Komos Growing up among Satyrs and Children

Author(s): Amy C. Smith

Source: Hesperia Supplements , 2007, Vol. 41, Constructions of Childhood in Ancient
Greece and Italy (2007), pp. 153-171
Published by: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/20066788

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 Komos Growing Up among
Satyrs and Children
by Amy C. Smith

Among the few children figured on Attic vases there is a boy named
Komos.1 He appears on a range of red-figure vases dating from the High
Classical period, 450-400 b.c.2 His depictions suggest that he could be
shown at various ages between approximately three and twenty years. Ko
mos is unusual in several distinct ways among the children who have been
remembered to us through the visual arts of Classical Athens. Depictions
of children in Attic pottery generally fall into two categories?mythical
children, who usually frequent images of known tales, and human children,
who populate genre scenes?but Komos appears in neither category yet
both contexts (mythical and genre). His resulting status, between divine
and mortal, thus suits his role as a personification, a representation of a
thing, event, place, or abstraction in human form:3 his name, which means
"the Carouse" (and related activities), is hardly coincidental.4 Moreover,
Komos is liminal in another way: he sometimes appears as a human and
at other times as a satyr.
This contribution is a study of the varying representations of Komos
by Athenian artists, with a focus on his transition from a youthful satyr,
usually in the retinue of Dionysos, to a human boy who conducts normal
youthful activities in the human world. The genre scenes in which Komos

1.1 dedicate this article to the
memory of Herbert A. Cahn, who gen
erously invited me to view his private
collection of pottery fragments in 1996
and who, on that occasion, first brought
his Komos fragment to my attention.
Shortly before his death he kindly
allowed me permission to publish my
photograph of this fragment (Fig. 8.8).
I am also indebted to Judith M. Bar
ringer, Ada Cohen, Jeffrey M. Hurwit,
and Jeremy B. Rutter, all of whom read
and recommended improvements to
earlier versions of this article. I am also
grateful to Cohen and Rutter for the
opportunity to deliver an earlier version
of this contribution at the "Construe
tions of Childhood in the Ancient
World" symposium held at Dartmouth
College, November 6-8,2003, and
to the British Academy for funds to
attend the symposium.
2. All dates hereafter are b.c. unless
otherwise stated.
3. For general treatments of the
personification Komos (primarily the
human figure), see LIMC VI, 1992,
pp. 94-98, s.v. Komos (A. Kossatz
Deissmann); RE II.2,1922, cols.
1300-1303, s.v. Komos (H. Lamer);
Levi 1947, pp. 50-54. Graf 1999,
pp. 705-706, discusses the musical
nature of ? kcouo?, as prescribed by its
earlier appearance in Hymn. Horn. Merc.
481, followed by Pind. Pyth. 5.22. For
a thorough study of the word ? kc?uo?
in Greece during the Classical period,
see Minyard 1976. For the activity,
see Lonsdale 1993, pp. 126,213-214;
Ghiron-Bistagne 1976, pp. 207-297.
4. For the purposes of simplicity,
throughout this article I translate the
names of all personifications and quasi
personifications with capitalized single
or double-word names (e.g., Wine for
Oinos but Sweet Wine for Hedyoinos).
Whereas I refer to the entity komos
(never capitalized) with italics, I denote
the personification Komos (always
capitalized, as a name) without.

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TABLE 8.1. VASES DEPICTING KOMOS
Inventory Number Shape Findspot Painter Date Komos Label
Text Ref.
1 Polygnotos 440-430 KOMO
Paris, Mus?e du Louvre CA 303 Neck amphora
(G 430)
2 Manner of 440-430 KQ[MOI
Syracuse, Museo Paolo Orsi Calyx krater (fr.) Kamarina
24.114 Peleus Painter
Group of 440-430 KOMO
3 (Fig. 8.4) Compi?gne, Mus?e Vivenel Bell krater Nola
1025 Polygnotos
Kodros Painter 440-430 KQMO
4 (Fig. 8.3) London, British Museum E 82 Cup Vulci
5 Kodros Painter 440-430 KQMO
W?rzburg, Martin von Wagner Cup (perhaps) Spina
Museum L 491

6 (Fig. 8.1) New York, Metropolitan Volute krater Gela Coghill Painter 430-420 KQ
Museum of Art 24.97.25ab
7 Berlin Antikenmuseen F 2532 Cup Vulci Eretria Painter 430-420 KOMOI (I
KOMO[l]
8 Berlin Antikenmuseen F 2471 Squat lekythos Trachones, Attica Eretria Painter 430-420 KOMOI (re
9 New York, Metropolitan Chous Eretria Painter 430-420 KOMOI
Museum of Art 08.258.22
10 Providence, Rhode Island Bell krater Pothos Painter 420-410 KQMOI
School of Design 23.324
Berlin Antikenmuseen F 2658 Chous Vulci Painter of 420-410 KQMOI
11 (Fig. 8.5)
Boston 10.190
Basel, Collection of Chous School of Mei- 410-400 KQMOI G
12 (Fig. 8.8)
Herbert A. Cahn 649 dias Painter

13 Ex. Hope Collection 141 Bell krater Pothos Painter 420-410KQMO[I]

Oxford, Ashmolean 1937.983 Calyx krater Spina Dinos Painter 430-420 KQMOI
14 (Fig. 8.9)

15 Naples, Museo Nazionale 82547 Bell krater S. Agata dei Goti Dinos Painter 420-410 KQMO
(H 2369)
16 (Fig. 8.2) Vienna, Kunsthistorisches- Bell krater Manner of 410-400 KQMOI
Museum IV 1011 Dinos Painter

17 Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Calyx krater Dinos Painter 420-410 KQMOI

Museum IV 1024
18 (Figs. 8.6, 8.7) London, British Museum Miniature chous Athens, near Royal Group of 410-400 KQMOC
1929.10-16.2 Stables Athens 12144 KQMOC

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 KOMOS GROWING UP AMONG SATYRS AND CHILDREN 155

appears as a human boy are well attested on choes (juglets) that are associ
ated with the Choes rites at the Anthesteria.5 A consideration of Komos's
age in the images on these choes might shed light on the relevance of the
Choes portion of the Anthesteria to boys at a certain life stage. I will then
consider the implications of Komos's name: how and why Komos became
an appropriate name for youthful characters, whether satyr or human, in
5th-century Athens. Is the name significant? Perhaps the activity, komos,
had a special role in Athenian (wartime) society, particularly among chil
dren or youths. This line of inquiry naturally leads to Komos's role as a
personification. I shall argue that whether Komos is represented as satyr
or human, his name is always meaningful, and therefore that he always
serves as a personification. This analysis has wide-ranging implications for
the study of personification which, for semantic reasons, has hitherto been
restricted to figures shown more strictly in the human form.
Komos is represented 20 times on the 18 vases listed in Table 8.1, as a
satyr (on 12 vases), a youthful satyr (on 4 vases), or as a human boy (on 3
vases). Komos is the most common name for a satyr on Attic vases and is
very much an Attic and High Classical phenomenon: there are no known
occurrences in Tyrhennian, Chalcidian, or other wares that commonly de
pict named satyrs.6 A breakdown of the artists or workshops that depicted
Komos between 440 and 400 also reveals how widespread this figure was
among Athenian artists of this period. Four maybe attributed to the Group
of Polygnotos,7 or as many as eight if one includes Polygnotos's descendant,
the Dinos Painter, five to the Kodros and Eretria Painters,8 two to the
Pothos Painter, and three choes to the large Circle of the Meidias Painter,
who may have been a student of the aforementioned Eretria Painter.9

