"Klepsydra"

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Provision of image

Inventory number

ΝΑ 1957 Αα 44

Artist

Attic workshop

Category

Ceremonial object

Period

Archaic Period

Date

550-500 BC

Dimensions

Height: 0.165 m
Diameter: 0.137 m

Material

Clay

Location

Gallery of the Acropolis Slopes, Case 6, No 74

Description
Bibliography

It was found in 1957 in fragments at the Sanctuary of the Nymphe, was pieced together and restored to a great extend, especially its base and handle. It belongs to a group of ritualistic vessels known as “klepsydras”.

The body is ovoid and completely closed on its upper part where a decorative knob is. From some of the better preserved examples of klepsydras we deduct that the ring-shaped base was perforated and the arched handle, hollow, with a small hole opened on its top. The handle was connected to the vessel’s interior via its two junctions points.

The vase is decorated in the black-figure technique and has the same scene on both sides: a seated woman flanked by two other women, one of whom is offering her a blossom. The seated figure wears a peplos and himation that partly covers her head, while the other two figures wear just the peplos. Beneath the two junctions of the handle with the body there is a kneeling youth holding a cock. Some scholars identify the female figures with Kekrops' daughters, while others believe that the seated woman who is depicted on a bigger scale, is a goddess accepting offers from mortals.

BAPD, Beazley Archive Pottery Database, www.beazley.ox.ac.uk, αρ. κατ. 9023279
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Μηλιάδης, Ι., «Ανασκαφή νοτίως της Ακροπόλεως», Πρακτικά Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας του έτους 1957, τόμ. 113, 1962, σελ. 25-26, πίν. 4β
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Shapiro, A., «Cults of Heroines in Ancient Athens», στο N. Kaltsas, A. Shapiro (επιμ.), Worshipping Women: Ritual and Reality in Classical Athens, Onassis Cultural Center, December 10, 2008-May 9, 2009, New York, 2009, σελ. 169-170, εικ. 9
Παντερμαλής, Δ., Ελευθεράτου, Σ., Βλασσοπούλου, Χ., Μουσείο Ακρόπολης. Οδηγός, Αθήνα, 2016, σελ. 59-60, εικ. 57