Getty Museum

Attic Black-Figure Neck Amphora

Date

about 550 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Greek (Attic)

Department

Vessels

Institution

Getty Museum

Scenes of combat decorate this Athenian black-figure neck-amphora. On the front of the vase, the Greek hero Theseus battles the Minotaur. This monster, with a bull's head and a human body, lived in a labyrinth on the island of Crete and devoured human sacrifices sent as tribute from Athens. The hero has just stabbed the beast with his sword, and blood streams from the wound. A youth and a girl - representatives of the fourteen youths and maidens saved from sacrifice by Theseus's victory over the monster - stand at each side watching. The heroic combat on the front is complemented by a scene of mortal warriors on the back of the vase. Two hoplites, or heavily armed soldiers, face off with spears raised, between onlookers, a man and a woman. The woman holds a wreath for the victor. Running beneath the warriors is a mock inscription, the letters scarcely legible.

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