KOMOS IN THE WORLD OF DIONYSOS

Komos is best known as a satyr companion of Dionysos on kraters and

cups, vessels unsurprisingly associated with drinking, beginning in the
third quarter of the 5th century. The satyr Komos is musical and festive,
and almost always appears in a Dionysiac thiasos, usually as an attendant
to Dionysos himself. He thus seems to represent the carouse of Dionysos
and his followers. Occasionally a musical instrument might hint at the ode
named for him.10 In the later representations, 430-400, Komos is usually
shown as an undistinguished satyr: he follows the thiasos (on No. 10), carries

5.1 have adopted the convention
whereby chous (pi. choes), the Beazley
type 3 oinochoe (jug), is identified by
italics, whereas Choes (always capital
ized), the name of rites on a particular
day of the Anthesteria, is not italicized,
in order to help the reader distinguish
easily between the two.
6. Later occurrences include a few
Roman mosaics (Levi 1947, pp. 50
54).
7. Polygnotos, as well as the Peleus
and Coghill Painters.
8. Beazley classes these two
painters together in chapter 65 of
ARV2, apparently for reasons of chro
nology and shape.
9. On the Eretria Painter as teacher
of the Meidias Painter, see Burn
1987, p. 11, n. 53. She notes that both
painters had a penchant for squat
lekythoi and choes. Green (1971, p. 191)
classifies the two painters together,
along with the Shuvalov Painter, in the
"Chevron Workshop," and comments
that the connections between the Mei
dias Painter and the Eretria Painter are
particularly strong with regard to the
choes.
10. LSJ s.v. ? kcouo?. Graf 1999,
p. 705, and Kossatz-Deissmann
{LIMC VI, 1992, p. 94, s.v. Komos),
however, define Komos only as the
personification of the procession.
Another personification of a procession
(of a more solemn nature) might be
Pompe (fj rcouTiri); see A. Smith 1997,
pp. 120-122.

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i56 AMY C SMITH

mm.

Figure 8.1. Komos (third figure fro

the left) among satyrs and maenads
in a Dionysiac thiasos, on side A
of a volute krater attributed to the
Coghill Painter. New York, Met
ropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher
Fund, 1924 (24.97.25ab). Photo cour
tesy Metropolitan Museum of Art

a thyrsos (on Nos. 9 and 17) or a vessel (as perhaps on side A of a volute
krater in New York, No. 6, Fig. 8.1), occasionally leads the way with his
torch (on No. 14, Fig. 8.9, see below), plays a double aulos (on Nos. 1 and
9) or a barbitos (on side A of No. 7),11 and at times is seated, holding the
double aulos (on No. 13) or a lyre (on No. 15), or with a thyrsos draped
across his arm (on No. 8). A scene that atypically takes him away from
Dionysos is one in which Komos and other satyrs frolic with (attack?) the
spring nymph, Amymone (No. 16, Fig. 8.2). This is most likely a scene
taken from a satyr play.12
From his earliest appearances in the 430s, Komos s youth, his most
11. The
common characteristic, is indicated.13 In at least three instances hetondo also depicts Komos,
is the
but without attributes.
youthful cupbearer of Dionysos, just as Ganymede traditionally served as
12. See Matheson 1995, p. 260,
Zeus's cupbearer. The comparison is made explicit on a following
remarkable cup in1959, p. 75,
Brommer
London, attributed to the Kodros Painter (No. 4, Fig. 8.3).The decoration
nos. 49-50. The same play might be
on all sides of this large cup depicts a grand feast of depicted
the gods:on Zeus andvase attributed to
another
Polygnotos's
his brothers are shown, each reclining with his consort on group, a bell krater in the
his own kline.
manner of the Peleus Painter, Syracuse
All figures are clearly labeled: Persephone and Hades (OEPPEOATTA and
Museo Paolo Orsi 44291: ARV21041,
nAOYTON) in the tondo; Amphitrite and Poseidonno.(AMOITPITH and
9; Beazley Addenda2 319.
IIOXEIAQN), as well as Hera and Zeus (HEPA and ZEYI), attended
13. Only two ofby
the earlier vases
Ganymede (|JA]NY MEAEI), on side A; Aphrodite and (dating
Ares (AOPOAITH
from the 430s) depict Komos a
and APEI), as well as Ariadne and Dionysos (APIAANEa and
mature satyr: nos. 1 and 2.
AIONYIOI),

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 KOMOS GROWING UP AMONG SATYRS AND CHILDREN 157

Figure 8.2. From left to right,

Hedyoinos, Komos, the nymph
Amymone, and other satyrs, on side
A of a bell krater in the manner of
the Dinos Painter. Vienna, Kunst
historisches Museum IV 1011. Photo
courtesy Kunsthistorisches Museum

Figure 8.3. Komos (far right) attend

attended by Komos (KQMOI), on side B. Komos's identity as a satyr is
ing Dionysos and Ariadne, among
others, on side B of a cup in London, here indicated by his horse tail, pointed ear, and receding hairline, although
attributed to the Kodros Painter. his youth is obscured (his face is damaged on the pot; otherwise we would
London, British Museum E 82. Photo check for a beard). Yet his reduced size as well as the direct comparison with
?Trustees of the British Museum
Ganymede, on the opposite side, imply his role here (as a cupbearer) and
thus his relative youth. On another cup attributed to the Kodros Painter, in
W?rzburg (No. 5), Komos again attends Ariadne and Dionysos. While the
drunken god collapses on his consort, a young Komos (small and without
a beard), standing to their right, with torch and backpack, humorously
holds Dionysos's kantharos up to him. An even smaller/younger Komos,

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 AMY C. SMITH

A t t A h N J4

Figure 8.4. Tragoidia, Dionysos,

with torch as well as kantharos, follows a mature satyr, playing
Komosthe
as adouble
boy satyr, and Ariadne,
aulos, on a large chous in New York (No. 9).14 Together theyonlead
sideDionysos,
A of a bell krater, attrib
on muleback, with the returning Hephaistos.15 Finally the utedsatyr
to theKomos
Group of Polygnotos.
Compi?gne,
appears as a mere toddler on a bell krater in Compi?gne attributed Mus?e Vivenel 1025.
to the
Drawing author
Group of Polygnotos (No. 3, Fig. 8.4). Through a delightful inversion, as
Ariadne pours wine from an oinochoe into Dionysos's kantharos, positioned
in the lap of the god himself, Komos reaches up to sip from the great cup.16
A maenad named Tragoidia (Tragedy) looks on, holding a small hare with
which she may be hoping to lure the boy away.17

