P3. This is a well-attested production (the third largest in quantity) in light brown-pink clay 5YR 7/6 with mainly mica inclusions and rarer calcite and volcanic materials. The slip is always shiny. There are no stamps and even the decorative stamps are limited to the type with large central rosette. Overall, the quality is good. The reference chronology of the attested forms suggests this was a larger production active during the first phase of the colony’s life, which gradually decreased during the second half of the 3rd century B.C., finally ceasing before the beginning of the 2nd century B.C.

P4. Quantatively, the second largest production found at the temple. It is easily identifiable by its darkish brown colour (7.5YR 7/3-7/6), friable and not very compact clay with constant presence of mica, calcite and volcanic mineral inclusions, and the occasional presence of chamotte and vacuoles. The slip is always matt black, occasionally brownish due to misfiring. This production is characterised by the total lack of lettered and decorative stamps or any other decorative element. Like P1, it was probably a local production active throughout the colony’s life. However, it is characterised by simpler methods of management and by a slightly higher overall quality, which compensates for the smaller production in terms of quantity compared to P1, with which it has many forms in common.

P5. This is a not very well-attested production with a completely different clay form the local one (pale brownish-pink 5YR 6/6, very refined with only mica inclusions), often misfired and tending towards greyish in colour, both in section and the slip, which is always matt. It only presents the stamp AV/VA (perhaps to be associated with AVH/HVA in P1) and two decorative stamps, one with four small rosettes and the other with a large central rosette (fig.9). This is a generally low quality production, limited in chronology by types datable to between the late 4th and the central decades of the 3rd century B.C. It is important to stress that P5, probably not made at Fregellae, presents similarities with the local Fregellan productions and with the non-Fregellan production P6, attesting that it affected by the vicinity and influence of both much larger productions.

P6. The fourth production in terms of quantity, probably imported. The pinkish-pale brown clay (7.5YR 7/4-8/4-8/6) is very refined, with very occasional mica; the slip is always shiny and uniform, and well-preserved. A single lettered stamp is attested, unfortunately illegible, while various types of decorative stamps are present with a single rosette or five elements with palmettes, some of which large (fig.10). To be highlighted, the presence of rouletting on the floor of the bowl (which is absent in the Fregellan production). It is impossible to identify with any certainty where it came from, neither the clay or decoration type suggest it came from already known pottery workshops situated between the inner areas of southern Latium and northern Campania.

P7. This is a minor import, characterised by a bright pink clay 2.5YR 7/6-7/8, with the presence of mica and occasional volcanic inclusions. The slip is always well-preserved and shiny black. The attested forms in the repertory from the suburban temple are cups and some gutti, probably indicating that P7 was a production that does not seem to have any points of similarity with the local ones and is only found sporadically within the city.

P8. An imported production of which there is only one example, dark pink clay 2.5 YR 7/6, only calcite inclusions. The slip is matt and reddish in colour, tending to flake off in patches.

P9. A minor import characterised by a bright orangey pink clay 5YR 7/8 with only calcite inclusions and a matt black slip.

P10. A minor production, with technical characteristics that differ from the others identified here: pink clay 5YR 8/44, very compact and with abundant mica, calcite and volcanic inclusions; the slip is matt black.

P11. A minor import, characterised by greyish clay varying between 10YR 7/1 and 2.5Y 7/1, with occasional mica inclusions and a moderately shiny grey slip.

The stamps
Contrary to the sanctuary of Aesculapius, from which there are no examples of impressed letters or monograms (Comella 1986), a good quantity of stamped black gloss material was recovered from the suburban temple on the via Latina. It was possible, in part, to compare the material with that already published from the surveys undertaken in the urban area (Nicosia 1979; Malandrino 1991).

