Terracotta tripod kothon (vessel for perfumed oil)
Attributed to the Group of the Boeotian Dancers
On the body are a bearded siren, a sphinx, and a lion. The legs are decorated with two padded dancers, two men with spears, and a running winged figure representing Aristaios, a son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene, who was well-known in Boeotia. Aristaios was celebrated for his agricultural discoveries and for his gifts to mankind. Here he holds a mattock in his left hand and a small pot in his right. The mattock would have been used to cover the newly sown seeds with soil to protect them from birds; the pot may contain seed.
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