparuh built at the time as a defense against future Byzantine incursions is still standing.
Numerous Ancient Bulgar settlements around Varna have been excavated, and the First Bulgarian Empire had its first two capitals Pliska (681-893 AD) and Veliki (Great) Preslav (893-970 AD) just 70-80 km to the west of Varna. It is suggested that the name of Varna itself is of Bulgar origin. In the Middle Ages, as a coastal city, Varna changed hands between Bulgaria and Byzantium several times. It was reconquered for the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396 AD) by Tsar Kaloyan (r. 1197-1207 AD) in 1201 AD.
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