KOMOS AND THE CHOES

There is, however, a Komos who is neither a satyr nor a member of

Dionysos's circle but a human boy, appearing at least four times on three
different vases dating to the period 420-400. Though the iconography
of each vase depicting Komos as a human boy is distinct, their shapes,

14. Only one label exists for the especially as leaders of donkeys in the
close as possible to the head of each
two satyrs, and it is difficult to link return of Hephaistos, as in the case of
figure to which they referred (see
Komos on No. 9.
the label definitively with one orA. Smith 1999, n. 53; Boardman 1992,
the
16. Fuhrmann (1952, p. 120, fig. 8)
p. 45). The raised label makes no sense
other of the two, as it is placed very
high on the body of the vase. Their suggests that this vase illustrates a lost
in the case of the adult satyr, around
attributes (double aulos, thyrsos, whose
and head there is plenty of roomtragedy,
forAthamas, by Sophokles, but
kantharos) are equally attributablea label.
to The young satyr, however, he mistakes the Ariadne figure for
Komos. While most previous scholars Komoidia. Shapiro (2003, p. 89) has
holds his thyrsos aloft, and the painter
(e.g., A. Kossatz-Deissmann in seems
LIMC to have kept the label well called this image a "mythical paradigm
VI, 1992, pp. 94-98, s.v. Komos) seem
above for the Anthesteria festival."
the top of the thyrsos where
to have taken the mature satyr tothere
be is enough room for all of the 17. It was originally Fr?nkel's plau
Komos, I would suggest that the letters.
boy sible suggestion (1912, p. 62) that the
satyr is Komos because Attic artists 15. Padgett (2000, p. 57) discusses hare was a gift for the boy.
made great efforts to place labels
theas
phenomenon of juvenile satyrs,

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 KOMOS GROWING UP AMONG SATYRS AND CHILDREN 159

Figure 8.5. Komos (third from right)

and three reveling boy companions
on a chous attributed to the Group of
Boston 10.190. Berlin, Antiken
sammlung F 2658. Photo courtesy
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin-Preussischer
Kulturbesitz, Antikensammlung

decoration, and presumed functions are remarkably close: each is a chous

decorated in the Meidian style, and all may have been presented as gifts to
children.
The earliest of these three vases, a chous in Berlin attributed to the
Group of Boston 10.190 (No. 11, Fig. 8.5), depicts a komos of four boys:
KAAOI (Beautiful), NEANIAI (Youthful), KQMOI, and IIAIAN (Choral
Song).18 While Paian leads this procession, not surprisingly, Neanias and
Komos stumble forward, arm in arm, across the center of the chous. Their
appearance and attributes are identical, although Neanias is, appropriately,
the smaller of the two: both wear thick taeniae and short capes, and hold,
in their outstretched hands, wreathed choes that reveal the reason for their
intoxicated state and suggest the occasion that this image celebrated: the
Choes rites in the Anthesteria. That the boys have already wreathed their
vessels conveys the idea that the Choes festival has already occurred: these
boys are imitating KcouaCovxec, as they process from the banquet (sym
posion) to the Limnaion at the end of the day.19 Through his association

18. This is my own reading, based
on my firsthand inspection of the vase
in Berlin, for the arrangement of
which I am grateful to Ursula K?stner.
I am glad to see that I am in agreement
with Furtw?ngler 1885,2.760 (whose
reading of the vase has, however, been
misrepresented in subsequent literature,
e.g., H. Immerwahr 1998, p. 581,
no. 2410, as well as Kron 1988, p. 294
and n. 25), in that the second letter in
the third name (KQMOI) is a mal
formed omega and the third letter a
mu.
19. Phanodemos, a 4th-century1946, p. 247.
Atthidographer, notes that the wreaths
worn at the Choes banquet were subse
quendy considered polluted, for which
reason boys would place the wreaths
around their choes and dedicate them at
the Limnaion sanctuary: Phanodemos
FGrH 325.F II. See also Immerwahr

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 i6o AMY C SMITH

with Paian, this Komos might be taken as a personification of the musical

ode named for him. His participation in a festive procession, however,
indicates that he might also be meant to represent that group or event. In
either event, this Komos could not have been given such a name through
mere coincidence.
A second chous, which appeared in Gerard van Hoorn's expansive
study Choes and Anthesteria,2? but has been neglected by many students
of choes and of Komos, is a slightly later example in London, attributed
to the Group of Athens 12144 (No. 18, Figs. 8.6 and 8.7).21 In his initial
publication of the piece, which is said to have been found near the Royal
Stables at Athens, H. B. Walters described its decoration as a Dionysiac
scene "drawn in childish proportions," made up of two satyrs inciting a
goat, followed by two more satyrs with Dionysos.22 However, none of these
figures is identifiable as a satyr or as Dionysos. Rather, they are five boys, of
variable colors and ages (the younger/shorter boys are goldish-white; the
older/taller ones are red), with a white goat. Walters plausibly identified
the names, from left to right: KQMOC, KAAAINIKOC (Beautiful Victor),
KQMOC, and XPYIOI (Gold), although the final figure, the largest one
whom he took to be Dionysos, is rather labeled EY[T . . . ].23 The first
Komos, a small white boy, nude, with a wreath around his long hair (the
other boys in this scene are similarly wreathed), holds a wreathed chous
in his right hand (Fig. 8.7); a second Komos (the figure to the immediate
right of the goat), a larger, red boy, rushes toward a wreathed chous on a
three-legged stool, with his hands raised, as if to stop the rearing goat
from crashing into it (Figs. 8.6, 8.7). Kallinikos (the second figure from
the left), who goads the goat with a (victory?) branch, and Eu[t... ] (on
the far right), are both big, red boys who hold kantharoi, cups usually
reserved for the god Dionysos. But as we have seen, Dionysos's kantharos
is associated with Komos, or at least the satyr Komos. The other boy,
Chrysos (second from the right), who is also white (appropriately with gold
details) and smaller than the red boys, looks respectfully up to Eu[t... ],
as if he is learning a lesson. Though neither of these Komoi is musical
or involved in processions, both share the attribute of the chous with the
Komos on the Berlin chous. The choes, which are wreathed, as well as the
Komoi who hold or hope to hold them, may then refer to the procession

20. Van Hoorn 1951, no. 668,

might be restored as: E?tockto? (Well
fig. 300. ordered), Em?xvo? (Skillful), E?to?uo?
21. For a discussion of this delicate (Courageous), Emovo? (Vigorous),
shape, see Campenon 1994, p. 48, Emparce?o? (Hospitable), Emporc??;
pi. 8.2, as well as Green 1971, p. 211, (Morally good), or Empoqxx; (Healthy).
no. 1, who calls it the finest example of None of these names is attested in
its class of choes. Kossatz-Deissmann s lists of satyr
22. Walters 1929, p. 71, pi. 45b. names (1991), nor do any names in
23.1 am grateful to Ian Jenkins her lists begin with these three letters.
and Dyfri Williams of the British The dipinti are unusual in their use of
Museum for assisting me in my study both the lunate sigma and the four-bar
of this chous and for confirming my sigma. The four-bar sigma is here used
reading of the labels. If the last name only for the medial sigma, except in
is descriptive, as are the others, it the case of Chrysos where it might be
(mistakenly) repeated at the end of the
word (as helpfully pointed out to me by
Jeremy Rutter). Although Immerwahr
(1990, p. 160) notes that the lunate
sigma does not occur until the later 4th
century (citing Agora F 165, from the
second half of the 4th century, as the
earliest example), Alan Johnston, in his
publication of Kerameikos 2242 (from
the mid-4th century), notes that "there
are a number of examples on Attic
red-figure and white-ground vases of
the third quarter of the fifth century"
(Johnston 1985, p. 297, n. 4).

