Figure 6.1. The bronze dedication from the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi known as the “serpent column,” made after the Greek victory over the Persians in 479 BC, was moved by the Roman emperor Constantine to his new capital Constantinople (the former Byzantium), where it stands today in a square in Istanbul known today in English as the Hippodrome, the former site of a Roman racetrack.

Figure 6.2. Section of the Athenian Tribute List inscribed on a marble slab showing payments for 433–432 BC by the citizens of Myconos, Andros, Siphnos, Syros, Styra, Eretria, Grynchae, and Rheneia. Athens, Epigraphical Museum.

Figure 6.3. The Athenian empire at its height.

Figure 6.4. The hill of the Pnyx, showing the bema, or speaker’s platform. From here speakers would address their fellow Athenians, rich and poor, meeting in assembly in all kinds of weather to vote on questions ranging from small financial matters to whether or not to go to war. The surviving structure dates from about 340 BC.

Figure 6.5 Statue of a Warrior. Mid-fifth century BC. This statue is one of a pair of wellpreserved bronze statues of warriors—possibly from a victory monument—recovered from the seabed near Riace in southern Italy. The statue is larger than life-size, and the warrior is depicted wearing a diadem, symbolic of victory. The teeth and eyelashes are made of silver, the eyes of bone and glass, and the lips and nipples of red copper. Some of the curls were sculpted separately and soldered. Reggio, Museo Archaeologico Nazionale.

Figure 6.6. Roman copy of the Discobolus (discus thrower) by Myron. Scholars recognized that Myron’s lost bronze statue was the model for Roman marble copies by means of a passage in the second-century AD author Lucian, who describes the original work in detail. Rome, National Museum.

Figure 6.7.a,b,c. The marble pedimental sculpture of the temple of Zeus at Olympia (c. 460 BC) represents scenes from Greek mythology. Reconstructions show (a) the east pediment, telling the story of the chariot race between Pelops and Oenomaus, king of Pisa, and (b) the west pediment, depicting the melee that ensued when Peirithous made the mistake of inviting the barbarous centaurs to his wedding. Olympia, Museum. (c) This unusually naturalistic marble statue of an elderly seer is the third figure from the right in the reconstruction of the east pediment in Figure 6.7a. This male figure’s half-reclining pose enables him to fit into the narrower space toward the side of the triangular pediment. Olympia, Museum. a b c

Figure 6.8.a–b. Attic red-figure calyx-crater (mixing bowl for wine and water) attributed to the Dokimasia Painter (c. 470 BC). This vase, which was probably painted shortly before the production of Aeschylus’ Oresteia, depicts both the murder of Agamemnon (a) and Orestes killing his father’s murderer, Aegisthus (b). Boston, Museum of Fine Arts. ab

Figure 6.9. The family of Megacles, a branch of the Alcmaeonids.

Figure Attic red-figure chous (wine jug) (c. 425–420 BC) depicts a little boy holding a cake for his pet bird. A toy roller leans on the wall behind him. Athenian children had their first taste of wine from jugs like this one at the Anthesteria festival celebrating the new wine, and they are often depicted on these jugs. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

Figure Detail of Attic red-figure lebēs gamikos (wedding bowl) attributed to the Washing Painter (c. 425–400 BC). A bride displays a baby boy, the hoped-for result of her marriage. A standing woman toward the right is holding a loutrophoros, a wedding vase used to transport water for the prenuptial bath. The flying Nike (winged Victory) on the far right holds a vase for perfumed oil.

Figure Attic red-figure pyxis (cosmetic box) (c. 430 BC), attributed to the Marlay Painter. A typical gift for a bride, this pyxis bears appropriate subject matter for its intended owner: a wedding procession leaving the bride’s house. The groom mounts the chariot onto which he has lifted his bride, whose head is veiled. London, The British Museum.

Figure Attic black-figure lēkythos attributed to the Amasis Painter (c. 550–540 BC), showing women producing cloth. The woman at the left is spinning yarn, while two women weave cloth on a vertical loom at the center. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Figure 6.14a–b. Attic red- and black-figure loutrophoros-amphora attributed to the Cleophrades Painter (c. 480 BC). The main scene on the body of this vase depicts the prothesis (lying in state) of a deceased youth surrounded by female mourners. The small black-figure frieze below shows a commemorative procession of cavalrymen. Such vases normally were employed for holding water to anoint the body of the deceased, but this exceptionally tall example has no bottom and would have been used for libations at the grave. Paris, The Louvre.

Figure This marble grave relief from Paros, depicting a young girl with her pet doves, predates the mid-fifth century, when luxurious funerary monuments with figural images appear to have been forbidden in Athens. The relief’s white Parian marble was originally colorfully painted; some details rendered solely in paint, such as the girl’s sandal straps and her doves’ feathers, are now entirely lost. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.