Scenes of revelry decorate this Athenian red-figure _kylix_ or cup. On the interior, a nude woman reclines as she plays _kottabos_, a popular drinking game at the symposium (male drinking party). With one handle of a deep drinking cup (_skyphos_) slipped over her index finger, she tries to flick the dregs from the bottom of the cup at a target some distance away.
The sympotic theme continues on the exterior. On one side, youths dance with _skyphoi_ and _krotala_ (castanet-like instruments), and one appears to brandish a slipper. On the other, two more youths cavort and gesture around a woman who reclines on a cushion, playing _krotala_. She is nude but for the shoes on her feet and the fabric wrap upon her head.
The symposium was a male event, and when women were present, they were there typically to entertain or otherwise attend to the participants. The nudity of the pair on this cup would have been inappropriate for respectable Athenian women, and they represent either enslaved women, hired as prostitutes, or _hetaerae_, women of independent means who augmented an evening’s drinking with their song, conversation, and sexual allure.
The sympotic theme continues on the exterior. On one side, youths dance with _skyphoi_ and _krotala_ (castanet-like instruments), and one appears to brandish a slipper. On the other, two more youths cavort and gesture around a woman who reclines on a cushion, playing _krotala_. She is nude but for the shoes on her feet and the fabric wrap upon her head.
The symposium was a male event, and when women were present, they were there typically to entertain or otherwise attend to the participants. The nudity of the pair on this cup would have been inappropriate for respectable Athenian women, and they represent either enslaved women, hired as prostitutes, or _hetaerae_, women of independent means who augmented an evening’s drinking with their song, conversation, and sexual allure.
Images courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)