
The Dipylon Master was an
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
vase painter who was active from around 760–750 BC. He worked in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...
, where he and his workshop produced large funerary vessels for those interred in the
Dipylon Gate
The Dipylon ( gr, Δίπυλον, "Two-Gated") was the main gate in the city wall of Classical Athens. Located in the modern suburb of Kerameikos, it led to the namesake ancient cemetery, and to the roads connecting Athens with the rest of Greece. ...
cemetery, whence his name comes. His work belongs to the very late stage of the
Geometric Style
Geometric art is a phase of Greek art, characterized largely by geometric motifs in vase painting, that flourished towards the end of the Greek Dark Ages, . Its center was in Athens, and from there the style spread among the trading cities of th ...
. His vases served as grave markers and
libation
A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today.
Various substan ...
receptacles for aristocratic graves and as such are decorated with a depiction of the
prothesis scene representing the mourning of the deceased. Almost 50 vases have been attributed to the Dipylon Master and his workshop. Examples include the
Dipylon Amphora
The Dipylon Amphora (also known as Athens 804) is a large Ancient Greek painted vase, made around 750 BC, and is now held by the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Discovered at the Dipylon cemetery, this stylistic vessel belonging to the Ge ...
in
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
The National Archaeological Museum ( el, Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο) in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It i ...
, and the
Elgin Amphora in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...
.
British Museum Collection
/ref>
See also
* List of Greek vase painters
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
* Pottery of ancient Greece
Ancient Greek pottery, due to its relative durability, comprises a large part of the archaeological record of ancient Greece, and since there is so much of it (over 100,000 painted vases are recorded in the Corpus vasorum antiquorum), it has ex ...
References and sources
;References
;Sources
*Roisman, Joseph, and translated by J.C Yardley, ''Ancient Greece from Homer to Alexander'' (Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2011)
*Boardman, J. ''Early Greek Vase Painting: 11th–6th Centuries BC: A Handbook (World of Art)''. London: Thames and Hudson Publishing, May 1998. ().
External links
*
{{Authority control
8th-century BC Greek people
Ancient Greek vase painters
Anonymous artists of antiquity
Ancient Athenians
Year of birth unknown