In the summer of 1996 a group of four cist graves (A-D) was discovered in a short distance from the Macedonian tomb of Nea Potidea in Chalkidiki (Macedonia, Greece). One of the grave goods that accompanied the female burial of grave D is the clay group presented here (MΘ 12359), which depicts two female figures playing pickaback and dates to the end of the 4th c. B.C.
A standing woman moves to the left, carrying another female figure on her right shoulder. The standing figure wears a long richly folded chiton and a short himation fastened on her left shoulder. Her right arm is wrapped around the bent leg of the other woman, which she holds with her other arm bent behind her back. Her necklace is rendered with yellow dots, while the ears are adorned with yellow rosette-shaped earrings.
The second figure has climbed on the back of the first, hugging her right shoulder with a gentle motion of her right arm while she rests her left hand on her neck. She wears a chiton and long himation.
The hair of both the young women are gathered in a melon-shaped hairdress.
The largest surface of the group is covered with a white coating, a light pink color is partially preserved on the clothes while a brown-red color is used for the hair. The lips of the figures are painted in bright red. The figurine is normally shaped only on the front and subtly on the back, while on the back of the second figure there are two suspension holes.
The group depicts a scene from the popular game of “ephedrismos” (pickaback).
The pickaback was not a specific game but was considered as a penalty, which was imposed on the loser of the games «ιππάς» or «οστρακίνδα».
Participants, divided in groups, placed a rock called «δίορον» in the middle of a circle, and tried from a distance, agreed by the team members, to hit it with a spherical object or another rock.
The player to hit the «δίορον» was the winner. The loser was forced to carry the winner on his back all the way to where the rock had been placed and in the same time he was covering the loser’s eyes with his hands so that he would not be able to see.
Important details about ancient games and their rules are given by Pollux on Onomasticon, book 10, chapter 7.
Dimensions: height 25cm, width 12cm.
You can see the exhibit at the permanent exhibition “Macedonia from the 7th century BC until the Late Antiquity”, Showcase 21.
