Hypnos and Thanatos carrying the body of Sarpedon from the battlefield of Troy; detail from an Attic white-ground] lekythos, c. 440 BC
A red-figure pottery (terracotta) "kerch" style lekythos depicting a nymph and satyr playing a game of knucklebones, with two Eros figures (standing between Aphrodite) offering laurel wreaths of victory to the nymph and to a youth, c. 350 BC
A lekythos in Gnathia style with Eros depicted playing with a ball, Apulian vase painting, third quarter of the 4th century BC
A lekythos (Ancient Greek: λήκυθος; pl.: lekythoi) is a type of ancient Greek vessel used for storing oil, especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel, and is thus a narrow type of jug, with no pouring lip; the oinochoe is more like a modern jug. In the "shoulder" and "cylindrical" types which became the most common, especially the latter, the sides of the body are usually vertical by the shoulder, and there is then a sharp change of direction as the neck curves in; the base and lip are normally prominent and flared. However, there are a number of varieties, and the word seems to have been used even more widely in ancient times than by modern archeologists.[1] They are normally in pottery, but there are also carved stone examples.
Lekythoi were especially associated with funerary rites, and with the white ground technique of vase painting, which was too fragile for most items in regular use. Because of their handle they were normally only decorated with one image, on the other side from the handle;[2] they are often photographed with the handle hidden, to show the painted image.
(Attic shoulder lekythos by the workshop of the Diosphos Painter, c. 500 BC) Shoulder lekythos Shoulder lekythos, c. 510 Deianeria lekythos Prothesis (lying...
Acorn lekythos Deianeira lekythos, c. 550 BC. Shoulder or secondary lekythos, c. 500 BC. Standard or cylinder lekythos c.490 BCE. Squat lekythos Loutrophoros...
Psychopompos sits on a rock, preparing to lead a dead soul to the underworld. Attic white-ground lekythos, ca. 450 BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Inv. 2797)...
1795 Achilles and Ajax play a game of dice on this early 5th-century BC lekythos, a type of oil-storing vessel associated with funeral rites A red-figure...
oration (ancient Greece) Kerameikos, site of an extensive cemetery at Athens Lekythos, a type of vessel holding oils or liquids often used in connection with...
in the presence of Athena. Theseus and the Minotaur. Attic black-figure lekythos, 500–475 BC. From Crimea. Theseus and the Minotaur. Attic red-figured plate...
white-ground lekythos by the Thanatos Painter is of Hynos and Thanatos carrying Sarpedon (435–425 BCE); it is located in the British Museum. On the lekythos Hypnos...
However, he is sometimes depicted carrying spears as well, as in the Athens lekythos, while Homer reports that it was a bow he had slung over his shoulder....
had destroyed all traces of this temple. A fifth century BC black-glazed lekythos inscription, found on the island in 1840, reads: "Glaukos, son of Poseidon...
Relief from a carved funerary lekythos at Athens: Hermes as psychopomp conducts the deceased, Myrrine, a priestess of Athena, to Hades, c. 430–420 BC (National...
Relief from a carved funerary lekythos at Athens showing Hermes as psychopomp conducting the soul of the deceased, Myrrhine into Hades (ca. 430-420 B.C...
to be an independent artist in New York. Diosphos Painter, white-ground lekythos (500 BC) Botticelli, Pallas and Centaur (1482–83) Antonio Canova, Theseus...
prophecy about the Trojan War. Oinochoe, 520–500 BC, from Vulci White-ground lekythos, ca. 500-475 BC, from Athens, by Diosphos Painter Gandhara, India, 1st...
King of Phthia Peleus consigns Achilles to Chiron's care, white-ground lekythos by the Edinburgh Painter, c. 500 BC (National Archaeological Museum of...
olive branch as a pattern on her shield. Ancient Greek Attic red-figure lekythos, ca. 400 BC, from Athens Wall painting from the early Christian Catacomb...
the ashes typically placed in a painted Greek vase. In particular the lekythos, a shape of vase, was used for holding oil in funerary rituals. Romans...
Global Information
