An Inscribed Terracotta Ball in Boston Immerwahr, Henry R Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Winter 1967; 8, 4; ProQuest pg. 255

An Inscribed Terracotta Ball in Boston 

Henry R. Immerwahr 

-AMINIATURE TERRACOTIA BALL, about Ii inches in diameter, and 
richly decorated with figures and inscriptions, was acquired by 
the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1963 and has been published 

by Dr Herbert Hoffmann in the Museum Bulletin. l One of the in­
scriptions, however, was not read at the time; its interpretation 
makes it necessary to discuss the ball once more, even at the cost of 
some repetition (see PLATES 1 and 2, figures 1-6). 

Our object is a hollow and somewhat flattened sphere. When 
shaken, it produces a clear rattle, as if a pebble had been baked inside. 
Placed on a level surface, it easily rolls to an upside-down position, 
i.e. it is top-heavy. The ball was probably made in two pieces, one 
consisting of the bottom cap and the middle part, and the other, of 
the top cap (this is speculation, for I could not find any joints between 
the middle parts and either of the caps, although they project slightly). 
The lower part was then hollowed out, while the top cap remained 
solid. The lack of balance did not matter, for a hole which passes 
through the ball vertically proves that it was suspended from a string. 
The top hole is more worn than the bottom hole; the former has 
applied red inside (such as is used for the top and bottom caps), while 
the latter has black dirt around it. Thus a string was passed through 
and knotted at the bottom, and the toy could be swung to make the 
rattle sound. The object is clearly a child's rattle. 

At the same time, the profile suggests strongly that the rattle 
imitates a playing ball. The two projecting caps enclose a broad and 
bulging strip that runs horizontally. Although I know of no certain 
parallels for this method of constructing a ball, it seems obvious that 
it would have consisted of three strips ofleather, one rectangular and 
two circular, which were sown together and stuffed with wool or a 

1 "A Clay Ball of Myrrhine," Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 61 (1963) no. 323, 
20-22, figs. 1-3. I want to thank Drs Cornelius C. Vermeule and Herbert Hoffmann for 
their assistance and for sending me photographs taken by the Museum of Fine Arts. 

255 



256 AN INSCRIBED TERRACOT TA BALL IN BOSTON 

similar material.2 Thus the ball is what the Romans called a harpastum 
or small stuffed ball. To be sure, shape is the only evidence for this 
identification, for the decoration of the ball is derived from vase 
painting. 

The two caps are decorated with applied red, which was put on in 
two layers. Centered around the suspension holes at top and bottom 
are incised palmettes, rather poorly drawn, but done with a fine 
instrument-no doubt the same that was used for the graffito in­
scriptions surrounding the palmettes (see PLATE 2, figures 5-6).3 The 
central zone has a figured frieze in black-glaze silhouette technique 
and framed above and below by a black line (PLATE 1, figures 1-4).4 
The glaze is uneven and has flaked off in some places; in particular, 
the hollow in one of the discuses seems to be due to a blister (PLATE 1, 
figure 2). On the whole, the decoration is poorly done, and the ball is 
ambitious rather than beautiful. The scenes have been described by 
Hoffmann. In the center, a bearded man with legs crossed, himation 
over his shoulder, and leaning on a stick, presents a flower to a boy 
wearing a himation and accompanied by his dog. Behind the man a 
fawn is also interested in the flower (PLATE 1, figures 1 and 3). To the 
left of this scene, two athletes are practicing the discus throw (PLATE I, 

B A ball pictured on a RF squat lekythos in Altenburg (late fifth century and perhaps 
Attic) may show similar stitching, but this is quite uncertain; see eVA Altenburg, fasc. 2, 
pI. 73,2. For a full bibliography on rattles, see D. M. Robinson, Excavations at Olynthus X 
(Baltimore 1941) 494-500 under no. 2561. Our ball may be a miniature version, but it may 
also be in scale; for such small balls, see e.g. [Hippocrates], []£p~ Cip8pwv 3, where a small 
hard ball olat 1To'\'\a~ ~I( 'nov 1ToAAwv CJICVT'WV pa:TT7'OVTat is put in the armpit to assist in setting 
a dislocated shoulder. 

a Palmettes with circular outlines and inscribed in a tendril are frequent on late sixth­
century red-figure; see P. Jacobsthal, Ornamente griechischer Vasen (Berlin 1927) pis. 73a and 
75a. The tendrils may curl inward: ibid. pI. 44a (Oltos). A Gegenpalmette is often found, but 
the short three-leaved design above the tendrils of our palmettes is rather a Zwickelpalmette, 
for which see ibid. p.162. These are usually larger in our period than they are on the ball: 
Jacobsthal's examples of short Zwickelpalmetten are classical (pis. 55a and 103c). However, 
our palmettes are unusual in being used around a central point and a large Zwickelpalmette 
would have been inappropriate. I am not familiar with other examples of incised Attic 
palmettes, which must be very hard to draw. Painted palmettes similar to ours are com­
mon on the bottoms ofPaidikos alabastra, ARV2 98-101; but they do not have the Zwickel­
palmette. 

