Panathenaic Prize Amphora with Athena and Pankration Scene

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Panathenaic Prize Amphora with Athena and Pankration Scene

Artist Manner of the Kleophrades Painter (Greek)

Place of OriginGreece, from Attica

Dateabout 490 BCE

Dimensions25 1/8 × 16 1/8 × 16 1/8 in. (63.8 × 41 × 41 cm)

MediumBlack Figure; Wheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware with incised details

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1961.24

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionStandard Panathenaic prize amphora form with an echinus rim, short neck, half-ring handles, and bulbous body tapering to an angular foot. Decorative details include double palmettes on the neck, a tongue pattern above the image fields, and rays below. Side A: Athena advancing left, armed with helmet, spear, round shield, and aegis, flanked by two Doric columns topped with roosters. Inscription: ΤΟΝ ΑΘΕΝΕΘΕΝ ΑΘΛΟΝ (Prize of the Games in Athens). Shield emblem depicts Pegasus. Side B: A judge and two pankratiasts. The central bearded judge holds a whip and observes the athletes in combat. Colors include white for Athena’s face, shield emblem, and athletes' skin; red for garment details, roosters, and shield rims. Remarkably preserved with minor restorations.

Label TextThe Panathenaic games were held in Athens every four years in honor of the goddess Athena. In contrast to other games in which the prizes were purely symbolic wreaths, the Panathenaic games awarded victors large decorated storage jars (amphorae) filled with olive oil from the sacred groves of Athena. Although today we prize the amphorae as works of art, it was actually the olive oil that was the prize. The scene on the front shows the goddess Athena and is a traditional composition found on all Panathenaic amphorae. On the back is shown the competition for which the prize was awarded: the Pankration. The two athletes are shown with a judge between them. This was a particularly vicious combat sport involving boxing, wrestling, kicking, and twisting. There were some rules, however. Biting and gouging were forbidden—except at Sparta.Published References

Kunstwerke der Antike: Auktion XXII, Münzen und Medaillen AG Basel, 13 Mai 1961, pp. 80-81, lot no. 153.

Washington, S., "Greek Vase Painting," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 5, no. 3, 1962, p. 92.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, Jan.-Mar. 1962," The Art Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 2, 1962, p. 165.

Beazley, John D., Attic Red-figure Vase Painters, Oxford, 2nd ed., 1963, pp. 1632, 1705.

"La Chronique des Arts," Supplement to the Gazette des Beaux Arts, no. 1129, Paris, Feb. 1963, p. 19, no. 81.

Riefstahl, Rudolph M., "Greek Vases," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 11, no. 2, 1968, p. 38.

Beazley, John D., Paralipomena, Oxford, 1971, p. 176, no. 5 bis.

Luckner, Kurt T., "Greek Vases: Shapes and Uses," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 15, no. 3, 1972, p. 66.

Brommer, Frank, Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, Marburg, 3rd ed., 1973, p. 303, no. 32.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, U.S.A. Fasc. 17, Toledo, 1976, pp. 7-8, repr. pl. 13.

Neils, Jenifer, Goddess and Polis, Hanover, NH, Hood Museum of Art, 1992, no. 38, p. 170, repr.

Mikalson, Jon D., Ancient Greek Religion, Oxford, UK, Blackwell, 2005, p. 81, fig. IV9.

Miller, Stephen G., Ancient Greek Athletics, New Haven, Yale, 2004, p. 134, fig. 217.

Exhibition HistoryHanover, NH, Hood Museum of Art; Tampa Museum of Art; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Princeton Unversity Art Museum, Goddess and Polis, 1992-1993.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Berlin Painter and His World: Athenian Vase Painting in the Early Fifth Century BC, July 8-October 1, 2017.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Gardiner, Edward Norman, Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals, London, 1910, p. 435 ff.

cf. Beazley, John D., The Development of Attic Black-figure, Berkeley, 1951, p. 94.

cf. Harris, Greek Athletes and Athletics, London, 1964, p. 105 ff.

cf. Gardiner, E. Norman, Athletics of the ancient world, Oxford, 1930 (Ares, 1978), pp. 212-221 (on the Pankration athletic event). cf. Poliakoff, Michael B., Combat sports in the ancient world, New Haven, 1987, pp. 54-63 (on the Pankration athletic event).