Ure Museum Database



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Accession_Number 51.4.9
Shape Lekythos
Shape_description The rim is conical, strap small handle connecting the enck with the shoulder, is banded with an inflated back, shoulder curving slightly upwards, the body is ovaloid, tapering down to a torus foot, conical underneath. Cf. Agora 12 part 2, no. 1117, pl. 38 Cf. "Sixth and Fifth Century Pottery", P.N.Ure (ed.), p43 shape class E, pl. 14 nos. 130.108 & 127.59
Material Terracotta
Fabric Attic
Fabric_description
Munsell_color 5YR 7/6. reddish yellow clay
Decoration The rim is black, both on the inside and on the outside. The back of the handle is also black, but the underside is reserved. The neck is reserved, but glazed apart from a thick purple band on its lower part. On the sloping junction of the neck with the shoulder, black tongues. Both interrupted at the joining point of the handle to the neck. The shoulder is covered with a guilloche (pattern of interwoven fillets) with teardropped terminations. In the middle of two upper and two lower black lines there are two rows of black dots that begin on the edge of the second left figure of the main scene and stop at the edge of the last person. In the centre of the scene, a male figure in profile to the right with as short mantle, a quiver on his back (Herakles) is attacking a kneeling Amazon. With his left hand, he is gradding her from the air and with the right he is holding a sword, with which he is ready to kill her. The Amazon, in profile to the left, is wearing a helmet, holding a very long spear with her arm and her shiled with the left. From his waist, her sword is hanging. This scene is flanked by two other battle scenes. On the left side, an Amazon is attacking a Greek. He is wearing a cuirass, helmet, he is hloding his spear and his shield and he is shown ready to fall down. Tha Amazon has atteacked him with her spear. She is wearing a helmet and a short chiton. On the right, an Amazon and a Greek are shown in profile running towards the left, projecting their spears. The Amazon is wearing a ahsort chiton and a helmet. She is holding her shield, covering large part of her body. A frontal head of a lion decorates the shield. A sword hanging from her waist. The male warrior wears a short chiton and has a shield and a helmet. The Amazons have long hair and wear helmets with longer and bigger crests. Incisions and added red are used for details. Added red: parts of the chitons of the warriors anad the Amazons, hair of the warrior in the middle, fillets on Amazon's heads and the frame of the shield of the running Amazon. Below the scene, there are two lines (not evenly formed at all in their length) and a band of added red. Below that, the vessel is black, with two concentric circles on the surface of the foot. The resting surface is reserved.
Inscriptions
Condition Chips on the shoulder, body. Glaze on the rim large part of the foot and handle flaked off. Red colour faded. Occasional scratches on the body.
Technique/Style Black figure
Provenance
Period High Archaic / Late Archaic
Date 525-500
Dating_details
Artist Painter of Vatican G 31
Attribution Beazley: ABV 486.5
Image

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Left side view of an Attic black-figure lekythos, showing Greeks fighting Amazons.

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Near front view of an Attic black-figure lekythos, showing Herakles among other Greeks battling Amazons.

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Right side view of an Attic black-figure lekythos, showing Greeks battling Amazons.

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Oblique view of an Attic, black-figure lekythos, depicting Amazons fighting Greek warriors.

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Oblique view of an Attic, black-figure lekythos, depicting Amazons fighting Greek warriors.

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Detail of Amazons fighting Greek warriors, on an Attic, black-figure lekythos.

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Detail of a warrior attacking a falling Amazon, on an Attic, black-figure lekythos.

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Detail of a Greek warrior, on an Attic, black-figure lekythos.

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Detail of a Greek warrior, on an Attic, black-figure lekythos.

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Comparanda
Bibliography Dietrich von Bothmer, Amazons in Greek Art (London 1957) pl. 54.1; Ure 1963, 57.7, fig. 5; ABV 486.5; Para 222
Archive_Ref
Beazley_DB 303496
Height 20.3
Diameters Rim 4.7; neck 1.7; body 8.9; base 5.3
Handle_height 4.5
Other_dims.
Location Myth and religion
Edited_by Georgia; Kinsey; Teifi
Date_edited 16.06.2003; 11.01.2006; 21.08.2006
The Ure Museum is part of
The University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 217, Reading, RG6 6AH