Asset number
496044001
Description
Pottery: red-figured kylix showing the deeds of Theseus. Interior: Within a circle of pattern consisting of sets of three maeanders separated by chequer squares, Theseus slaying the Minotaur. Theseus, with drawn sword in right, moves to left, looking back, and dragging with his left hand the Minotaur by the left horn out of a building. The Minotaur has apparently fallen forward, dying: only his head, right arm, and body to waist are visible, the rest being concealed behind the building: the surface of his bull's head and human body are covered with brown strokes, indicating hair. The building is represented by a Doric fluted column with entablature and triglyphs, forming a porch to the main building, which is itself represented by a broad vertical stripe of pattern, consisting of alternate labyrinth (?) patterns and chequer squares; this is partly cut off by the border of the design. In this, as in all the other scenes, Theseus is beardless and wears a fillet and a sword-belt with scabbard. Round the central design is a frieze composed of a series of groups representing six more of the Labours of Theseus in the following order, starting from the left handle and proceeding from left to right: (i) The sow of Crommyon springs upward to right against Theseus, who advances with sword drawn back and left hand raised and wrapped in a mantle as a shield. Beside the sow, in the background, an old woman stands, bending forward, with both arms outstretched towards Theseus, the left resting on a long staff with forefinger extended; she has a long chiton and a mass of white hair; her face is wrinkled, and the flesh of her arms covered with strokes, indicating hair. She is probably Crommyon, the personification or wood-nymph (see Loeschcke, loc. cit.) of the locality, (ii) Kerkyon: Theseus (on left) has gripped with his right the left arm and with his left the right side of his opponent, and, drawing the other's body towards him, throws Kerkyon backwards across his thighs: the left arm of Kerkyon hangs uselessly behind the back of Theseus, and with his right he vainly tries to loosen Theseus' grasp of his side. He has a short beard and hair and a fillet, and is bald over the forehead. Beside this group, a club hanging up and a spear or staff resting on end obliquely against the background. (iii) Procrustes has fallen backwards to left on his bed, supporting himself with his right hand, and, with left hand and foot feebly raised, tries to ward off the blow which Theseus, swinging over his back the double axe (pelekys), is dealing him. Procrustes has rough shaggy hair and beard: the bed is marked off into lengths by curved strokes of brown, (iv) Skiron: Theseus on left in three-quarter back view, swings over his head the foot-pan (podanipter) to strike down Skiron, who has fallen backwards to right on the hill in an attitude balancing that of Procrustes in iii: he is bald over the forehead, and has shaggy hair and beard; on the summit of the hill, beside Skiron, is a willow (?) tree; at the foot is the tortoise, half seen, as though climbing up out of water, (v) The Marathonian bull, charging violently to right, is checked by Theseus, who, with right leg supported against a rock and left knee pressed against the bull's shoulder, throws his weight back on a cord in his left which is fastened to the animal's horns, and throws it back on its haunches; in his right he holds a club, (vi) Sinis Pityocamptes, seated on a hill-top beside a tall pine-tree, is dragged to left by Theseus, who has seized him by the right arm in one hand and with the other draws down the top of the pine-tree. Sinis has thrown one arm around the pine and presses his right f
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Using this image
Commercial use
To license images for charged-for journals and publications, and other commercial uses, please contact British Museum Images.
Contact BM images
Non-commercial use
You are permitted to use images from the British Museum website subject to our terms of use.
The image will be released to you under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. You can read more about the British Museum and Creative Commons here.
Download this image
New photography
If you cannot see an image that you want on the British Museum website, you can order new photography from us.
Order new image