Black figure oinochoe (wine jug) depicting Heracles with the Cretan bull between Athena and Hermes
In the center of the scene, Heracles is depicted, nude as a hero, leading the bull of Crete. With his left hand, he grasps the animal by the horn while with his right he holds him by the chest. In the background, between the legs of the animal, the hero's club can be seen. Opposite the hero, Athena is seated on a high stool. She wears the aegis and holds the helmet with her right hand and the spear with the left. In front of her, against her knees, stands her shield. At the other end of the scene, balancing Athena, Hermes is seated on a stool. He wears a cap, a tunic and a cloak, and his winged shoes. He holds his attribute, the caduceus, the herald’s shaft.
The Bull of Crete, born from the waves, was a gift from Poseidon to Minos, the king of the island. But Minos, instead of honoring the god by sacrificing the bull, chose to keep him. As a result of the divine wrath, the bull caused endless destruction on the island. Eurystheus, the king of Mycenae, ordered Heracles to deliver the god-sent animal alive. The bull continued to wreak havoc in Greece until another hero, Theseus, killed him in Marathon.
- Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens
- Athenian Agora Museum, inv. n. P 32415
- 525 – 500 BC
- H. (with handle) 0.255 m. Diam. 0.145 m.
- Clay
- Provenance: Athenian Agora Excavations, from a well of a House in the area of the Poikile Stoa, layer of Persian destruction
Bibliography
- Camp, J. M. (1996). Excavations in the Athenian Agora: 1994 and 1995. in Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 231–61 (p. 246, no. 21, pl. 72). The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
- Lynch, K. M., (et al). (2011). The Symposium in context: Pottery from a Late Archaic House near the Athenian Agora. in Hesperia Supplements, Vol. 46, pp. iii–377 (pp. 183, no. 5, fig. 23). The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
