Classic 45B: Greek Heroes and Heroines Midterm 1 Images

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Amphora (common storage jar)

• Used for storing olive oil, grain, milk, wine

Showing: Birth of Athena

• Left to right: Hermes, Apollo, Zeus, Athena (behind Zeus), Hera or Eileithyia, Ares

• Display gods are like humans

  • Experiences birth like humans

  • Share familial relations

  • Express emotions

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Bronze figurine of Pan from 3rd-2nd century BCE, around 4.75 in. tall. 

Showing: Pan, part-goat god of nature (herds)

• He’s holding syrinx aka panpipes.

• Has goat legs

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Showing: Plan of Palace at Knossos

• Contains many rooms

• Dim memory in later Greek myth

  • Believed to be referred to as labyrinth in myths

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Showing: Lion Gate at Mycenae

• Apotropaic lions (top) guarding entrance to avert evil influences or bad luck

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Showing: Bronze tripod cauldron 

• Character for tripod can be found on Linear B tablets. 

  • Ti-ro-po aka tripod

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Showing: Linear B tablet from Pylos 

• Dark because it had less oxygen when Pylos was burned down. 

• Linear B = sllabary + pictographs

  • Record-keeping purposes in palace

  • Written on unfired clay tablets

  • Preserved in fire destroying Pylos

  • No literature/narratives

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Showing: Symposium (drinking party)

• Held by and for aristocratic Greek men

1. Male guest 

2. musicians/dancers 

3. Serving boy 

4. Hetaira (highly educated female escorts) 

• Krater (mixing bowl for water and wine) located on table in middle

  • Largest pottery

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

A krater (mixing bowl for water and wine)
Showing: Danae, reclining on a couch and grasping her hair ribbons, is impregnated by the god Zeus in the form of a golden shower.

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

A kalpis (smaller type of hydria/water jug)
Showing: Danae on the couch, a servant attending her, and Hermes off to the left

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

A hydria (water jug)

Showing: King Acrisius commands that his daughter Danae and her son Perseus be set adrift at sea in a chest. 

• From left to right: Acrisios, a carpenter, Danae, and a servant holding the infant Perseus.

A carpenter, wearing a short tunic pulled down to his waist, is drilling a hole in the lid of a large chest. On the right, a nursemaid is holding the baby Perseus. On the left, a balding, long haired, bearded man (Akrisios, the father of Danae) is leaning on a staff and gesturing to the others. Danae, wearing an elaborate hairstyle with ribbons and an elegant dress (chiton) and cloak (himation) stands behind the chest, gesturing in protest of her fate.

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Lekythos (used for storing oil, especially olive oil, & often used as grave offering

Showing: King Acrisius sending off Danae & Perseus 

• From left to right: Danae, Perseus (in chest), Akrisios

King Acrisius commands his daughter Danae and her son Perseus to be set adrift at sea in a chest. The infant Perseus sits inside the vessel as Danae prepares to climb inside.

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Hydria (water jug)

Showing: Danaë and Perseus sit in the open chest while Akrisios, a young girl and a maidservant bid farewell.

• From left to right: Akrisios, servant, servant, Perseus, Danae

Having been warned by an oracle that his grandson would kill him, Akrisios locked Danaë and her young son in a chest and set it afloat.

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

A pyxis (small box) ca. 420 BCE 

• Used for storing women’s cosmetics (make-up)

Showing: Possibly Perseus and the Graiai

• Perseus with spear in his hand, kneeing and holding other hand out towards woman who turns away from him

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Amphora (common storage jug) 

Showing: Perseus receiving 3 gifts from the Naiades.

• Cap of invisibility (aka Helm of Hades)

• Winged sandals 

• Kibisis (pouch made to hold Medusa’s head)

From left to right: Naiad with kibisis, Naiad with cap, Naiad with scandals, Perseus, Athena

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Clay plague of Medusa 

Showing: Medusa, depicted by having wings, snaky hair, boar tusks, tongue out, with a round “humanoid” lion face 

• Pegasus in left hand or right side of picture

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Stone carving of Medusa at the west pediment of the Temple of Artemis at Corfu (Corcyra) ca. 600 BCE 

Showing: Medusa with Pegasus in left hand (right side of picture) & Chrysaor in right hand (left side of picture)

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

A hydria (water jug) 

Showing: Medusa sleeping in the middle, Perseus about to kill her off to the right, and Athena to the left

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

A pelike (storage container similar to an amphora, used for storing liquids like wine) 

Painter is Polygnotos 

Showing: Perseus beheading the sleeping Medusa while Athena guides Perseus. 

• Perseus beheads the Gorgon Medusa. The hero wears a chlamys cloak, winged cap and winged boots, and grasps the Gorgon by the hair as he slices through her neck with a sickle-blade (harpe). Medusa is depicted as a beautiful, winged woman, asleep with her head resting on folded hands. She does not possess any of the monstrous Gorgon features typical of art from this era. On the far left, the hero's patron-goddess Athena stands offering him her support. She wears a helm and snake-trimmed aegis-cloak, and holds a spear.

