The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

Period:: Archaic
Date:: ca. 500 B.C.
Culture:: Greek, Attic
Medium:: Terracotta; black-figure
Dimensions:: H. 7 3/16 in. (18.3 cm) diameter of mouth 3 7/16 in. (8.7 cm) diameter of foot 2 5/8 in. (6.6 cm)
Classification:: Vases
Credit Line:: Fletcher Fund, 1956
Accession Number:: 56.171.25

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 172

Description

Obverse, Thanatos (Death) and Hypnos (Sleep) with the body of Sarpedon
Reverse, Eos (Dawn) with the body of her son, Memnon

The scenes on this jar show two great heroes of the Trojan War being lifted from the battlefield after their deaths. Sarpedon, a son of the god Zeus, will be carried to Lycia, his homeland in southern Asia Minor, and Memnon, to his kingdom in Ethiopia.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: Nonsense inscriptions on obverse
References

von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1957. "Greek Vases from the Hearst Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15(7): pp. 166, 172.
See also
Who
Diosphos Painter (11)
What
Clay (23,630)

Vessels (21,925)

Vases (8,894)

Terracotta (8,373)

Amphorae (573)

Neck amphorae (284)
Where
Europe (150,419)

Greece (6,283)
When
1000 B.C.-A.D. 1 (23,142)
In the Museum
Greek and Roman Art (17,330)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Africans in Ancient Greek Art

Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
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