3-044-417 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Attic Black-Figure Neck-Amphora, 530-520 BC. Storage Jar with Athena Bringing Herakles to Mount Olympus;Storage Jar with a Fight between Thracians and a Greek;. Additional Info: The apotheosis of Herakles decorates the front of this Athenian black-figure amphora. Identified by his attributes of club and lionskin, Herakles waits while the goddess Athena, his protective deity, mounts the chariot that will drive him to the home of the gods on Mount Olympos. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, stands behind the horses' heads preparing to lead the chariot. The back of the vase shows a battle scene in which a hoplite, or heavily armed infantryman, falls to the ground between two cavalrymen.This vase was broken and extensively repaired in antiquity. One handle was reattached with staples, and the mouth of the amphora was replaced with one taken from another similar vessel. The substitute mouth appears to be at least twenty years later than the original, indicating that the vase had been used for some time before it was damaged.