A women’s festival in Athens

The scenes on this skyphos plunge us into the world of Athenian festival. They allude to the Anthesteria, the “festival of flowers,” celebrated for three days in early spring. An unusual scene decorates one side of the drinking bowl: a bearded satyr stands at left wearing a fillet with long dangling ends. He has advanced his left leg in a firm stance and stretches both arms out towards a girl on a swing – preparing either to catch her or push her again. The swing consists of a stool hung from red ropes that extend beyond the top of the image, probably tied to a tree branch. The girl has long hair and a finely pleated chiton. She holds on to the ropes and stretches her legs forward to propel the swing. Above her to the left, an inscription reads “You are beautiful, Antheia.”
The other side of the skyphos depicts another satyr. Wearing a tall reed crown, he turns to the left and holds a parasol with both hands over the head of a woman walking before him.
The swing scene refers to rituals that took place on the third day of the Anthesteria. The festival began with a merry drinking competition (festival of khoes, belly jugs) and a symbolic sacred marriage between the wife of the archon (the basilinna) and the god Dionysos. On the last festal day, the swing ritual (Aiora) was practiced as an expiation of the deceased. The mythical origins of the Aiora explain how the Anthesterion related to the wine god Dionysos, in whose honour it was held. The farmer Ikarios was the first in Attika to worship Dionysos, for which the god thanked him with the gift of a grapevine – but the plant was Ikarios’ undoing when his neighbours murdered him in a drunken rage. Anguished over her father’s death, Ikarios’ daughter Erigone hanged herself. To atone for this iniquity, the Delphic oracle ordered that Erigone be commemorated; hence the swing ritual echoing her cause of death. Thus the grisly act passed into the realm of a harmless game. On the skyphos, only the satyr alludes to its Dionysiac history.
The opposite side of the cup has been assumed to denote the sacred marriage ritual. A festal procession conducts the basilinna to the house of the archon for her secret rites. Yet the movement from right to left is unusual: it seems to suggest instead that the two sides of the vase be read together. In this interpretation, the elegantly dressed woman represents the basilinna supervising the swing ritual, embodying the blessing of the wine god by virtue of her very presence.