Scythian and Greek warriors covered in swastikas with grazing horses by Exekias 550-525 BCE

October 18, 2022

Scythian and Greek warriors covered in swastikas with grazing horses by Exekias 550-525 BCE

"With good pasture land at a premium, horses remained synonymous with wealth throughout all of Greek history. They were used principally for the essentially upperclass pastimes of hunting and racing in peacetime and for cavalry service during wartime. During the Trojan War the Homeric heroes on both sides rode into battle in two-horse chariots and exchanged horses as high-status gifts. At the beginning of the 6th century BC the second class of citizens in Athens, the Hippeis (meaning "Knights"), were required to own horses and to serve in the cavalry. The cavalry´s role remained fundamental to Greek military tactics until the end of antiquity.

The value placed on horses is reflected in their role in art and religion. Small bronze and terracotta votive horse figurines were used as the handles on the lids of 8th century BC vases. At the Sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia and elsewhere in the Geometric period, they were dedicated to the gods as surrogate high-status gifts. They continue to figure prominently in coins and art throughout Greek history.

On one side, an armed Greek warrior gazes at his horse. The other side depictes a Scythian with his grazing horse. Drawn by one of the truly great masters of Greek vase painting, these small, warm blooded and finely boned animals are the descendents of an equine type first brought into the Mediterranean region in the early 2nd millennium BC The Scythian attendant is dressed in stereotypical nomadic costume.

These fragments have recently been attributed by Mr. J. D. Beazley, of Oxford, to the great master of black-figured painting, Exekias, an attribution which not only enhances the interest of the fragments themselves, but also, to the present writer’s mind makes certain the attribution to Exekias of another vase in the Museum, the Antilochos amphora. Furtwaengler was the first to connect this amphora with Exekias, and Mr. Beazley has also associated it with him, saying that it ‘may well be from the painter’s own hand.’ The very close resemblance of the large white shield, with its blazon of a bird, to a shield on the Antilochos amphora seems now to warrant an unqualified attribution of this vase to Exekias."

-taken from Penn Museum

Scythian and Greek warriors covered in swastikas, solar crosses, and eight-pointed stars with grazing horses by Exekias 550-525 BCE. Found in Orvieto, Etruscan era, but believed to be of Greek manufacture.