Geometric kantharos

Geometric kantharos.
Athen, c. 750 BC.
Height: 12.3 cm.
Ceramic.
This drinking cup shows one of the earliest narrative scenes in Geometric pottery. A man is being torn to pieces by lions, while men and women around him sing and dance. The women dance balancing jugs on their heads and the men play the lyre or dance waving branches in their hands. The scene illustrates, perhaps, some sort of game, funerary ritual or a circus performance.