On the best preserved face, two figures seem to be engaged in a chase, one running ahead, the other flying behind. The winged figure is none other than the god of love, Eros. He holds in his hand a crown, now almost totally lost. The man, to whom he is passing it and who tries to take it, is holding a string instrument, a lyre. He is slender, muscular, his hair decorated with a ribbon (taenia). The beauty of the young man, an ephebe, evokes his youth as much as his innocence.
But why is he depicted on this vase? In becoming a man, he earns the right to take part in the symposium, a banquet reserved for the Greek male aristocracy. This is not a time for excessive consumption of food and wine.
On the contrary, like Plato's Banquet, it is a place of conversation, the opportunity to recite verse or play music, as the lyre on the vase suggests. The young men invited to take part thus enter adulthood. They are taken under the wing of older men, who will instruct and raise their pupils. The symposium is the perfect forum for interaction and sociability, even if it is also a time for relaxation and leisure in polite company. Wine is therefore an essential ingredient!
(Ref. Ant 65)
On the best preserved face, two figures seem to be engaged in a chase, one running ahead, the other flying behind. The winged figure is none other than the god of love, Eros. He holds in his hand a crown, now almost totally lost. The man, to whom he is passing it and who tries to take it, is holding a string instrument, a lyre. He is slender, muscular, his hair decorated with a ribbon (taenia). The beauty of the young man, an ephebe, evokes his youth as much as his innocence.
But why is he depicted on this vase? In becoming a man, he earns the right to take part in the symposium, a banquet reserved for the Greek male aristocracy. This is not a time for excessive consumption of food and wine.
On the contrary, like Plato's Banquet, it is a place of conversation, the opportunity to recite verse or play music, as the lyre on the vase suggests. The young men invited to take part thus enter adulthood. They are taken under the wing of older men, who will instruct and raise their pupils. The symposium is the perfect forum for interaction and sociability, even if it is also a time for relaxation and leisure in polite company. Wine is therefore an essential ingredient!
(Ref. Ant 65)
