Lekythos (unguent container): Herakles Attacking the Giant Alkyoneus

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Lekythos (unguent container): Herakles Attacking the Giant Alkyoneus

Artist The Leagros Group (Greek)

Place of OriginMade in Athens; reportedly found in Gela, Sicily.

Dateabout 510 BCE

DimensionsH: 10 1/4 in. (26 cm); Diam (lip): 2 9/16 in. (6.5 cm); Diam (foot): 3 1/8 in. (8 cm)

MediumBlack Figure; Wheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware with incised details.

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1952.66

Not on View

DescriptionScene: Herakles attacking the giant Alkyoneus put to sleep by Hypnos, flying above.

Label TextIntended to hold scented olive oil and left as an offering at a grave, this flask illustrates a story about the hero Herakles. The monster-giant Alkyoneus was immortal, but only as long as he stayed inside the borders of Pallene, a part of the region of Thrace to the north of Greece. With the help of his patron goddess Athena and the winged god Hypnos (Sleep), Herakles sneaked up on Alkyoneus while he was sleeping, wounded him, and then dragged him outside of Pallene to die. The connection between sleep and death made the scene appropriate for decorating a funeral gift.Published References

Bothmer, Dietrich von., "Book Review Section," American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 61, 1957, p. 105.

Brommer, F., Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, 2nd ed., 1960, p. 4, no. A20.

Andreae, Bernard, "Herakles and Alkyoneus," Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archaologisches Instituts, vol. 77, 1962, p. 170-171, figs. 21-22, p. 169.

Washington, Seldon, "Greek Vase Painting," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 5, no. 4, 1962, p. 91.

Fellmann, Berthold, Die Antiken Darstellungen des Polyphemabenteuers, Munich, 1972, p. 29.

Luckner, Kurt T., "Greek Vases: Shapes and Uses," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 15, no. 3, 1972, repr. on cover.

Brommer, F., Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage, 3rd ed., 1973, p. 6, no. A20.

Boulter, Cedric G., and Kurt T. Luckner, Corpus vasorum antiquorum: Toledo Museum of Art, U.S.A. fasc. 17, Toledo, 1976, p. 20, repr. pl. 27, 3 & 4 and 28,1.

Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (LIMC), Zurich, 1981, v. I, pt. 1, p. 560, no. 7, repr. v. I, pt. 2, p. 419.

Moon, Warren G., "Some new and little-known vases by the Rycroft and Priam Painters," Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum, vol. 2, Malibu, 1985, repr. fig. 25 a-b.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Haspels, C.H. Emilie, Attic Black-figured Lekythoi, 1936, pp. 43 ff. (on lekythoi of the Leagros Group)