Skythes ( el, Σκύθης, ''the

Scythian The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

'') was an

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

black-figure Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are ...

Acropolis Museum Guide (Athens 2015) , p. 168. and

red-figure Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting. It developed in Athens around 520 BCE and remained in use until the late 3rd century BCE. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure vas ...

vase painter active between about 520 and 505 BC. Modern scholarship considers Skythes as a kind of artistic loner, whose work cannot easily be categorised among the known workshops and groups. He signed four known '' kylikes''. Further, another ''ca''. twenty ''kylikes'' and two ''

dinos In the typology of ancient Greek pottery, the ''dinos'' (plural ''dinoi'') is a mixing bowl or cauldron. ''Dinos'' means "drinking cup," but in modern typology is used (wrongly) for the same shape as a ''lebes'', that is, a bowl with a spherical ...

'' stands are attributed to him on the basis of stylistic analysis. His early works were created a short time after the invention of the red-figure technique. On three

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

works he demonstrates his skill in the older black-figure style. Unusually, they feature red-figure paintings on the interior and on the outside black-figure on coral-red ground. Inside and outside each bear only one figure. He belonged to the first generation of vase painters to specialise in cups. His figural images depict people in an exaggerated ugliness or brutishness, casting him, much in contrast to the norms then prevailing in Greek art, as a comedian, even a

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-1960 ...

. Especially his faces reflect an ''outré'' sense of humour. Perhaps this indicates, as does his name, that he was not a native

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, although he was well aware of the city's artistic repertoire. Although he was probably not a

, the (self-chosen) nickname appears to express a certain extravagance or individualism. Two ''

pinakes The ''Pinakes'' ( grc, Πίνακες "tables", plural of ) is a lost bibliographic work composed by Callimachus (310/305–240 BCE) that is popularly considered to be the first library catalog in the West; its contents were based upon the hold ...

'' with black-figure paint that were found the

Athenian Acropolis The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

bear the signature of a Skythes. It is assumed that they are also by him. His vases occasionally bear the ''kalos'' inscriptionn ''Epilykos''. The Pedieus Painter uses the same name, which has led some scholars to suggest that he is identical with Skythes towards the end of his career. On a vase by Phintias, the same ''Epilykos'' is depicted as an athlete. For some time, such vases were falsely ascribed to a non-existent painter Epilykos. The use of the name classifies Skythes as a member of the Epilykos Class.

Bibliography

* Ricardo Olmos Romera: "Skythes", in ''Künstlerlexikon der Antike'', p. 434-436 * John Boardman: ''Rotfigurige Vasen aus Athen. Die archaische Zeit. Ein Handbuch'', von Zabern, Mainz 1981 (= 4. edn. 1994) (Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt, Vol. 4), p. 67

References

External links

Works at the Getty Museum
{{Authority control Ancient Greek vase painters Artists of ancient Attica 6th-century BC Greek people