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Lot Essay
On one side of this splendid amphora is Athena, striding to the left, clad in her peplos and aegis, armed with her high-crested helmet and shield, with a spear raised in her right hand. She is flanked by two Doric columns, each surmounted by a cock; so too is there a cock as her shield blazon. On the other side, two nude bearded boxers engage in combat, their hands wrapped in leather straps (himantes). The boxer on the left strikes with his left arm, while his opponent on the right either ducks or staggers from the blow. To the left of the fight is a bearded man in a himation holding a staff – perhaps a referee – and to the right is a nude youth.
The most important festival celebrated in ancient Athens was the Panathenaia, established in 566 B.C., which honoured the city's patron deity Athena Polias. Every fourth year was the Great Panathenaic festival that included musical and athletic competitions. The victors were awarded a huge prize amphora containing one metretes (over ten gallons) of oil from the goddess' sacred grove. The obverse of these amphorae always depicts the goddess between columns, usually surmounted by cocks. The reverse depicted the event for which the vase served as the prize.
Smaller scale vases of Panathenaic shape and decoration, the pseudo-Panathenaic amphorae, 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".
Whatever the intended purpose of this vase, the agonistic spirit of its iconography shines through on both sides. For a similar though less fine example, see Les Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, inv. no. A13B (Beazley Archive Pottery Database no. 340509).
The most important festival celebrated in ancient Athens was the Panathenaia, established in 566 B.C., which honoured the city's patron deity Athena Polias. Every fourth year was the Great Panathenaic festival that included musical and athletic competitions. The victors were awarded a huge prize amphora containing one metretes (over ten gallons) of oil from the goddess' sacred grove. The obverse of these amphorae always depicts the goddess between columns, usually surmounted by cocks. The reverse depicted the event for which the vase served as the prize.
Smaller scale vases of Panathenaic shape and decoration, the pseudo-Panathenaic amphorae, 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".
Whatever the intended purpose of this vase, the agonistic spirit of its iconography shines through on both sides. For a similar though less fine example, see Les Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, inv. no. A13B (Beazley Archive Pottery Database no. 340509).