Red-figure pyxis with a symposium,

ca. 500–490 BCE

Encircling this pyxis, a small round box intended to hold jewelry or cosmetics, is a representation of the symposium, an elite male drinking party, which was an unusual subject for a form otherwise associated with the female domestic sphere. The scene features five figures, three men and two women, all nude. Elite women were not typically invited to Athenian symposia, and these women are likely instead hetairai, entertainers, musicians, and, often, sexual partners, hired for the amusement of the male symposiasts. While hetairai are often shown as subordinate to the male guests, on this vessel they occupy a prominent position within the composition, with one even looking out directly at the viewer, as if she were gazing at an intruder upon the evening’s activities.