124 THE GREEKS
frieze, or on the inside of the base, the tondo. Potters and painters were not simply
indulging their own fancy but responding to the tastes of their buyers. There was
clearly a well-developed market for such wares.
Vases are not the only physical remains testifying to the love of boys. A marble
slab discovered in the Attic countryside is inscribed in crude archaic lettering as
follows: ‘Here a man swore a solemn oath for love of a boy to mingle in strife and
tearful war. I am sacred to Gnathios, who lost his life in war’ (IG 1^31399 c. 500 BC).
Presumably this memorial was erected by the beloved boy. This is interesting for
several reasons. The archaic lettering suggests an early date and its discovery in the
countryside might suggest that pederasty was not simply a behavioural pattern of the
urban elite. Finally, the inscription (unlike other surviving graffiti) memorialises a bond
marked by loyalty and bravery.
FIGURE 33 Attic red-figure kylixby the Byrgos-painter, showing a crouching man with
a naked boy on the inside tondo. Ashmolean Museum, AN1967.304
Source:Photo © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford