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Source Description
Two figures stand on a ground-line of meander on the shoulder of this hydria. At left, a young Greek soldier advances to the right, his legs and head in profile, with his torso turned to present his back to the viewer. He wears a chitoniskos, chlamys, greaves and an Attic helmet, its cheek pieces raised to expose his face. His left arm, obscured by his body, holds a shield and two spears. He extends his right hand toward the Amazon before him, and their gazes meet. The Amazon attempts to flee from the soldier, her legs are in profile moving right, while her torso is depicted frontally and her head turns back to look at her pursuer. Like the soldier, she is clad in a chitoniskos, though hers has a loose kolpos in front, and she wears a short mantle, a disk earring, and a pointed cap, from which small curls emerge around the forehead. Her weaponry includes a bow in her left hand, and a sagaris, or small axe, ineffectually pointing downward, in her right hand.Several mythological heroes were said to have had encounters with the Amazons, but the identity of the figure represented here remains uncertain. The meeting of the figures' gazes is evocative of the story of Achilles and the Amazon Penthesilea, who were said to have fallen in love just as the warrior-hero plunged his sword into her chest. The scene might also depict Theseus, the Athenian hero who fought the Amazon queen Antiope.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
36031
label
Hydria with Theseus (?) and an Amazon
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
36031
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Hydria with Theseus (?) and an Amazon
description
Two figures stand on a ground-line of meander on the shoulder of this hydria. At left, a young Greek soldier advances to the right, his legs and head in profile, with his torso turned to present his back to the viewer. He wears a chitoniskos, chlamys, greaves and an Attic helmet, its cheek pieces raised to expose his face. His left arm, obscured by his body, holds a shield and two spears. He extends his right hand toward the Amazon before him, and their gazes meet. The Amazon attempts to flee from the soldier, her legs are in profile moving right, while her torso is depicted frontally and her head turns back to look at her pursuer. Like the soldier, she is clad in a chitoniskos, though hers has a loose kolpos in front, and she wears a short mantle, a disk earring, and a pointed cap, from which small curls emerge around the forehead. Her weaponry includes a bow in her left hand, and a sagaris, or small axe, ineffectually pointing downward, in her right hand.Several mythological heroes were said to have had encounters with the Amazons, but the identity of the figure represented here remains uncertain. The meeting of the figures' gazes is evocative of the story of Achilles and the Amazon Penthesilea, who were said to have fallen in love just as the warrior-hero plunged his sword into her chest. The scene might also depict Theseus, the Athenian hero who fought the Amazon queen Antiope.
provenance
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome, prior to 1897 [cat. no. 186]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 500-490 BCE (Early Classical)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Ceramics
hydriae
kalpides
vases
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
41.3
height
42.8
depth
36.6
dimensionsRaw
H: 16 1/4 x W (with handles): 16 7/8 x Diam: 14 7/16 in. (41.3 x 42.8 x 36.6 cm)
Source extras
cul
Greek
style
Attic
med
terracotta, wheel made; red figure
creator_ids
5554
collection_ids
GRC
exhibition_ids
2089
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
87172ed178ddb9d1
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
c49931309fa23228
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
286484239977e9a8
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no