Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)
Attributed to the Painter of Würzburg 487
Interior, Eros at a herm
Exterior, obverse and reverse, banqueters
The earliest herms were square stone pillars terminating in a bearded head of Hermes, the god of boundaries. They were introduced in Athens about 520 B.C by Hipparchos, the son of the tyrant Peisistratos, to mark points midway between the various Attic villages and the Athenian Agora. Soon herms stood before private houses and sanctuaries, as well.
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