lower of these two patterns compositionally forms the stage on which the actor stands. These meander patterns are continued on the reverse side of the vessel, suggesting that both sides of the pelike represent the same theatrical stage. On the reverse side of the pelike, an older, bearded man is depicted playing an instrument referred to as a double aulos. The musician wears a fillet in his hair and sports a long chiton that is decorated with a spotted pattern, akin to the actor's tights. Taken together, the vase's figural composition indicates a performance by a comedic chorus. Interpretation The Red Figure Pelike with an Actor Dressed as a Bird is sometimes grouped with about twenty Greek pottery pieces that are referred to as the komos vases. These vessels all date to between 560 and 420 BC and primarily depict comedic choruses that are composed of either actors dressed as animals or actors riding animals. Gwendolyn Compton-Engle, a scholar of Greek drama, notes that in the case of these vessels, the term komos is used to refer to "highly organized spectacle," instead of "spontaneous, drunken postsympotic shenanigans." Furthermore, the inclusion of a musician playing an aulos is a common indication that a scene is theatrical in nature. Aristophanes’ The Birds Due to the fact that the actor on this pelike is dressed as a bird, it has been suggested that the scene is connected to The Birds, a play by the Athenian dramatist Aristophanes. The vessel, however, predates the production of the play, which was produced in 414 BC, by about ten years. This suggests that while the scene portrayed on the vessel is not directly taken from The Birds, it does provide evidence for a tradition of actors dressing up as birds, from which Aristophanes may have drawn inspiration. Roosters In Greek mythology and culture, roosters are highly symbolic birds. This symbolism can provide clues as to the meaning behind the costume of the performer within the context of an old comedy play. In particular, roosters were often associated with the contrasting themes of love and violence. In regard to love, it is known, for example, that mature males would often give beautiful youths roosters as tokens of affection. This is evidenced by the myth of Ganymede, in which Zeus presents the young boy with a rooster before spiriting him off to serve as a cupbearer on Olympus. As