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

An olpe (pitcher for pouring liquids like wine) 

Showing: Perseus (on the left), Medusa (depicted w/ a humanoid lion face), and Hermes (off to the right) 

• Perseus slaying Medusa: On the left is Perseus to right, looking back, beardless, with petasos, short embroidered chiton, over which is the skin of a deer, endromides, and the kibisis (sack) slung at his back; he grasps Medusa round the neck with left hand, and with right plunges his sword into her neck in front. Medusa moves away to right, in the archaic running attitude, with face turned to the front, of the usual Gorgon type, with short curls in front and protruding tusks and tongue; on the lower lip is a fringe of hair, and two snakes rise from her head on either side; she has a short purple chiton, over which is a stippled skin, with two snakes knotted round the waist, their heads confronted; also endromides, and two pairs of wings, outspread, the upper ones recurved. On the right is Hermes to left, bearded, with petasos, short embroidered chiton, fringed chlamys, endromides, and caduceus in left hand.

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

A hydria 

Showing: Perseus with Medusa’s head in the kibisis, Medusa decapitated, and Athena to the right 

• Perseus decapitates the Gorgon Medusa. The hero wears a chiton, winged cap and high boots, and holds a sickle-shaped blade (harpe) in his hand. The Gorgon's head rests in a round sack (kibisis) slung across his shoulder. Medusa lies behind him, beheaded with blood flowing from the raw stump of her neck. She is depicted as a winged giantess, half risen, awoken from slumber at the moment of her death. The hero's patron goddess Athena strides behind them. She wears a peaked helmet and serpent-trimmed aegis-cloak, and brandishes a long spear.

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

A Boeotian relief amphora 

Showing: Perseus (left, wearing a hat, winged boots and the kibisis slung over his shoulder) averts his gaze as he kills Medusa, figured here as a female centaur.

• Perseus beheads the Gorgon Medusa with a sword. The hero averts his gaze to avoid the monster's petrifying visage. She is depicted as a female centaur with the lower body of a horse

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

A limestone metope Temple C Selinus (Sicily) 

Showing: Perseus beheading Medusa while Athena watches over him, with Pegasus in Medusa’s grasp. 

• Perseus beheads the Gorgon Medusa with a sword. The monster holds the winged foal Pegasus in her arms. In myth, the horse was born from her severed neck

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Roman wall painting 

Showing: Perseus liberating Andromeda

• Perseus rescues Andromeda from the Cetus (Sea-Monster). The hero swoops down from the left on winged sandals brandishing a sword. The Ethiopian princess stands chained to a large pillar of rock. Below, rising up from the sea, the monster has the form of a dragon-headed sea-serpent. A small story-book element in the upper right hand corner of the painting depicts Perseus (a second depiction of the hero) greeting King Cepheus in his palace

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Wall painting from Pompeii 

Showing: Perseus freeing Andromeda. The ketos is in the background on the left. 

• Perseus liberating Andromeda from her chains. The Ethiopian princess is clothed in a saffron robe. The hero wears a red cloak and winged sandals and bears a sword and the head of the Gorgon Medusa in one hand. The slain Cetus (Sea-Monster) lies in background on the left

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Apulian (south Italian) R-F bell-krater 

Showing: (left to right) Perseus, Medusa’s head in Athena’s hand, Hermes 

• Athena receives the head of the Gorgon Medusa from Perseus. The hero wears the winged boots of Hermes and the cap of Hades which is depicted as a peaked Phrygian cap. Athena holds the Gorgoneion in her hand and its image is reflected in the polished surface of her shield

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Chigi Vase (from Corinth, ca. 650 BCE) 
Gorgoneion (symbol of Medusa – ward-off evil sign) is painted on the soldier’s shield

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Greek marble relief of Athenia
Showing: gorgoneion on shield

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Attic marble statue of Athena. 

The goddess Athena stands holding a spear in her hand. She wears a helm decorated with fabulous beasts, a floor-length robe and serpent-trimmed aegis cloak emblazoned with the head of Medusa.

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Artifact from Uluburun shipwreck. Ca. 1300 BCE

Showing: wooden folding writing tablet with ivory hinges

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Showing: illustration of wooden folding writing tablet with ivory hinges

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Etruscan bronze statue, 5th to 4th centuries BCE

Showing: Chimaera (hybrid beast)

• Lion-like monster

• Goat head on back

• Snake for tail

• Fire breathing

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Silver stater, Sicyon, ca. 340 BCE

Showing: chimaera with right forepaw raised with ΣΕ inscription below chimaera’s underbelly on front side of silver coin (left side)

• Back side of silver coin: dove flying towards left within olive wreath tied on right

• Originated from Sicyon in Peloponnese

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Aryballos (miniature bottle/flask to store perfume or olive oil)

Showing: from left to right, Chimaera, Pegasus, and Bellerophon

• Bellerophon holding spear on Pegasos’s back, facing chimaera

• Chimaera depicted as lion-like monster, goat head on back, & snake for tail

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Kylix, Boreads Painter, ca. 550 BCE

Showing: Bellerophon and pegasus battling Chimaera

• From left to right: pegasus, Bellerophon (underneath), Chimaera

• Chimaera: lion-like monster, goat head on back, & snake as tail

• Bellerophon drives spear into Chimaera’s breast, while pegasus pummels Chimaera’s neck with hooves

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Melian (island of Melos) clay relief, ca. 450 BCE

Showing: Bellerophon on pegasus’s back, battling Chimaera

• Chimaera: lion-like body, goat head on back, snake as tail

• Pegasus has no wings

The hero Bellerophon battles the monstrous Chimera from the back of the horse Pegasus. The monster is depicted as a lion with a serpent for a tail and a goat's head rising from the middle of its back.

