The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 24, 2024

Kottabos Element of a Dancing Satyr

Kottabos Element of a Dancing Satyr

470–450 BCE
Overall: 15 cm (5 7/8 in.)

Did You Know?

This lively object was likely used to play a drinking game called kottabos.

Description

This diminutive dancing satyr, identifiable by his snub nose and equine ears (though without a tail), lifts his leg and reaches with an upstretched arm toward a dish, now lost. The disc and cylinder on which he stands likely rested atop a much taller post, with a larger disc or dish below, as preserved in more complete examples and illustrated on numerous ancient vases. In the drinking game kottabos, known by its Greek name but also popular in Etruria, the goal was to knock a dish off its precarious perch, in this case the hand of the dancing satyr, using only the wine dregs in your cup.
  • 1974-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cooney, John D. “Way Stations on the Primrose Path.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 7 (1974). p. 241, figs.1-2 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 26 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 8 archive.org
  • Artlens Exhibition 2019. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer).
    Year in Review: 1974. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 11-April 6, 1975).
  • {{cite web|title=Kottabos Element of a Dancing Satyr|url=false|author=|year=470–450 BCE|access-date=24 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1974.16