Clay cylindrical lamp stand with a representation of fishermen

Hellenic National Archaeological Museum
Collection of Prehistoric, Egyptian, Cypriot and Near Eastern Antiquities
Inv. no P 5782

Provenance: prehistoric settlement of Phylakopi on Melos
Preserved height: 0.27 m, base diameter: 0.08 – 0.10 m.
Date: 17^th – 16^th centuries B.C. (Middle Cycladic III – Late Cycladic I period)
Display place: Cycladic gallery, Hall 6, Showcase 23

The famous fishermen vase was found in the prehistoric settlement of Phylakopi on Melos island during the excavations of the British School at Athens from 1896 to 1899. It is the clay cylindrical base of a lamp, which was not preserved.

The vase is decorated with a large frieze. It represents four young men in procession, wearing a loincloth with a dark belt and holding by the tail large fish, identified as ‘dolphin fish’ (Coryphanea hippurus). The men move in synchronized manner to the right. They have long hair that flows over their bare necks and chests. They walk barefoot with their mouths slightly open as if conversing or singing. Their eyes are wide open and asymmetrically large. Triads of ivy leaves hang between the dark heads, perhaps suggesting the passage of young fishermen under a cool pergola. The spotted zone under their feet may suggest the sand of a beach where they have just left their boat.

Fishing in the Aegean began in the 8th millennium BC, as evidenced by the large quantities of fish bones found in two caves: in Franchthi in the Argolid and in Cyclops in the Gioura island of Sporades, and continued throughout antiquity. Special studies showed that fish, molluscs, cephalopods and urchins were included in the diet of the inhabitants at Akrotiri, Thera, who knew equally well how to catch them and how to preserve them until the time of their consumption. Lead weights from nets and fish hooks from prehistoric Aegean sites prove that fishing was a very ancient affair of those who confronted with the gifts and dangers of the sea.

The seascape was particularly popular and occurs often in the pictorial repertoire of the prehistoric Aegean, with depictions of fish, octopuses and various compositions of the seabed. The pictorial theme of men with fish has been aptly called “the return of the fisherman”. It is relatively rare and raises various debates about its significance. It also appears in the famous and contemporary wall paintings of Akrotiri in Thera, where it has been associated with rites of passage and with ceremonies including young male adorants offering fish to the deities. However, the scene of the Phylakopi vase with the naked youths returning from the sea with the precious fish in their hands could be an image of joy and pride without further symbolism. An image familiar to those who have celebrated the joy and faced the dangers of the sea for ten thousand years.

Dr Constantinos Paschalidis

Bibliography

Gerontakou Ε., «Ο ψαράς και η ψαριά του στο προϊστορικό Αιγαίο», Τετράδια Εργασίας 33 (2010), Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Ερευνών – Εθνικό Ίδρυμα Ερευνών, 11-27.

Κostanti Κ., «The ‘fishermen vase’», in Lagogianni-Georgakarakos M. (ed.), Οδύσσειες Odysseys, Athens 2016, 347 cat. no 125.

Μakrypodi S., «Με αφορμή έναν σφραγιδόλιθο με παράσταση ‘πόσιος ιχθύων’ από τη Συλλογή H. Schliemann», in Kalogerakou P., Hasiakou A., Kosmopoulos M., Lolos G., Marabea C., Peppa-Papaioannou E., Platon L. (eds), ΚΥΔΑΛΙΜΟΣ, Τιμητικός τόμος για τον Καθηγητή Γεώργιο Στυλ. Κορρέ, vol II, Athens 2020, 111-128.

Nuttall C., Theodoropoulou K., “Chapter 3. The Early Cycladic IIIB, Middle and Late Cycladic pottery. Part VII. The Fishermen Vase”, in Barber R. L. N. (ed.), Phylakopi, Melos, 1896-1899: The finds in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, BSA Suppl. Vol. 53 (2024), 267-269 and pl. ΙΙ.

Sambetai V. «Ψαράδες: οι παῖδες και η θάλασσα», in Kephalidou Ε., Tsiafaki D. (eds), Κεραμέως παῖδες. Αντίδωρο στον Καθηγητή Μιχάλη Τιβέριο από τους μαθητές του, Thessaloniki 2012, 49-60.

Powell J., Fishing in the prehistoric Aegean, Paul Åströms Förlag, Jonsered 1996.