Sujet

Attic Black-Figure Eye Cup, about 530 BC. Creators: Villa Giulia Painter, Nikosthenes.

Légende

Wine Cup with Herakles and Athena. Additional Info: A pair of large eyes frames busts of the hero Herakles and his patron goddess Athena on one side of this black-figure cup. In the 500s BC, Greek vase-painters frequently placed eyes on cups, perhaps because they were believed to be apotropaic--that is, they had the power to ward off evil -- or so that the cup would be transformed into a mask when a drinker raised it to his lips . Above the left eyebrow runs the signature of the potter Nikosthenes. The other side of the cup has a similar scene with three busts, two female and one male. The female figure in the middle was once painted white and wears a type of headdress called a polos, typical of Greek goddesses. These busts, however, are harder to identify than those on the front of the cup. Some scholars identify them as Zeus, Hebe, and Hera, suggesting that the subject of the cup as a whole would be the apotheosis of Herakles, his introduction on Mount Olympus as a god. Others, however, interpret the heads as Hades, Persephone, and Demeter and the cup's theme as Herakles' introduction into the Eleusinian Mysteries, a cult that promised a better afterlife to its followers.

Crédit

Photo12/Heritage Images/Heritage Art

Notre référence

HRM25A02_383

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

233,1Mo (6,7Mo) / 92,4cm x 63,2cm / 10909 x 7468 (300dpi)

Mots clés

Europe face head heads historical religious eyes country religion body bodies cup eye color brown profile decoration decorative Greek Greece Athena deity God antique Athens terracotta ceramic location ceramics century vessel HANDLE handles pottery artefact concept profiles mythology decorated mythological artifact goddess attic terra cotta Drinking vessel Colour Hercules Herakles Athenian Ancient Greece Greek mythology Ancient Greek Athene culture history historic 6th century BC apotropaic black figure mythical figure Pallas Athene TGN eye cup Heracles container Applied Arts Pallas Athena Wine cup two handled Terracotta Nikosthenes Nicosthrenes Villa Giulia Painter Painter Villa Giulia Heritage Art mythological figure double handle cup vessel two-handled two handles