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Lekythoi had both a functional and a ritual
context for the ancient Greeks. Within daily life,
they were used as flasks to hold precious
ointments such as fragrant perfumes and
sumptuous oils. They also used in funerary rites,
specifically the white-ground varieties. These
lekythoi, often decorated with scenes of
mourning, would have been left on the grave as
offerings or used to pour libations over the
deceased. This lekythos, however, clearly was
meant for the living and not for the dead.
A woman wearing a helmet with an impressive
crest, her skin highlighted with white paint,
standing directly behind a black horse decorates
the center of the upper half of the cylindrical
body. Flanking her, a pair of nude wreathed
youths stand with their clamys hanging over their
outstretched left arms and their right arms bent
behind their backs. Four leafy branches fill out
the background between the figures. A
rightward meander pattern decorates the top of
the body, just below the shoulder, set off from
the main scene by a pair of black lines. The
shoulders are decorated with a row of rays, and
the base of the neck has a tongue pattern.
This particular lekythos is attributed to the Class
of Athens 581. This Class of vases includes a
large number of lekythoi are distinguished by a
body that tapers steadily to the foot, the use of
palmettes, buds, or rays (as is the case here) on
the shoulders, and backgrounds with leafy
branches. Lekythoi of this Class have been found
in a tumulus for the Plataeans who died at the
Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., making this Class
one of the few dateable black-figure vase styles.
- (X.0072)
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