Terracotta group of two girls playing a game known as ephedrismos

The subject of this group with one person carrying another has a long history in Greek art. It is thought to illustrate a game called ephedrismos. A stone was placed upright on the ground, and balls or pebbles were thrown at it from a distance. The loser's eyes were covered, and he had to carry the other player on his back until he found and touched the stone. There were probably a number of variations. Here the little girl carries her companion but does not have her eyes covered.



Image: Terracotta group of two girls playing a game known as ephedrismos late 4th–early 3rd century B.C.E. Greek, Corinthian at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York courtesy of the museum.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Women in ancient Assyria

Image
During the Middle Assyrian Period, the social position of women in Assyria became lower than that of neighboring societies. Men were permitted to divorce their wives with no compensation paid to the latter. If a woman committed adultery, she could be beaten, have her ears or nose cut off, her nipples torn off, her eyes gouged out, or put to death. It's not certain if these laws were seriously enforced, but they appear to be a backlash against some older documents that granted things like equal compensation to both partners in divorce. A law code dating from the reign of King Tiglathpileser I (1115 - 1076 BCE), a particularly misogynistic ruler, in which punishments were especially severe, especially for women, reveals a woman could be punished not only for their individual transgressions, but also for crimes committed by their relatives under the principle of ius talionis (an eye for an eye). ‘If a man forcibly seizes and rapes a maiden who is residing in her father’s house... the ...
Read more

The Mycenaean Dendra Panoply

Image
In May 1960 Swedish archaeologists discovered the earliest example of a beaten bronze cuirass at Dendra, dated to the end of the fifteenth century BCE (Late Helladic IIIA - about 1400 BCE). It forms part of the Late Helladic Dendra Panoply, which consists of fifteen separate pieces of bronze sheet, held together with leather thongs, that encased the wearer from neck to knees.  The panoply was found in tomb 12 of the Dendra necropolis and had been partially plundered at some point.  But in addition to the squashed armor, archaeologists were able to recover pottery fragments, a silver toggle pin (probably used to fasten an item of clothing), a bronze oinochoe (jug), as well as various other objects of bronze, including at least one knife and a dagger, a bronze mirror, a gold-plated ring, fragments of a silver cup, fragments of boar's tusk and a pair of swords inlaid with gold and ivory. The panoply, when restored, was found to include a back and breast plate and six bronze plate...
Read more

Part 2 of the 4th 30 minute segment of the "Pompeii Virtual Walk" video

Image
This segment of the Pompeii Virtual Walk video includes the House of the Faun, House of the Vetti (note - explicit frescoes - viewer discretion advised), the House of the Prince of Naples, the Castellum Aquae, and Samnite fortification wall and tower near the necropolis of the Vesuvio Gate. I was particularly thrilled to explore the House of the Vetti as it was closed when I was in Pompeii and it is one of those dwellings where the owners went rather "over the top" in adorning almost every inch of wall space with frescoes even though many scholars think the Vettii were freedman and not aristocrats at all.  I was also excited to finally "tour" the House of the Prince of Naples that I studied for months before writing the Wikipedia article about it. Surgical instruments were scattered in the debris of the house and a skeleton was found in the barrel-vaulted cubiculum to the left of the fauces. I thought these finds suggested the house may have been occupied by a physi...
Read more