Red-Figure Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Athena Slaying Giant (body); Satyr between Maenads (shoulder)

c. 490 BCE

attributed to Berlin Painter

(Greek, Attic, active c. 505–460 BC)

attributed to Painter of Goluchow 37

(Greek, Attic, active c. 490–460 BC)

Culture

Greek, Attic

Medium

ceramic

Measurements

Diameter: 14.1 cm (5 9/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.); Overall: 38 cm (14 15/16 in.); Diameter of foot: 10 cm (3 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1978.59

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Location

102B Greek

Did You Know?

First attributed to Douris, this vase is now thought to have been painted by two anonymous painters.

Description

The two separate areas of figural decoration on this vase have been attributed to different painters: the small satyr and maenads on the shoulder to the Berlin Painter; and the larger figures of Athena and the slain Giant Enkelados on the body to the Painter of Goluchow 37. Scholars have named these two painters, whose actual names remain unknown, after other vases they have painted, now in Berlin and Warsaw. The victory of Athena and the Olympian gods over the Giants has been interpreted as a metaphor for the Greek victory over the Persians around the time this vase was made. Thus, although Enkelados appears as a fully armed warrior, he falls in utter and complete defeat—bleeding from multiple wounds, eyes rolling back, sword dropping from his hand.