Wine Cup with a Battle at City Walls

Battle rages before the crenellated walls of a city on the interior of this red-figure kylix or drinking cup. Two warriors standing on the walls defend the city, while two attackers rush in below. As the defenders lean out from the battlements, menacing with their spears, the attackers raise their shields in response, and the warrior on the right reaches back to hurl a stone. Apollodoros did not identify this battle, but it may be a scene from the mythological Seven against Thebes or the Trojan War. Although vase-painters in the closing years of the 500s B.C. began to show an interest in the setting of their scenes, the depiction of battle in an architectural setting is very rare in Greek art. This use of an architectural backdrop meant that Apollodoros had to alter his vase-painting technique from the standard red-figure. The figures set against the wall had to be drawn in outline. Today the cup is reassembled from fragments, but it was already broken and repaired in antiquity. Five surviving holes near the left handle once held staple-like lead clamps used to reattach the handle.