Hydria (water vessel): Hermes, Leto, Apollo, Artemis and Poseidon
Artist: The Antimenes Painter (Greek)
Date: about 525 BCE
Dimensions:
H: 19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm); Diam (mouth): 10 1/16 in. (25.6 cm); Diam (shoulder): 13 3/16 in. (33.5 cm); Diam (foot): 6 7/32 in. (15.8 cm)
Medium: Black Figure; Wheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware with incised details
Place of Origin: Greek, from Attica
Classification: Ceramics
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott
Object number: 1956.70
Label Text:The center scene shows the god Apollo playing a kithara, a stringed instrument, flanked by his sister the goddess Artemis (on the left) and Leto, their mother. Behind Leto stands Poseidon, god of the sea. Behind Artemis is Hermes, the messenger god, with his winged sandals. The scene around the shoulder of this vessel shows Herakles wrestling the Nemean Lion, whose skin was impenetrable. Herakles’ weapons, useless in this fight, hang above. Herakles strangled the beast, then wore its pelt as a kind of armor. His half-brother Iolaos and the goddess Athena watch the struggle. Surprisingly, there are historical accounts of lions living in northwestern Greece and Macedonia as late as 480 BCE.
DescriptionAbove: Herakles wrestling the Nemean lion.
Center: Hermes, Leto, Apollo, Artemis, and Poseidon.
Below: boars and lions.
Center: Hermes, Leto, Apollo, Artemis, and Poseidon.
Below: boars and lions.
On view
In Collection(s)