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Lot Essay
The most important festival celebrated in ancient Athens was the Panathenaia, which honored the city's patron deity, Athena Polias. Every fourth year was the Great Panathenaic festival, which included musical and athletic competitions. The victors were awarded huge prize amphorae containing one metrates (over ten gallons) of oil from the goddess' sacred grove. The obverse of these pottery jars always depicts the goddess between columns, usually surmounted by cocks. The reverse depicts the event for which the vase served as the prize.
Smaller scale vases of Panathenaic shape and decoration, similar to the example presented here, must have served a different function than the larger prize amphorae. According to J. Neils, ("Panathenaic Amphoras: Their Meaning, Makers and Markets," in Goddess and Polis, The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens, p.44) these small-scale imitations had a capacity of approximately half that of the prize amphorae. "It has been suggested that these are either wine jars for a victory celebration or commemorative vases which functioned as souvenirs for competitors at the Panathenaia." Further, "an alternative explanation is that these jars were made as export containers for the excess olive oil from the sacred trees of Athena, known as the Moriai."
Depicted on the reverse of the vase presented here is a diskobolos who holds a discus before him in both hands. A fellow athlete stands before him looking back, while draped trainers look on from either side, each holding a staff. For a related scene on a Panathenaic amphora by the Eucharides Painter, now in the Antikenmuseum, Basel, see p. 163, no. 92 in E. Dozio, et al., Gli atleti di Zeus, Lo sport nell'antichità.
Smaller scale vases of Panathenaic shape and decoration, similar to the example presented here, must have served a different function than the larger prize amphorae. According to J. Neils, ("Panathenaic Amphoras: Their Meaning, Makers and Markets," in Goddess and Polis, The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens, p.44) these small-scale imitations had a capacity of approximately half that of the prize amphorae. "It has been suggested that these are either wine jars for a victory celebration or commemorative vases which functioned as souvenirs for competitors at the Panathenaia." Further, "an alternative explanation is that these jars were made as export containers for the excess olive oil from the sacred trees of Athena, known as the Moriai."
Depicted on the reverse of the vase presented here is a diskobolos who holds a discus before him in both hands. A fellow athlete stands before him looking back, while draped trainers look on from either side, each holding a staff. For a related scene on a Panathenaic amphora by the Eucharides Painter, now in the Antikenmuseum, Basel, see p. 163, no. 92 in E. Dozio, et al., Gli atleti di Zeus, Lo sport nell'antichità.