Stamped Amphora Handle

Thick fragment of an amphora handle featuring a stamp. The exterior of the handle is whitish-gray. Looking at the cross-section of the handle, it is possible to see the inner rim is red, while the majority of the inside fabric is dark gray. The diameter of the handle is about 4.5 centimeters. [J.Pesce 8/4/10]

The amphora stamps of the Melissi family are found all over the western Mediterranean, in such frequency and extent as to suggest that they must have been one of the wealthiest and most productive families in Spain. The stamps of the "Two Iunii Melissi", giving forms of the names Melissus and Melissa, belonged to a firm owned by a husband and wife, or a brother and sister. They appear to have operated the firm in the first half of the second century CE. Around the end of the reign of Antoninus Pius, the business appears to have passed to L. Iunius Melissus, who was probably the son of both or one of them. The museum has an example of his stamps (1977.216.154).