Composite image of a red-figure oinochoe (wine pitcher) shaped as a woman’s?/man’s? head. Greek, from Southern Italy (Apulia); late Classical-early Hellenistic period, ca. 350 BCE -320 BCE.

Citation: Images courtesy of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia; the Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Wiliams Fund (Obj. no. 2015.1). CC BY-NC.

A piece called: ‘Unknown Black Woman.’ Bronze head of a young woman or man. From Alexandria, Egypt; Hellenistic Greek style, Ptolemaic era, ca. 180-150 BCE. Originally part of a miniature trefoil pitcher, her head was later attached to a marble body in the 1400s CE.

Citation: Photos courtesy of Leah Himmelhoch, taken February 4th, 2026 at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence (Inv. 2288).  CC BY-SA 4.0 International.

Red-figure figurative oinochoe (wine pitcher) shaped as a woman’s head. Faliscan (Etruscan), from Italy; ca. 350-300 BCE. (Red-figure figurative vases usually use red or lighter glaze to denote individuals of Greek or Italian heritage, and black glaze to denote individuals of ‘Ethiopian’ heritage).

Wine jugs could be formed into all types of shapes. Human heads of men, women, gods, & mythological figures were also popular during the classical period (though, again, ‘Ethiopians’ were admired for their beauty/exoticism).

Citation: Photo courtesy of Leah Himmelhoch, taken on February 4, 2026 at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, (inv. 70939).  CC BY-SA 4.0 International.

Red-figure style terracotta plate: a hetaira (courtesan) plays an aulos as a young man dances. Made in Athens; painted by Paseas. Late Archaic period, ca. 510 BCE. Found in the Etruscan settlement of Sinalunga, Parco della Villa Passerini.

Citation: Photo courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken on April 5, 2023 at the National Archaeological Museum of Florence (Inv. 253128). CC BY-SA 4.0.

Gold phiale (offering plate with bowl-like center for making libations during sacrificial rituals). This is one of nine gold pieces from the Panagyurishte Treasure (found in the town of Panagyurishte, Bulgaria in 1949). Thracian (north Greek), late 4th c. BCE – early 3rd c. BCE.

For ancient Greeks, Thrace consisted of the (loosely defined) region ‘joining’ what we would call Europe and Asia. Its location, meant it was (and remains) a hub of activity between different cultures.

Citation: Photo courtesy of Richard Mortel, taken on June 27, 2014 at the Plovdiv Regional Historical Museum/National Museum of History in Sofia, Bulgaria. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Bronze vessel shaped as the head of a woman (or a youth?). Hellenistic, ca. 100s BCE – 99 CE. Probably made in Alexandria, Egypt. Find spot unknown.

Items decorated with ‘Ethiopian’ faces are intended to be ‘exotic’ (again, Ethiopians were admired for their beauty). Other groups were also used as ‘decorative motifs’ (though this site aims to remedy the erasure of non-white individuals in Greece & Rome).

Citation: Courtesy of the British Museum, Asset No. 256734001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Cast bronze oil-flask decorated with ‘African’ heads. Romano-British, Imperial period, ca. 100s CE. Found in a rich grave in England (Bayford Orchard, Kent).

Items decorated with ‘Ethiopian’ faces are intended to be ‘exotic’ (again, Ethiopians were admired for their beauty). Other groups were also used as ‘decorative motifs’ (though this site aims to remedy the erasure of non-white individuals in Greece & Rome).

Citation: Courtesy of the British Museum, Asset No. 32255001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Black-figure style amphora(?) fragment with the upper half of a figure. Greek; made in North Ionia ca. 560 BCE-540 BCE (the Archaic period). Found in the Sanctuary of Apollo at the Greek colony of Naukratis in Egypt.

Citation: Courtesy of the British Museum, Asset No. 411833001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Black-figure skyphos (drinking cup). Circe (portrayed as an ‘Ethiopian’ woman) offers Odysseus a large cup of wine; both stand near her loom. From a temple of the Kabeiroi near Thebes (Boeotia). Classical period, ca. 450 BCE-420 BCE. The Kabeiroi seem to have been chthonic deities tied to fertility worshipped in ceremonies involving wine consumption & comedic performances. Kabeiroi cups portray different mythological characters — all in comedic fashion as squat, heavy figures resembling Dionysus’s squat, heavy, often drunken companion Silenus (who usually rides a donkey).

