TERRACOTTA JUG WITH SCYLLA, C3 BCE. BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE This jug, from Ruvo di Puglia, is made of two terracotta discs which form the front and back, with the neck and two handles emerging from the top. Once brightly painted, there are still traces of red on the surface. Both sides are identical and come from casts, and both represent the terrifying Scylla, of varying parentage and origin, but said to have been born a naiad who incurred the jealousy of either Amphitrite or Circe who poisoned the spring where she bathed. She became a monster, with a human head and torso, but at her waist grew six appendages with the heads of ferocious dogs, and her legs became two kétéa or marine dragons. Here the dogs are only two, but Scylla is waving a sword she has pulled from a scabbard, a definite menace. Two dolphins are plunging away from her. One of the curiosities of this monster is its numerous heads. Were they all under the control of the original head, or were they autonomous?

#ReliefWednesday brings us to #Paris where the #BibliothèqueNationale conserves this unusual #jug featuring the monstrous #Scylla. #Ruvo, where this property comes from, was a #Peucetian town before being conquered by the #Greeks, under whom its artistic production flourished.