A Group of Lydions from Uşak Museum

Abstract

Ancient literary sources indicate that Lydians, who
had the most powerful and richest state in Anatolia, were
fond of perfumes, fragrant oils and creams, which were expensive and luxurious products of antiquity. Consumption
of these products became widespread among the middle
class in the late VIIth and the VIth centuries BC. Concurrently,
a novel product and its own unique vessel form, different
from the usual perfumes, cosmetics and related vessel forms,
began to emerge in many centers throughout the Mediterranean World. Found in Western Anatolia, Phrygia, the
Aegean Islands, the Greek Sites, Italy, France, Spain and
Southern Russia, this new cosmetic and its container were
called βακκαρίς and lydion, respectively. The use of lydion,
which was probably the only Lydian perfume/cosmeticcontaining form that was exported and imitated outside
Anatolia, persisted in the Vth and IVth centuries BC, albeit in
decreasing abundance. However, most of these findings
were recovered from undated deposits. Seven lydions are
evaluated in this study and a novel example of the group
classified as hybrid lydions is presented. This study aims to
contribute to the chronology of transition and late lydions in
the light of Hamamtepe, İkiztepe and new findings.