, For some early examples in this technique, see e.g. J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-figure Vase 
Painters2 (Oxford 1963) 235; E. Haspels, Attic Black-jigured Lekythoi I (Paris 1936) 102 (Pasiades 
alabastra); J. D. Beazley and F. Magi, La raccolta B. Guglielmi nel Museo Gregoriano Etrusco 
(Citta del Vaticano 1939) 49 no. 53 and pI. 18 (Lekythos, third quarter of sixth century); 
E. Pfuhl, Malad und Zeichnung I (Munich 1923) 238. For silhouette technique on fifth­
century BF lekythoi, see Haspels, op.cit. index, s.v. SILHOUETTE. 



HENRY R. IMMERWAHR 257 

figure 2).6 The athlete on the left is beginning the movement of the 
throw by switching the discus from the left (or carrying) hand to the 
right (or throwing) hand. The athlete on the right is swinging the 
discus back with his right hand; he is about to crouch in the famous 
Myronian position. The right-hand scene shows two youths practicing 
with javelins; that on the left is preparing to throw his spear to the 
right (he looks left, at the thong, as was customary in distance throw­
ing; see PLATE 1, figure 3), while his. companion is winding the 
throwing thong around his javelin (PLATE 1, figure 4). Between the 
two are a stool with clothes and two javelins stuck in the ground.6 

The style of these figures is hard to assess, but the stiffness of the folds 
of the two himatia and the sharp articulation of the legs suggest that 
ours is an early example of silhouette technique: Hoffmann dates the 
ball ca. 500 B.C. The letter forms of the painted inscription and the 
earlier graffiti would seem to agree with this date (see below). 

There are four inscriptions on the ball. First, in the field of the 
figured scene, is the dipinto: MVpptVES El,..d, and below: va{Xt. This 
shows that the ball was a bespoken piece-probably a gift. Secondly, 
on the bottom cap is the incised inscription: MVpp{VES ElfJ-t, done with 
the same fine point used for the palmette, and hence presumably 
done by the vase painter in the shop (PLATE 2, figure 5). Thirdly, on the 
top cap, and in the same position as the last, is the graffito: ho 7TCXLS 

KCXAOS, done by the same hand as the graffito on the bottom cap 
(PLATE 2, figure 6). This last inscription starts with very wide spacing 
between the letters H, 0 and n, but the spacing becomes narrower so 
that the text completes the cireIe;7 at the end is a triple interpoint to 
indicate the beginning of the text. On the top cap is also a second 
graffito, by a different hand, and no doubt put on later, to which we 
shall return. 

Barring perhaps this last inscription, the decoration just described 
was on the ball when it was given to Myrrhine. The object is not 

6 The figure on the left is a youth; that on the right is drawn as bearded by Miss Chap­
man in the Bulletin (supra n.l) fig. 1, but the photograph leaves the detail uncertain 
Hoffmann (ibid. 21) speaks of a youth. This seems to be right. 

S Youth and admirer; see infra n.13. For the position of the athletes, see E. N. Gardiner, 
Athletics of the Ancient World (Oxford 1930) 154-68 (discus) and 169-76 (javelin); Hoffmann, 
Bulletin (supra n.l) 21 and nn. 

7 For such irregularities, cf TAPA 79 (1948) 184. The two graffiti on the caps (inscriptions 
Z and 3) and the dipinto (1) show some similarities ofletter forms, especially mu and the two 
forms of rho in 1 and 2 (see also n.16). 



258 AN INSCRIBED TERRACOTTA BALL IN BOSTON 

unique. Somewhat similar is a hollow terracotta ball with a slight 
rattle, of the same size as ours, which was found in a Hellenistic tomb 
on Samothrace, a tomb of two adolescents rather than of small 
children. This ball imitates an inflated ball (or follis) sewn together 
from twelve patches in the form of pentagons, and it clearly shows 
the place for letting in the air. As Professor Helen Bacon has pointed 
out to me, this ball resembles the description of the globe in Plato's 
Phaedo, where the globe is compared to a ball.s The find is interesting 
also in showing that our ball need not have belonged to a small child, 
but that such objects were sometimes kept to a later age. Unfortun­
ately, it is impossible to identify Myrrhine, since the name is common 
in Athens; it occurs e.g. in the Peisistratid family.9 Little earlier than 
our ball is a phormiskos, or funerary ritual clay object, from the 
Athenian Cerameicus, which shows a certain Myrrhine stretched out 

