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Greek, Attica

Mixing Bowl (Krater), 520-510 BCE

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Greek

Title

Mixing Bowl (Krater)

Year

520-510 BCE

Medium

Terracotta, black-figure

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • clay

Techniques

  • terracotta,
  • black-figure

Dimensions

Height: 32.3 cm (12 11/16 inches)

Place

Attica

Type

  • Ceramics

Credit

Museum Appropriation Fund

Object Number

29.140

Projects & Publications

Publications

Teaching Notes / Gods and Heroes

Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Ancient Greek and Roman Galleries

The ancient Greeks always diluted their wine with at least an equal amount of water, mixing the two liquids in large vessels such as this krater. The expansive exterior surfaces of kraters allowed vase painters to depict complicated scenes with multiple figures.

Side A
Here Herakles (the Roman Hercules), having successfully completed the Twelve Labors, enters Mount Olympus to become a god. Wearing a lion skin, Herakles steps onto a chariot drawn by four horses. Behind him is Iolaos, his charioteer. The goddess Athena, wearing a crested helmet and breastplate and carrying a spear, faces Herakles. Behind her stands the wine god Dionysos, identified by the garland of ivy leaves on his head. Apollo, god of music, wearing a laurel wreath and holding a kithara, is on the right.

Side B
The Athenian hero Theseus, shown here wrestling the Minotaur, is wearing a lion skin in imitation of the Greek hero Herakles. Directly behind Theseus is the princess Ariadne, who helped him to defeat the Minotaur. Behind her is a youth, holding a spear and watching the action. Two similar youths watch on the right. These probably represent the Athenians rescued by Theseus after the slaughter of the Minotaur.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Mixing Bowl (Krater) with the accession number of 29.140. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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