Red-Figure Kylix: Standing Youth Holding a Walking Stick and Bowl

The tondo, or circular picture, on the drinking cup’s interior features a young man participating in a komos, the dance that follows the symposium. The young man is looking over his right shoulder, as if he is reading the inscription that runs parallel to his arm.

HO PAIS, translated as "the boy," is usually paired with the adjective KALOS to mean "the boy is beautiful," celebrating not only the boy’s aesthetic beauty but also his desirability to the male viewer. Since the inscription is general enough to celebrate the beauty of any boy, it allows the reader to substitute the name of a young man of whom he is particularly fond. Alternatively, HO PAIS can refer to the young man in the picture or to any young man present at the symposium. In this respect, the word and image can refer to the world within the picture, at the same time that they refer to the world beyond it.

In this instance KALOS is not written but implied. The nude youth is rendered erotically from the back. He gazes shyly downward, directing the viewer’s gaze to the inscription and to the beauty being celebrated. His lifted foot emphasizes the circular shape of the interior of the cup, subtly suggesting the painter’s expert technique. All of these elements evoke the idea of KALOS which, though not written, is stated by the image. The boy is KALOS, and the painting, because of its technical virtuosity, is also KALOS.