Getty Museum

Lucanian Pelike

Date

about 380 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Greek (South Italian, Lucanian)

Department

Vessels

Institution

Getty Museum

Side A: Herakles and the Kerkopes. A youthful, beardless Herakles, with a lion skin over his head and knotted at his throat, strides to the right. He carries a club in his right hand and with his left holds a bow from which hang two Kerkopes. They are suspended by their feet, and have their hands bound behind or over their heads. Their exaggeratedly large penises droop over their bellies. The face of the figure on the right is rendered in profile, and appears to have a snout rather than a nose. His counterpart is shown frontally, with a straggly beard and pointed ears. Side B: Three youths draped in himatia, the leftmost looking to the right with his foot on a rock. The central figure extends his right arm. Band of laurel leaves around the neck. Stopped meander below the groundline. One handle has been broken off and reattached. The front and region of the handle A/B are misfired.

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