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum, Asset No. 265947001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Red-figure hydria; depicts preparations for Andromeda’s sacrifice to the sea-monster. Made of terracotta in Athens, Greece; Classical period, ca. 440 BCE. Found in Lazio Italy (in Vulci). Andromeda is dressed as an ‘easterner’ (Persian-esque). Note: the young men around her are all ‘Ethiopian’ in appearance, yet the pot paints all the figtures as ‘red-figure.’

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset No. 276782001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

White ground alabastron (perfume or oil jar) depicting an ‘Ethiopian’ archer. Made in Athens, Greece; late Archaic-early Classical, ca. 480 BCE. Found at Tanagra in Boeotia. Depictions like this became popular after the second Persian invasion (481-79 BCE), possibly because the Persian army included such warriors.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset No. 122741001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Aryballos (perfume flask), double-headed glazed composition (faience) depicting the heads of an African man and a western Asiatic man. Mould-made, east Greek (from either the Greek city of Naukratis, in Egypt, or the island of Cyprus). Archaic period, ca. 550 BCE.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 541903001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Terracotta mask of a man. West Greek, from Sicily, ca. 350 BCE.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 600385001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Terracotta ampulla (flask) shaped like a (possibly enslaved) man sleeping with a strigil & an oil flask. Made of micaceous dark-grey Nile silt, with thin black slip (Memphis Black Ware). Found in Fayum, Egypt. Made in Egypt, from the Ptolemaic period, 2nd c. BCE.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 885518001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Terracotta, two-piece molded hanging lamp. A reveller wearing a wreath of ivy & fruit(?) staggers home leaning on his enslaved servant. Ptolemaic, ca. 2nd c. BCE – 1st c. BCE. Found in Thebes, Egypt.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 321338001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Attic red-figure aryballos (perfume flask) shaped as a man’s head. The flask’s spout & handle are missing. Made in Athens; late Archaic period, ca. 510 BCE – 500 BCE. Found in Vulci (an Etruscan city-state), in central Italy.

Ceramic vessels could be formed into all types of shapes. Human heads of men, women, gods, & mythological figures were also popular during the classical period (though, again, ‘Ethiopians’ were admired for their beauty/exoticism).

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 335074001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

One-handled, terracotta, red-figure style mug shaped as the head of a youth. Etruscan, ca. 325 BCE – 275 BCE. Made in Italy, found in Vulci (Lazio, Italy).

Ceramic vessels could be formed into all types of shapes. Human heads of men, women, gods, & mythological figures were also popular during the classical period (though, again, ‘Ethiopians’ were admired for their beauty/exoticism).

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 34547001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Red-figure style rhyton; the top part has wreathed youth moving left; the bottom part has an Ethiopian/African struggling with a crocodile. Apulian, Greek; late Classical period, ca. 340 BCE. Made in Puglia, Italy. Found in Capua, Campania.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 703737001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Wine jugs/mugs could be formed into all types of shapes. Men, women, gods, & mythological figures were also popular during the classical period. Again, ‘Ethiopians’ were admired for their beauty, so even though this pot’s theme (which we see repeatedly!) has ‘black’ figures attacked by crocodiles, it could be due to the fact that darker skinned people lived along the Nile (i.e., due to geography). If these jugs/rhyta do represent a particular concept, it is unlikely the victim’s ‘color’ promotes negative commentary about ‘black’ people (since ancient cultures did not ‘do’ skin-color-based racial constructs).

Composite image of a black-glazed, mold-made head of a youth (once part of a terracotta oil-bottle). Hellenistic Greek; made in either Attica (Greece) or Southern Italy of a very fine, red-brown fabric, ca. 330 BCE-300 BCE. Found in the Greek settlement of Naukratis in Egypt.

