Oltos
Late 6th century BC Athenian vase painter
About Oltos
Lived 600 BC – 500 BC. Oltos was a Greek black-figure vase painter, red-figure vase painter and attic vase-painter.
Oltos was a Late Archaic Greek vase painter, active in Athens from 525 BC to 500 BC. About 150 works by him are known. Two pieces, a cup in Berlin (Antikensammlung F 2264) and a cup in Tarquinia (Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese RC 6848), are signed by him as painter.
Overview Athena and Enceladus in combat, red-figure plate, Louvre CA 3662. Oltos is thought to have begun his career in the workshop of the potter Nikosthenes. Initially, he mainly painted bilingual vases or bowls with interior black-figure and exterior red-figure decoration. His black-figure style was influenced by Psiax and the Antimenes Painter.
Selected works Dionysos, interior image from a bilingual cup (A), Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Inv. 2593). Eurystheus hiding in a jar as Herakles brings him the Erymanthian boar. Side A from a red-figure kylix by Oltos, ca. 510 BC, Paris, Louvre (G17). Altenburg, Staatliches Lindenau-Museum – bowl 224 Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Museum – fragment of a kylix AIA B1 Basel, Antikensammlung and Sammlung Ludwig – bowl BS 459 Berlin, Antikensammlung – bowl F 2263 • bowl F 2264 • phiale F 2310 • bowl F 4220 • bowl F 4221 Boston, Museum of Fine Arts – kylix 13.83 • fragment of a kylix 08.31d • fragment 10.219 Brunswick, Bowdoin College Museum of Art – fragment of a kylix 1913.14 Chicago, University of Chicago (David and Alfred Smart Gallery) – kylix 1967.115 Fayetteville, The University Museum – kylix 56.25.15 London, The British Museum – kylix E 41 • amphora E 258 • stamnos E 437 Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum – kylix 86.AE.276 • kylix 86.AE.277 Mount Holyoke, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum – kylix 1967.BS.II.11 Munich, Staatliche Antikensammlungen – bowl 25 93 • bowl 2618 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art – psykter 1989.281.69 Paris, Musée National du Louvre – fragment CA 3662 • amphora G 2 • amphora G 3 Tarquinia, Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese – bowl RC 6848 Vatican, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco Vaticano – bowl 498 Parma, Museo Archeologico Nazionale – kylix (520-510 b.C)
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Important facts
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Oltos's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Oltos?
Late 6th century BC Athenian vase painter
When was Oltos born?
Oltos was born in 600 BC.
When did Oltos die?
Oltos died in 500 BC.
What was Oltos's occupation?
Oltos was a black-figure vase painter, red-figure vase painter and attic vase-painter.
What nationality was Oltos?
Oltos was Greek.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Oltos. https://biography.guide/oltos/
MLA: "Oltos." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/oltos/.
Chicago: "Oltos." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/oltos/.
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