More general allusions to pottery and its use in daily life are common enough, and it would hardly be profitable to quote all such passages in detail; many indeed, such as the early allusion to the potter’s wheel in the _Iliad_ (see p. 207), have found a place elsewhere in this work. The passage of Homer at all events supplies proof, if such were needed, that the use of the wheel was known in early times in Greece. Of undoubted references to painted vases there are but two, though both of them are particularly interesting, as they refer to well-known special classes of Attic vases. The earlier of the two is in Pindar’s tenth Nemean Ode,[447] in which he celebrates the victory of Thiaios of Argos, who had twice been successful in the Panathenaic games at Athens. He says: γαία δὲ καυθείσα πυρὶ καρπος ἐλαίας ἔμολεν Ἤρας τὸν ευάνορα λαόν, ἐν ἀγγέων ἔρκεσι παμποικίλοις.[448] These prize-vases are also mentioned by Simonides of Keos: καὶ Παναθηναίοις στεφάνους λάβε πέντ’ ἐπ’ ἀέθλοις ἑξῆς ἀμφιφορεῖς ἐλαίου.[449] The other passage, from the _Ecclesiazusae_ of Aristophanes (l. 996), is equally well known. One speaker, in somewhat contemptuous terms, alludes to “the fellow who paints the lekythi for the dead”: ὃς τοῖς νεκροῖσι ζωγραφεῖ τοὺς ληκύθους.[450] These lekythi may with certainty be identified with the white Athenian variety decorated with appropriate subjects and made specially for funerals (see Chapter XI.). The best examples of this class belong to the very period at which the _Ecclesiazusae_ was written (392 B.C.), but most of them show signs of being hastily executed or made to be sold at a low price. It is probably for this reason that the speaker implies his contempt for the painter, although at the same time it seems likely that vase-painters, like all craftsmen, were looked down upon by the Athenians of that day, in spite of the real beauty and artistic merit of their productions. One or two doubtful allusions must next be considered. The lyric poet Alcaeus, who flourished 610–580 B.C., seems to allude to painted vases, but the reading is very doubtful. The passage is read by Bergk as follows (_Poet. Lyr. Graec._ iii. p. 165, frag. 41): κἀδ δ' ἄειρε κυλίχναις μεγάλαις, αἴτ’ ὄτι, Οἶκι, λαῖς· ... ἔγχεε κίρναις ἔνα καὶ δύο πλέαις κὰκ κεφάλας, ἁ δ’ ἀτέρα τῶν ἀτέρων κύλιξ ὠθήτω.[451] Ahrens[452] read αἶψα ποϊκίλαι for αἴτ’ ὄτι, Οἶκι, λαῖς, and other versions have been suggested. Bergk’s reading is very uncouth, and it certainly seems as if ποϊκίλαις was intended, whatever the preceding word. If it is allowed to stand, it obviously implies _painted_ vases, as in the παμποικίλοις of Pindar.