Kittos

Kittos ( Greek Κιττός ) was a Greek potter who lived in the 4th century BC. Worked in Athens and Ephesus .

The signature of the Kittos can be found on a Panathenaic price amphora , which was found in Teucheira in Kyrenaica . On the front, as with all Panathenaic price amphoras, Athena is shown between two columns and triptolemus on top, while a pankration scene is shown on the back . Next to the two athletes there is a referee on the left, and on the right another athlete who is ready to fight the winner, a so-called ephedros . For stylistic reasons, John D. Beazley included the vase in the Kittos group of Panathenaic price amphoras, one of which bears the name of Archon Polyzelos (367/66 BC). Since the name of the archon, which is actually absolutely necessary, has been replaced by the potter's signature on the vase signed by Kittos, it is probably the test piece for obtaining the official order for the price amphorae of the Panathenaic Mountains .

It is assumed that Kittos is identical to the potter of the same name who, together with his brother Bakchios, in a civil rights inscription found in Ephesus from the 320s BC. Is mentioned as originating from Athens. The brothers, sons of a potter named Bakchios, who is identified with the potter Bakchios , had emigrated from Athens to Ephesus. According to the inscription, they made "black ceramics" and a hydria for the goddess Artemis on behalf of the city . Possibly they are also responsible for the production of the amphorae of Panathenaic shape made in local clay.

literature

John D. Beazley : Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1956, p. 413.
Martin Robertson : The Art of Vase-painting in Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992, ISBN 0-521-33010-6 , pp. 292-295.
Panos Valavanis : Bάκχιoς, Kίττoς και παναθηναϊκoί αμφoρείς. Σκέψεις για τη δoμή των αττικών κεραμικών εργαστηρίων τoυ 4oυ αι. π.!. In: John H. Oakley, Olga Palagia (Eds.): Athenian Potters and Painters. The conference proceedings. Oxbow, Oxford 1997, ISBN 1-900188-12-0 , pp. 85-95.
Martin Bentz : Panathenaic price amphoras. An Athenian type of vase and its function from the 6th to 4th centuries. Century BC Chr. (= Ancient Art . Supplement 18). Association of Friends of Ancient Art, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-909064-18-3 , pp. 168–169 No. 4.013.
Rainer Vollkommer : Kittos. In: Rainer Vollkommer (Hrsg.): Künstlerlexikon der Antike . Volume 1: A-K. Saur, Munich / Leipzig 2001, ISBN 3-598-11413-3 , p. 413.

Remarks

↑ London , British Museum B 604 .
↑ Inscriptions from Ephesus 1420 .
↑ For chronological reasons, however, this is not entirely certain, but given the rarity of these names in Attica, they must have belonged to a pottery family in any case, see Martin Robertson: The Art of Vase-painting in Classical Athens . Cambridge 1992, p. 294; Martin Bentz: Panathenaic price amphoras . Basel 1998, p. 28 note 114.

personal data
SURNAME	Kittos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Κιττός
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Greek potter
DATE OF BIRTH	4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	4th century BC Chr.

[1] London , British Museum B 604 .

[2] Inscriptions from Ephesus 1420 .

[3] For chronological reasons, however, this is not entirely certain, but given the rarity of these names in Attica, they must have belonged to a pottery family in any case, see Martin Robertson: The Art of Vase-painting in Classical Athens . Cambridge 1992, p. 294; Martin Bentz: Panathenaic price amphoras . Basel 1998, p. 28 note 114.