Painting / -600 to -500
Two boxers dancing and double-flute player.
585 B.C. approx.
Attic black-figure pelike vase.
Pyrrhias.
Boy dancing at a contest, and flutist.
580 B.C. approx.
Middle Corinthian aryballos of Pyrrhias.
Comic dance by men on Boeotian kantharos.
570 B.C. approx.
Young dancer with crotala and double-flute player.
560 B.C. approx.
Attic red-figure hydria vase. The young man to the right is probably holding a purse offered as a prize to the dancer.
Women dancing in line, holding by the wrists.
Relief on a Pithos vase.
570 B.C. approx.
The movement suggests a low walking dance.
Two revelers dancing with flutist in the middle.
565 B.C. approx.
From the island Aegina, in the SAronic Gulf, Greece. Signed by the ceramist Ergotimos. One
of the rare cases that a Greek vase bears the signature of the ceramist, rather than the painter.
Men dressed as women, bearing horses’ ears,
dancing to a double flute player.
560 B.C. approx.
Black figure vase.
Amasis Painter.
Three groups of three women dancing to double flute and cithara.
560 B.C. approx.
Detail on shoulder of Attic lekythos, black-figured vase, decorated with a scene of a wedding procession.
Three male and one female dancer. Black-figure
Kantharos vase.
555 B.C. approx.
Found at Rhitsona, Boeotia, in a cemetery of
historical times. The other side of the vase depicts three male dancers and a standing aulos-player.
Saphos and Diosphos group.
Satyr and maenad dancing.
555 B.C. approx.
Attic black-figure lekythos found in Ampurias,
Gerona, Spain.
Fragment of a Clazomenian sarcophagu
showing women’s dance.
540 B.C. approx.
Pamphaios Painter.
530 B.C. approx.
Maenad dancing in front of Dionysos.
Satyrs playing chelys and double flute.
Athenian hydria, fine late black-figured style.
Found in Vulci, Italy. Purchased in 1849.
Nicosthenis.Satyrs and maenads.
530 B.C. approx.
Neck-amphora vase.
Vigorous dance (Komos ?) by men and women.
Attic black-figure band cup.
530 B.C. approx.
The women wear the characteristic short garment of Komasts (Komos dancers).
Epictetos. Professional girl dancer and flutist.
Attic cup.
520 B.C. approx.
Psiakas (?). Flutist and dancer.
515 B.C. approx.
Attic black-figure plate (pinakion) attributed to the painter Psiakas.
Andokides Painter. Maenad.
520 B.C. approx.
From an amphora vase.
Epictetos. Comastes dancer holding vase and double-flute player.
515 B.C. approx.
Attic plate found in Vulci, Italy.
Vigorous dance by Satyrs and Maenads, part of the cult of Dionysos. Band cup.
515 B.C. approx.
Euphronios Painter.
Youths dancing the Komos 1.
510 B.C. approx.
Volute-krater from the former collection Bacci. Attributed by Furtwängler to Euphronios. Among the youth a bearded man holding a cup. Crotals, double flute, barbiton are represented.
Musician and four men dancing.
510 B.C. approx.
Double flute player and two young men jumping.
510 B.C. approx.
Vigorous dance (Komos ?) by men and women. Attic black-figure band cup
Painting on clay vase
530 B.C. approx.
11.1 x 18.8 cm diam.
Location: Greece, Cyclades Islands, Thera, Archaeological Museum, 3777
The women wear the characteristic short garment of Komasts (Komos dancers)
Ancient, Greece
Female dancer dancing for Dionysos
Painting on white figure amphora vase
510 B.C. approx.
Location: Germany, Munich, Museum Antiker Kleinkunst 2302
Ancient, Greece
Flutist playing for satyrs dancing, one satyr carrying a woman
Painting on white figure amphora vase
540 B.C. approx.
Location: Germany, Würzburg, Martin von Wagner Museum L252
Ancient, Greece
Flutist playing for two satyrs and three woman dancing
Painting on white figure amphora vase
540 B.C. approx.
Location: Germany, Würzburg, Martin von Wagner Museum L252
Ancient, Greece
The Geranos dance on the François vase
Painting on a vase
575 B.C. approx.
Ancient, Greece
Men dancers on a terracotta one-handled drinking cup
Painting, terracotta, black-figure vase
515 B.C. approx.
9.7 height; 8.2 diameter
Location: U.S.A., New York, Metropolitan Museum, 1981.11.4
Ancient, Greece
Tumbler. Eight dancing youths. Terracotta black-figure vase. Greek, ca.
525–510 B.C.
Painting, black-figure vase, terracotta
8.5 cm height; 9 cm diameter
Location: U.S.A., New York, Metropolitan Museum, 56.171.37
These youths are descendents of the komasts, the padded dancers that originally entered Athenian iconography from Corinth. We can interpret the figures here as young men in good spirits after a symposium (drinking party). Attic art. Eight dancing youths
Ancient Greece
Terracotta kylix: Komast cup (drinking cup)
Painting, terracotta black-figure vase
575 B. C. approx.
9.5 cm height; 21 cm diameter
Location: U.S.A., New York, Metropolitan Museum, 22.139.22
The black-figure technique was introduced into Athens from Corinth at the end of the seventh century B.C. During the early sixth century, Attic cup painters favored Corinthian motifs, like these dancing revelers. Indeed, the Komast cup is the earliest canonical type of Attic black-figure kylix.
Ancient Greece