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Epinetron, ca. 425 BCE

• Worn by ancient Greek women as thigh/knee protector

• Used by women while working with wood

Showing: Bellerophon on Pegasus, fighting Chimaera

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Epinetron, ca. 450 BCE

• Worn by ancient Greek women as thigh/knee protector

• Used by women while working with wool

• Wool-making (and making clothes) main job for women in Greek household

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Epinetron, ca. 500 BCE

Showing: Greek women working with wool

• Process of making clothes

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Epinetron, ca. 500 BCE (part of picture above)

Showing: illustration of ancient women Greek women wearing epinetron on thigh/knee

• Gold item on women’s dress located on knee area

• Balls of wool located on ground at left side of woman

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Kylix, Douris (painter), ca, 480 BCE

Showing: Heracles in cup of Helios

• Club in right hand

• Bow in left have

• Lion’s skin on head

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Showing: Birth of Heracles

• Heracles strangling snake sent by Hera due to jealousy of Zeus’s affair (other ancient sources) or Amphitron to find real son (Apollodorus & Pherecydes)

• From left to right: Alcemene, Athena, Heracles, Iphicles (clinging to servant), servant, Amphitryon

  • Athena wearing aegis

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Stamnos, Berlin Painter, ca. 475 BCE

• Used for storing liquids

• Could take place of krater as mixing bowl for wine & water

Showing: Birth of Heracles

• Heracles strangling snake sent by Hera due to jealousy of Zeus’s affair (other ancient sources) or Amphitron to find real son (Apollodorus & Pherecydes)

• From left to right: Alcemene, Athena, Heracles, Iphicles (clinging to servant), servant, Amphitryon

  • Athena wearing aegis

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Roman wall painting, House of Vettii Pompeii, 1st century

Showing: Heracles as baby strangling snakes

• From left to right: servant, Heracles (baby), eagle (top), Amphitryon, Alcemene

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Silver tridrachm, Ephesus, ca. 400 BCE

• Silver coin from Ephesus

Showing: Heracles as baby strangling snakes (left) & bee, which is sacred to Artmis of Ephesus (right)

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Kylix, Douris (painter), ca. 480

Showing: Heracles about to hit Linos, music teacher

• From left to right: Heracles, Linos

• Heracles on top of Linos, raising right hand ready to strike Linos

• Linos on ground located in center

• Heracles kills Linos by hitting him

  • According to Appollodorus, hits Linos with lyre

  • Represents violence/instability of Heracles

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Stamnos, Kleophrades Painter, ca. 480 BCE

• Used for storing liquids

• Could take place krater as mixing bowl & water

Showing: Heracles wrestling Nemean lion, grasping its snout & strangling it in choke-hold

• Heracles’s club on right side, leaning vertically

• Bow/quiver on branches (top)

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Roman mosaic Liria (in Spain), ca. 225

Showing: Heracles wrestling Nemean Lion, throttling it by its neck

• Heracles’s club located above Nemean Lion

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Caeretan hydria, Eagle Painter, ca. 525 BCE

Showing: Heracles and Iolaos battling Lernaian Hydra

• Iolaos (Heracles’ nephew or Iphicles’ son) cauterizing regenerating neck-stumps of Hydra with curved blade in right hand and fire at feet

  • Left hand holding onto Hydra’s neck

• Heracles holding club in one hand and holding onto Hydra’s neck with other hand

• Giant crab Carcinus nips at Heracles’ heel

  • Crab sent by Hera to aid Hydra

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Lekythos, Diosphos Painter, ca. 480 BCE

Showing: Heracles battling Lernaian Hydra with aid of Athena and Iolaos

• Heracles holding sickle in one hand and Hydra’s neck in other

• Giant crab Carinus nips at Heracles’s thigh (beneath hero)

What is being depicted on this image? Be as specific as possible.

Showing: Heracles and Iolaos battling Lernaian Hydra (1 of 12 labors)

• From left to right: Athena, Heracles, Hydra, Iolaos

• Heracles wearing lion-skin cape while holding sickle in one hand and hydra’s neck in other hand

• Ioloas holding burning brand in one hand and hydra’s neck in other to cauterize hydra’s regenerating heads

  • Fire behind Ioloas (right side)

• Giant crab Carinus nips at Heracles (beneath Heracles)

  • Sent by Hera to help Hydra

• Athena wearing helm & snake-trimmed aegis cloak (left side)