Agora Object: Agora XXX, no. 96
Chronology:   Ca. 430-420 B.C.
Deposit:   A 20--21:1
Published Number:   AV 30.96
References:   Object: P 17111
Shoulder fragment with start of handle. Max. dim. 0.073.

Wedding procession. At the left, part of the shaft of a torch. On the right, the heads of two horses, probably the two trace horses of a chariot team to left. Most of the right head is missing; the left is preserved but for the muzzle. The angular bit of glaze at the lower right is a bit burr. Preliminary sketch. Relief contour. Dilute glaze: muscles; lines on torch.

The bit burr was a small metal plate with spikes on the inside that pressed against the sides of the horse's mouth and provided greater control and perhaps assisted in turning. For bit burrs, see J. K. Anderson, Ancient Greek Horsemanship, Berkeley 1961, pp. 48--49, pls. 20--22; P. Vigneron, Le cheval dans l'antiquité gréco-romaine, Nancy 1968, p. 65, pls. 18, 20:c.

The horses on 96 bear some resemblance to those drawing Apollo's chariot on Polion's namepiece, New York, M.M.A. 27.122.8 (ARV2 1171, 2; Addenda 339).