It's All Greek to Me

I've recently conquered the Greeks. In other words, I've finally finished chapter 5 in the second edition of Stokstad's Art History. But I'm left with two unresolved questions.

First, in the section on vase painting, which is pp. 132-137 in the second edition, who is the A.D. Painter? Is it the Priam Painter? On p. 136 the author writes that the A.D. Painter created a perfectly balanced composition of verticals and horizontals that take the shape of the vessel into account. Does that match the author's description of figure 5-27 or figure 5-26?

Second, in the description of the Parthenon on pp. 147-153 the author repeatedly refers to the statue of Athena inside the Parthenon as a cult statue. For a specific example see the last paragraph on p. 150. What does "cult" mean in this context? Is a cult statue different from another statue of the same subject?

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