The Life and Death of Fragmentation: A New Analysis of Attic White-Ground Lekythoi

Abstract Book of the 13th International Conference on New Findings in Humanities and Social Sciences

Year: 2026

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The Life and Death of Fragmentation: A New Analysis of Attic White-Ground Lekythoi

Daisy Gunning

ABSTRACT:

Drawing on a recent investigation of the archaeological context and discolouration of Attic white-ground lekythoi (funerary jugs), this paper presents a new lens of analysis for these pots: that of fragmentation. Based on the findings that some lekythoi were intentionally broken at the grave, this paper argues that ruin and fragmentation played an important role in how ancient people encountered these pots. Combining phenomenological and iconographic analysis of the visual evidence depicted on three examples in Paris (The Louvre Museum: CA3758), Warsaw (Warsaw National Museum: 199202), and Athens (Acropolis Museum: 6473) this paper brings to light what has previously been understudied: how these pots actively put themselves in dialogue with the idea of their own fragmentation, especially in relation to the past, memory, and death. After painting a cultural-historical picture, a retrospective approach will be taken to two additional examples from Berlin (Berlin Antikensammlung: 1983.1) and Athens (National Museum: 17287) examining how fragmentation affects our own approach to the pots, and how it can even enhance it.

Keywords: Ancient Greece; Classical Archaeology; Cultural History; Phenomenology; Pottery