Detail of a Terracotta Lekythos Attributed to the Brygos Painter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2018

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)
ca. 480–470 B.C.

Attributed to the Brygos Painter

Athena holding spear and aphlaston (a symbol of naval victory)


Object Details

Title: Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Attributed to the Brygos Painter

Period: Classical

Date: ca. 480–470 B.C.

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Terracotta; red-figure

Dimensions: H. 13 3/8 in. (34 cm); diameter of body 4 3/16 in. (10.6 cm); diameter of foot 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm); diameter of mouth 2 7/16 in. (6.2 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Purchase, The Cesnola Collection, by exchange, 1925

Accession Number: 25.189.1


Athena holds the curved stern of a trireme (warship) with a decorative attachment at the end. Following a rich strike of silver in Attica, the Athenian commander Themistokles persuaded the assembly to use the financial windfall to build a navy. By 480 B.C., Athens was able to provide the largest contingent of ships when the Greeks faced and defeated the Persians in a naval battle at Salamis. The Athenian navy came to dominate the eastern Mediterranean, and this vase may commemorate a victory at sea.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/251932