Apulian hydria from Ruvo di Puglia (a little town near Bari, the ancient Rhyps, later in Latin Rubi) with red figures mainly used as a container of water, a very common vase in all ancient ceramics, dated to the 4th century B.C. with representation of a victorious boxer, now part of the collection of classical antiquities of the Antikensammlung in Berlin.
The athlete figured in the classic boxing guard is a champion girded with the "taenia bandage", gr. ταινία, symbol of victory, the Nike, ribbon indicating the one who was under the protection of the divinity.
The boxer wears gloves of a type rarely represented on other finds, all coming from Magna Graecia; we do not know anything about their constitution and elaboration and if the boxing of Magna Graecia developed its own variation of boxing gloves in the classical period.
by Davide Ferro
