"Handsome" Graffito Pendant

The ancient Greeks often inscribed or painted onto their pottery - things such as the name of the vase's potter and painter, or names of the mythological characters shown on the vase's imagery. But one of the most interesting types of inscription was known as a "kalos" inscription, in which the word, which means, "fair," or "handsome," was accompanied by the proper name of a male individual who lived at the time - often completely unrelated to the potter, painter, mythological story, or owner of the vase! There are hundreds of known examples. Our graffito comes from an ancient Greek white ground terracotta bobbin (or yo-yo) attributed to the Penthesilea Painter, dating to c. 450 BC.