Terracotta Kantharos in the Form of the Head of Herakles in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 2010

Title: Terracotta kantharos (drinking cup) in the form of the heads of Herakles and of a woman

Medium; Technique: Terracotta; red-figure

Culture: Greek, Attic

Period: Classical

Date: ca. 470 B.C.

Artist or Maker: Attributed to the Syriskos Painter; Attributed to the Vatican Class of Head Vases

Dimensions: H. 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Purchase by subscription, 1896

Accession Number: 96.18.77

Description:

Obverse, Athena seated between two women
Reverse, symposium (drinking party)

Athena, flanked by two seated women who must also be deities, overlooks the head of her favorite hero, Herakles, identifiable by the lion's skin around his neck. This amusing cup would have enlivened drinking parties like the one shown on the other side above the female head.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/greek_...