Terracotta Nolan neck-amphora (jar)

Dwarf Painter

ca. 440–430 BCE · Terracotta · Greek and Roman Art

Obverse, Greek fighting an Amazon Reverse, man with staff The combination of subjects on the obverse and reverse is thought-provoking because one is mythological and the other reflects fifth-century B.C. Athens. In its mythological prehistory, Athens was attacked by the Amazons, a tribe of warrior-women whose homeland lay beyond the Black Sea. Theseus, the legendary king of Attica, fought against the invaders and married Antiope, the Amazon queen. The iconography here brings an event of the distant past into the reality of the present.

Artist

Dwarf Painter

Date

ca. 440–430 BCE

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Greek, Attic

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Credit line

Fletcher Fund, 1956