A ''kalos'' inscription is a form of epigraph found on Attic vases and graffiti in antiquity, mainly during the Classical period from 550 to 450 BC. The word ''kalos'' (), meaning 'handsome' or 'beautiful', was often accompanied by the name of a certain man, or sometimes simply by the word ''pais'' (), meaning the 'boy' or 'youth', without naming a particular person. The female version was ''kalē'' (). The ''kalos'' inscriptions typically had an erotic connotation.

Overview

The ''kalos'' inscription is typically found on vessels used for a symposium. The scenes that accompany the inscription vary, and include athletic exercises and

myths Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

. Some inscriptions are generic, reading only " the boy is beautiful" (, ''ho pais kalos''). The inscription more often took the form of the beloved's name, in the

nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...

singular, followed by "kalos" (''X kalos'', i.e. "X is beautiful"). The beloved is most often a male youth, but a few times girls or women were spoken of as ''kalē'' (). In one early cataloging of the inscriptions, among the individuals labeled as beautiful were 30 women and girls, and 528 youths. Male names outnumber female by more than twenty to one. At least some of the women labeled ''kalē'' were '' hetairai'', courtesans or prostitutes. The names designated as ''kalos'' are characteristic of

aristocratic Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

Athenian citizens. Some ''kalos'' inscriptions are associated with certain vase painters or pottery workshops. The Antimenes Painter, for instance, is named for the ''kalos'' inscription to Antimenes on his pots, and the Leagros Group pottery workshop is named for the youth Leagros, a widely popular object of ''kalos'' praise. These associations suggest a cult of celebrity or a concerted effort by a given youth's family to increase their son's public standing. The purpose of these inscriptions remains uncertain, and many examples may be declarations of love as part of same-sex courtship in Athens. In some cases, the inscriptions or vessels may have been made to order. ''Kalos'' names are also found as graffiti on walls, the most abundant example being the find on

Thassos Thasos or Thassos (, ''Thásos'') is a List of islands of Greece, Greek island in the North Aegean, North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of 380 km2 and a population of abo ...

of 60 ''kalos'' inscriptions carved on rock dating from the 4th century. The non-epigraphic literary evidence consists of two references in

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

. Both of these instances, however, praise the '' demos'' (the citizenry as a whole) rather than any individual, and suggest the public performance role of the ''kalos'' tag.

Examples

File:Janiform aryballos Louvre CA987.jpg, Janiform aryballos with ''kalos'' inscription BC File:Euphronios krater side A MET L.2006.10.jpg, The death of Sarpedon with a ''Leagros kalos'' () inscription, BCClark, Elston, and Hart, ''Understanding Greek Vases,'' p. 7. File:Tondo Minotaur London E4 MAN.jpg, Kylix tondo depicting the

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as Asterion, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "par ...

with generic "the boy is beautiful" inscription, BC File:Woman laver Met 1986.322.1.jpg, ''Kalē'' woman bathing at the laver, with a water bucket, a skyphos, and a wineskin, BC File:Metropolitan kylix - Man bargaining for sex.jpg, A sexual solicitation scene with generic ''kalos'' inscription, 5th century BC File:Nike youth Met 28.167.jpg, Nike offering a wreath to an athletic victor, BC File:Draped youths MAR Palermo.jpg, Fragment of an Attic white-ground cup with ''kalos'' inscriptions

References

Sources

* *Neil W. Slater. "The Vase as Ventriloquist: Kalos-inscriptions and the Culture of Fame", in ''Signs of Orality: The Oral Tradition and its Influence in the Greek and Roman World'' (ed. E. Anne Mackay). Leiden: Brill, 1999, pp. 143–161. *Kenneth J. Dover. ''Greek Homosexuality''. 2nd edition. London: Duckworth, 1989. *François Lissarrague. ''Publicity and performance. Kalos inscriptions in Attic vase-painting'', In: ''Performance Culture and Athenian Democracy'', Cambridge 1999, pp. 359–373. *H. Alan Shapiro. ''Leagros the Satyr'' in ''Greek Vases: Images, Contexts and Controversies.'', ed. Clemente Marconi, 2004, pp. 1–12.

External links

{{Greek vase painting 6th-century BC inscriptions 5th-century BC inscriptions Ancient Greek pottery Greek inscriptions