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 KOMOS GROWING UP AMONG SATYRS AND CHILDREN

Figure 8.6. Komos holding a chous

and Kallinikos prodding a goat, on
the left side of a chous attributed to
the Group of Athens 12144. Lon
don, British Museum 1929.10-16.2.
Photo ?Trustees of the British Museum

Figure 8.7. Komos holding a chous

to the Limnaion that followed the Choes banquet.24 Perhaps the
and Kallinikos prodding a goat;
Komos,
another Komos lunging for a chous, who belongs to a group of older boys, refers to a second proce
with Chrysos and Eu[t... ]. Drawof boys: brothers who had already celebrated the Choes in a previous
ing of depictions on Figure 8.6. might have commemorated their induction into the symposion th
Drawing author welcoming the youngest boys.25

24. Processional scenes constitute

to Ham 1999, p. 207.
the images on as many as one-third of25. See the discussion of age dis
tinctions on pp. 163-164.
the small and miniature choes, according

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l62 AMY C SMITH

A third chous, made up of eight joined fragments, formerly in the col

lection of Herbert Cahn (Fig. 8.8),26 depicts Komos engaged in a musical
contest with other boys.27 The first boy, named KAAOI (Beautiful), rests
his bent left arm on the shoulder of KQMOI (previously read as KAAOS),
a boy dressed in a patterned, short-sleeved, knee-length tunic, holding
a lyre in his left hand and a plektron in his right hand. Next is a kithara
player, presumably male, wearing a long tunic and sandals; he stands on
a two-stepped platform, which seems to indicate that he is or will be the
victor in this contest (this figure is almost entirely missing).28 He is flanked
by a winged female figure, perhaps even Nike (Victory) herself, dressed in
a chiton and seated on a hydria.29 Finally comes a barbitos player, dressed
similarly to Komos, although barely preserved and without an extant name.
As Van Hoorn suggests, in such compositions it is "doubtful whether the
musicians are giving a recital, taking lessons, or practising their art for
themselves,"30 yet in the case of Cahn's fragment, the presence of Nike
and the podium or bema indicates that a contest is in progress or has just
concluded. While this Komos does not hold a drinking vessel as do other
Komoi, he does carry the lyre, which is one of the two musical instruments
commonly associated with satyr Komoi. He might then personify the ode
named komos, perhaps the same tune he has played in this contest.
An agonistic context is suggested in the scene on this chous by the
hydria on which Nike is seated; Vera Slehoferova has proposed that the
hydria might be the prize.31 With its small handles, this hydria more closely
resembles the shape of metal vessels than that of their terracotta counter
parts; the metal vessels were certainly used in cultic contexts of all sorts,
and some were used as prizes for the games at the Argive Heraion.32
These three scenes depicting Komoi as human boys?an actual komos
procession, playing with an animal, and a musical gathering (perhaps a

to the
26. Cahn (1999, no. 76) attributes it Shuvalov Painter {ARV21208,
357). Nikai are associated with hydriai
to the same hand as Munich, Antiken
no. 37; Beazley Addenda2 348), on at least ten Attic red-figure vases.
depicts
sammlung 2471 {ARV21324, no. two youths with lyre, one also On
39). threeaof these she is shown flying
with
phiale.
This contemporary vase is identical with a hydria, to the right, as if to
28. The aforementioned Munich
to the Cahn chous in shape, decorative award it to someone: Oxford, Ash
comparandum
friezes, and figurai scene except that (see n. 26) may help us molean Museum 1930.36 {ARV2 202,
the Komos figure is excluded fromreconstruct
the the actual appearance of the no. 89; Beazley Addenda2 192; Paralipo
Munich example. kithara player on the platform. mena 342); Warsaw, National Museum
27. Boy musicians are not unusual29. The wings are mostly lost, 142288 {ARV2 496, no. 8; Beazley
on choes. Some examples of lyreexcept for part of the right wing;
players Addenda2 250; Paralipomena 380); New
Slehoferova (1991, no. 18) suggests that
on choes are: New York, Metropolitan York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum of Art 49.11.2 (Boiotian,
the contour of the left wing, above the 07.286.67 {ARV2 641, no. 90; Beazley
but from the last quarter of theleft shoulder, is barely visible on the
5th Addenda2 274).
century) and Utrecht University edge 38
of the fragment. 32. See Diehl 1964, p. 176, for this
(from Greece, 410-400: van Hoorn 30. Van Hoorn 1951, p. 38. group of bronze inscribed prize hydriai
31. A Nike at a musical event,
1951, no. 971, fig. 156), each of which from the Heraion. A fragment from the
shown on Munich, Antikensammlung
depicts a boy with a lyre; Athens, tondo of a cup, Jena, Friedrich-Schiller
National Museum 1230 (from 2471 the(see n. 26), uses a hydria in an Universit?t 820 {ARV21513, no. 27),
identical manner. Nike uses a cauldron
Kerameikos, ca. 470-460), attributed seems to depict Nike conversing with
to the Akestorides Painter {ARV2 782,
as a prize for a lyre victory on a calyx a torch racer over the hydria that may
no. 12), depicts a boy putting akrater
lyreattributed
on a to the Marlay Painter, have been his prize. For Greek athletic
Oxford,
stool; Leipzig, University T 3945 Ashmolean Museum 1942.3
(from prizes, see also Kyle 1994.
Cerveteri, ca. 440-430), attributed
{ARV21276, no. 2; Beazley Addenda2