Citation: Images courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 1183779001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Silver pepper-pot/shaker shaped as a sleeping man. He has a chained chest or lantern between his legs, so is likely enslaved. Roman, Imperial period, ca. 200-270 CE. Found in the village of Chaourse, northern France.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 448958001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Knidian/Cnidian relief ware juglet formed as the bust of a youth (with orange-brown semi-matt slip). Roman, ca. 1st c. CE – 2nd c. CE. Made in Knidos (in ancient Caria, southwestern Asia Minor). Found in a tomb near the ancient Greek city Olbia (a.k.a., Pontic Olbia), located in modern Ukraine.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 1614064407. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Grey glazed terracotta vessel shaped as a man or woman’s head. Greek; found on the island of Kos, in the Dodecanese. Date unknown.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 1614435151. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Black-glazed terracotta oil-bottle shaped as a youth wearing a cloak & resting against an amphora/large storage vessel. (The amphora’s spout is the flask’s spout). Western Greek, ca. 300 BCE – 200 BCE. Made in Campania, Italy. Found in Capua, southern Italy.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 820791001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Terracotta flask (black glaze, though much of the glaze has worn away) of a crouching man wearing a wreath. The titulus (‘label’) on his chest indicates that he is for sale as a slave. Made in Campania, Italy, ca. 1st c. BCE. Find spot unknown.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 1613703226. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Black glaze pottery flask shaped as a seated man wearing a wreath. Though he lacks a titulus (see above), his wreath & posture could suggest that he is being sold as a slave. Roman, made in Campania, Italy, ca. 80 BCE – 1 BCE. Found in Ruvo (Puglia), Southern Italy.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 838234001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Composite image of a pottery flask (a bath flask?) shaped as a man’s head. The top opening is for filling the flask; his mouth is the ‘opening’ for pouring out liquid. Made of Micaceous light-brown Nile silt. Roman period, ca. 1st c. CE-2nd c. CE. Found in Egypt.

Citation: Images courtesy of the British Museum. Asset nos. 321358001 (left) and 527577001 (right). © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Mold-made terracotta standing lamp of a man/youth seated on a rectangular base (holding onto the lamp spout). Roman, ca. 1st c. CE- 2nd c. CE. Made and found in Egypt.

Citation: Images courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 1216871001. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Red-figure kylix (shallow wine cup), side A: Herakles kills Busiris as musicians flee on either side. Made in Athens, Greece (Python was its potter, Epiktetos was its painter). Found in an Etruscan tomb in Vulci, Italy. Late Archaic period, ca. 510 BCE.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Image courtesy of the British Museum. Asset no. 49696601. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Terracotta red-figure style kylix (drinking cup), side b: Herakles kills Busiris. Made in Athens (painted by Epiktetos), found in the Etruscan state of Caere (modern Cerveteri, central Italy); late Archaic period, ca. 525-500 BCE.

Citation: Photo courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken at the National Etruscan Museum, Villa Giulia, Rome (#57912). CC BY-SA 4.0.

Red-figure bell krater with Herakles fighting Busiris’ attendants. (Reverse side has three youths). Made in Athens, Greece; found at Ruvo di Puglia, Italy. Attributed to the Group of Polygnotos (Beazley). Classical period, ca. 440-20 BCE. In the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Santa Scolastica, Bari, Italy (inv. 1397).

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Image courtesy of Dan Diffendale, photographed on May 13th, 2016 at the exhibition “The Nile at Pompeii: visions of Egypt in the Roman World” at the Egyptian Museum in Torino, Piemonte, Italy, March 5 to September 4 (extended to October 2), 2016. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Detail of a black-figure amphora: Herakles fights Busiris. Made in Athens, Greece; possibly painted by ‘The Swing Painter,’ ca. 540 BCE. Find spot is unknown.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Image courtesy of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Inv. 1959.1 (Museum Purchase).  www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org.

Red-figure style kalpis with scene of Herakles killing Busiris. Made in Athens (the Troilus painter), found in the Etruscan city of Vulci (central Italy). Early Classical period, ca. 480 BCE.

Citation: Photo courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken on July 15, 2020 at München, Staatliche Antikensammlungen/Munich State Collection of Antiquities (#2428). CC BY-SA 4.0.

Red-figure terracotta column crater depicting Herakles killing Busiris (the Cleveland painter). Made in Athens, Greece; Classical period, ca. 470 BCE.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Photo courtesy of Egisto Sani, taken at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (Inv. #19568). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Red-figure style stamnos portraying Herakles killing Busiris (as attendants & soldiers run for help). Made in Athens, found at the Etruscan site of Vulci, in central Italy; early Classical period, ca. 460 BCE.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Image courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken at Oxford, the Ashmolean Museum (Inv. no. 1896-1908.G.270). CC BY-SA 4.0.

Herakles kills the Pharoah Busiris. (Name vase of ‘the Busiris painter’). Busiris & many of his attendants are portrayed as ‘Ethiopians’ (‘black’). (Egyptians were often portrayed as Ethiopians/’black’ people in Greek art). Greek, black figure hydria, ca. 510 BCE. Found in Caere (an Etruscan city, now the city of Cerveteri, Italy). This pot was made in a Greek workshop established in Etruria.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped. (The image on this hydria’s reverse (below) shows ‘Ethiopian’ Egyptians running to defend Busiris).

