Transport Amphorae in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Greek & Roman Study Collection, Sept. 2007

Transport Amphorae

Large terracotta jars called amphorae were made throughout antiquity to carry liquids, primarily wine and olive oil, and occasionally, dry goods such as figs or nuts. They were mass-produced, often near the source of the contents they carried, and were designed to have a standard capacity, sometimes guaranteed by a maker's stamp on the handle or neck. Painted inscriptions were often added to include the nature, origin, and amount, of an amphora's contents. Amphorae have a distinctive, practical shape– usually a narrow neck that could be sealed during transportation, two handles for ease of lifting and carrying by hand (as, for example, during the loading or unloading of a ship), and a rounded or cylindrical body with a pointed base to allow them to be stacked in multiple rows.

An idea of the amount of produce that was imported to feed the inhabitants of Rome is given by Monte Testaccio, a man-made hill of discarded amphorae on the outskirts of the ancient city near the Tiber River, where the jars were unloaded and their contents transferred to smaller containers. Most of the surface shards on Monte Testaccio belong to a specific type of amphora known as Dressel 20, which was used to bring olive oil from Baetica in southern Spain.

Amphorae remained in use until the end of antiquity, but the severe decline in trade throughout the Mediterranean in the seventh century AD put an end to the mass production of both contents and containers. Terracotta amphora were largely replaced in the Middle Ages with skins and wooden casks.


Wall, left to right:

1) Terracotta transport amphora
Greek, Rhodian, Hellenistic, late 3rd-mid 2nd century BC
From Cyprus, said to be from Dali (Idalion), Cyprus

Accession # 74.51.357

This is a typical Rhodian amphora with stamps on the upper parts of the handles, giving the maker's name and the date of manufacture.


2) Terracotta transport amphora
Roman, late 1st- mid 2nd century AD
From Cyprus, said to be from Larnaca (Kition)

Accession # 74.51.355

Although found at Citium in Cyprus, this amphora resembles a type made in Italy and was frequently used for exporting wine to the western provinces. Examples, however, occur throughout the Roman Empire and even beyond its frontiers, at sites as far away as eastern India.


3) Terracotta transport amphora
Greek, Rhodian, Hellenistic, 2nd century BC
From Cyprus, said to be from Larnaca (Kition)

Accession # 74.51.354


4) Terracotta transport amphora
Roman, late 2nd century AD
From Cyprus, said to be from Larnaca (Kition)

Accession # 74.51.359


5) Terracotta transport amphora
Roman, ca. 3rd century AD
From Cyprus, said to be from Larnaca (Kition)

Accession # 74.51.358


6) Terracotta transport amphora
Roman, early 3rd century AD
From Cyprus

Accession # 74.51.356


Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.