Terracotta hydria: kalpis (water jar)

Dikaios Painter

ca. 500 BCE · Terracotta · Greek and Roman Art

Flute player between two dancing youths in armor The Greeks always diluted their wine with water. It was the privilege of the symposiarch, who acted as master of ceremonies at a drinking party, to decide the proportion of wine to water in each krater (bowl for mixing wine and water) as the evening progressed. On this water jar, two armed youths perform a dance to flute music. Such dances imitating the motions of warfare were popular at festivals throughout Greece. The term kalpis refers to a hydria of this particular shape.

Artist

Dikaios Painter

Date

ca. 500 BCE

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Greek, Attic

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1921