WORKSHOP OF THE ERBACH PAINTER, CIRCA 400-390 B.C.

The obverse shows a torch race with one of the winning team about to light the sacred fire on the altar. Nike is standing in front crowning him with a wreath, his two other teammates standing behind, one holding a ribbon, another a wreath, all three wearing distinctive headdresses. In ancient Greece torch races (lampadedromia) were run to celebrate various deities at religious festivals. In Athens, torch races took place on five special occasions including at the Prometheia, in honour of Prometheus, which started at his altar in the Academy, and at the Panatheniac festival, in honour of Athena, which started at the altar of Eros.
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For bell-kraters with similar scenes, see inv. no. 1960.344 in the Harvard University Art Museum and inv. no.1897,7-16.6 in the British Museum. For the Erbach painter and his workshop, cf. J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, Oxford, 1970, pp. 1418-1419.