The Panathenaic Prize was an award given to champions at the Panathenaic Athletic Games started in Athens in 566 b.c.  The amphora held olive oil from the sacred olive trees dedicated to the goddess Athena.  The amphora almost always featured a sport from the games and Athena, usually in her in personification of Athena Nike (Athena-Victory). Athena is pictured between two columns, thought to be the starting and ending line of many race type or distance type events.  Most Panathenaic vases have approximately the same Athena representation.

The back (or front?) of each prize also featured the sport that it was being awarded for, or, as in the case of this vase, a general depiction of the victor of some event taking the sacred tripod as a prize, surrounded by well-wishers.