8 lowe knowledge of the ball from Samothrace to Miss Bacon; if. Plato, Phaedo 110 
B 6-7: WU7Tr!P al SwSr!KaUKtl'TO' u</Ja'ipm. The Samothrace ball is published by Mrs. E. B. Dusen­
bury, Archaeology 12 (1959) 168-69 and fig. 8. It disproves the theory of S. Mender, Das 
Ballspiel im Leben der Volker (MUnster 1956) 78 n.12, that inflated balls are not found before 
the middle of the first century B.C. Mrs. Dusenbury has given me much additional in­
formation; she says that contrary to the description in Archaeology the ball is hollow, not 
solid, and has a bit of a rattle which is not certainly intentional. She has called my attention 
to a parallel from Thasos, BCH 78 (1954) 242f, fig. 27 (miniature ball with rattle and pierced, 
from a Hellenistic tomb). Most of the spherical objects found in tombs and sanctuaries are, 
however, not playing balls, but have ritual significance (whereas our balls are clearly 
simple toys). Cf e.g. the small balls from the Cerameicus, Kerameikcs: Ergebnisse der 
Ausgrabungen V.1 (Berlin 1954) 23 and 68, pIs. 15 and 157; B. Neutsch, HTonball mit Toten­
kultszenen aus der italischen Nekropole von Sala Consiliana," Apollo, Bolletino dd Musei 
Provinciali del Salternitano no. 1 (July/December 1961) 53-66 and figs. 1-7, cf R. Naumann 
and B. Neutsch, Palinuro II (RM Erganzungsheft 4 [1960] pIs. 55,3-5 and 68,3 (bibliography 
in text); MonAnt 46 (1963) 287-88, figs. 59--61 ("cypress cones" from temple of Cybele on 
the Palatine); M. P. Nilsson, "Das Ei im Totenkult der Aiten," AR W II (1908) 530-46; 
R. LulIies, Antike Kleinkunst in Konigsberg (n.d.) nos. 84, 85 (lowe the last two references to 
Professor E. Vanderpool). The list of these objects could easily be increased from the 
holdings of many museums. 

Interesting are Egyptian balls which imitate playing balls made of parallel strips: see 
R. D. Barnett in The Aegean and the Near East: Studies presented to Hetty Goldman (Locust 
Valley [N.Y.] 1956) 237 and pI. 22,4. 

a Wife of Hippias, Kirchner, PA 10,485; pOSSibly a daughter of Peisistratus, schol. De­
mosth. 23.7l (cf RE 16.1 [1933] 1146 s.v. MYRRHINE). IG [2 1009, late sixth century 
funerary inscription, lost (cf W. Peek, Griechische Vers-Inschriften I [Berlin 1955] no. 65), as 
restored by Miss L. H. Jeffery in BSA 57 (1962) 142 no. 54 and in The Local Scripts of Archaic 
Greece (Oxford 1961) 269 n.3; the objections ofW. M. Calder III, AJA 69 (1965) 263 n.10, seem 
to me not valid. A. E. Raubitschek, Dedications from the Athenian Acropolis (Cambridge 
[Mass.] 1949) no. 201, as restored, but W. Peek, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschri!t der . .. Uni­
versitiit Halle-Wittenberg 3 (1954) 285, has suggested reading a man's name. I have not been 



IMMERWAHR PLATE I 

Figure 1 Figure .2 

Figure 3 Figure 4 

ATTIC TERRACOTT\ RU,L I:"; THE lVluSEUM OF ]}I:'<F ARTS, BOSTO:'<', :'<'0.63.119 

(scale 1: 1) 



PLATE 2 hnlFI{\\UIR 

hgll re 5. Bottoll! Figllre 6. Top 

A.TTIC TI'RI{,\COTTA BALL I:\" BOSTO:\", :--iO. 63.119 

Figure 7 

RED-FIGl'RED ASKOS IN BOSTON, NO. 13.169 



HENRY R. IMMERWAHR 259 

on the bier in a prothesis scene.10 This vase was also made to order and 
it shows a girl of good family, but she cannot be identified with our 
Myrrhine. 

A toy ball was an appropriate gift for a girl. The early evidence 
shows balls used in a variety of games, some of which were played by 
girls. It is true that we have no evidence from Athens for girls' team 
games comparable to the boys' game shown on the famous base from 
the Themistoclean wall and on another recently found near the 
Dipylon. In Sparta, however, such games are mentioned in the 
literary sources. In Athens, the apP'YJc/>opOt (who were between seven 
and fourteen years of age and who belonged to the first families of the 
city) had a ball court (uc/>atp{uTpa) on the Acropolis: their games had no 
doubt religious significance. We know of three ball games played by 
girls. First, the ic/>€opwfJ-oS, or piggy back, in which a girl had to carry 
a companion blindfolded to a spot sometimes marked by the throw 
of a ball; secondly, a game in which a ball was thrown across a wicket; 
and finally, a game played alone and at home, in which a number of 
balls or skeins of wool were juggled in the air, and a question was 
asked, such as <CHow long will I live?" This last was specifically a 
girls' game, whereas the first two were also played by boys. In addi­
tion, the simple bouncing of the ball, called a1T6ppagt~, is frequently 
depicted on South Italian vases of the fourth century B.C.u Here the 
girl is often accompanied by a young man or by Eros. 

able to find the courtesan of the time of Themistocles mentioned by Hoffmann in Bulletin 
(supra n.l) 21. For later occurrences of the name, both for respectable ladies and courtesans, 
see Kirchner, PA s.v.; Ar. Lys. 70, etc. and SEG 12.80 (14.25; 16.31) = ArchEph 1948/49, 
146-53 (first priestess of Athena Nike); S. Karouzou, AM 76 (1961) 92ff; Beazley, AJA 54 
(1950) 319, no. 19; Pape, Eigennamen, s.v. MYRRHINB. For the meaning of the name see 
J. Papademetriou, ArchEph 1948/49, 148-9. See also F. Bechtel, Griechische Frauennamen 
(Gottingen 1902) 103. 

