Panathenaic Prize Amphora
Nikomachos Series (active c. 340-320 BC) · 323-322 BC
Athena strides across the front of this amphora in the old black-figure technique, long after red-figure had taken over in Athens. She wears a crested helmet, a chiton and himation, and a gorgon's head on her chest, and raises her shield; her flesh, parts of her dress and the gorgoneion are picked out in added white. She stands between two columns, each carrying a small statuette of Nike holding a ribbon. Turn to the other side and you find the event: three hoplitodromoi, armed runners wearing nothing but a helmet and a shield, sprinting to the right.
Amphorae like this, filled with sacred olive oil, were the prizes at the Panathenaic Games in Athens. The painted inscription running beside the left column names the archon of the year, which dates the vase precisely to three hundred and twenty three to three hundred and twenty two BC, the year Alexander the Great died. It belongs to a group known as the Nikomachos series. Found at Benghazi in Libya, ancient Berenike, it shows how far a prize could travel with its winner. The Louvre bought it in 1851; note the reddish patches where the kiln fired unevenly.
Did You Know? The reddish patches on one side and on the handles are misfires from the ancient kiln, not later damage.
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