May a Spinning Top become a Chest? New Insights into the Cultural Meaning of Spinning Tops in Early Iron Age Athens

The pointed pyxis is one of the most elegant and colorful Athenian Geometric vases. This shape is fairly rare, as it is well attested only between EG I and MG II. Interestingly, it has been found almost exclusively in ex-ceptionally wealthy burials containing a large amount of pottery, exotic and prestige goods, metal tools, and jew-ellery. These funerary assemblages clearly demonstrate the deceased’s claim to élite status. It is then likely that the pointed pyxis may have played a particular role in Athenian funerary rites. Nev-ertheless, the origin and meaning of the shape are still difficult to define. Being sometimes labelled as an egg-shaped vase, the bulbous object might resemble the shape of Geometric spinning tops, as suggested by a few scholars (Dontas, Kent Hill) whose words, however, went unheeded. This paper highlights the suggestive connec-tion among pointed pyxides, spinning tops, girls/young women, Eros, and the love sphere. My main goal is to as-sess whether it is possible to recognize in the pointed pyxis a simulacrum of the spinning top, i.e. a metaphorical reference to the complex and multifaceted semantic status of the toy, which alludes to the unpredictable duration of life, and perhaps even to divinatory practices (e.g. drawing lots for a good wedding during prenuptial ceremonies).