Kalos inscription

The so-called "Memnon pietà", with the goddess Eos holding the body of Memnon: among the inscriptions[1] is the phrase Hermogenes kalos (Attic red-figure cup, c. 490–480 BC, from Capua; at the Louvre).

A kalos inscription is a form of epigraph found on Attic vases and graffiti in antiquity, mainly during the Classical period from 550 to 450 BC. The word kalos (καλός), meaning 'handsome' or 'beautiful', was often accompanied by the name of a certain man, or sometimes simply by the word pais (παῖς), meaning the 'boy' or 'youth', without naming a particular person. The female version was kalē (καλή). The kalos inscriptions typically had an erotic connotation.[2]

  1. ^ Inscription on the left: (Ϝ(?))ENEMEKNERINE (???), HERMOΓΕΝΕS KALOS ("Hermogenes kalos"). Inscription on the up-right: HEOS ("Eos"), ΔΟRIS EΓRAΦSEN ("Doris Egraphsen"—Doris drew me). Inscription on the right: MEMNON ("Memnon"), KALIAΔES EΠOIESEN ("Kaliades epoiesen"—Kaliades made me).
  2. ^ Clark, Elston & Hart 2002, p. 100.