3-047-517 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Attic Red-Figure Oinochoe, Shape 3 (Chous), about 470 BC. Wine Jug with a Drunk Man and an Enslaved Youth. Additional Info: With his mouth open as though singing, and his arms thrown out in a dramatic gesture, the bearded man on this vase shows the effects of a hard night’s drinking. At right, already burdened with his master’s staff and a basket, an enslaved youth holds out a vessel for the man to urinate into. The jug he offers is a chous, a special form of oinochoe (wine-pitcher), and it is the very same shape as the vessel on which this scene is depicted. Reinforcing the connection, another chous stands at the far right of the scene, garlanded with ivy. The chous was used during the Anthesteria, a three-day religious festival in honor of Dionysos, the god of wine. A drinking contest was held on the second day of the festival, and these jugs were used to hold a standard amount of wine for the contest.