Paris, Louvre G 457
red-figure cup by the Eretria Painter
ARV(2) 1254.80
about 430 bce
Interior: a seated man, LINOS, unrolls a book roll, which is twisted and thus shows only part of its writing (this becomes common much later). Facing him a nude youth, MOSAIOS, holding up an opened set of tablets. Both figures are reading. Behind the youth a chest, whence presumably the roll has come. Beazley (1948) supplies a didactic text for the roll: [sophros]unen and theon ai[eigenetaon]. Whatever the exact mythological relation between Linos and Musaios, the scene is basically a school scene cloaked in mythical garb, with the teacher preparing to check Musaios' recitation. "Musaios" here may simply mean "the man of the Muses." Athletes with mythological/significant names on the exterior.
(Paraphrased from Immerwahr: 1964, p.20)
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