10 See JdI 61-62 (1946-47) 65 no. 44 and pI. 13; cf AA 1935,298 fig. 24; J. D. Beazley, 
Attic Black-figure Vase Painters (Oxford 1956) 678 under MYRTB? 

11 Ball games: (1) Themistoclean base; see recentlyE. Wagner, "Kritische Bemerkungen 
zum Harpastum Spiel," Gymnasium 70 (1963) 356-66. Base from Dipylon: F. Willemsen, 
AM 78 (1963) 132-6, pI. 66. (2) Girls' team games in Sparta: Athen. 1.14B (Hippasus). (3) 
appTJ.popOt: RE s.v. sphairisterion; L. Deubner, Attische Feste (Berlin 1932) 15 n.3 (he assumes 
[p.12] that in Panathenaic years there were as many as four appTJ.popOL: this would make 
group games possible). See also Harpocration and EM S.v. apPTJ<PopE'iv (Deubner 11 n.6 and 
12 n.6). (4) '<pE'6ptUp-o,: L. Deubner, "Spiele und Spielzeuge der Griechen," Antike 6 (1930) 
176, fig. 27 and pI. 20; P. Zazoff, "Ephedrismos. ein altgriechisches Spiel," Antike und 
Abendland 11 (1962) 35-42; differently, P. Mingazzini, RendPontAcc 32 (1959/60) 81-92. (5) 
Ball thrown across wicket: E. Pottier, Syria 7 (1926) 207 and 8 (1927) 174; Beazley, BSA 29 
(1927-28) 209 no. 16; L. Deubner, Antike 6 (1930) 166 fig. 12 and 167 fig. 13; S. Karouzou, 



260 AN INSCRIBED TERRACOTTA BALL IN BOSTON 

This brings us to the erotic significance of the ball. Familiar from 
Hellenistic poetry, the erotic connotations of balls and ball games 
are implicit already in the famous scene in the Odyssey, where Nau­
sicaa's ball goes astray to wake up Odysseus, and they are explicit in a 
poem by Anacreon, in which the aged poet watches two girls playing 
ball.12 In this connection, the frieze on our ball with its athletic and 
erotic scenes is entirely appropriate: it depicts the most important 
events in the life of young men. The erotic scene of boy and lover 
should be connected with the athletic scenes, which take place in the 
palaestra: for as we know from Plato it was there that erotic encoun­
ters customarily took place. Pictures on vases confirm Plato's de­
scriptions: on a red-figured cup of the early fifth century in Boston 
(10.193) a number of couples appear, with lovers or friends bringing 
various gifts to the boys, while on the wall are hung up oil flasks and 
sponges, the paraphernalia of the gymnasium.13 Hence the three 
scenes on our ball are really continuous, and the erotic encounter is 
the centerpiece of a picture of life in the palaestra. As Hoffmann has 

ArchEph 1953-54, 103 fig. 5 and 104 nn.I-5 (lekanis lid Athens 17,534 with women playing 
the game). (6) Juggling: explained by S. Karouzou,JHS 65 (1945) 42 and pI. 6 a and b; F. 
Brommer, CVA Schloss Fasanerie I p.27 and pI. 41,4. (7) arr6ppag,,: Daremberg-Saglio IV.l 
s.v. pila I, pA77 fig. 5666; CVA Altenburg 3, 24-25, pI. 104,1-3; A. D. Trendall, Vasi antichi 
dipinti del Vaticano fasc. 1 (1953) pI. 27a and e. On a Locrian pinax, AJA 63 (1959) 246 n. 71 
and pI. 59, a girl seems to dedicate her ball in a sanctuary. 

For ball games in general, see Daremberg-Saglio IV.l pp. 475-8 s.v. pila I; RE 2 (1896) 
2832-4 S.V. BALLSPIEL with addendum suppl. 1.240; E. N. Gardiner, Greek Athletic Sports and 
Festivals (London 1910) 185 and 485; L. Grlindel, "Griechische Ballspiele," AA 40 (1925) 
80-95; E. N. Gardiner, op. cit. (supra n.6) 230-8; A. E. Klein, Child Life in Greek Art (New York 
1932) 18-20, 40; Deubner, Attische Feste 240-1; L. B. Mitchell, "Ancient Ball Games," CJ 34 
(1938-39) 103; G. van Hoom, Choes and Anthesteria (Leiden 1951) 44-5; S. Mendner, op.cit. 
(supra n.8); S. Dow, HSCP 67 (1963) 91-2. For girls' games, see C. A. Forbes, Greek Physical 
Education (New York 1929) 30 n.5, RE 2 S.V. BALLSPIEL, 2832, and Daremberg-Saglio, s.v. 
pila I. G. van Hoom, De vita atque cultu puerorum (Amsterdam 1909) 61-4. 

