the excavation of the athenian agora twelfth season: 1947

EXCAVATION OF ATHENIAN AGORA, 1947 185
in the base was flanked by a lion and a siren with a floral ornament below; the
"window " in the drum has a siren to one side, its other side being broken away. On
the reverse the hole in the base is flanked by a goose on either side while a large floral
ornament of palmette and lotus fills the wall of the drum. Around the base of the
drum runs a wavy line; around the foot of the base a row of loops at least on the
reverse side, the other side being broken away.
The pturpose for which the utensil was intended is puzzling and its interpretation
is made more difficult by the lack of comparative material. That it was actually used
is proven by the much worn state of the rim of the drum and of the front part of its
floor, i. e., just within the windowr. The elaborate design shows that it was not, like
so many black-figured stands, intended simply for the support of a round-bottomed
lebes or the like. That it served as a brazier is ruled out by the absence of any trace
of burning.
Faite de mieux, one might associate the stand with psykters (wine-coolers) of
the black-figured type which consist of an amphora with double walls so arranged
that the space between the walls could be filled through a spout on the shoulder and
drained through a small hole in the bottom. To provide for the drainage it would be
necessary to have the bottom of the psykter raised above the floor and it would be
desirable also to have the bottom readily accessible for plugging and opening the drain
hole. Both these conditions are met by our stand. The round openings in the base
were probably to facilitate handling; the lesser holes in the lateral lugs may have been
made only to assist the firing of these heavy masses of clay; they show no signs of wear.
The double-walled psykters are few in number and appear to be restricted in date
to a short period, roughly the second quarter of the sixth century, to which period
we may also assign our stand. The majority of those known, some four, are " Chalcidian";
at least two others, however, are of Attic manufacture and one of the two
was painted by Sakonides.88 It is perhaps significant that on three out of the four
Chalcidian psykters the base rays are omitted as though in anticipation of the lower
part of the vase being concealed; otherwise base rays are the rule on Chalcidean
amphorai and hydriai.
Among the examples of red-figured vase-painting found in 1947 are two f ragments
which served as ostraka.89 A ballot cast against Kallixenos is inscribed on the
interior of a red-figured mug (P1. 66, 1), attributed by Beazley to the painter of
Berlin 2286,90 who worked in the late sixth century. The mug was thus made some
I
88Rumpf, Chalkidische Vasen, nos. 109-112; C. V.A. British Mus., III, pl. 25 (B 148);
Rumpf, Sakonides, p. 27, no. 75; Heydemann, Die Vasensammlungen des Museo Nazionale zu
Neapel, p. 646, no. 38; Karo, J.H.S., 19, 1899, p. 141.
89 The following notes on selected red-figure have been prepared by Peter E. Corbett, currently
holder of the Macmillan studentship in the British School at Athens.
90 Paralipomena to Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters [A.R.V.], p. 115: "add as no. 49 bis."
A typescript copy of these Paralipomena is deposited in the library of the American School of