Citation: Courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; on view in Room XIV in the Collection of Classical Antiquities (Antikensammlung Inv. # IV 3576). ©KHM-Museumsverband (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

This is the reverse of the hydria (above). Here, Busiris’s ‘Ethiopian’ Egyptian attendants rush to Busiris’s defense. (Egyptians were often portrayed as ‘Ethiopians’/’black’ people in Greek art. ) Greek, black figure hydria, ca. 510 BCE. Found in Caere (an Etruscan city, now the city of Cerveteri, Italy). This pot was made in a Greek workshop established in Etruria.

According to Greek myth, an oracle told the Pharaoh Busiris that a famine in Egypt would end if he sacrificed a stranger. When Herakles wandered into Egypt, Busiris attempted to sacrifice him. Herakles killed Busiris as he escaped.

Citation: Courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; on view in Room XIV of the Collection of Classical Antiquities (Antikensammlung. Inv. # IV 3576). ©KHM-Museumsverband (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Terracotta vase shaped as the head of a man (wearing some form of wreath). Greek, from Anthedon (in Boeotia, central Greece). Hellenistic period, ca. 3rd c. BCE.

Citation: Courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria (Antikungsammlung inv. V 1481). ©KHM-Museumsverband (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Cast bronze sleeping youth (this piece was once a handle to a larger bronze container). Greek; found in Dodona (northwestern Greece). Classical period, 2nd quarter of the 5th c. BCE (ca. 475 BCE-450 BCE).

Citation: Image courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; on view in Room XIV in the Collection of Classical Antiquities (Antikensammlung Inv. # VI 2551). ©KHM-Museumsverband (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Italiote (‘Greek living in Italy’) black-gloss guttus (pouring vessel) shaped as a youth leaning against an amphora. Found at Reggio Calabria, Via 2 Settembre. Classical, ca. 5th-4th c. BCE. Southern Greek settlements in Italy were known for their small, ‘plastic’ (shaped) vases.

Citation: Image courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken at the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria on May 31, 2016. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Rhyton formed as the head of a man. From Macedonia, Olynthos (an ancient city in present-day Chalcidice). Late Classical period, ca. 400 BCE-350 BCE.

Citation: Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College. Harvard Art Museums (1960.404). The Harvard Art Museums encourages the use of its images for all non-commercial purposes

Athenian white ground plate depicitng an Ethiopian warrior near a basin. Early Classical period, ca. 475 BCE-470 BCE. Found at Taranto, Southern Italy. Note: two kalos (‘beautiful’) inscriptions appear on either side of him.

Citation: Photo courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on Oct. 22nd, 2023 at the National Archaeological Museum in Taranto, Italy. (Inv. 4424). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Black-figure lekythos with the head of a man in profile. From Paestum, Italy. Pagenstecher’s class. Late Classical period, ca. 350 BCE-325 BCE.

Citation: Courtesy of the Musée du Louvre, Paris; Department of Greek, Etruscan, & Roman Antiquities (LL 89.N 2566). © 2009 Musée du Louvre, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / Daniel Lebée/Carine Deambrosis

Bronze balsamarium bust of a young man. Roman; Roman Imperial period, ca. 2nd c. CE. Find spot unknown.

Citation: Image courtesy of the Musée du Louvre, Paris, the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities. (INV 613 / Br 2946). © 2008 GrandPalaisRmn (Musée du Louvre) / Hervé Lewandowski.  https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010257975

Bronze balsamarium (perfume/unguent container) shaped as the head of a man. He wears an ancient Egyptian-Kushite, short-coiled hairstyle. Kush is the ancient name for Nubia. From the city of Volubilis in Roman Mauretania; Roman, ca. 200 BCE.I

Citation: Image courtesy of the Rabat Museum of History and Civilization. (Inv. ??). CC BY-SA 4.0.

Bronze balsamarium (unguent or perfume containter) shaped as a man’s head. His hair style suggests he might be Kushite/Nubian. Roman, ca. 2nd c. CE. Find spot unknown.

