MATERIAL CULTURE VS ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION: A VIEW FROM THE ATHENIAN KERAMEIKOS
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-12-10

In my contribution I focus on a particular Attic shape known as plemochoe or exaleiptron as a case study to discuss the (in-)convenience of interpreting the archaeological record in the light of Greek vase painting and to reflect on questions of gender and identity in 5th century Athens from the entry point of contemporary material and visual culture. The shape that scholars call plemochoe was frequently represented on Attic vases, in particular in the so- called ‘toilet scenes’ and in scenes of the visit to the tomb on white-ground lekythoi during the 5th century BC. At first sight, images show the vessel in close association with women and therefore it has traditionally been assumed that this shape was a perfume/cosmetics container whose use was restricted to them. This assumption sometimes drives the interpretation of the archaeological record: when a tomb contains a plemochoe it is assumed that the deceased was a woman. Nevertheless, the contextual analysis of the shape shows a much more complex reality: the extant examples come from 6th and 5th century tombs of both sexes in Macedonia and Boeotia, and deposition of this vessel in the tomb may have not been informed by gender issues at all. My contribution therefore touches on several questions of current concern to modern scholarship, such as the relationship between “art” and “life”, the role of iconography in crafting identities, the interactions between human beings and material culture, and the fundamental question of how to understand Greek imagery.


Author(s): Rodríguez Pérez, Diana (University of Oxford - Wolfson College)