The Art of Libation in Classical Athens

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18086

This volume presents an innovative look at the imagery of libations, the most commonly depicted ritual in ancient Greece, and how it engaged viewers in religious performance. In a libation, liquid—water, wine, milk, oil, or honey—was poured from a vessel such as a jug or a bowl onto the ground, an altar, or another surface. Libations were made on occasions like banquets, sacrifices, oath-taking, departures to war, and visitations to tombs, and their iconography provides essential insight into religious and social life in 5th-century BC Athens. Scenes depicting the ritual often involved beholders directly—a statue’s gaze might establish the onlooker as a fellow participant, or painted vases could draw parallels between human practices and acts of gods or heroes. Illustrated with a broad range of examples, including the Caryatids at the Acropolis, the Parthenon Frieze, Attic red-figure pottery, and funerary sculpture, this important book demonstrates the power of Greek art to transcend the boundaries between visual representation and everyday experience.

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Author

PublisherYale University Press

Print publication date February 2018 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780300192278

EISBN 9780300247879

Illustrations 130

Print Status in print

Publisher (in print)

WorldCat

Google Books

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List of illustrations

Porch of the Caryatids
Roman copies of Athenian Caryatids
Seated woman holding a libation bowl in her right hand and a bird in her left
Reclining heroic figure holding a libation bowl and accompanied by a female figure, nude youth, and an older man
Red-figure amphora
White-ground lekythos
Red-figure stamnos, face a
Phiale
Phiale
Phiale
Kore 675 from the Athenian Acropolis
Caryatid from the west façade of the Siphnian Treasury at Delphi
Kouros (known as Kroisos) from Anavysos
Sheep and attendants, frieze from the Parthenon
Sacrificial victim led by attendants, frieze from the Parthenon
Maidens holding pitchers and libation bowls, detail of frieze from Parthenon
Maidens holding libation bowls, detail of frieze from the Parthenon
Horse riders, detail of Parthenon frieze
Musicians, detail of Parthenon frieze
Water carriers, detail of Parthenon frieze
The so-called Peplos Scene, detail of Parthenon frieze
Athena turning her back to the peplos scene, with Hephaistos next to her, detail of Parthenon frieze
Hera and Zeus, detail from Parthenon frieze
Hermes, a male divinity, Demeter, and Ares, detail of Parthenon frieze
Aphrodite with Eros, Artemis, Apollo, and Poseidon, detail of Parthenon frieze
Worshippers approaching Athena
Worshippers approaching an altar
Red-figure cup, face a
Red-figure cup, face b
Red-figure oinochoe
Red-figure oinochoe
Red-figure oinochoe
Red-figure krater, face a
Red-figure krater, face b
Red-figure krater, face a
Red-figure krater, face b
Red-figure krater, face a
Red-figure krater
Red-figure krater, face c
Red-figure cup, interior
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, exterior
White-ground phiale, interior
White-ground phiale, exterior
Phiale
Red-figure pelike, face a
Red-figure pelike, face b
Red-figure pelike, face a
Red-figure pelike, face b
Red-figure pelike, face b
Red-figure pelike, face a
Red-figure jug, left side
Red-figure jug, front side
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, interior
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, interior
Red-figure cup, interior
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, interior
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, exterior
Red-figure cup, interior
Phiale, interior
Red-figure amphora, detail
Red-figure amphora, detail
The so-called Seer
Red-figure amphora, face a
Red-figure amphora, face b
Red-figure stamnos, face b
Red-figure stamnos, face a
White-ground lekythos
White-ground lekythos
White-ground lekythos, right side
White-ground lekythos, left side
White-ground lekythos
White-ground lekythos, right side
White-ground lekythos, left side
White-ground lekythos, left side
White-ground lekythos
White-ground lekythos, left side
White-ground lekythos, right side
White-ground lekythos
White-ground lekythos
White-ground lekythos, left side
White-ground lekythos, right side
White-ground lekythos
Red-figure skyphos, face a
Red-figure skyphos, face b
White-ground lekythos
White-ground lekythos, right side
White-ground lekythos, left side
White-ground lekythos, left side
White-ground lekythos
Black-figure hydria
White-ground lekythos
White-ground lekythos, right side
White-ground lekythos
So-called Pozzo-Albani relief
Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)
Grave sculptural relief
Red-figure amphora, face a
Red-figure amphora, face b
Black-figure jug
Black-figure jug
Black-figure jug
Red-figure amphora
Red-figure stamnos, face a
Red-figure stamnos, face b
Red-figure stamnos, face a
Red-figure stamnos, face b
Cup, fragment (exterior)
Cup, fragment (exterior)
Cup, fragment (interior)
Red-figure stamnos, face a
Red-figure stamnos, face b
Two faces of a stamnos
Red-figure pyxis
Red-figure pyxis
Red-figure pyxis
Red-figure pyxis
Red-figure jug
Red-figure jug
"The School of Music"
Black-figure jug
Black-figure jug, back