12 Od. 6.115-17; Anacr. fro 13 Page. An Attic RF hydria (2 fragments: Tlibingen E 112, 
ARva 1147 no. 61) shows Aphrodite among girls playing ball. Naples 2872, a South Italian 
RF bell krater by the Amykos Painter CA. D. Trendall, Fruhitaliotische Vasen [Leipzig 1938] 
34 no. 118; cf. H. Heydemann, Vasensammlung 418), shows a woman leaning against a stele 
and Eros playing aporrhaxis, cf. F. Hauser, RM 25 (1910) 285. On the stele is an inscription 
read by Kretschmer: {i/, <Xv pm -r«xv ucf>'ipav (P. Kretschmer, Die griechischen Vaseninschriften 
ihrer Sprache nach untersucht [Giitersloh 1894] 215). Cf. S. Mendner (supra n.8) 128 and pI. 
17a-but his discussion follows Babelon and is to be rejected. 

18 ARV2 1567 and 1698; P. Hartwig, Die gnechischen Meisterschalen (Stuttgart 1893) 
pI. 26; L. D. Caskey and J. D. Beazley, Attic Vase Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts III 
(Boston 1963) pI. 71 no. 136. Cf. S. Karouzou. "Scenes de Palestre," BCH 86 (1962) 430ff; 
see generally, Hartwig, op.cit. index, S.V. LIEBBSSZENEN. 



HENRY R. IMMERWAHR 261 

observed, the scenes could be looked at while twirling the ball: thus 

the figured decoration, conventional as it is, was meant to appeal to 
the owner. It is possible that a boy gave the ball to a girl, but it is 
perhaps safer to say that the painter considered scenes from the life 
of boys appropriate to a gift for a girl. 

These last speculations, tenuous as they are, may help in under­
standing the fourth inscription, which is difficult to interpret (see 
PLATE 2, figure 6). As we have seen, the graffito ho 7TCXtS Ku'\6s was 
apparently written by the vase painter and may be connected with 
the figured scene, from which it was displaced, as it were, by lack of 
space; it certainly belongs to the same context of ideas as the figured 
decoration. The fourth inscription, in a coarser and much less skilled 
hand, was written on the outside of ho 1TatS Ka'\os, and it starts in the 
same place, with the H below the H of the first inscription.14 The text 
then runs around the edge of the cap and completes the circle with the 
letters EN, after which a triple punctuation mark indicates the 
beginning of the text, as it did in the third inscription. But the fourth 
inscription does not end here: an additional alpha and iota were written 
between the two sets of punctuation. The alpha's top was left open 
to avoid cutting into the upper punctuation mark: this is important 
in showing that the third inscription was of interest to the writer of 
the fourth. The iota is clear on the original; like several other strokes . 
in this inscription, the line did not go through the red paint. A second 
alpha was written between the Hand 0 of the third inscription. It is 
followed by four short vertical scratches, which I take for unsuccessful 
attempts to write another iota. Hence we have alpha and iota written 
twice, and the entire inscription reads: 

. h" , \ ~ " ... { }I5 : os EotKEV a1TO TOV EptoV EVat a~ 

The letter forms differ from those of the other three inscriptions: note 
especially nu with short first hasta, epsilon with horizontal strokes, and 
kappa. The lettering is probably somewhat later, although it is 

U Cf e.g. a funerary inscription on a marble disk, British Museum 935: IG I2 975, P. 
Jacobsthal, "Diskoi," 93rd Winckelmannsprogramm der Arch. Gesellschaft ZU Berlin (Berlin 
1933) 26 fig. 19, and L. H. Jeffery, BSA 57 (1962) 147 no. 64. 

15 Many other readings have been suggested. a7TOTOV seems to me inappropriate. "Made 
of wool" was one of many suggestions made by Professor Edwin Brown. "From the wool" 
may mean that the object is a loom weight; but apparently it is not. Professor Ross Hollo­
way thought that "from the mounds" might be a reference to the pictures on funeral 
stelae (referring to the boy with the dog). 



262 AN INSCRIBED TERRACOTTA BALL IN BOSTON 

dangerous, in the period before 480 B.C., to equate differences in letter 
forms (especially in painted and scratched inscriptions) with chrono­
logical differences, since there is some overlapping of writing styles. 
The loose disjointed writing (with strokes not always meeting) is 
characteristic of certain vase inscriptions and graffitP6 It goes without 
saying that I see no reason to doubt the genuineness of this inscription; 
in this I am supported by the Museum authorities, who consider the 
deposits in the letter strokes ancient. 

The inscription seems to be an additional comment to the other, 
made by another person. We can read hos as os-relative, ws-exclama­
tory or ws-conjunctive. Clear is EOtK€V, which means 'looks like' 
rather than 'seems'-the word for 'seems' in kalos-inscriptions is 
80K€I:P Thus the inscription appears to have reference to the pictures 
on the ball. Clear is also, I think, the infinitive €fvcxt; hence we do not 
here have the simple ws EOLK€V, 'as it seems', but rather 'who seems 
to be', or 'as he (it) seems to be', or 'How he (it) seems to beP8 
The main crux of the inscription is the word EPION. This is not 
likely to be from EptoV 'wool': 'How it looks as if it (the ball 11) were 
made of wool!' would hardly be construed with a7TO and the definite 
article. But ~plov 'mound, tomb' is a well-known word. It occurs 
first in the Iliad for the tumulus over the tomb of Patroclus and is not 
infrequent in later poetry, especially in funerary epigrams. At the 
same time, ~plov was an old Attic word for the family plots of Athen­
ian citizens. In the' A8TJvcxlwv n OAtT€lcx, Aristotle mentions the following 
among the formulae for questioning candidates for the archonship: 
~plcx El EUTtV KCXt 7TOV TCXVTCX. The same meaning appears in several places 
in the Attic orators, but the Aristotelian passage shows that the word 
was traditional and thus 01d.I9 The word occurs further on two Attic 

16 Epsilon with horizontal bars is found at the end of the sixth century: see Jeffery, LSAG 
(supra n.9) 66 and 75. The disjointed style is common on vases of Beazley's "Coarser 
Wing," ARV2 chs. 10-12. 

