Asset number
517348001
Description
Pottery: black-figured neck-amphora. Purple sparingly used. On the neck, double honeysuckle pattern each side. Under the handles each side a pattern of lotus-flowers and palmettes. (a) Heracles fighting with Amazons: In the centre is Heracles to right (short embroidered chiton and lion's skin over left arm, sword at side), wielding club in right hand. He is attacking an Amazon (probably Andromache) who is fallen to right on one knee looking to left (helmet with fillet, short chiton, cuirass, greaves, sword at side, spear, and Boeotian shield with device of two pellets). Behind her stands another Amazon, defending her, armed as the last, with a circular shield on which are two white pellets and a Satyric mask in high relief; she thrusts at Heracles with her spear. Behind Heracles is another Amazon retreating to left, looking back, in high-peaked cap, cuirass, and short chiton, in right hand a spear, left hand raised. (b) Heracles strangling the Nemean lion: Composition as usual, Heracles nude, his bow and quiver suspended above. Athene stands over them looking to left, with high-crested helmet, fillet, stippled aegis with border of snakes, long embroidered chiton, spear, and shield with device of a tripod. On the left is Iolaos to right, bearded, with fillet, cuirass, short chiton, chlamys over left arm, sword at side and quiver at back, in right hand two spears, left extended. In the field, branches.
© 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