Ptolemaic-Roman Red-Slipped Nile Silt ware (Middle-Upper Egypt)
Egypt/Upper Egypt, Egypt/Fayoum
4th century BCE - 1st century CE
Hellenistic/Ptolemaic, Early Roman
General Information
Production of red-slipped table vessels made from fine alluvial Nile clays occured throughout both Lower and Upper Egypt, from the Delta to Aswan. Potters everywhere made small saucers and bowls for individual table service; but the range of other shapes differed depending on local taste and demand. At Dime/Soknopaiou Nesos, this ware appears as early as the 4th century BCE but continues only until the 3rd century BCE. At Coptos, vessels in this ware first appear in the early 3rd century BCE, and continue into the earliest Roman ceramic assemblage, dating to the 1st century CE (Herbert and Berlin 2003, 28). The repertoire of shapes from Syene mainly includes cups, plates and occasionally also beakers and pitchers. In Syene, the vessels of this group are mainly from the Ptolemaic period. In the course of the Roman period they significantly decrease in number because vessels are increasingly made of Aswan Pink Clay: Ptolemaic-Roman Red-Slipped ware (Aswan clay). This ware may be considered a predecessor to Tomber’s “Egyptian early red slipped ware,” found among the second century CE pottery of Mons Claudianus (Tomber 1992, 141-142).
For other versions of this ware see Ptolemaic-Roman Red-Slipped Nile Silt ware (Lower Egypt).
Nile Silt Ptolemaic-Roman Red-Slipped Ware is made of somewhat soft, dull brown alluvial fabric, with a fine to medium-coarse texture. There are some small rounded grey and black inclusions, as wel...
Al-Qarah al-Hamra (Egypt/Fayoum)
Aswan, Syene (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Coptos (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Dime, Soknopaiou Nesos (Egypt/Fayoum)
Luxor/Karnak, Temple of Ptah (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
Luxor/Thebes West, Temple of Millions of Years of Amenhotep II (Egypt/Upper Egypt)
