Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Height: 46cm
Inscriptions
• Euphronios signed his own name as
painter
• All figures are also named. Names
are added in purple glaze
Decoration Overview
• Red-Figure
technique
• Top band motif;
palmette band
• Lower band motif;
in line with the
handles - mirrored
lotus and
palmettes
• Motifs on foot;
stylised rays
• Centre band;
Side A
Herakles wrestles Antaios
The Myth
• Herakles was the son of the god
Zeus and Alcmene of Thebes.
Zeus took the form of
Amphitryon, her husband.
Hermes held back the sun-god so
Zeus spent the length of three
normal nights with her.
Amphitryon tried to burn Alcmene
to death for her sin, but Zeus sent
a storm to put out the fire. He
told Amphitryon to care for his
son and ensure that he received a
good education in warfare,
archery and similar essential
training.
• Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus,
was determined to kill her
unfaithful husband’s offspring,
and shortly after Herakles’ birth
she sent two great serpents to
destroy him. Herakles, although
still a baby, strangled the snakes.
• As a young man Herakles killed a
lion with his bare hands. As a
trophy of his adventure, he wore
the skin of the lion as a cloak and
Hera, still relentless in her
hatred of Herakles, sent a
fit of madness upon him
during which he killed his
wife and children. In
horror and remorse at his
deed Herakles would
have slain himself, but he
was told by the oracle at
Delphi that he should
purge himself by
becoming the servant of
his cousin Eurystheus,
King of Mycenae.
Eurystheus, urged on by
Hera, devised as a
penance the 12 difficult
The 11th of the 12 Labours involved gathering the apples from the golden
apple tree given by Mother Earth to Hera as a wedding gift.
Herakles asked Atlas to fetch the apples for him, and offered to hold up
the heavens for him. Atlas liked his freedom and suggested he would
deliver the apples himself. Herakles agreed, but asked Atlas to take back
the heavens while he adjusted his lionskin shoulder pad. Atlas did so, and
Herakles picked up the apples and left.
• On his way home, Herakles crossed Libya, where he met
Antaios, the giant. Antaios killed strangers by wrestling
them to death.
• He was the son of Mother Earth and grew stronger whenever
he touched his mother.
• The only way to kill him was to lift him off the ground and kill
him in mid-air.
• Herakles lifted him up and squeezed him to death.
See p.40 in Black text for wider view
Red vase
colour left to
show through More dilute slip
colour used to
show finer muscle
detail
Background
painted with
black slip
This technique allows Euphronios
more flexibility and makes his painting
more realistic. His poses and the
detail shown in his musculature
suggest he spent time observing real
wrestlers.
Innovations
This vase by Euphronios is the
first one to show an attempt at
showing 3 dimensions.
CRUCIAL POINT: IT IS THE FLEXIBILITY OF
THIS NEW TECHNIQUE WHICH ALLOWS
EUPHRONIOS TO MAKE THESE
INNOVATIONS.
DRAPERY
Euphronios uses dilute slip to show intricate
folds in the drapery of the figures he paints.
These folds suggest the light fabric of the
chitons, and bodies moving underneath. The
decoration is still two-dimensional, but
Euphronios is experimenting with the third
dimension.
FORESHORTENING -
Euphronios foreshortens the giant’s right leg,
as it bends underneath him. This distortion of
the shape is an attempt to show perspective,
and is the first known true attempt at the
technique.
SEE PAGE 40-41 (BLACK)