Citation: Image courtesy of Mark Landon, taken on June 8th, 2016, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, France. (Inv. A 2127). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Bronze balsamarium (unguent or perfume container) shaped as the head of a young man. His hair style suggests is he Kushite/Nubian. Roman, ca. 2nd c. CE. Find spot unknown.

Citation: Image courtesy of Mark Landon, taken on June 8th, 2016 at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, France. (Inv. E 227-2). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Bronze balsamarium (unguent or perfumed oil container) shaped as a man’s bust. His hairstyle indicates he may have been Nubian/Kushite. Roman, Imperial period, ca. 2nd c. CE – 3rd c. CE. Found in Santo Tomé, Jaén within a lead sarcophagus. Possibly used in funerary ritual?

Citation: Image taken by Antonio Ceacero Hernandez, November 4th, 2008 at the Museo de Jaén, Jaén Spain. (Inv. ??). CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fragmentary Athenian vases shaped as a male heads. Greek, Late Archaic-early Classical period, ca. the first half of 5th c. BCE (499 BCE-450 BCE). Found at Taranto, Southern Italy.

Citation: Photo courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on Oct. 22, 2023 at the National Archaeological Museum in Taranto, Italy. (Inv. 4423 & 4572). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Composite photo of an alabastron with an Ethiopian(?) warrior wielding an axe & pelta (lunate shield). White-ground style pottery, made in Athens, Greece; late Archaic-early Classical period, ca. 500 BCE – 480 BCE. Found in Tanagra, Boiotia (central Greece).

Citation: Photos courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on September 6th, 2020 at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece (Inv. 412/CC1091). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Composite photo of an alabastron with an Ethiopian(?) warrior wielding a bow & an axe. White-ground style pottery, made in Athens, Greece; late Archaic-early Classical period, ca. 500 BCE – 480 BCE. Found at Thebes, Boiotia (central Greece).

Citation: Photos courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on September 6th, 2020 at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece (Inv. 422). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Composite photo of an alabastron with an Ethiopan(?) youth dancing(?) while holding a staff & a kylix (a shallow drinking cup). The back of the alabastron has a snakes & a palm tree. White-ground style pottery, made in Athens, Greece; late Archaic-early Classical periiod, ca. 500 BCE – 480 BCE. Found at Eretria, Euboia (eastern Greece).

Citation: Photos courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on September 6the, 2020 at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece (Inv. 13887). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Terracotta theater mask of a youth. Greek; made in Campania, Italy; found in Naples, Italy. The Hellenistic period, ca. 290 BCE – 200 BCE.

Citation: Courtesy of the Archaeological Museum of Milan, Italy; La Scala Theatre Collection. ST1593. CC BY 3.0 IT. http://mebic.comune.milano.it/mebic/museoarcheologico/museo/RA302RL_SWAK1-00177

Black-figure Corinthian belly amphora with Perseus defending the Ethiopian princess Andromeda. Made in Corinth, Archaic period, ca. 550 BCE. Found in Cerveteri, Caere, Italy. Note: Perseus is dark because he is male; Andromeda is pale (painted white) because she is female. Black figure artistic convention noted gender difference, not ‘skin color’ difference.

Citation: Image courtesy of the Altes Museum, Berlin (No. F 1652). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung/CC BY-SA-NC 4.0.

Red-figure Campanian Hydria, with Perseus rescuing the Ethiopian princess Andromeda. Made in Campania; Classical period, ca. 375-325 BCE. Find spot unknown. Both figures are portrayed with the same ‘red figure’ coloring. Their features could be read as ‘Ethiopian’; but it seems more likely the style of painting is typically ‘Campanian’. Though Andromeda is not usually painted with black glaze, she is often dressed in eastern/Persian garb to mark her ‘exotic otherness’. Notably, this Andromeda is not dressed like a ‘Persian’ (though she does wear a fancy dress and a tiara).

Citation: Image courtesy of the Altes Museum, Berlin (No. V.I.3238). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung/CC BY-SA-NC 4.0.

Attic white-ground alabastron (perfume/oil flask) with outline drawing of an ‘Ethiopian’. Made in Athens, Greece; early Classical period, ca. 490 BCE – 475 BCE. Found in Naples, Italy.

Citation: Image courtesy of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung / Johannes Laurentius. Obj. F 2260. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Attic whiteground alabastron with outline drawing. ‘Ethiopian’ carrying quiver (side b). (Side a (below) has an Amazon with a quiver). Made in Athens, Greece; early Classical period, ca. 490 BCE-480 BCE. Images of ‘Ethiopian’ warriors (and other ‘foreign’ warriors) appear shortly after the second Persian Invasion.

