En græsk pyxis fra Homers tidsalder

Abstract

A Greek Pyxis from the age of Homer

The collection of Oriental and Classical Antiquities at the university of Århus (see "Kuml" 1952, p. 107) has acquired in the past year a number of additional antiquities, one of which is the geometrical pyxis shown in fig. 1 (entire height 13,8 cms., diam. 15,1 cms.). This piece of pottery is especially remarkable for the horse figure on its lid, which is mainly intact and gives an idea of Greek modelling in about the first half of the 8th century B. C. Like other pyxides of that type it has two pairs of holes bored through the edge of the lid into the rim of the receptacle. These holes prove that the lid and the receptacle belong together. Probably they served for fastening strings for suspension so that the bottom of the vase, which is decorated with concentric stripes and a central star, was visible from below.

The place of discovery of the vase is unknown, but style and clay point towards Attica. It may have been found in a grave such as that illustrated in fig. 2, which is from the same period and also contains a horse-pyxis.

Kristian Jeppesen