The Greeks relied on distinctive attire, attributes, and physical traits for the artistic representation of different peoples. The combat scene on this amphora contrasts Greek and foreign military fashions and equipment. A hoplite (foot soldier) in traditional Greek armor spears a Persian archer wearing elaborately patterned long sleeves and trousers, and a rounded cap with earflaps. The depiction of Persian dress here complements the extensive painted ornamentation seen on the nearby reconstruction of the archer from the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Terracotta Nolan amphora (jar)
Period:Classical
Date:ca. 480–470 BCE
Culture:Greek, Attic
Medium:Terracotta; red-figure
Dimensions:H. 13 11/16 in. (34.8 cm)
Classification:Vases
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1906
Accession Number:06.1021.117
[Until 1906, with Cesare and Ercole Canessa, Naples, Paris, New York]; acquired in 1906, purchased from C. & E. Canessa.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1933. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 5th ed. pp. 31–32, 87, 90, figs. 33, 111, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. and Lindsley F. Hall. 1936. Red-Figured Athenian Vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 35, pp. 56–57, pls. 34, 169, New Haven: Yale University Press.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1941. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 6th ed. pp. 31–32, 87, 90, figs. 33, 111, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 72, 214, pl. 54b, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Beazley, John D. 1963[1942]. Attic Red-figure Vase-painters, Vols. 1 and 2, 2nd ed. p. 1656, Add. 1, pp. 501–3, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Miller, Margaret C. 1989. "The Ependytes in Classical Athens." Hesperia, 58(3): p. 327, pl. 55b.
Bol, Renate. 1998. Amazones Volneratae: Untersuchungen ze den Ephesischen Amazonenstauen. n. 502, Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Schnapp, Alain. 2003. "Espace et perspective corporelle dans l'imagerie grecque." Zum Verhältnis von Raum und Zeit in der griechischen Kunst : Passavant-Symposion, 8. bis 10. Dezember 2000, Peter C. Bol, ed. p. 54 n. 24, figs. 5a–b, pl. 3, Möhnesee: Bibliopolis.
Oakley, John H. 2020. A Guide to Scenes of Daily Life on Athenian Vases. p. 180, fig. 8.19, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Spier, Jeffrey, Timothy F. Potts, and Sara Cole. 2022. Persia : Ancient Iran and the Classical World pp. 55–56, fig. 21, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
