The Arkesilas Cup is a '' kylix'' by the Laconian

vase painter Ancient Greek pottery, due to its relative durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece, and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum), it has ex ...

known as the Arkesilas Painter, whose

name vase In classical archaeology, a name vase is a specific "vase"In the study of ancient Greek pottery a "vase" is a general term covering all pottery shapes. whose painter's name is unknown but whose workshop style has been identified. The painter is co ...

it is. It depicts, and is thus named after, Arkesilaos II, king of Kyrene (d. 550 BC) and is dated to about 565–560 BC. Tondo_Akesilas_Cup_CdM_189

The cup was found at

Vulci Vulci or Volci ( Etruscan: ''Velch'' or ''Velx'', depending on the romanization used) was a rich Etruscan city in what is now northern Lazio, central Italy. As George Dennis wrote, "Vulci is a city whose very name... was scarcely remembered, b ...

and is now on display in the

Cabinet des médailles The BnF Museum or Museum of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, formerly known as the Cabinet des Médailles, is a significant art and history museum in Paris. It displays collections of the ''Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques ...

of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

(inv. 189). It depicts Arkesilaos seated under a tent-like sheet and wearing an African hat. Because of this dress style and another vase depicting the

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label= Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

Kyrene wrestling a lion, the Arkesilas Painter was initially assumed to have been active in North Africa. Later finds indicate that he was Laconian. The king is watching seven men who are packing, weighing and stacking trade goods. Added inscriptions specify their activities and the king's name. It is not clear what products or products they are loading. Some scholars suggest it is

silphion Silphium (also known as ''silphion'', ''laserwort'', or ''laser'') is an unidentified plant that was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine. It also was used as a contraceptive by ancient Greeks and Romans ...

, a rare plant for which Arkesilaos had a trade monopoly. His watchful stance mays support this. Several African animals underline the African location of the image. In style and subject the painting is very unusual in Greek vase-painting. The depiction of a living political figure is extremely rare and unusual in vase painting, and images of Arekisalos II are similarly rare. For technological history, the depiction of weighing scales is of major significance, as their structure and use is shown. Historically, the production of such imagery in Laconia is also important, in that it illustrates the close links between

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

and North Africa. Another vase by the same painter, depicting the

Kyrene, patron of the city of Kyrene, in North Africa, was found on the island of

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a se ...

, also a close ally of Sparta.

Bibliography

* John Boardman: ''Early Greek Vase Painting. 11th to 6th Century BC. A Handbook. '' Thames and Hudson, London 1998 (World of Art), p. 185–188, . *

Thomas Mannack Thomas Mannack (born in 1958) is a German classical archaeologist. Mannack obtained his Doctorate in 1992 with at the University of Kiel. The thema of his dissertation was ''Beazleys spätere und späteste Manieristen''. He is a specialist in ...

: ''Griechische Vasenmalerei. Eine Einführung''. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, , . * Barbara Patzek: Arkesilaos II, In '' Der Neue Pauly'' * Matthias Steinhart: Arkesilas-Maler, In: ''Der Neue Pauly'' {{Greek drinking cups Individual ancient Greek vases 6th-century BC works Archaeological discoveries in Italy Vulci Collection of the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris