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Black-Figure Eye Kylix: Dionysos Seated Between Two Saytrs
Black-Figure Eye Kylix: Dionysos Seated Between Two Saytrs
Black-Figure Eye Kylix: Dionysos Seated Between Two Saytrs

Black-Figure Eye Kylix: Dionysos Seated Between Two Saytrs

Datecirca 510 - 100 B.C.E.
MediumEarthenware with slip-painted decoration
Dimensions3-5/16 x 8-11/16 in. (8.4 x 22.1 cm)
Credit LineThe F.B. Tarbell Collection, Gift of E.P. Warren, 1902
Object number1967.115.337
Terms
  • Black-figure
  • Greek
Object TypeCeramics
On View
Not on view
A type of drinking cup adorned on the exterior with pairs of large eyes, "eye-cups" were a staple of Athenian pottery between 540 and 480 B.C.E. Other eye-cups feature a nose or ears, suggesting that the eyes are not dismembered apotropaic symbols but parts of a frontal face. On these grounds, the eyes of eye-cups have been understood as the symbolic image of a mask, of either Dionysos, god of wine (featured here on the outer sides of the kylix, seated), or one of his followers, the satyrs and maenads. It has been suggested that the image of the frontal face (and frontal gaze)—also depicted as a Gorgon mask in the center of the bowl of the cup—in ancient Greek culture signified altered states: the loss of consciousness, which marks sleep, ecstatic dancing, death and drunkenness.