Abstract/Summary

This article brings together data from recent excavations that contradicts the traditional understanding that the presence of Attic figured pottery in Macedonia denotes ‘high culture’. The lesser Attic pots that travelled to Macedonia and elsewhere neither represent high art nor advertise the best Athens had to offer by way of culture. In lieu of the ‘contact’ concept regarding the diffusion of culture, which is a traditional by-product of colonization, through which locals receive, rather than exchange, ideas, styles, and tastes from foreigners, i.e. the ‘push model’, we suggest a pull model’, whereby the developing tastes of the populations of Macedonia at the beginning of the 5th c. pulled merchants with Attic wares to their sophisticated, cosmopolitan local markets. There is accordingly an appreciation for the lesser and later productions of Attic vases. In this paper, we offer an economic understanding of the trade in these vessels, as commodities, and hypothesize about marketing (language) whereby they were sold. We also consider the relevance of the juxtaposition of large and finely decorated Attic wares—decorated in both black- and red-figure—with lesser wares and with metals and other indicators of conspicuous consumption.