H
H is the commonest stamp, with 11 examples in Production 1 (fig.2) and one in Production 2 (fig.7). Of these, there is only one example with the letter inside a rectangular cartouche, while for all the others it is in relief within a circle. However, all examples are circa 1 cm in height, but each was made by a different punch. Traditionally they are defined as “bolli erculei” as, from Morel onwards (1988, pp. 57-59), they are attributed to 3rd century B.C. black gloss productions characterised by more or less explicit references to the cult of Hercules. The more elaborate forms are the Heraklesschalen or other paterae, which present the figure of Hercules in relief in the central stamp. The commoner forms are the cups with decorative stamps, which reproduce symbolic attributes of the god (in particular the club, but also the arrow and anchor), sometimes associated with single letters of uncertain solution or onomastic formulae (most of which abbreviated in various ways) and/or the letter H. The latter also appears by itself, both as a stamp or over-painted or incised (and therefore either created before or after the vessel was fired).
Recently, David Nonnis (2013, for the bibliography for the evidence cited below; see also Cifarelli – Ambrosini – Nonnis 2002-2003, pp.290-291, for other references) has proposed an overall picture of its attestations. It was present in central Italy in areas where Roman colonisation took place; as well as in Rome and its suburbs. In fact, it is found and attested principally at Cales and Alba Fucens and with a particular concentration in the Sacco-Liri-Garigliano valleys (Signia, Fregellae, Aquinum, Interamna Lirenas, Minturnae) and also at Fondi, Teanum Sidicinum, Capua, Paestum, Ostia, Lanuvium, Lavinium, Tibur, Cosa, Carseoli, Canosa, Ariminum, Nursia, in the territory of Falerii and Capena. There is even a known example at Emperion, in Hispania Citerior (and a base with an impressed club from Tarraco), which probably arrived there through trade.
The finds are mainly from cult sites dedicated to Hercules, but also from the sanctuaries of other divinities or different contexts, such as necropolises or private buildings unconnected to the cult. According to Nonnis, the cups with Herculean decorative stamps originally had some ritual value and were bought by pilgrims at a sanctuary to be dedicated there or at other cult sites, or taken away as a souvenir of the visit. Luigi Pedroni (1992 and 2001, pp. 223-225) suggests that the vessels characterised by these stamps had a votive use, but could also represent the levy on their earnings that potters dedicated to the tutelary numen of commerce and craft-working. A part of this offering would then have been sold by the temple itself, and therefore reconverted into coin.
If we look at the finds from Fregellae, the H stamp is the commonest found on the black gloss pottery, both from the suburban temple on the via Latina and from the surveys carried out in the urban area by Angelo Nicosia (1979, n. 22). It was also found in the forum and domus excavations, which remain unpublished. In the case of Fregellae, it was also associated with the cult of Hercules and dated to within the 3rd century B.C. (Nonnis 1998, p. 77). However, other elements need to be taken into consideration within this overall picture: to date there is no literary, epigraphic, or archaeological evidence for a cult of Hercules in the colony (although there very probably was one); the club stamps on black gloss are also attested at Fregellae and in the same productions in which the H stamps are also present (fig. 4), but they are never found together on the same vases, as at Cales and Alba Fucens; in the suburban temple the H stamps represent 50% of those attested, but this temple was certainly not dedicated to Hercules and furthermore, among the remaining nominal stamps another four begin or end with the letter H.

VH/HV
There are two examples in Production 1 (fig.3). Traditionally (Morel 1988, p.59), this is interpreted as a “bollo erculeo” similarly to the previous one, reading the V as the initial of an epithet for the god, such as Hercules Victor. This was proposed by Nicosia (1979, n.25) for an analogous example from the Fregellae survey. Helga Di Giuseppe (2012, p.112) disagrees with this interpretation and reconstructs the published Fregellan stamp as H. V(alerios). The reading of our example H. V(---) (if read as a retrograde inscription) as the initials of a potter or owner of a pottery workshop, rather than an expression of devotion to Hercules, is supported by other stamps from the same Production 1, which are clearly onomastic, such as the H. Va(---) below.

