Munich 2080 (Vase)

Permalink
Collection:	Munich, Antikensammlungen
Summary:	Interior: Gorgoneion. Side A: Herakles and Apollo - Struggle for the tripod. Side B. Herakles and the lion.
Ware:	Attic Black Figure
Painter:	Attributed to the Lysippides Painter
Context:	From Vulci
Date:	ca. 525 BC - ca. 515 BC
Primary Citation:	ABV, 256,22; Para, 114
Shape:	Kylix
Beazley Number:	302231
Region:	Etruria
Period:	Archaic

Date Description:

B. Cohen 1978, no. A14 places this work in the artists' middle period.

Decoration Description:

Interior: Gorgoneion. The gorgon is shown as having a beard and a mustache. The mouth is very wide and the tongue protrudes. Added red is used for the beard and alternating locks of hair. Gorgoneia such as this are probably the most frequently used interior decoration for cups in the last quarter of the sixth century.

Side A: Herakles and Apollo struggle for the tripod while Artemis and Athena look on. Herakles moves off rapidly to the right, looking back over his shoulder at Apollo. Herakles swings his club above his head with his right hand and grasps the tripod in his left. He wears the lionskin belted over a short chiton with a sword and a quiver at his waist. The artist has rather unsuccessfully attempted to show a back view of Herakles, as indicated by the dorsal mane on the lionskin, giving his body a sharp twist. Apollo moves to the left after Herakles, clinging to the tripod with his right hand and grabbing the end of Herakles' club in his left. Apollo is depicted as unbearded, wearing a short chiton, a wreath in his hair, and winged boots. A bow and a quiver are slung over his shoulder. At the left of the composition, Artemis stands, facing right, behind her brother. She wears a peplos, and a polos. She holds her bow in her right hand and her quiver hangs from her shoulder. Athena, at the right of the composition beside Herakles, faces left. She is identified by the snaky aegis over her peplos, as well as by her helmet and spear.

The theme of the struggle for the tripod becomes popular in the last quarter of the sixth century. The composition with four figures is the favored Attic type. Shapiro 1989, 63 points out that in this period in these struggle for the tripod scenes, a new iconography of Apollo becomes popular, which had only limited use previously, that is the depiction of Apollo in a short chiton with a bow, rather than in a long garment with a kithara.

The Lysippides Painter depicts the struggle for the tripod on this vase and on Munich 1478. There is a marked similarity in the rendering of several features on these two vases: the movement is from left to right, Apollo grabs Herakles' club, Herakles is shown in back view, and Apollo wears winged boots. (Although winged boots are most commonly associated with Hermes or Perseus, Gialouris 1953, 315 has pointed out that other heroes and deities do wear them occasionally.) The Lysippides Painter has a clear and distinct iconography for the struggle for the tripod. von Bothmer 1977, 56 has seen the lack of correspondence between the iconography of these vases and the earliest surviving versions of the myth by the Andokides Painter, New York 63.11.6 and Berlin F 2159, as evidence that the black figure Lysippides Painter and the red figure Andokides Painter are not the same artist.

Side B: Herakles and the lion. Herakles, facing right and standing upright, dispatches the lion with his sword. The lion is also upright on its hind legs, held in Herakles' left arm. Herakles is bearded. He wears a short chiton and a wreath in his hair. His discarded mantle hangs in the background in the middle of the composition. A bow and quiver hang from his shoulder. To the right of this fight, Hermes moves forward gesturing with his right hand. He wears a mantle over a short chiton, boots and a petasos. He carries the kerykeion in his left hand.

Although literary sources such as Apollod. 2.5.1 stress the lion's invulnerability to weapons, Herakles is frequently portrayed in Archaic art stabbing the lion. With the depiction of the figures in the fight as upright, the Lysippides Painter is following the iconography of the early sixth century. This posture for the combatants finds only limited use in the second half of the century, replaced by wrestling on the ground which begins ca. 530. In his fight with the lion, Herakles is usually accompanied by Athena and Iolaos. The depiction of Hermes in this myth is more rare.

The eye-cups decorated by the Lysippides Painter derive from the design invented by Exekias. He decorates the tondo of his eye-cups almost exclusively with gorgoneia, and places figures between the eyes on the exterior.

Sources Used:

LIMC, IV, Gorgo, Gorgones 292; LIMC, V, Herakles no. 3011 and 141-143; Shapiro 1989; von Bothmer 1977, no. 53; LIMC, V, Herakles no. 1808 and 30-33; Carpenter 1991; Gialouris 1953, 293-321; B. Cohen 1978, no. A14