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Figure 8.8. Komos between two
other boys, with Nike(?), on a chous
attributed to the Manner of the
Meidias Painter. Basel, Collection of
Herbert A. Cahn 649. Photo author
33. See Van Hoorn 1951, pp. 32
(the komos), 31,35,38,46-48 (playing
with animals), and 38 (musical gather
ings/contests) for a detailed analysis
and references to particular vases.
34. See Hamilton 1992, pp. 5-62,
for a review of the testimonia.
35. Beaumont (1994, p. 83) accepts
that the Choes festival was a life-stage
marker for boys in their third year. For
a survey of the Greek sources for stages
in the lives of Greek youths, see Golden
2003, p. 15; Slater 1968, pp. 37-66.
36. PL Leg. 793e-794a. See also PL
Leg. 808e and Prt. 325c-d;Xen. Lac. 2.1.
37. IG IF 1368.127-36. Despite the
objections of Golden 1990, pp. 41-42,
and Hamilton 1992, p. 57, n. 150,
that this inscription and Philostratos s
discussion of Ajax are (too) late, I am in
agreement with Ham 1999, p. 204, that
they both clearly refer to much earlier
individuals and ritual practices. Ham
1999, p. 203, accordingly lists birth,
Choes, ephebeia, politeia, and marriage
as the "family celebrations" (ones that
concerned the kleros or heritable estate).
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KOMOS GROWING UP AMONG SATYRS AND CHILDREN 163
contest)?are comparable to scenes found on choes that have long been
associated with the Choes ritual marking an important transition in boys'
lives.33 This event, which is generally thought to have occurred on the
second day of the Anthesteria, that is, the twelfth day of the month called
Anthesterion,34 was a necessary preliminary to a young male's attainment
of citizenship at around the age of eighteen. It could have occurred,
therefore, at one of many stages in a boy s fife?paidion (a nurseling),/w/V
arion (a toddler learning to walk and ta\k)>paidiskos or pais (an educable
child)?but several sources indicate that it occurred at the age of three.35
Philostratus (Her. 12.2.720) discusses the Atticization of Salaminian Ajax
through the crowning of his three-year-old son at the Dionysia in the
Anthesterion (i.e., the Anthesteria), surely on the occasion of the Choes.
And Aristophanes (Thes. 746) contains a punning joke that would also
suggest the significance of this age group for the Choes rites: after taking
hostage a baby (who turns out to be a wineskin), Mnesilochos asks of its
entreating (substitute) mother?who calls it a paidion?"How old is [the
child]? Three choes or four?" Greta Ham rightly associates this age with
the occasion of a boy s emergence from the gynaikeion to the care of a
pedagogue. Plato confirms that at least in Athens, this transition occurred
when the child had begun to talk and walk (i.e., by the age of three) and
thus supports the view that this is the transition celebrated by three
year-olds at the Choes festival.36 A 2nd-century A.D. inscription further
suggests that the celebration of the Choes was one of several legitimizing
events in the life of a citizen.37
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164 AMY C. SMITH

Only one of our Komos choes is of the size (shorter than 13 cm in

height)38 that warrants its classification as a miniature chous, the type of vase
that Ham has now convincingly identified as the ritual vessel actually used
in the Choes rites.39 The scene on this chous, the one in London (No. 18;
Figs. 8.6, 8.7), contains six of Ham's eight constituent elements in the ico
nography of miniature choes: wreathed boys (1) with amulets (2), bracelets,
or anklets (3); wreathed choes (4); a small animal (5); and a (three-legged)
stool (6).40 Both Nos. 11 and 18 also match Richard Hamilton's criteria
for association with the Choes festival, namely the inclusion of more than
one of the ten features he considers characteristic of what he describes as
"tableau scenes": naked boys, headbands, and choes.41 Hamilton believes that
such scenes illustrate activities of the Choes festival but further suggests
that even "non-tableau" small choes, such as No. 12, might have been given
as gifts to children, albeit at different times and in celebration of events
other than the Choes festival.42
The specific iconography of our larger choes (Nos. 11, 12; Figs. 8.5
and 8.8)?boys engaged in more adult activities?might either suggest
the future accomplishments of the boys who are now embarking on their
education or commemorate further transitional stages in childhood pos
sibly celebrated on the occasion of the Choes festival. Like most festivals,
and certainly those in the Anthesteria, the Choes would have involved the
Athenian community as a whole and would have served as a good oppor
tunity to reinforce the status and development of older boys.
Regardless of any association with the Choes festival, however, it is
clear that Komos is young in these depictions because of the company he
keeps. How young? The vase paintings seem to represent boys at several
developmental stages.43 The white skin of the two smaller boys on the Lon
don chous, as contrasted with that of the larger boys, must surely class them
among paidaria, that is, those who have been secluded with the women
inside the house and away from the sun, and who are just about to move
out of the home into society under the tutelage of a pedagogue.44
What of the other human children with whom our Komos plays? The
two sizes of boys on choes such as No. 18 (Figs. 8.6-8.7), as well as the in

miniature
38. Thirteen cm is the dividing line types belong exclusively to
omphalos cake, grapes, and pet animal.
the period 425-375.
provided by Ham 1999, p. 201. Fifteen I would agree with Bentz 1999 that
39. Ham 1997; 1999, p. 201.Hamilton's
cm is a second cut-off point provided Hamil heavily statistical analysis
by Green 1971, p. 225, where heton 1992, Bazant 1975, and Sternadds1978
little to his overall arguments, and
observes that whether or not thishave I would further suggest that his ten
argued for secular rather than
figure
or 12 cm is used as the cut-off does
religious functions of these vases.tableau elements are no less arbitrary
40. There is a possibility that than
not strongly affect the statistics. The food any system of iconographie analy
heights (in cm) of the three Komosor other toys, the other two constituent
sis that he seeks to replace.
elements, were illustrated here, but42.
choes in question are as follows: No. theHamilton 1992, p. 121.
43. See Beaumont 1994 for
12 (pr?s.), 10.8; No. 18, 8.2; No. state
11, of preservation of the surface of
this vase did not allow identification of
cautionary remarks concerning the
13.5. The latter example (in Berlin) is,
therefore, to be a midsized chous:either
such of these elements in my firsthand
recognition of childhood stages in Atti
vases tend to illustrate adolescent or
investigation of the scene. iconography.
41. Hamilton's tableau elements44. See also Ham 1999, p. 208.
pr?adolescent boys, as well as mythical
figures (Ham 1999, p. 215, n. 17). (1992, p. 83) consist of "naked boy,
Similarly, crawling or moving with
Ham 1999, p. 201, notes that on while
ground, with string of amulets,rollers or "walkers" might indicate this
the larger choes were produced oversometimes
a wreath or headband, stage,
table as depicted on a large number of
longer period of time, the smallor miniature
stool, chous, cart or roller, streptos
and or choes (Ham 1999, p. 206).

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 KOMOS GROWING UP AMONG SATYRS AND CHILDREN 165

elusion of girls on others, might argue for the idea that brothers and sisters
would play with siblings on such an occasion. Though it seems clear that
the Choes activities specifically celebrated the transition of three-year-olds,
no sources suggest that the events, ritual or otherwise, were restricted to
a particular age group. If the purpose of this day within the larger festival
was to welcome the child to a life stage that others (older boys and men)
had already attained or passed through, these others would surely wish to
play an active role in that welcome. In such a context perhaps a human
Komos was thought to be more appropriate than a satyr Komos.45 Do
these human Komoi share anything in common with the slightly earlier
satyr Komoi besides youth?