AVH/HVA
Two examples in Production 1 (fig.3), this is a rectangular stamp to be read in retrograde H. Va(---) as proposed by Nonnis (1998, p.78), and can therefore very probably be identified with the same individual of the preceding stamp. An analogous example, for the lettering and technical characteristics, is published in Malandrino’s survey (1991, fig. 3 n.50).

A
The single letter A in a circle is characterised by the open bar and attested by two examples in P1 (fig.3) and by one in P2 (fig.7), each one slightly different. Nicosia (1979, nn. 23-24) has published two examples, all with the open bar in both normal and retrograde script.
An identical stamp to the Fregellan one in P2 is present on a black gloss cup found in the Tiber and identified as a non-Roman production (Bernardini 1986, p. 89, n. 295). However, its characteristics also differentiate it from the definitely local Fregellan productions examined here. Therefore, the stamp A cannot be attributed to a Fregellan production reaching Rome or to a Roman workshop that had an affiliated workshop in the Latin colony. However, there are evident similarities between the stamp found in Rome and those from Fregellae, but also an evident lack of other examples with which to compare them, thus its reading remains uncertain. However, it is possible to state that at Fregellae the A stamp is present in local productions marked with other stamps like the one described above A.V(---) and Ah(---) and AL/LA (see below). However, the paleography seems to date this stamp to an earlier period.

AL/LA
A single example attested in Production 1 (fig.3), two ligatured letters that read either AL or LA. As this type is not previously attested at Fregellae and no parallels have been found in the region, it is difficult to interpret.

AH
One example in Production 1 (fig.3). This may be the same stamp read as HV by Nicosia (1979, n. 21) and as +AH by Malandrino (1991, fig. 3, n. 51) on a misfired example (reinterpreted as AN in Di Giuseppe 2012, p.112).
Stamps with C.AH and R.AH are known at Minturnae, from pottery found in the river Garigliano, attributable to the gens Cahii and Rahii or, perhaps, as seems more likely, to the gens Ahii (Ruegg 1995, p.179 and p.182; Gregori-Nonnis 2013, pp.164-165). In the latter case, the name could recall the Oscan stamp Ga.Ahiis from Venafro (Di Giuseppe 2012, p.110).

QPV
Attested by one example in P2 (fig.7), of which an identical example was published by Nicosia (1979, n.26) and another by Malandrino (1991, fig. 3, n.49), stamped on a misfired vase. The individual Q. Pu(---) cannot at present be identified.

AV/VA
A single example attested in P5 (fig.9) and only in that production. It could be read both AV and VA in retrograde (Nonnis 1998, p.78) therefore making it comparable to the preceding stamp Va(---) attested in P1. A similar example, whose technique also resembles P5, is published in Malandrino (1991, fig. 3 n.52), and Di Giuseppe attributes it to a Valerius (2012, p.112). In the Liri-Garigliano valley both the letters AV and VA find parallels at Minturnae, where stamps on black gloss attest both Val dei Valerii, makers of Graeco-Italic wine amphorae, and a not better identified S.AV(---), unfortunately read and published backwards by Agnes Kirsopp Lake (1934-1935, p.98 and n.2, pl. 21). There is epigraphic evidence from the nearby town of Aquinum (CIL X, 5515) and from Rome (CIL VI, 12818 )for a gens Aufidia natives of the territory of Fregellae.

...H(?)
A rectangular stamp of which only the terminal part is preserved, attested on an example in Production 6 (fig. 10).

CITED WORKS
Battaglini in press
G. Battaglini, Il tempio suburbano sulla via Latina: le indagini archeologiche e la struttura, in: Fregellae in press.

Bernardini 1986
P.Bernardini, Museo Nazionale romano. Le ceramiche V, 1. La ceramica a vernice nera dal Tevere (Roma 1986).

Cifarelli – Ambrosini – Nonnis 2002-2003
F.M. Cifarelli – L. Ambrosini – D. Nonnis, Nuovi dati su Segni medio-repubblicama: a proposito di un nuovo pocolom dall’acropoli, in: Rendiconti Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia 75, 2002-2003, 246-325.

