Small red-figure amphora of panathenaic shape depicting Athena Promachos and a boxing contest
On the obverse, Athena Promachos, brandishing a spear and holding a shield with a Pegasos device, advances to an altar. An inscription behind the goddess refers to the handsome Pythokles (“ΠΥΘΟΚΛΕΕ[Σ] ΚΑΛΟΣ”) and a second one around her shield to another beautiful youth, whose name is not preserved (“Ο...Σ ΚΑΛ[Ο]Σ”). On the reverse is a boxing contest between two adolescents, their fists bound with leather straps. The one on the left punches his opponent and forces him to the ground with his foot. The other boxer admits defeat by raising the index of his right hand. In the background behind them, two javelins, an aryballos, a strigil and a sponge denote the setting of the palaestra.
- Athens, National Archaeological Museum, inv. n. A 1689
- Ca 500 BC By the Pythokles Painter
- H. 0.19 m. Diam. rim 0.73 m. Diam. foot 0.67 m.
- Clay
- Provenance: Aegina
Bibliography
- A Journey to the Land of Immortals: Treasures of Ancient Greece (Tokyo 2016) 156 no. 247 (C. Avronidaki), Tokyo National Museum.
- BAPD 200209
- Kaltsas, N. (ed.), (2004). Agon. The Spirit of Competition in Ancient Greece, National Archaeological Museum 15 July – 31 October 2004, 89 no. 88 (in E. Kakarounga-Stassinopoulou), Athens: Ministry of Culture.
