Black-Figure Amphora with Scenes of Apollo Entertaining Dionysus and Hermes, and Theseus Killing the Minotaur
Artist
In the Manner of the Lysippides Painter
Dateca. 530-520 B.C.E.
MediumTerracotta | Slip-decorated
DimensionsOverall: 16 1/2 in. (41.9 cm)
ClassificationsGreco-Roman
Credit LineGift of the Mowbray Arch Society, 2003
Object number2003.18
Terms
- Lyre
- Music
- Contest
- Dionysus
- Gods
- Apollo
- Athens, Greece
Collections
On View
On viewLabel TextBlack-Figure Vessel (Amphora) with Scenes of Apollo Entertaining Dionysus and Hermes, and Theseus Killing the Minotaur 530-520 B.C.E. Greek, Athens Terracotta Gift of the Mowbray Arch Society 2003.18a-b This side shows three of the major Greek gods. Apollo, god of the sun and the arts, stands in the center, a beardless youth playing his lyre, or kithara. The lyre had been a gift of Hermes, seated at right. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, has wings attached to his shins. At left sits Dionysus, the god of fertility and wine, who had been saved as an infant by Hermes. The other side shows the Athenian hero Theseus locked in mortal combat with the Minotaur, a beast with the body of a man and the head of a bull. Two maidens look on as Theseus decapitates the Minotaur and blood spurts from the beast's neck. According to Greek legend, Theseus the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, volunteered to be among the seven young men and seven maidens who were annually sent by Athens as tribute to Crete to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Instead of becoming a victim, Theseus killed the beast and rescued all of his companions.