Citation: Image courtesy of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung / Johannes Laurentius. Obj. 706955. CC BY-SA 4.0

Attic whiteground alabastron with outline drawing. Amazon carrying quiver and an ax (side a). (Side b (above) has an ‘Ethiopian’ with a quiver). Made in Athens, Greece; early Classical period, ca. 490 BCE-480 BCE. Images of ‘Ethiopian’ warriors (and other ‘foreign’ warriors) appear shortly after the second Persian Invasion.

Citation: Image courtesy of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung / Johannes Laurentius. Obj. 706955. CC BY-SA 4.0

Black-figure white ground alabastron (perfume vase) depicting a warrior with a lunate shield. The opposite side has a palm tree. Made in Athens, Greece; Classical period, ca. 480 BCE. White ground alabastra with this (or a similar) design were popular in the years following the Persian invasion of Greece, presumably because the Persian army included ‘Ethiopian’ warriors.

Citation: Image © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Object no. GR.5.1968. CC BY-NC-ND.

Attic white ground alabastron (perfume/oil flask) with black glazed figure of an ‘Ethiopian’. Made in Athens, Greece; Classical period, ca. 490 BCE – 480 BCE. Found in a tomb on the Cycladic island of Antandros. White ground alabastra with this (or a similar) design were popular in the years following the Persian invasion of Greece, presumably because the Persian army included ‘Ethiopian’ warriors.

Citation: Image courtesy of Zde, taken on May 11th, 2014 at the Kinsky Palace Museum in Prague, the Czech Republic. (Inv. NM-H10 1684). CC BY-SA 3.0.

Roman ceramic balsamarium shaped as the head of a man. Unknown find site; Roman Imperial period, ca. 2nd c. CE- 3rd c. CE.

Citation: Photo courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on May 12th, 2019 at the University of Missouri Museum of Art and Archaeology, Columbia, Missouri. Inv. 81.274 (Gift of Andrew and Maeve Gyenes). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Etruscan plastic oinochoe (wine pitcher), terracotta, shaped as a youth’s head. Made in Falerii (?), Italy. Classical period, ca. 400-350 BCE.

Citation: The oinochoe is from the Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum, no. 73-129. The photos are courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken in 2015 at a special exhibit, ‘Die Etrusker: Von Villanova bis Rome’ (‘The Etruscans: From Villanova to Rome’) @ the München Antikensammlung. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Photo courtesy of ArchaiOptix, taken in 2015. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Mold-blown glass containers for perfumed ointment, shaped as men’s heads. From Pompeii, 1st c. CE.

Citation: Photos taken by Leah Himmelhoch on March 5th, 2026 at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (Inv. 129404 & 129405). CC BY-SA 4.0.

Greek terracotta mask mold (right) and a modern cast made from it (left). Found at Megara Hyblaea (an ancient Greek colony on Sicily’s east coast). From the late Archaic period, ca. the late 6th c. BCE – the early 5th c. BCE.

Citation: Image courtesy of Dan Diffendale, taken on March 26th, 2013 at the Regional Archaeological Museum (‘Paolo Orsi’) of Syracuse, Italy (Inv. no. ??). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Magenta Ware lamp-filler shaped as a human head. From Syracuse, Sicily: the Fusco necropolis, Tor di Conte, Tomb 60. Greco-Roman; Hellenistic period, early 2nd c. BCE.

Citation: Image take by Dan Diffendale on June 22nd, 2013 at the Regional Archaeological Museum (‘Paolo Orsi’) of Syracuse, Italy (Inv. 101705). CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Unfinished Roman copper alloy balsamarium (perfume/unguent holder), shaped as the bust of a bearded man emerging from a calyx. Roman, ca. 43 CE – 410 CE. Found in Essex County, England.

Citation: Image courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, www.finds.org.uk (Unique ID: ESS-3DB994 / Find ID 1082068). Find was recorded then returned to finder. CC BY 2.0.

Black-glaze plastic aryballos of a crouching youth. Greek; made in Campania, Italy, ca. 3rd c. BCE. Small ‘plastic’ (shaped) vases were a common product from this region.

Citation: Image courtsy of © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons, taken on August 26th, 2008 at the Regional Archaeological Museum Antonino Salinas, in Palermo, Italy. CC BY-2.5.