The HEROES IMAGES

Indentification	Image	Description
Heracles
Caption: Heracles Killing Nessos Creator: Nessos Painter Material: Black-figure amphora Date: c.620BC Place made: Athens Current Location: Athens, National Museum 1002		Description: The scene on the neck shows Heracles and the centaur Nessos (or Nettos), both are named. As the hero grabs the centaur by the hair and plants his foot in the small of the creature's back, Nessos reaches out to touch his chin in supplication. Another large, but fragmentary, vase with this scene is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. For other depictions of centaurs fighting with humans see the Parthenon metopes, the pediments of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The body of the vase shows two Gorgons chasing Perseus who has just beheaded their sister, Medusa, who is partly visible to the left. Their half-kneeling pose is a typical indication of running in early Greek art.
Caption: Heracles killing Linus Creator: Painted by Douris Material: Red-figure cup Date: c.480-460BC Place made: Athens (found at Vulci) Current Location: Munich, Antikensammlung 2646		Description: The exterior of a cup showing the young Heracles killing his music teacher, Linos, who seems to be trying to defend himself with his lyre. Although Heracles does not have his attributes (he has not yet killed the Nemean lion) he is recognisable from his round eyes which mark him off as wild and different.
Caption: Heracles and Cerberus Creator: Andokides Painter Material: Bilingual amphora Date: c.530-515BC Place Made: Athens		Description: From the red-figure side of this bilingual amphora. Herakles, aided by Athena, gingerly bends to catch Cerberus (who only has two visible heads) at the gates to the Underworld.
Caption: Herakles and Cerberus Material: Caeretan Hydria Date: c. 530-525 BC Place Made: Caere (Modern Cervetri) Italy Current Location: Paris, Louvre		Description: Herakles delivers Cerberus to Eurystheus who takes refuge in his pot.
Caption: Heracles killing Geryon Creator: Painted by Euphronios Material: Red-figure cup Date: c.520-505BC Place Made: Athens (found at Vulci) Current Location: Munich, Antikensammlung 2620		Description: Heracles, complete with lion-skin and club fights the three-bodied Geryon. Orthos, Geryon's two-headed dog, already lies dead and one of Geryon's bodies slumps back with an arrow in its eye. As often in Greek vase painting the main action is framed by other figures who watch, react or participate. In this case Athena stands behind Heracles, holding her spear and shield with Gorgoneion and looks back at Iolaus as Geryon's herdsman, Eurytion, lies dying beneath the handle. On the other side, Geryon's mother laments her son's fate (indicated by the hand held to her head). The head of one of Geryon's cattle is just visible under the right handle. This cup is signed by Euphronios who was one of the earliest red-figure painters. Also assigned to him are the magnificent kraters showing Heracles and Antaeus and Sleep and Death carrying off Sarpedon.
Caption: Heracles and Apollo fight over the tripod Creator: Andokides Painter Material: Red-figure amphora Date: c.530-515BC Place made: Athens (found at Vulci) Current Location: Berlin, Staatliche Museen 2159		Description: Heracles walks off towards Athena holding the tripod while Apollo holds on to one of its legs, Artemis stands behind him holding stylised flowers. The other side of this vase shows a human struggle: men wrestling. The Andokides Painter was one of the first to work in the red-figure technique and some of his other vases use both techniques, like the one with the depiction of Heracles catching Cerberus.
Jason
Caption: Jason and the dragon Creator: Douris Material: Red-figure cup Date: c.470BC Place Made: Athens(found at Cervetri)		Description: From inside a red-figure cup. Jason, in a distinctly unheroic pose, is apparently disgorged by a huge dragon in front of Athena (who is carrying her owl). In the background, the golden fleece hangs from the tree in a pose which echoes that of Jason. Medea is not represented. This mysterious episode from the quest for the fleece is not known from the literary sources, we can only guess at it from this vase painting.
Perseus
Caption: Perseus and Andromeda Material: Fresco Date: End of the first century BC Place Made: Boscotrecase (near Naples) probably by artists from Rome Current Location: New York, Metropolitan Museum 20.192.16		Description: On the left, Perseus flies down to save Andromeda from the sea monster who emerges from the waves. The female figure who sits mourning with her hand to her head at the foot of the rock may be Andromeda's mother, Cassiope. The next stage of the narrative is shown to the right of the rock: Perseus is congratulated by Andromeda's father. This panel is from a bedroom decorated with mythological scenes in a Villa at Boscotrecase which once belonged to the family of the Emperor Augustus and was buried in the eruption of Vesuvius which also destroyed Pompei and Herculaneum in 79AD. The other surviving scene from this room shows Polyphemus and Galatea, another love story with a marine setting. A third scene has been lost.
Caption: Perseus and Andromeda Material: Black-figure amphora Date: c. 560 BC Place made: Corinth (found at Cervetri) Current Location: Berlin, East F 1637		Description: Perseus throws stones at the sea-monster (all three figures are labelled in the Corinthian alphabet.)
Caption: Perseus pursued by the Gorgon Creator: Gorgon Painter Material: Black-figure dinos Date: c.600-580 BC Place made: Athens Current Location: Paris, Louvre E 874		Description: Perseus runs to his waiting chariot (despite his winged boots!) with Medusa's sisters in hot pursuit. Medusa herself is depicted on the other side of the vase behind the second Gorgon, decapitated and falling to the ground. The Gorgons' faces are depicted frontally, a convention which is primarily reserved for grotesque and monstruous beings in Greek vase painting. This dinos has survived complete with its stand. This slide shows the round vessel tipped towards us to show the scene more fully.
Caption: Gorgons chasing Perseus Creator: Polyphemus Painter Material: Amphora Date: Place made: Current Location:		Description:
Theseus
Caption: Theseus' labours (I) Creator: Douris Material: Red-figure cup Date: c.500-480 BC Place made: Athens Current Location: London, British Museum E 48		Description: Watched over by Athena, Theseus throws Skiron from the (schematic) rocks to the man-eating turtle below (note also the foot-bath behind the rock) then he shown lifting Kerkyon off the ground. See the other side of this cup which shows Sinis and the Crommyonian Sow.
Caption: Theseus' labours (II) Creator: Douris Material: Red-figure cup Date: c.500-480 BC Place made: Athens Current Location: London, British Museum E 48		Description: Theseus kills the Crommyonian sow, as its owner, Phaia, protests, then he prepares to bind Sinis to his own tree. Note the careful composition and the way in which Sinis' outstretched leg continues the line of Theseus' pose. See the other side of this cup which shows Skiron and Kerkyon.
Caption: Theseus with Amphitrite Creator: Onesimos Material: Red-figure cup Date: c.500 BC Place made: Athens (found at Cervetri) Current Location: Paris, Louvre G 104		Description: During his trip to the bottom of the sea, Theseus, supported by a Triton, receives a wreath from Amphitrite as Athena looks on. The outside of this cup shows Theseus' labours and is similar to the cup by Douris with the same subject.