Pelike

Attica, Greece, (group G), ca. 350 BCE

Site: Panticapaeum (Kerch), Crimea

Rose-coloured body, red-figure painting with white slip.

H: 27.7 cm

UMP 8316  

Purchased from Vladislav Škorpil (Shkorpil) in 1901.

This pelike is decorated using the red-figure technique with black reflet and white slip-trailing. An Arimasp battling two griffins is portrayed on the front. On the back, two male figures wearing himatia stand by a stele. Arimaspi wrestling with griffins or leopards was a popular motif used to decorate red-figure ceramics. The legendary tribe of one-eyed Arimaspi were said to live in Scythia, north of the Black Sea, and were constantly fighting with gold-guarding griffins. The Arimaspi usually fight with spears on horseback or on foot and have beards and ornately decorated tunics.