Lefkandi Centaur

Terracotta centaur, the horse body is wheel-made with a small hole in the chest of the horse for ventilation during firing. The human portion is handmade. Reddish-brown paint decorates the horse back and human chest and arms with geometric patterns. The left arm is missing just below the bicep. The right arm is bent with the six-fingered hand resting on his hip. There is a vertical gash on the front left leg at approximately the knee. The head was broken off and reattached.

Terracotta figurine of a centaur, possibly intended to depict Chiron based on the gash incised on the lower left front leg. Excavated from Toumba cemetery, Lefkandi, Euboea. 

Online Resources
Image Source
Subjects
centaur
Chiron
Type
Image
License
Creative Commons Attribution
Agent
Unknown
Date
ca. second half of the 10th century BCE
Culture
Greek
Medium
terracotta
Dimensions
36 cm tall
Location
Archaeological Museum of Eretria
Image Credit
wikimedia: Jebulon

Euphronios Krater

Hypnos (foreground center left) and Thanatos (foreground center right) lift the body of Sarpedon (foreground center) overseen by Hermes (background center). Sarpedon bleeds from three wounds-one to the left pectoral, one to the lower right abdomen, and one to the right thigh. Hermes wears his winged helmet and carries his caduceus in his left hand. His right hand is raised, perhaps in direction. The scene is flanked by Laodamas and Hippolytos. All the characters are named by inscriptions.

Hypnos and Thanatos (Sleep and Death) carry the body of Sarpedon off the battlefield while Hermes watches. Red-figure calyx krater by Euphronios (painter) and Euxitheos (potter).Formerly Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia L.2006.10, now in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico Cerite. Photo by Jaime Ardiles-Arce via Wikimedia Commons.

Online Resources
Wikimedia Commons
Beazely Archive Pottery Database
Associated Passages
1063-1081
Date
c. 515 BCE
Medium
terracotta
Location
National Archaeological Museum of Cerite, Cerveteri, Italy
Image Credit
Wikimedia Commons

Hades and Persephone holding court, detail from an Apulian red-figure krater

Hades and Persephone (center) sit on a couch in their palace. Persephone glances toward Hades who looks out at Hermes (upper right) and Orpheus (lower right). Hermes sits on a stool holding a hydria in his right hand and his caduceus in his left. Below him Orpheus stands holding a kithara in his right hand and plectrum in his left. Megara sits on a pedestal outside  the palace(upper left) with her two sons. Below (lower left) a woman, possibly Hecate, stands holding torches in each hand.

Hades and Persephone holding court from their palace. Detail from an Apulian red-figure volute krater attributed to White Sakkos Painter, Antikensammlung Kiel Inv. B 585. Photo by  Marcus Cyron via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Online Resources
Wikimedia Commons
Antikensammlung Kiel
Associated Passages
782-806
License
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
Date
c. 320 BCE
Medium
terracotta
Location
Antikensammlung Kiel
Image Credit
Wikimedia Commons

Medea boiling the ram, detail of a black-figure neck amphora

Medea (center left) stands in front of a lebes (center right) on a tripod over a fire, out of which the front half of a ram appears. Her left hand is raised in command; she wears a mitra, embroidered chiton, and striped himation. Behind her sits a white-haired Pelias, he holds a staff in his left hand. Pelias' daughters, Antinoe and Asteropeia stand on the opposite side of the lebes (right) one has her right hand raised in astonishment.

Medea demonstrates her alleged ability to reverse aging by producing a young ram from the pot in which she boiled butchered pieces of an old ram in a magic potion. Black-figure neck amphora, British Museum 1837, 0609.62. Image via the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Online Resources
British Museum
Associated Passages
463-489
Type
Image
License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Date
510-500 BCE
Medium
terracotta
Location
British Museum
Image Credit
© Trustees of the British Museum. Used by permission.

Herakles and the gods fighting the giants, detail of a black-figure amphora in the style of the Lysippides Painter

A bearded Zeus (left) steps into a quadriga (center) holding the reins in his left hand and a thunderbolt in right. Herakles stands in the chariot, left foot on the pole; he wears a short embroidered chiton and the lion's skin, with quiver at his back, and is in the act of shooting an arrow from his bow. On the far side of the chariot is Athena (right) wearing her helmet, aegis with fringe of snakes, and breastplate. She carries a shield and spear aimed toward a fallen giant.

Zeus, Herakles, and Athena fight the giants. Detail of a black-figure amphora in the style of the Lysippides Painter, British Museum 1839,1109.3. Image via the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Online Resources
British Museum
Associated Passages
439-462
License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Date
c. 520-500 BCE
Medium
terracotta
Location
British Museum
Image Credit
© Trustees of the British Museum. Used by permission.
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