KOMOS AND THE KOMOS IN CLASSICAL

ATHENS

As we have seen with the preceding examples of Komoi in processions, ?

making fun of themselves. Robert Sutton has suggested that representa
By virtue of their youth as well as the ritual context, the boys were exempt
45. Although Dionysiac scenes
are represented on other choes, such
scenes predominate on larger choes, as
marks
indicated by Hamilton's statistics (1992,
p. 85).
46. Sutton 2000, p. 181.
47. Sutton 2000, p. 181.
48. For the democratic nature of
chous decoration and the ritual activities
k?jllo? refers not only to the carouse, revel, and merrymaking, but also to
the band of revelers, who sometimes organized themselves into a festive
procession, as well as to the ode that might be sung in one of these proces
sions. We find all of these aspects in the personification of Komos.
When he is represented as a satyr, Komos is clearly in the unreal world
of Dionysos, not the real world of humans. Through the depiction of Komos
as a satyr, the predominantly male Athenian audience for this iconography
distances itself from the truth that drunkenness, revelers, and the carouse
are all too common occurrences in the human world. They avoid directly
tions of "the Base and the Ugly" (usually at drunken orgies) constituted a
visual experiment "to express an individualistic, non-elitist aesthetic dur
ing the Archaic struggle to define the values and self-image of the new
plutocratic state."46 As Sutton notes, the experiment was abandoned once
political equality was established during the Early Classical period.47 And
throughout the Classical period it remained taboo for an Athenian male
to be shown in a derogatory manner or conducting base activities. But the
boys participating in the ritual komoi associated with the day of the Choes,
primarily in the procession to the Limnaion, could not be considered guilty
of the drunkenness or other such base behavior illustrated in adult komoi.
from such concerns. For the boys the Choes is a proto-symposium?a taste
of the life to come. For the community at large the inclusion of children
the Choes as a peculiarly democratic subversion of the (normally
or previously elitist) symposium.48
A thorough consideration of audience suggests a further explanation
for the difference between Komos the satyr and Komos the human boy,
namely, that satyric Komoi might never have been intended for an Athenian

celebrated at the Choes, see Ham 1997,
pp. 310-312.
49. Hamilton (1992, p. 63) notes
similarities in the iconography of choes
and squat lekythoi.
audience. Our ignorance concerning the findspots of many of our Komos
vases prohibits a definitive conclusion, yet some broad generalizations may
be garnered from a glance at Table 8.1. With the exception of the choes and
one squat lekythos (No. 8),49 all "Komos" vases with attested findspots were
found in south or central Italy; that is to say, they were eventually exported

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 i66 AMY C SMITH

if not originally produced for the export market. They are drinking ves
sels, kraters and cups, appropriately decorated with Dionysiac thiasoi.The
functions of these vessels, whether they found their way into burgeoning
Dionysiac activities in Magna Graecia or simply into burial rites, would have
been entirely appropriate to their decoration. This observation supports
Juliette de la Geni?re's suggestion that particular Attic images or types of
images, such as those on the "Lenaia vases," were generated specifically for
the export market.50 Perhaps all of our Komos satyrs were made for export
to Sicily and the Italian peninsula. Choes and squat lekythoi, however, seem
to have been made for the domestic market?which is not surprising as
they were used in Athenian festivals?and thus most were eventually buried
locally.51 Our three Komos choes (Nos. 11,12, and 18) are all attributed to
the Circle of the Meidias Painter, whose output contains a large number
of squat lekythoi and choes found in Athens.52

KOMOS THE PERSONIFICATION

The role of Komos as a "personification" in the variety of contexts noted

above warrants further comment, because he is one of a few symbolic fig
ures who is accepted or dismissed as a personification, depending on his
form alone. In a groundbreaking although little-known article, J. J. Pollitt
pioneered the discussion of symbolic figures, which he termed quasi
personifications.53 According to Pollitt, these figures, which expressed
contemporary historical and political ideas, functioned in much the same
way as true personifications, although their names or forms do not cor
respond to those generally considered as personifications. In my studies of
true personifications, which I have defined as the representations of things,
events, places, or abstractions in human form, I have encountered several
quasi-personifications whose identities are barely distinguishable from those
of true personifications:54 Eirene (Peace), a maenad found in 5th-century
vase-paintings, for example, shares attributes and much else with the en
tirely human mother Eirene, who, with Ploutos (Wealth), constitutes the

50. De la Geni?re 1987, p. 48, average ancient Greek would not have expression. Personification is a mode
speculates that the "Lenaia vases," drawn a sharp line between differ of Greek thought that can be detected
stamnoi, were created exclusively for ent types of symbolic characters. To in many aspects of ancient Greek
the Etruscan market because they have the ancients every entity had spirit culture.
not been found elsewhere. and meaning, and could be regarded Personifications were created
51. For the export of Athenian as semi-divine or divine, inhuman and used in the visual arts, first
vases and even customs abroad, how or superhuman, depending on the and foremost, as representations of
ever, see Collin-Bouffier 1999, p. 93, context. There is, in fact, no ancient specific entities, whether or not they
following Bottini and Tagliente 1990, Greek term for personification, served other purposes: they may have
pp. 206-231. and npooco7to7coua, "the putting of taken on mythical, religious, or other
52. The attribution of all of the speeches into the mouths [faces] of roles, in which case the status of the
Komos choes to one "circle" is significant characters" (LSJ, s.v. npooco7i;o7toua), is personification qua personification
in comparison to the range of individual usually cited as the ancient term near might be marginal or obscure. Such
painters, groups, and circles to whom est in meaning to personification. For personifications must be regarded as
the paintings of the satyr Komos are more on this topic, see A. Smith 1999, true personifications, however, if the
attributed. pp. 128-132. Yet modern scholars may artists employed them in a symbolic
53. Pollitt 1987. impose such distinctions to identify mode that is not directly relevant to a
54. Such distinctions are, of course, and analyze the different ways in mythical role (as in the case of Komos).
modern scholarly constructs. The which Greek artists achieved symbolic

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 KOMOS GROWING UP AMONG SATYRS AND CHILDREN 167

best-known personification in 4th-century statuary.55 Komos, like Eirene,

clearly figures in both the inhuman and human worlds. And like Ploutos
he is youthful, usually a child. When Komos is shown as a satyr he is not,
strictly speaking, a personification, for he is not shown in human form,
but in the form of a satyr.56 Satyrs are neither real nor human; they were
theatrical impersonations of mythical characters.57
It is not my purpose here to determine whether Komos as a satyr should
be considered a quasi-personification or a true personification; he is both,
yet when one considers the human Komos one cannot ignore his satyric
alter ego. While the middle part of this chapter identified and contextual
ized a handful of Classical choes that depict human boys named Komos, the
first section treated the satyr Komos. That satyr plays his part in the wider
phenomenon of giving maenads and satyrs the names of objects, events,
places, or abstractions, as well as their use as quasi-personifications.58 What
follows here is a brief discussion of how Komos functions as a personifica
tion despite his changing form.
Satyrs named for Dionysiac events are known from the beginning of
Attic red figure in the Late Archaic period. The painter Oltos (ca. 530-510)
began to label satyrs and maenads with names that both evoked the Diony
siac thiasoi in which they participated and matched the names of objects,
events, or phenomena associated with the worship of Dionysos and his
festivals,59 for example, Sikinnis/Sikinnos (named for a satyr dance)60 and
Thaleia/Thalia (Bounty).61 This practice persisted: Sikinnis is even found
with Komos and others on a late 5th-century calyx krater in Oxford (No.
14, Fig. 8.9), attributed to the Dinos Painter.62
In the 450s the Villa Giulia Painter began to give satyrs and maenads
more meaningful names. While I would gladly concede that Oltos's named
satyrs and maenads were pure whimsy, as Heinrich Heydemann, Charlotte
Fr?nkel, and her successor, Anneliese Kossatz-Deissmann, as well as other
commentators on named maenads and satyrs have suggested,63 the Villa

