Terracotta pelike (wine jar)
Obverse, Herakles in the garden of the Hesperides with Okeanos, the personification of the ocean, and two Hesperids. Three names are inscribed: Herakles, Okeanos, Pasithea
Reverse, two youths and a boy
One of the labors of the hero Herakles was to go to the island of the Hesperides beyond the ocean that circled the world and to bring back golden apples guarded by a serpent and a group of immortal women known as Hesperids. A number of vases of the fifth century B.C. show Herakles relaxing with the beautiful Hesperids, who have quieted the serpent and picked the apples for him. Here the seated Hesperid raises her veil in a gesture associated with brides.
Reverse, two youths and a boy
One of the labors of the hero Herakles was to go to the island of the Hesperides beyond the ocean that circled the world and to bring back golden apples guarded by a serpent and a group of immortal women known as Hesperids. A number of vases of the fifth century B.C. show Herakles relaxing with the beautiful Hesperids, who have quieted the serpent and picked the apples for him. Here the seated Hesperid raises her veil in a gesture associated with brides.
Artwork Details
- Title: Terracotta pelike (wine jar)
- Artist: Attributed to the Pasithea Painter
- Period: Late Classical
- Date: ca. 400–375 BCE
- Culture: Greek, Attic
- Medium: Terracotta; red-figure
- Dimensions: H.: 9 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. (24.8 x 21 cm)
- Classification: Vases
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1908
- Object Number: 08.258.20
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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Greek, South Italian, Campanian
4th century BCE
Greek, Attic
late 10th–early 9th century BCE
Greek, Attic
mid-4th century BCE
Princeton Group
ca. 540–530 BCE
East Greek
4th quarter of the 6th century BCE
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