Crawford – Keppie – Vercnocke 1985
M.H. Crawford – L. Keppie – M. Vercnocke, Excavations at Fregellae, 1978-84. Part II, in: Papers British School at Rome 53, 1985, 72-96.

Comella 1986
A. Comella, La ceramica a vernice nera, in: F. Coarelli (ed.), Fregellae 2. Il santuario di Esculapio (Roma 1986), 75-81.

Di Giuseppe 2012
H. Di Giuseppe, Black-Gloss Ware in Italy. Production Management and Local Histories (Oxford 2012).

Diosono – Ceccaccio – Seccaroni in press
F.Diosono – M.Ceccaccio – E.Seccaroni, La ceramica a vernice nera, in: Fregellae in press.

Diosono et alii in press
F. Diosono – A. Caselli – S. Consigli – M. de Minicis – V. Forcatura – D. Lanzi – S. Sepiacci – S. Staiano – N. Tiburzi, Living in Fregellae: pottery from the domus, in: Daily Life in a Cosmopolitan World: Pottery and Culture during the hellenistic Period. Proceedings of the 2nd IARPotHP Conference, Lyon 5-8 November 2015, in press.

Fregellae in press
G. Battaglini – F. Coarelli - F. Diosono (ed.), Fregellae. Il tempio del foro ed il tempio suburbano sulla via Latina, in press.

Gregori – Nonnis 2013
G. L. Gregori – D. Nonnis, Dal Liris al Mediterraneo: l’apporto dell’epigrafia repubblicana alla storia del porto di Minturnae, in: G. Olcese (ed.), Immensa Aequora – Workshop, Ricerche archeologiche, archeometriche e informatiche per la ricostruzione dell’economia e dei commerci nel bacino occidentale del Mediterraneo (metà IV sec. a.C. - I sec. d.C.) (Roma 2013), 149-161.

Kirsopp Lake 1934-1935
A. Kirsopp Lake, Campana Supellex. The Pottery Deposit at Minturnae, in: Bollettino dell’associazione Internazionale Studi Mediterranei 5, nn.4-5, 1934-1935, 97-114.

Malandrino 1991
P. Malandrino, Ceramica a vernice nera di Fregellae, in: Terra dei Volsci – Contributi 1991 (Frosinone 1991), 16-32.

Morel 1988
J.-P. Morel, Artisanat et colonisation dans l’Italie romaine aux IVe et IIIe siècles av.J.-C., in : Dialoghi di archeologia 6, ser. 3, 49-63.

Nicosia 1979
A. Nicosia, Ceramica repubblicana della media valle del Liri, in: Quaderni Museo Pontecorvo 1, 23-41.

Nonnis 1998
D. Nonnis, Appendice epigrafica e Prosopografica, in F. Coarelli – P. G. Monti (ed.), Fregellae 1. Le fonti, la storia, il territorio (Roma 1998), 77-78.

Nonnis 2013
D. Nonnis, Fondo di coppa a vernice nera con bollo H, in S. Sisani (ed.), Nursia e l’ager nursinus. Un distretto sabino dalla prefettura al municipio (Roma 2013), 149-150.

Pedroni 1992
L. Pedroni, Il gruppo degli stampigli erculei nella ceramica a vernice nera di Cales, in: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome – Antiquité 104.2, 573-595.

Pedroni 2001
L. Pedroni, Ceramica calena a vernice nera. Produzione e diffusione (Città di Castello 2001).

Ruegg 1995
S.D. Ruegg, Underwater Investigations at Roman Minturnae. Liris-Garigliano River. Part I, Report. Part II, Catalogue of artifacts (Göteborg 1995).


© Francesca Diosono
e-mail: francescadiosono@virgilio.it

This article should be cited like this: F. Diosono, Black Gloss Pottery production in a Latin Colony: some new Data from Fregellae, Forum Archaeologiae 83/VI/2017 (http://farch.net).