55.1 discuss Eirene and other
maenads used as personifications in
A. Smith 2005. For a review of
maenads on vases from the Archaic to
the Classical periods which, however,
ignores the names often given to mae
nads on these vases, see Moraw 1998.
56. This distinction is borne out by
scholarship on personifications that
largely exclude satyrs (and maenads)
from discussions or lists of personi
fications. See, e.g., Shapiro 1993,
pp. 45-50, who, however, blurs the
distinction between Eirene as a maenad
and as a more human figure.
57. Maenads, on the other hand,
thought by the Greeks to be real
women, are indistinguishable in form
and function (except through their
attributes), from (other) human female
figures who serve as personifications
on art works: see Joyce 1997, p. 2;
Sch?ne 1987, p. 7. A similar distinction
between satyrs and the reality of mae
nads is made in Keuls 1985, pp. 27-28.
For more on this complex topic, see
A. Smith 2005.
58. A review of lists of named satyrs
in Kossatz-Deissmann 1991 indicates
that Komos is the most popular satyr
name after Simos. Unlike Simos,
Komos is known only on Attic vases.
59. Silens were labeled as such as
early as 570 (on the Fran?ois Vase,
Florence, Museo Archeologico 4209:
ABV76.1; Beazley Addenda2 21; Parali
pomena 29), and Tyrrhenian amphoras
included named satyrs as early as 550.
See Kossatz-Deissmann 1991, p. 131.
For the complete oeuvre of Oltos, see
Bruhn 1943.
60. On the following cups by Oltos,
datable between 520 and 510: with a
maenad, Chans, now lost (once Basel
market): Kossatz-Deissmann 1991,
p. 168; Munich, Antikensammlung V.l.
122 (cat. nos. 2606, J 1087), on which
Sikinnos has been incorrectly read hith
erto as OINOI: ARV2 64, no. 102,1622;
Beazley Addenda2 166; with Ianthe,
attending Achilles and Chiron, Berlin,
Antikenmuseen F 4220: ARV2 61,
no. 76,1700; Beazley Addenda216; CVA
Berlin 2 [Germany 21], pi. 52 [981]:2.
61. 0[A]AIA on a cup in Com
pi?gne, Mus?e Vivenel 1093:^^ 64,
no. 105; Beazley Addenda2166; 0AAEIA
on a cup in Brussels, R 253 and Vati
can, Astarita Collection 306: ARV2 64,
no. 104,1600.30.
62. Komos is the figure at the left in
Fig. 8.9.
63. Heydemann 1880; Fr?nkel 1912;
Kossatz-Deissmann 1991; and most
relevant entries in LIMC

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 i68 AMY C SMITH

Figure 8.9. Two satyrs, Komos (left)

Giulia Painter s workshop seems to have endowed their figures with names
and Sikinnis (with Prometheus),
of things, events, places, or abstractions that correspondeachto their
with appear
a torch, on the lower frieze
ances, attributes, and actions. The names put the figures of
on side
a higher
A of alevel
calyx krater attrib
uted
of symbolic importance, perhaps even beyond the world of to the Dinos
Dionysos. For Painter. Oxford,
example, while one maenad to whom Hermes entrusts Ashmolean Museum 1937.983. Phot
the baby Dionysos
author
on a calyx krater in Moscow64 is named Methyse (Drunkenness), her coun
terpart on a similar krater in London65 is named Tethys (Sea).66 Perhaps
this Tethys, who is otherwise unexpected in a Dionysiac thiasos, is meant
to advertise the widespread or cosmopolitan importance of Dionysos.67
The combination of animal and human forms in satyrs renders them
appropriate embodiments of unrestrained behavior in humans: "[T]he
wildness of satyrs designates not a prehumanity, rather a subhumanity,"
according to Fran?ois Lissarague.68 And as Lillian Joyce has rightly pointed
out in her study of maenads, "[T]he comic mimicking of human behavior by
satyrs is humorous and successful because it is safely distanced from Scanty'
by the bestial appearance of the satyr."69 Similarly, if an entity with subhu
man, exaggerated, or otherwise negative connotations is represented in the
form of a satyr, rather than as a human (i.e., a true personification), the satyr
form safely distances masculine humanity from the negative associations.
The same case cannot, alas, be made for maenads, who are normal women
in form and appearance. Whereas maenads are barely distinguishable from

64. Side A of a calyx krater attrib
uted to the Villa Giulia Painter, in
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum
of Fine Arts II lb 732: ARV2 618,
no. 4; Beazley Addenda2 270; Paralipo
mena 398.
65. London, British Museum
E 492: ARV2 619, no. 16; Beazley
Addenda2 270.
66. Tethys (TnG?c) was initially
the consort of Okeanos (//. 14.201,
302; Hes. Theog. 136,337), and later
came to mean the sea itself: Anth. Pal.
7.214.6; Lycoph. 109; Nonnus Dion.
31.187; Orph. Argonautica 335.
67.1 published this idea in Smith
2005, p. 214, although Jeremy Rut
ter (pers. comm.) has now plausibly
suggested that wordplay might have
motivated the pairing of Tethys and
Methyse.
68. Lissarague 1993, p. 220.
69.Joycel997,p.36.

