Cleveland Museum of Art

Black-Figure Neck-Amphora (Storage Vessel): Herakles and Nemean Lion (A); Dionysos, Satyrs, and Maenads (B)

Painter of Berlin 1899

Date

515–510 BCE

Medium

ceramic

Culture

Greek, Attic

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The neck-amphora, one of the most popular vase shapes in Archaic Athens, provided painters with ample space for both figural and ornamental decoration. Herakles, the greatest of Greek heroes, performs his most famous deed on the obverse, wrestling the Nemean lion. His patron goddess Athena, together with his nephew Iolaos, holding the hero’s club, stand by. On the other side is an unrelated scene, showing the wine god Dionysos with dancing maenads and satyrs. Abundant ornament covers other areas: stylized lotus blossom and palmette chains on the neck; intricately linked palmettes and lotuses beneath each handle; and a key pattern, linked lotus buds, and rays on the lower body. After Herakles strangled the Nemean lion, he wore its pelt as a protective trophy.

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