Leagros Kalos

Abstract

In 1920 Ernst Langlotz proposed a scheme for dating Greek vases in terms of absolute and not merely relative chronology. His monograph was entitled Zur Zeitbestimmung der strengrotfigurigen Vasenmalerei und der gleichzeitigen Plastik and was dedicated to his teacher Franz Studniczka. Studniczka's own essay, ‘Zur Zeitbestimmung der Vasenmalerei mit roten Figuren’ had itself represented a landmark in the chronological study of Greek vase painting. As Langlotz's title suggests, he thought it possible to derive a dating system for Greek vases based on stylistic comparisons between the medium of Greek vase-painting and that of sculpture. The Siphnian Treasury, the Marathon Tumulus, and the Persian sack of Athens, however, provided the only supposedly fixed points in Langlotz's framework. He therefore sought other evidence which would link vase-painting to the known facts of Greek history and decided to develop Studniczka's investigation of the extent to which the subjects of kalos-inscriptions possessed an independent historical identity.

Desirability and the Body

“…Many of these vases have so-called kalos inscriptions, such as the formula Chairestratos kalos ("Chairestratos is beautiful"). The names are generally thought to be those of contemporary youths admired for their beauty, and occasionally the names may be linked to men known from other inscriptions (Francis andVickers 1981, Shapiro 2000). On the exterior of the drinking cup in Figure 3.10, we see the phrase ho pais kalos, or "the boy is beautiful": ho pais is written above the youth on the left and kalos over his counterpart on the right.…”