Terracotta pelike (wine jar)
Attributed to the Pasithea Painter
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.
