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34-463: In 1900 the vase was smashed into 638 pieces by a museum guard hurling a wooden stool against the protective glass. It was restored by Pietro Zei in 1902, followed by a second reconstruction in 1973 incorporating previously missing pieces. The uppermost frieze, on the neck of the krater, depicts on side A the Calydonian boar hunt , including the heroes Meleager , Peleus , and Atalanta . The scene

68-434: A manly way; beside Atalanta is Melanion , the man who won her hand in marriage either by his prowess as a hunter or by using trickery to beat her in a race. A fountain house, a dropped water jar, and the running figure of Polyxena signal the circumstances in which Achilles ambushed Troilos, but the gods around the fountain house seem to allude to Achilles' subsequent killing of Troilos in a sanctuary. The various scenes on

102-680: A rest during their journey to Hippomenes' home (the Greeks believed that lions could not mate with other lions, but only with leopards). Ovid and Servius suggest that Hippomenes forgot to pay the tribute to Aphrodite he had promised for helping him, and consequently, during the two's stay at Cybele's temple, Aphrodite caused them to have sex after going mad with lust, knowing that this would offend Cybele, and this indeed resulted in Cybele (or Zeus according to Hyginus) transforming them into lions. Thereafter they drew Cybele's chariot, which Servius equates with

136-680: A sanctuary of Dionysus, and is about half a fathom long", The Calydonian boar hunt was the theme of the temple's main pediment. According to the Iliad , the heroes who participated in the hunt assembled from all over Greece. Bacchylides has Meleager describe himself and the rest of the hunters as "the best of the Hellenes". The table lists: Melanion In Greek mythology , Hippomenes ( / h ɪ ˈ p ɒ m ɪ n iː z / ; Ancient Greek : Ἱππομένης ), also known as Melanion ( / m ə ˈ l æ n i ə n / ; Μελανίων or Μειλανίων),

170-424: A she-bear and raised as a huntress, a proxy for Artemis herself (Kerenyi; Ruck and Staples). Artemis appears to have been divided in her motives, for it was also said that she had sent the young huntress because she knew her presence would be a source of division, and so it was: many of the men, led by Kepheus and Ankaios, refused to hunt alongside a woman. It was the smitten Meleager who convinced them. Nonetheless it

204-592: A specific locale. Sent by Artemis to ravage the region of Calydon in Aetolia , it met its end in the Calydonian boar hunt, in which many of the great heroes of the age took part (an exception being Heracles , who vanquished his own Goddess-sent Erymanthian boar separately). King Oeneus ("wine man") of Calydon , an ancient city of west-central Greece north of the Gulf of Patras , held annual harvest sacrifices to

238-417: Is also concluded that a great heroine, Atalanta , won its hide by first wounding it with an arrow. This outraged many of the men, leading to a tragic dispute. Since the Calydonian boar hunt drew together numerous heroes —among whom were many who were venerated as progenitors of their local ruling houses among tribal groups of Hellenes into Classical times—it offered a natural subject in classical art, for it

272-408: Is flanked by two sphinxes which are separated from it by a band of lotus blossoms and palmettes. On the other side of the vessel, this zone features the dance of Athenian youths led by Theseus who is playing the lyre, standing opposite Ariadne and her nurse. The second band on side A shows the chariot race which is part of the funeral games for Patroclus , instituted by his friend Achilles , in

306-406: Is himself carried dead from the battlefield by Ajax . The kneeling figure of Ajax carries the corpse of Achilles from the battlefield at Troy . Achilles thus appears twice close on one side of the vase: alive while organizing the funeral games for his dead companion Patroclus, and immediately adjacent he is dead himself. On the other hand, there are scenes which offer parallels to these episodes:

340-507: The Archaic period, Kleitias (Klitias) (c. 580- c. 550 BCE) was a well known potter and painter. Kleitias' signature has been found on five vases; four of them are signed by Kleitias as the painter and Ergotimos as the potter. Kleitias's drawings were especially detailed in regard to animal and human anatomy and when depicting textiles, making him a unique artist of his time. He engaged his viewers by bringing variety to every image allowing

374-607: The boar was said to be the offspring of the Crommyonian Sow vanquished by Theseus . Oeneus sent messengers out to look for the best hunters in Greece, offering them the boar's pelt and tusks as a prize. Among those who responded were some of the Argonauts , Oeneus' own son Meleager , and, remarkably for the hunt's eventual success, one woman—the huntress Atalanta , the "indomitable", who had been suckled by Artemis as