The two forms of rho are characteristic of about 500 B.C.: see A. E. Raubitschek, op.cit. 
(supra n.9) nos. 79, 184, 23Z, 367, and the Telesarchus discus (infra n.20). 

17 For SOKE', see e.g. ARV2 1561, Alkaios no. 1; 1584. D. M. Robinson and E. J. Fluck, 
A Study of the Greek Love-Names (Baltimore 1937) ch. 4 nos. 7, 12, 32, 73, etc. Dr Werner 
Fuchs refers me to C. Karouzos, Aristodikos (Stuttgart 1961) 91 n.79, where epic Eot/cws is 
mentioned as being related to works of art. 

18 ros-exclamatory was suggested to me by Professor Walton Morris. 
Ie Arist. Ath.Pol. 55.3. For the poetic use of ~p{ov, see II. 23.126; CaUim. frA3 line 4, and 

fr.262 with Pfeiffer's note: Nicander fr.108 Gow-Scholfield. Funerary epigrams: IG XII 2, 
489; XII I, 168(?); XII 3, 10; Kaibel, Epigrammata, nos. 214,411,465,550,574,626,704; Peek, 



HENRY R. IMMERWAHR 263 

stone discuses, which have been published, together with two others, 
by P. Jacobstha1.20 Each of the four has an inscription: EK Tall ~[eA]OIl 
(Metropolitan Museum); 'DEBEll dBA[a] (lost); TEAEuapxo EK TO Ept[O] 
(Metropolitan Museum); EX (sic) Tall EptOll El<p,>t (lost). The Telesar­
chus inscription was first explained by Beazley21 in the sense that the 

Grieehisehe Vers-Insehriften I (supra n.9) nos. 1248, 1355 (=Anth.Pal. 7.502), 1803 (=Anth.Pal. 
7.537); Anth.Pal. 7.180,209,440,8.138; Corinth VIII 1, no. 130. Later prose: Pluto Them. 9.4; 
Tib.Gr. 9.5; Paus. 6.20.17; Lucian, Charon 22; Deor.Cone. 15 (mock decree). Similar is 
Lycurg. Leoe. 109 as corrected by Wurm. 

Epigraphic use outside Attica: SIG3 11: Delphic funerary stele, second half of sixth 
century B.C.; on the front: otfLC!t, OPXl~ftfL€ ho [Jv(Na E€AtvOvnos; on the back, in large letters 
vertical and up: Eplov; despite Dittenberger's comment that .qptov here means <cippus 
sepulcralis' rather than <tumulus', it may well refer to the funerary plot. See further 
Peek, op.cit. I.l670; Jeffery, LSAG (supra n.9) 277 no. 33 (ef 269 and 271) and BSA 57 (1962) 
142; W. M. Calder III, AJA 69 (1965) 263-4 (but Miss Guarducci does not discuss this in­
scription in Annuario 37-38 [1959/60] 255 n.5, as stated in Calder's n.13); J. Bousquet, BCH 88 

(1964) 380-2 fig. 1 (front only). IG IV 1593 is an undated boundary marker from Aegina, 
with .qpla in large letters. 

Additional evidence for the Attic term: Dem. 57.67 and Din. 2.17 Blass2 (as corrected 
with certainty by Valesius) both depend on the formula given in Ath.Pol. 55.3. It should be 
noted that the orators, when they use their own terminology, call these family tombs 
fLvr7W.tTrZ, which shows that in the fourth century ~p{ov was a technical term not in common 
usage: see e.g. Dem. 57.40 (Kd Wv Ttl fLv~fLaTa TalJTIx) and Isae. 6.64 and 9.36. Further, Harp 
s.vv . .qpla and (perhaps) ogvOvfLla; Suidas s.w . .qplov and .qpla; similar entries occur in other 
lexicographers. Interesting is the entry in EM S.v . .qpux (sic): al7TIJAat, 'A07Jvaiot KTA, which 
some take as a reference to a special city gate northeast of the Dipylon, the Gate of the 
Mounds (ef I. N. Travlos, noAw'80fLtK~ 'EglAtgtS TWV 'A07JvWV [Athens 1960] 52; Jeffery, BSA 
57 [1962] 132), but it may be no more than a comedians' joke for the Sacred Gate ('I£pa 
nJJA7J). Some glosses in Hesychius give the impression of being derived from comedy: see 
s.w . .qPt£PY~s, .qpt£JJs. 

