and large heads and thick limbs, failing to be comparable to the more elegant style of Asteas. The decoration on the larger pieces by Python tends to be dense. The edges of draped garments on his figures are almost uniformly lined with the typical Paestan dot-line pattern that evolved in the Asteas-Python workshop. Seated figures in side-view show a recurrent pose identical for both male and female figures, with one leg posed slightly before the other. Also typical of Python's style, is the posture of seated figures on scrolls or vines, or standing figures resting one foot on a scroll. This characteristic has been continued by the painter of Naples 2585, likely the last successor of Python's workshop. The main faces of the larger pieces are framed by palmettes, with double palmettes on larger pieces and more simple, single palmettes on smaller pieces. Apart from mythological scenes on his larger works, many works contain Dionysian scenes with the youthful Dionysus, almost always with curly hair falling above his shoulders, wearing an ivy wreath, carrying a thyrsus, and watching or joining maenads and satyrs in their pursuits (see backs of the two signed vessels) . Among Python's most appealing pieces are phlyax vases with depictions of the Greek comedies, played at the time in the colonies of Magna Graecia. Several pieces also show Dionysus or maenads holding theatrical masks, with the theatre an activity closely linked to Dionysus. The link to Dionysus is significant, as almost all of Python's works were found in the chamber tombs in and around Paestum, with the Dionysian theme of the youthful god giving immortality to those he loves (see Ariadne and Dionysus) to be seen in context with the hope of a happy afterlife <JPS>. References RVP: A.D. Trendall, The Red-Figured Vases of Paestum. British School at Rome, 1987. CGP: M. Denoyelle, La céramique grecque de Paestum, la Collection du Musée du Louvre. Louvre Editions, 2011. JPS: N. Eschbach, W. Martini, K. Schauenburg, Bilder der Hoffnung: Jenseitserwartungen auf Prunkgefässen Süditaliens. Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Lübeck, 1997 Greek painters 4th-century BC Greek people