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408-628: The course of the hunt and its aftermath, many of the hunters turned upon one another, contesting the spoils, and so the Goddess continued to be revenged. According to Homer "the goddess brought to pass much clamour and shouting concerning his head and shaggy hide, between the Curetes and the great-souled Aetolians." The boar's hide that was preserved in the Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea in Laconia

442-553: The details of this myth, but no surviving complete account exists: some papyrus fragments found at Oxyrhynchus are all that survive of Stesichorus ' telling; the myth repertory called Bibliotheke ("The Library") contains the gist of the tale, and before that was compiled the Roman poet Ovid told the story in some colorful detail in his Metamorphoses . The Calydonian boar is one of several monsters in Greek mythology named for

476-568: The garden of the Hesperides according to Servius – and told him to drop them one at a time to distract Atalanta. After each of the first two apples, Atalanta was able to recover the lead, but when she stopped for the third, Hippomenes won the race. It took all three apples and all of his speed, but Hippomenes was finally successful, winning the race and Atalanta's hand. Atalanta and Hippomenes were turned into lions by Cybele as punishment after having sex in one of her temples they entered to take

510-527: The gods on the sacred hill. One year the king forgot to include Great "Artemis of the golden throne" in his offerings. Insulted, Artemis, the "Lady of the Bow", loosed the biggest, most ferocious wild boar imaginable on the countryside of Calydon. Ovid describes the boar as follows: Ovid goes on to say that the boar rampaged throughout the countryside, destroying vineyards and crops, forcing people to take refuge inside their city walls. According to Strabo ,

544-505: The hero Theseus is found among the combatants, a friend of Pirithous who himself was not a Lapith, but said to be among the wedding guests. The scene also includes the demise of the Lapith hero Caeneus . The third frieze on both sides, the highest and also most prominent one because of its location on the top of the body vessel, depicts the procession of the gods to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis . Because of its large number of figures,

578-533: The last year of the Trojan War . Here, Achilles is standing in front of a bronze tripod, which would have been one of the prizes, while the participants include the Greek heroes Diomedes and Odysseus . On side B, the painted scene depicts a battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs . The most famous of these conflicts took place at the wedding party of Pirithous and Hippodamia , which is probably depicted here, as

612-480: The others show episodes from myth, and labels are copiously used, even for inanimate objects such as fountains and seats. With the combination of related stories and the unique drawing style by Kleitias, this pot constitutes something new in Athenian painting. The scenes on this pot include both crucial moments in stories, including when Peleus and Meleager are about to spear the Calydonian boar (top frieze), and

646-549: The periods where the crucial action is past with the dance of the Athenian maidens and youths freed from the Minotaur (top frieze), the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and Achilles' pursuit of Troilos in the second frieze up. Past or future episodes are frequent in the friezes. The body of Antaios beneath the boar seems likely to allude to the death of the man who taunted Atalanta, seen here just behind Meleager, for not hunting in

680-419: The pot seem to be held together by two sorts of association. On one hand there are a set of scenes which trace the story of the house of Peleus from his participation in the hunt for the Calydonian boar through his marriage to Thetis. It goes all the way to the role in the Trojan War of their son Achilles, who puts on funeral games for his companion Patroclus (second frieze down), ambushes Troilos and finally

714-418: The procession is a suitable topic to decorate the long band. The end of the procession shows Peleus between an altar and the house where Thetis can be seen sitting inside. He is greeting his teacher, the centaur Chiron , who is heading the procession together with the divine messenger Iris , followed by many other deities. The fourth frieze on side A depicts the ambush of Troilus by Achilles . Side B shows

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748-513: The processional return of the god Hephaestus to Olympus (second frieze up) parallels the celebration of Peleus' wedding to Thetis. The battle of lapiths and centaurs and the liberation of the Athenians from the Minotaur parallel the deliverance from the Calydonian boar, and link Peleus' exploits to those of the Athenian hero Theseus. Such typological parallels are one of the means by which poets from Homer on have enriched their narratives. During