20 Jacobsthal, op.cit. (supra n.14) 17ff; SEG X 396-98. The authenticity of the discuses was 
doubted by J. Ji.ithner,}OAI 29 (1935) 32ff (esp. 41-3). The Telesarchus discus is published 
also in Gardiner, op.cit. (supra n.6) 156 fig. 113; Kirchner, Imagines2 pI. 7 no. 15; cf Jeffery, 
BSA 57 (1962) 147. The lost discus with .qplov is no. 59a in Jeffery (p.145). The inscription on 
the other New York discus, €K rov <;i[OA]ov, is tentatively restored by her (p.147) as €K TOV 
€[pl]ov, and this is very attractive, for &OAov seems never to be construed with EK; similarly 
Ji.ithner, op.eit. 42. The second New York discus is figured in Gardiner, op.cit. 156 fig. 112. 

The fact that the inscription on the first New York discus is picked rather than cut 
should not make it suspect. Picking is common on very early inSCriptions, both on rock 
(e.g. the Theraean inscriptions) and on stone (see e.g. W. A. McDonald, Hesperia 25 (1956) 
69-72, Dreros), but it occurs later too (e.g. SEC X 452a = Jeffery, LSAG (supra n.9) 78 no. 
31 = BSA 57 (1962) 139 no. 48 (ca. 540 B.C.); BSA ibid. 146 no. 63 (the circular letters). This 
technique is common on bronze, and our discus may imitate the style appropriate to a 
bronze discus. See also F. Willemsen, AM 78 (1963) 142 and n.131. 

21 Sotheby Sale Catalogue for May 1929, no. 90. Miss Jeffery, BSA 57 (1962) 147, has objec­
ted to this interpretation and has suggested that three of I he four inscribed discuses are 
funerary (since, among other reasons, .qpLOV is not elsewhere attested in the meaning 



264 AN INSCRIBED TERRACOTTA BALL IN BOSTON 

discus was a prize from funeral games, public or private (so Jacobsthal 
p.22). Jacobsthal also lists as parallels many bronze vases given as 
prizes in local contests.22 It seems to me that the material, too, of 
which the discuses were made suggests that they were prizes; for real 
discuses must have been made of bronze. The stone discuses are dated 
by Jacobsthal to about 500 B.C.; they are thus contemporary with our 
ball. 

We may assume, then, that athletic contests, no doubt of a private 
nature, took place in Attica around the turn of the century at family 
tombs, where ancestors were worshipped as heroes. If this is true, the 
three inscriptions that exhibit the word ~p{ov may be thought to 
support one another, and our inscription may be translated: "The 
boy is handsome, who seems to be from the mounds," i.e. the funeral 
games. He looks like a noble young athlete. a.7Td in the sense <to belong 
to', or <to be associated with', is idiomatic Greek.23 An intriguing 
red-figured askos of the early fifth century in Boston (13.169; PLATE 2, 
figure 7) may perhaps illustrate the kind of funeral games we have 
postulated. The subject was long ago described by Beazley as follows: 
"a bearded hero with spear and shield rising out of a large mound: 
attached to the mound, and leaning against it, a diskos, a pair of 
halteres, two fillets, and three akontia: the origin of athletic con­
tests."24 Despite the contemporary look of some of the objects, the 

'funeral game'). She compares the discus IG 12 975 (supra n.14), which is certainly funerary, 
and the discus ofthe doctor Aeneas, IG JB 1019, which is probably funerary. Her explanation 
seems unlikely, since two of Jacobsthal's discuses are anonymous and since the statement 
'from the tombs' would make sense only after the object had been removed from the 
tomb. Our ball tends to confirm Beazley's explanation. 

IS See also E. Diehl, Die Hydria (Mainz 1964) B 77, 78,82, 107, (115), 120, 133, 135; Jeffery, 
LSAG (supra n.9) 91ff, 95, 176, 238; A. Bruckner, BPW 35 (1915) 1080-2; P. Wolters, ibid. 
1422-4; L. Malten, "Leichenspiel und Totenkult, " RM 38-39 (1923-24) 300-40; Gardiner, 
op.cit. (supra n.6) 38 fig. 10; K. A. Neugebauer, RM 38-39 (1923-24) 405-6;]HS 13 (1892-93) 
129; D. M. Robinson, A]A 46 (1942) 180 and n.29; Hesperia 25 (1956) 64 and n.67; J. D. Beaz­
ley, Greek Vases in Poland (Oxford 1928) 20 n.3. For local Attic festivals in honor of the dead 
and heroes, see Deubner, Attische Feste (supra n.11) 224-31. 

18 See LS] s.v. (bra II1l; Arist. Ath.Pol. 45.1: 0 amI 'TOV 'TV1Tavov; Callim. Iamb. 1.27 amI (Jvp.CtTO, 
..1d.q,ot, pace C. M. Dawson, YCS 11 (New Haven 1950) 13, n. on v.27. 0 a</>' '''piXs sc. ypcr.p.p.fj, is 
a phrase used in the game of pessoi. 