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Contents

Contents

Author

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126.001

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18087

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Acknowledgments

~This book could not have been written without many jovial libations and inspiring conversations with friends and colleagues. Jas’ Elsner helped me conceptualize the project in its initial stages and kindly read through drafts of the entire manuscript. I am forever grateful for my close collaborations with Verity Platt and thankful for my ongoing dialogues with...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18088

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Abbreviations

Abbreviations

Author

Introduction: Paths of Response

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18089

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~The six sculpted maidens who command the central path on the Athenian Acropolis are among the most iconic monuments from classical Greece (fig. 0.1). Since antiquity these figures—familiar today by the name “Caryatids”—have been objects of admiration and...

Author

Chapter subject tags:Libations in artGods, GreekCaryatidsFuneral rites and ceremonies--GreecePottery, GreekAcropolis (Athens, Greece)Relief (Sculpture), GreekVases, Red-figuredSculpture, GreekAthens (Greece)--History

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.1-15

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126.004

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18090

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1. Around the Altar

The Great Altar of Athena Polias, Athena of the City, is nowhere to be seen on today’s Athenian Acropolis. Where once blood was shed and smoke filled the air...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.17-49

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126.005

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18091

Chapter subject tags:Libations in artGods, GreekPottery, GreekRelief (Sculpture), GreekParthenon (Athens, Greece)Rites and ceremonies--Greece

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2. Among Us

Like the marble maidens that greeted pilgrims approaching the Great Altar of the Athenian Acropolis, the woman raising a phiale welcomes with her gaze (fig. 2.1). Her feminine figure stands between a youth on his horse and two men who turn their eyes toward him. The imposing carrier of libation vessels at the heart of this encounter...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.51-85

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126.006

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18092

Chapter subject tags:Libations in artGods, GreekPottery, GreekRites and ceremonies--Greece

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3. Lamentations

Does the woman seen on the oil flask, or lekythos, shown in fig. 3.1...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.87-115

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126.007

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18093

Chapter subject tags:Libations in artGods, GreekFuneral rites and ceremonies--GreecePottery, Greek

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4. Gods’ Libations

At first sight the figure tilting a phiale in her right hand seems familiar (fig. 4.1).Berlin, Antikensammlung F2162, attributed to the Harrow Painter, ca. 480 BC,...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.117-149

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126.008

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18094

Chapter subject tags:Libations in artGods, GreekPottery, GreekRites and ceremonies--GreeceGoddesses, Greek

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Conclusion

The marble maidens atop the Athenian Acropolis invited us to explore the visual force of libation imagery in classical Athens...

Author

PublisherYale University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.151-154

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00126.009

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18095

Chapter subject tags:Libations in artGods, GreekPottery, GreekAthens (Greece)--HistoryAcropolis (Athens, Greece)

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