782-533: The return of Hephaestus to Olympus; sitting on a mule, he is led to the Olympian gods by Dionysus , followed by a group of silens and nymphs . The fifth frieze shows sphinxes and griffins flanking lotus blossom and palmettes ornaments and panthers and lions attacking bulls, a boar, and a deer. On the foot of the vessel, there is on both sides a depiction of the battle between Pygmies and cranes. The handles are decorated as well, showing on their outer sides

816-408: The so-called Mistress of Animals above a vignette showing Ajax carrying the dead Achilles . The fields on the inner sides of the handles above the rim of the pot each feature a Gorgon in motion. The wedding of Peleus and Thetis provides the central image on the vase. Only one of the six friezes which cover the pot is an animal frieze, and that is quite remote in style from Corinthian work. All

850-490: The sons of Thestius and again gave the skin to Atalanta ( Bibliotheke ). Meleager's mother, sister of Meleager's slain uncles, took the fatal brand from the chest where she had kept it (see Meleager ) and threw it once more on the fire; as it was consumed, Meleager died on the spot, as the Fates had foretold. Thus Artemis achieved her revenge against King Oeneus. During the hunt, Peleus accidentally killed his host, Eurytion. In

884-410: The two include two cups and some cup fragments, from which their signatures were lost. Other vases have been attributed to Kleitias on the basis of style. Calydonian boar hunt The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. It occurred in the generation prior to that of the Trojan War , and stands alongside the other great heroic adventure of that generation,

918-415: The viewer to discover each figure differently each time. He pioneered the use of paired figures, particularly in the topmost friezes on each side, the boar hunt. In the boat returning from Crete , he makes repeated use of figures who are side by side and engaged in similar actions so that one sees only part of the figure behind, which becomes a sort of shadow of the figure in the front. Other collaborations of

952-466: The voyage of the Argonauts , which preceded it. The purpose of the hunt was to kill the Calydonian boar (also called the Aetolian boar ), which had been sent by Artemis to ravage the region of Calydon in Aetolia , because its king Oeneus had failed to honour her in his rites to the gods. The hunters, led by the hero Meleager , included many of the foremost heroes of Greece. In most accounts it

986-430: Was Atalanta who first succeeded in wounding the boar with an arrow, although Meleager finished it off, and offered the prize to Atalanta, who had drawn first blood. But the sons of Thestius , who considered it disgraceful that a woman should get the trophy where men were involved, took the skin from her, saying that it was properly theirs by right of birth, if Meleager chose not to accept it. Outraged by this, Meleager slew

1020-504: Was a son of the Arcadian Amphidamas or of King Megareus of Onchestus and the husband of Atalanta . He was known to have been one of the disciples of Chiron , and to have surpassed other disciples in his eagerness to undertake hard challenges. Inscriptions mention him as one of the Calydonian hunters . The main myth of Hippomenes' courtship of Atalanta, narrated by Pseudo-Apollodorus, Ovid, Servius, and Hyginus

1054-414: Was as follows. Hippomenes fell in love with Atalanta, the virgin huntress who strongly disliked the idea of getting married. After a warning from an oracle about getting married, she declared that whoever wanted to marry her was to beat her in a footrace (herself being a notoriously swift runner), and that those who should try and lose would be punished by instant death. Another version (followed by Hyginus)

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1088-476: Was redolent with the web of myth that gathered around its protagonists on other occasions, around their half-divine descent and their offspring. Like the quest for the Golden Fleece ( Argonautica ) or the Trojan War that took place the following generation, the Calydonian boar hunt is one of the nodes in which much Greek myth comes together. Both Homer and Hesiod and their listeners were aware of

1122-474: Was reputedly that of the Calydonian Boar, "rotted by age and by now altogether without bristles" by the time Pausanias saw it in the second century CE. He noted that the tusks had been taken to Rome as booty from the defeated allies of Mark Anthony by Augustus ; "one of the tusks of the Calydonian boar has been broken", Pausanias reports, "the remaining one is kept in the gardens of the emperor, in

1156-616: Was that her father wanted her to be married, but she did not. She agreed to running races against her suitors because she thought she would never lose. Atalanta raced all her suitors and outran all but Hippomenes, who defeated her by cunning, not speed. Hippomenes knew that he could not win a fair race with Atalanta, so he prayed to Aphrodite for help (the goddess, in the meantime, disliked Atalanta's neglect of love). Aphrodite gave him three golden apples – which came from her sacred apple-tree in Tamasus , Cyprus , according to Ovid , or from

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