14 J. D. Beazley, Attic Red-figured Vases in American Museums (Cambridge [Mass.] 1918) 
55. Cf E. T. Vermeule, "The Vengeance of Achilles: the Dragging of Hektor at Troy," 
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Bulletin 63 (1965) no. 331, 45-46, fig. 15. Beazley formerly at­
tributed the vase to the Tyszkiewicz Painter (last AR Vl 188 no. 59), but it is not included in 
ARVI.1t seems less likely to me that the athletic equipment is meant to recall the hero's 



HENRY R. IMMERWAHR 265 

picture is probably lllythological: it lllight represent Patroclus and 
the games of the Iliad. But it might also refer to an ~p£ov in Attica, and 
the hero could be an ancestor. 

A different explanation for the inscription on our ball has been 
suggested to me by Dr Werner Fuchs. This is to read €pyuw instead of 
iJplwv. a correction that he thinks is suggested by the fact that the iota 
of EPION slants (see PLATE 2, figure 6). We would then read ho 1TCX'iS 

KcxAos. has EOLK€V (bo 'TOV Ep<y>av lVCXL. "the boy is handsome, as he 
seems to be from his deeds, " namely the €pycx depicted in the scenes. 
The suggestion is tempting, but the infinitive EiV(U seems awkward, 
and we would have to assume that the writer of the graffito considered 
the youths in the picture identical-a kind of repeating narrative, such 
as we find on cups for the deeds of Theseus but which is unfamiliar to 
me in this period for athletic scenes.25 These objections are not 
compelling, but I lean toward the reading ~p£wv. 

With either reading, we have here a personal comment added to 
the conventional 0 1TaLS Ka.\os; such comments are frequent in the last 
decade of the sixth century and in the early fifth. The custom is 
especially characteristic of the "Pioneers." In this connection it is 
interesting to note that Beazley has attempted to resolve the famous 
puzzle I:.ENEMEKNEPINE on a cup by Douris in the Louvre (G 115) 
by connecting it with the nearby tEpfJ-OYEVT)S Ka.\os and reading 
h€PfJ-OYEV€'> Ka.\os. ~v efJ-E eYKp£VY}<L>, "Hermogenes is fair-if he count 
me in, admit me among his friends. "26 On our ball too we must as­
sume that the comment refers to a 1TaLS Ka.\os; but since he is not 
named, we must refer it to the scenes. It is less likely that the remark 
refers to a friend of Myrrhine (such as the young man who may have 

own past athletic prowess, as it often does on Attic funerary lekythoi. A mound with simi­
lar athletic equipment occurs on an Etruscan amphora in Six' technique, of the early fifth 
century, which imitates an Attic subject that was no doubt mythological; see J. D. Beazley, 
Etruscan Vase Painting (Oxford 1947) 195 no. 2 (Munich 3170,J. 895). Another parallel: Select 
Exhibition of Sir John and Lady BeaZley's Gifts to the Ashmolean Museum, 1912-1966 (London 
1967) no. 293. 

25 I am not familiar with athletic scenes in which the same name is repeated. Epya in the 
plural would here refer to athletic deeds but might also include the erotic event: see LSJ 
S.v. EPYOV 12 and 3c; cf Hdt. 5.72.4 with Paus. 6.8.6. 

18 J. D. Beazley, "Some Inscriptions on Vases: VIII," AJA 64 (1960) 219 no. I. Cf also the 
athletic scene on a RF psykter by altos in the Metropolitan Museum (10.210.18), AR V2 54 
no. 7, with the comment haAovjLevoS elc1L; and another psykter by altos, in the Schimmel 
Collection in New York (ARVI 1622 no. 7 bis: New York Market, and A. Greifenhagen. 
Pantheon 23 [1965] 1-7) with the repeated inscription .1n£ SeAq/ivos. 



266 AN INSCRIBED TERRACOTT A BALL IN BOSTON 

given her the ball). for €ou<€v should refer to a picture. With the read­
ing ~p{wv, we may pick anyone of the figures as the 7Ta'i~ KaA6~ (I 
would prefer the boy who is being given the flower), or we may 
assume that the same youth is shown in various actions; with the 
reading €pywv, we are forced to adopt the second alternative. The 
comment may have been done in the workshop (it is in the nature of 
painter's comments in this period), but it is more likely that it was 
added later by the user or by a friend. The notion that Athenian 
women were illiterate has never appealed to me.27 

Unique texts are difficult to interpret. We can say for certain only 
that around 500 B.C. a rattle in the shape of a playing ball was especi­
ally prepared for Myrrhine and was probably presented to her as a 
gift. Its decorations with scenes from the life of boys were appropriate 
to the object and its intended use; this meaning was reinforced by 
inscriptions. An added comment (whose maker we cannot identify) 
further reinforced the praise of a boy-probably one of the youths 
depicted on the ball itself. 28 

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL 

Tuly, 1967 

17 "Book Rolls on Attic Vases," Classical, Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies in HonoT of 
Berthold Louis Ullman I (Rome 1964) 27-8. 

18 Dr Werner Fuchs (by letter) compares our figured scene in style to a small white­
ground BF lekythos by the Kephisophon Painter, Toronto 963.59 (ARV2 1699, Philadelphia 
Market). It seems certain, in fact. that the painter of our ball should be sought in the 
circle of this painter; see C. H. E. Haspels, Attic BF Lekythoi (Paris 1936) 117-9.