A man or men are occasionally present in these scenes, and the meaning of their presence is debated. Some have suggested that the presence of men in scenes of woolworking distinguishes these women as hetairai, in contrast to the respectable women in the scenes without men.[73] Such an interpretation would be hard to accept for the hydria at Harvard mentioned above, where a man joins the women in their loom-filled interior, but where there is also a baby, an unlikely witness to the negotiations between hetairai and their customers. Scenes of men pursuing women have been associated with weddings as well.[74] There are many mythological paradigms for these mortal pursuits, and pursuits by Zeus and Poseidon are among those shown by Polygnotan painters. Eos pursuing Kephalos was a favorite of this Group, as typified by the Christie Painter's bell krater in the Johns Hopkins University collection (Baltimore, Hopkins BMA 51.486; Illustration 43). [75] The abduction of Kephalos by Eos may have been a metaphor for sudden death,[76] making such vases particularly appropriate as tomb offerings.

Illustration 43

Illustration 44

Illustration 45