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 KOMOS GROWING UP AMONG SATYRS AND CHILDREN 169

other human females, except through their held attributes (thyrsos, animal
skins, and ivy wreath), the satyr's physical characteristics (receding hairline,
pointed ears, snub nose, horse and later goat tail), as well as his nudity and
(occasional) state of sexual arousal, become his primary attributes. In fact,
Greek artists depict satyrs as nude and sexually aroused to emphasize their
unrestrained natures. Chorillos, for example, is literally caught in the act,
playing with a woman named Paidia (Play) on the tondo of an early 4th
century cup in W?rzburg attributed to the Jena Painter.70 In the case of
named satyrs from the middle of the 5 th century, these inherent attributes
might combine with the substances, objects, and activities with which they
involved themselves to refer to the unrestrained entities they represented:
Hedyoinos (Sweet Wine) or Oinos (Wine), Hybris (Insolence), and Kissos
(Ivy), to name a few.
The named satyrs from this time on, which I will call quasi-personifi
cations, are personifications in every respect except perhaps form, because
their attributes indicate their natures and thus reinforce their symbolic
purpose.71 For example, on the bell krater in Vienna attributed to the
Manner of the Dinos Painter (No. 16, Fig. 8.2), Hedyoinos is shown
standing next to a hydria, a water jar?a natural association, as the sweet
wine that he represents will be mixed (tempered) with water before the
symposium. Over the handle of a calyx krater in Vienna attributed to the
Dinos Painter (No. 17), Hedyoinos, surely at a later stage of the symposium,
holds Dionysos's kantharos in a typical satyrical inversion: the vase painter
here shows the wine (Hedyoinos) holding the drinking vessel. It is interest
ing to note, however, that the one instance of a satyr labeled "Oinos," on a
bell krater in Providence attributed to the Pothos Painter (No. 10), is not
associated with wine vessels. Perhaps the painter was reluctant to include
such objects so close to the label OINOE, lest the viewer interpret the label
as pertaining to the object (as was common in the Archaic period) rather
than to the personification.
Similarly, all of the identifiable names of humans on Komos choes
seem to suit the particular figures according to their appearances and at
tributes?for example, Kalos is Beautiful, Neanias is Youthful, Chrysos
is Gold, and Kallinikos bears the victory branch. Although they all serve
symbolically as quasi-personifications, the adjectival form of Neanias, the
composite form of Kallinikos, and the generic nature of the words kalos and
chrysos discourage me from identifying these four as true personifications.
But the human boys, Komos and Paian, should be taken as true personifica
70. W?rzburg, Martin von Wagner
tions, representations of entities in human form. Each represents a particular
Museum H 4663 (L 492): ARV21512,
ode, on the musical level at least, so these two personifications should and
no. 18; Beazley Addenda2 384; Paralipo
mena 499. do look alike. Paian, who is otherwise unparalleled in the form of either
71. Unlike their Roman and satyr or human,72 appears in one case (No. 11, Fig. 8.5) with the torch that
Renaissance successors, the Attic vase Komos and other leaders of processions have carried previously.73
painters were inconsistent about which As a youthful satyr, Komos has the inherent attributes that come with
attributes, if any, they used.
his physical form, which evoke his animalistic and unrestrained tenden
72.LIMCV11,1996, p. 140,
no. 1, s.v. Paian no. 1 (A. Kossatz cies. But, just as the attribute of youth is optional, so is the attribute of the
Deissmann). form of the satyr, and in his latest appearances he is a true personification
73. See Nos. 5 and 14 (Fig. 8.9) for in form as well as function and name. Yet the attributes that he holds as a
the satyr Komos with a torch. human are nearly identical to those that he holds as a satyr. He emphasizes

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 170 AMY C. SMITH

the importance of wine at or before the komos by holding a wreathed chous

on Nos. 11 and 18 (Figs. 8.5 and 8.7). Music is also inherent to the komos,
and so he plays the lyre (on No. 12, Fig. 8.8, and No. 15), the double aulos
(on Nos. 1,9, and 13), and the barbitos (on No. 7), and he otherwise shares
the company of musicians, as on Nos. 11 and 12 (Figs. 8.5 and 8.8). One of
these musical companions, Paian (on No. 11) has borrowed the torch that
Komos held on No. 14 (Fig. 8.9). The procession is the best-known aspect
of the komos but one that is most difficult to discern in images because of
the disorganized nature of intoxicated KC?jia?ovTe?. Yet Komos is clearly
seen to participate in processions on No. 11 (Fig. 8.5) as well as No. 10.
Whether as satyr or human, Komos does indeed serve as a personifica
tion in these 5th-century vase images because the actions and attributes
with which he is endowed are relevant to the noun for which he is named.

Consequently his labeling by the range of artists in question cannot be

considered arbitrary but must be interpreted as purposeful.

CONCLUSION

While Komos himself might seem no serious matter to us in the 21st

century, I would suggest that the rare (if not unique) phenomenon of his
bimorphism or transition from satyr to human boy warrants attention
for two important reasons. First, it forces us to widen our understanding
of personification among Greek artists as a symbolic mode that was not
restricted to religious phenomena. Second, it indicates changing attitudes
of Athenians toward both children and satyrs.
The distinction between Komos the satyr and Komos the human is
clearly an artistic phenomenon: the worshipers of Dionysos, of course,
would not have marked a sharp distinction between Komos in the world
of Dionysos and Komos among men (i.e., in the polis) JA The decision on
the part of Attic vase painters to depict komos, "the carouse," as a satyr
is, however, typical of the Archaic and Early Classical tendency to use
satyrs as embodiments of wild and unrestrained or subhuman behavior.
This trope, whereby a satyr is a stand-in for a human in party mode, ef
fectively distanced humanity from the negative behaviors induced by too
much wine that characterized the symposion. High Classical Attic artists
portrayed satyrs as quasi-personifications for what may have been numer
ous reasons: to respond to earlier representations of satyrs; to experiment
with the symbolic nature of these characters; to comment on the world of
Dionysos; and to cater to the growing export market for Dionysiac themes
abroad. Meanwhile, as the importance of the elite symposium declined at
Athens, foww/Komos was adapted to democratized community rituals,
such as the Choes events at the Anthesteria.
And what do the three choes with human Komoi (Nos. 11,12, and 18)
tell us about the changing attitudes of Athenians in the era of the Pelopon
nesian War (431-404) toward both children and satyrs? The choes probably
commemorated the initiation of children into the world of adults, whether 74. This corresponds to the conclu
these vessels served as ritual paraphernalia or as souvenirs of the Choes orof Peirce 1998 with regard to the
sion
"Lenaia vases."
some other festival event in which the children had been involved. While

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75. Ham 1999, p. 201. Stern 1978
and Raepsaet and Decocq 1987 also
associate these smaller choes with the
Peloponnesian War, but as examples of
adult escapism.
76. As noted by Golden (1990,
p. 83), children who died up to the age
of two were never described as ahoros
(deceased before their time) by ancient
writers.
176.58.226.171 on Sun, 05 Mar 2023 21:22:26 UTC
KOMOS GROWING UP AMONG SATYRS AND CHILDREN 171
Dionysos, wine, and komos were still very much in evidence at these events,
in the ritual context they were linked to important stages of transition in
the maturation of Athenian citizens. Komos was, therefore, given a hu
man form to match his role in human development. The scenes on these
vases depict children mimicking the adult world, which is clearly shown
in the best possible light, or so the optimistic names suggest. If Komos is
meant to represent the carouse on these choes (particularly on Nos. 11 and
18), then it is a perfectly sober carouse, in which the ill effects of the wine
in the choes are neither seen nor felt by their young audience. It is for this
reason, too, that Komos in the innocent and playful realm of children is
unabashedly human, rather than masked in the guise of a satyr.
These Komos choes were made at Athens at a time when, despite the
disastrous effects of war and plague, the Choes rites became "a kind of
ritual assurance for these boys' survival and a promise for the renewal of
the citizen body."75 We are fortunate to have the material as well as written
evidence for this one (of perhaps several) festive transitions in the lives of
Athenian boys. Its importance, understood by parents at all times and in
all places, is that it witnesses the child's emergence from the great dangers
of infant mortality in his progress toward adulthood.76
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