Attic red-figure aryballos depicting a palaestra scene

The vessel is attributed to the potter and painter Douris. This small vessel features a unique shape (approximating an aryballos) and a remarkable craftsmanship and painting, attributed to a master painter and potter, known by the name Douris. It was filled with scented oil which was used as body-ointment, applied by young athletes after training in the wrestling field (palaestra). The vase was found deposited as a grave gift in a youth’s burial.

The scene extends over both sides of the aryballos and constitutes a lively representation of everyday activity in a Greek gymnasium. Two young men are shown naked, wearing only special caps on their heads, and actively engaged in a wrestling hold inside the palaestra. They go by the names Thodis and Chairippos according to the two inscriptions running vertically on either side of their bodies, which also characterize them as “kaloi” (handsome). The venue is effectively suggested by certain paraphernalia that are more or less common in analogous athletic scenes, namely two javelins and a pick-axe stuck on the ground, a hanging bow, and a discus. A humorous touch is added by the Maltese dog framing the scene to the right, which covets the overhanging personal items of the two men, a strigil, a sponge, and an aryballos bound together.