Acrobats and three men performing The Pyrrhichios or Pyrrhike war dance c.1796 (Copper Plate...

This plate represents the Pyrrhic dance which was danced by young men in armour. Some historians think that Pyrrhic was the son of Achilles and inventor of this dance. In this drawing the dance is combined with acrobatics and particularly of the sort that Homer describes in the Iliad and Odyssey. It was possibly performed as a prelude to a play although the column in the background could indicate a theatrical representation. The woman acrobat holds a simpulum (small dish used for sacrifice) with the toes of her right foot and is trying to take some wine out of the large vase and pour it into the smaller one which she holds with her left foot. The woman in the upper left is coaching her. In the lower part is a Pyrrhic dance. Scenes taken from the collection of Ancient Greek vases formed by the Scottish diplomat, archaeologist and antiquarian, Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803), British ambassador to the court at Naples 1764-1800;