Sacrifice to Athena

Title: Sacrifice to Athena
Repository: British Museum
Alternative: Lekane Vase B80
Creator: unknown
Photographer: Lowenstam, Steven
Creator Display: unknown Ancient Greek (vase painter)
Description: Pottery: black-figure lekane (bowl); wheel-made; low conical body on a ring base; short rim, slifgrly concave; pair of opposing strap handles; made of buff clay and slip, decorated with figures in reddish-black paint inside and out, some details incised; vessel mostly intact but repaired from fragments, with slight restoration on the rim. In the interior, three male figures are represented in a tondo with border of tongue-pattern. At the left a nude, bearded man facing right grips the arms of a bearded opponent in the centre and forces him down. This central figure, dressed in a short chiton with a sheath at his side, attempts to flee to the right and brandishes a sword in his right hand. In his left hand he holds a cord to which an object may be attached. At the right a third man, nude and bearded, retreats, looking back. In the field are a branch, a flower, and a tendril. On the outside of the lekane, under a frieze of ivy leaves below the rim, we see on side A a sacrificial procession moving toward the altar of the goddess Athena and on side B, seven men, a he-goat, and a bird. The two scenes are probably connected and linked to a rural festival. On side A, at the far right underneath one of the handles, Athena is represented facing to the left. She wears a peplos and a helmet. In her right hand she brandishes a spear, and she holds a shield on her left arm. Behind her is a snake coiled on a pedestal and a Doric column, which may suggest a temple or a sanctuary. In front of Athena is a two-stepped flaming altar with a flame-guard; at the left, a bird is on top of the altar, which is approached by a priestess in a peplos carrying a sacrificial tray on her head. Behind her, a man in a short tunic who is holding a wreath leads a bull to sacrifice. He is followed by an aulas (double-pipe) player and five men. They all seem to be nude, except for the aulos player, who wears a short garment, and the last figure, who has some drapery over his arm. The first in line holds two cords attached to the bull's hind legs; the second carries a wreath and the third a jug; the fourth has a short staff or perhaps a knife; and the fifth carries a staff (or a knife) and a wreath. Behind them, underneath the other handle, the procession is concluded by a cart, which is pulled by two mules and carries four draped figures. One is the driver, who holds a two-thonged whip; two others stand and one is seated at the back, holding a wreath. On side B seven bearded, nude male figures, a he-goat, and a bird are represented. The bird, at the far left, faces right. Next are two men, holding wreaths, who move to the right; the one in front looks back at his companion. Further to the right, two men are busy with a he-goat, who stands between them facing right with his head turned back. The man at the right holds the goat by a horn. Behind him are two men facing left and gesticulating. A third man, at the far right, faces right; he holds a stick in his hand, and a small piece of drapery hangs from his left arm. --The British Museum Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893
View: Bottom
Coverage: Boeotia, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece (creation) Athens, Periféreia Protevoúsis, Greece (discovery)
Temporal: ca. 550 BCE
Subject: Black Figure Black Figure Gods Pottery III
Style Period: Black-figure Boeotian (pottery style)
Work Type: bowls (vessels)
Date: -0555/-0545
View Date: 1985-09
Identifier: Lowenstam_VRC_05632
Item Locator: Box 12, Section 22
Rights: In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder: University of Oregon, Department of Classics
Local Collection Name: Steven Lowenstam Collection
Type: Image
Format: image/tiff
Measurements: Height: 7.62 cm Diameter: 30.48 cm
Material: pottery | wheel-made; painted; incised; slipped
Set: Lowenstam Collection of Ancient Western Art and Archaeology
Primary Set: Lowenstam Collection of Ancient Western Art and Archaeology
Institution: University of Oregon
Cultural Context: Boeotian (pottery style)
Id Current Repository: 1879,1004.1