A favourite subject, but almost confined to the B.F. hydriae, is that of maidens with pitchers on their heads fetching water from a fountain, which is usually in the form of a building with columns and lion’s-head spouts of water; the maidens, five or six in number, carry the empty hydriae flat on their heads, the full ones upright.[1786] Women are sometimes seen in gardens or orchards, gathering fruit[1787] or (on late R.F. vases) frankincense.[1788] Other miscellaneous scenes which cannot be classified are: a woman in bed,[1789] woman with foot-pan,[1790] at a meal,[1791] reading from a scroll,[1792] burning incense,[1793] spinning a top,[1794] balancing a stick,[1795] riding in a mule-car[1796]; two or more women wrapped in one large cloak[1797]; and an accouchement scene.[1798] Those in which children appear include a nurse and child[1799]; a child learning to walk[1800]; a mother, and a child in a high chair[1801]; and a woman beating a child with a slipper[1802]; subjects of children playing with toys, etc., have already been discussed (p. 167). Finally, there are the scenes in which women appear as jugglers[1803] or performing dances in armour,[1804] of which mention has been made; these were probably amusements associated with banquets (see p. 182; also _ibid._ for banquets in which women, _i.e._ courtesans, take part). A very common decoration of vases, especially the inferior ones of Apulia, is that of a woman’s head, either as the main subject or in some subsidiary part of the decoration; these, however, are so common that they hardly call for detailed description.[1805] 7. MILITARY AND NAVAL SUBJECTS Subjects of a military character on vases are chiefly confined to three—the arming of warriors,[1806] their setting out in chariots, on horseback, or on foot,[1807] and combats of two or more figures.[1808] In all these cases we are confronted with the often-recurring difficulty as to when such subjects have a mythological significance. Especially on B.F. vases, familiar types—such as the departure of Hector or the combat of Achilles and Memnon, to be identified in other cases by inscriptions—occur again and again in the same form, only diversified by the varying number of bystanders, which is generally regulated by the space at the painter’s disposal. Even when names are added they are often of a fanciful kind; and thus, for instance, we find combats between Homeric heroes which have no counterpart in literary record.[1809]