Collector
Robert Philips Greg
fl. 1879–1895 · United Kingdom
Hertfordshire antiquary who owned Cypriot and Near Eastern small antiquities, wrote on the swastika, and sold his collection at Sotheby's in July 1895.
Biography
Robert Philips Greg wrote a paper on the fylfot and swastika, published in Archaeologia in 1884 with drawings of a terracotta whorl and an archaic jug from Cyprus that he owned5. Heinrich Schliemann reported that he had studied the subject for six years and read the paper to the Society of Antiquaries in March 18821.
Schliemann's Troja (1884) names him as owner of several small antiquities: a Hittite seal with a scarab design, a scarab with Carian letters, a rock-crystal seal from near Beirut, and a terracotta weight said to come from Hissarlik, bearing two inscriptions that proved to be in the Cypriot syllabary1. A notice of 1882 citing Archibald Henry Sayce says he obtained the weight from the Schliemann collections; Schliemann says only that it passed into his hands1,6. On 4 November 1884 Sayce published to the Society of Biblical Archaeology a Kypriote inscription on another seal of his, with doubts about its genuineness8.
The Academy of 6 July 1895 announced the sale of his collection at Sotheby's for the following week, with gold objects from Cyprus among the lots2. The Earl of Southesk bought cylinder seals at it as lots 20, 21 and 27, three of the haematite cylinders in lot 27 being attributed as Cypriote or Cypriote-Hittite in his catalogue of 19083. Where the Cypriot gold went is not recorded.
Life and work
- 23 March 1882Read a paper to the Society of Antiquaries on the fylfot and swastika after six years of study; published in Archaeologia in 1884 with his drawings of a whorl and an archaic jug from Cyprus.
LondonHeinrich Schliemann; A. H. Sayce (1884). Troja: results of the latest researches.... Preface pp. xx, xxi, xxv-xxvi; pp. 124-126; Robert Philips Greg (1884). On the Meaning and Origin of the Fylfot and Swastika. Archaeologia, Archaeologia 48; Reference to Plates: Pl. XIX fig. 9, Pl. XX fig. 8; text on jug p. 305 (index: "Cyprus, pottery from, 305")
- 4 November 1884Presented his Archaeologia paper, On the Meaning and Origin of the Fylfot and Swastika (4to, London 1884), to the Society of Biblical Archaeology; Sayce published a Kypriote seal of his the same evening, doubting its genuineness.
- 9 July 1895 – 10 July 1895Collection sold at Sotheby's on the Tuesday and Wednesday after 6 July 1895 (announced as Babylonian contract-tablets and cylinder-seals, Egyptian scarabs, and gold objects from Cyprus, some apparently of Hittite workmanship). Lord Southesk's gem catalogue records cylinders from it as 'Greg Coll. (Lots 20, 21, 27): 1895'.
London(1895). The Academy, 6 July 1895 (vol. 48, no. 1209). p. 20 (notes column), p. 20; James Carnegie Southesk; Helena Carnegie (1908). Catalogue of the Collection of Antique Gems formed by James, Ninth Earl of Southesk
Connections
3 peopleSales, gifts & bequests
Colleagues & contacts
- Connected with Heinrich Schliemannterra-cotta weight and scarab inscriptions Schliemann, Heinrich, 1822-1890; Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry), 1845-1933, Troja : results of the latest researches and discoveries on the site of Homer's Troy and in the heroic tumuli and other sites, made in the year 1882 : and a nar (1884)1884
- Connected with Sir Arthur John EvansHittite seals Hogarth, D. G. (David George), 1862-1927, Hittite seals, with particular reference to the Ashmolean Collection (1920)1894
Objects
Terracotta weight with two deeply-cut inscriptions (read e-si-re / Re-si-e, and lu?-a?-vo, in Cypriot syllabary), alleged to come from Hissarlik
by 1882
Heinrich Schliemann; A. H. Sayce (1884). Troja: results of the latest researches.... Preface pp. xx, xxi, xxv-xxvi; pp. 124-126; (1882). Philologische Wochenschrift. Philologische Wochenschrift, notice of Sayce, "a new Trojan inscription", Academy no. 535, 5 Aug 1882
Hittite seal with a rude beetle (scarab) design; separately, scarab with a long inscription in Karian letters, and a second scarab of the same class examined for Karian letters
Rock-crystal seal found near Beirut, with the same design as a lentoid gem from Mycenae (Schliemann, Mycenae no. 175)
Terracotta whorl from Cyprus (Archaeologia 48, Pl. XIX fig. 9) and archaic jug from Cyprus with a fylfot above a goose (Pl. XX fig. 8)
1884
Cylinder seals from the Greg sale: Lot 20 green jasper (Akkadian), Lot 21 onyx (Assyrian), Lot 27 haematite cylinders including three attributed as Cypriote or Cypriote-Hittite (Southesk Q 8 5, Q 8 15, Q 8 16) and a barrel weight with cuneiform (R 9)
July 1895
Seal bearing a Kypriote inscription, of doubted genuineness; Sayce published the signs (ko? sa ro / mu(?)ya ne ya / ku no(?) ro)
4 November 1884
Sources
- 1.Heinrich Schliemann; A. H. Sayce (1884). Troja: results of the latest researches.... Preface pp. xx, xxi, xxv-xxvi; pp. 124-126.
- 2. (1895). “The Academy, 6 July 1895 (vol. 48, no. 1209)”. p. 20 (notes column).
- 3.James Carnegie Southesk; Helena Carnegie (1908). Catalogue of the Collection of Antique Gems formed by James, Ninth Earl of Southesk.
- 4.Philip Henry (ed. M. H. Lee) (1882). Diaries and Letters of Philip Henry. p. 476.
- 5.Robert Philips Greg (1884). “On the Meaning and Origin of the Fylfot and Swastika”. Archaeologia, Archaeologia 48; Reference to Plates: Pl. XIX fig. 9, Pl. XX fig. 8; text on jug p. 305 (index: "Cyprus, pottery from, 305").
- 6. (1882). “Philologische Wochenschrift”. Philologische Wochenschrift, notice of Sayce, "a new Trojan inscription", Academy no. 535, 5 Aug 1882.
- 7.Mary B. Rose (1986). The Gregs of Quarry Bank Mill.
- 8. (1884). “Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. 7, session of 4 November 1884: Prof. Sayce, "The Kypriote Graffiti of Abydos"”. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 7, p. 39.
- 9.Hogarth, D. G. (David George), 1862-1927, Hittite seals, with particular reference to the Ashmolean Collection (1920).
- 10.James Carnegie Southesk; Helena Carnegie, 1908.
- 11.Schliemann, Heinrich, 1822-1890; Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry), 1845-1933, Troja : results of the latest researches and discoveries on the site of Homer's Troy and in the heroic tumuli and other sites, made in the year 1882 : and a nar (1884).
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