Jar (amphora) with Herakles and the Nemean Lion
Artist:
Attributed to Group E
Place made:Athens, Greece
Culture: Greek
Period: Archaic period
Date: ca. 550-540 B.C.
Dimensions:
h. 14 in. (35.6 cm); diam. 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, Gift of Gilbert M. Denman, Jr.
Object number: 86.134.40
Provenance: with Gianni Loreto, Ascona, by 1982; sold by Galerie Günter Puhze, Freiberg, to Gilbert M. Denman, Jr. (1921-2004), San Antonio, 1983; Gilbert M. Denman, Jr., by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 1986
Published References
K. Kilinski II, Classical Myth in Western Art: Ancient through Modern (Dallas exh. cat., 1985) 48, no. 11 (side A)
J. Neils, Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens (Hanover, NH, 1992) 156-7, no. 20 (side A)
H.A. Shapiro, C.A. Picon, G.D. Scott, III, eds., Greek Vases in the San Antonio Museum of Art (San Antonio, 1995) pp. 86-8, no. 40
C. Dougherty and L. Kurke, Cultural Poetics in Ancient Greece: Cult, Performance, Politics (Oxford Univ. Press, 1998), cover image.
G. H. Kostouros, Nemeon athlon diegesis (Nemea, 2008), 1:130, fig. 101.
J. Powers and J. Johnston, eds., San Antonio Museum of Art: Guide to the Collection, (San Antonio: San Antonio Museum of Art, 2012), 35.
Label Text
Side A: Herakles fighting the Nemean Lion
Side B: Lyre-player
The popularity of Herakles’ combat with the Nemean Lion in the 6th century B.C. may have been connected with the establishment of the Nemean Games as a Panhellenic festival, a festival open to all Greeks, in 573 B.C. The back of this vase shows a man playing a lyre and perhaps performing in a contest at a festival. (Jessica Powers 2008)
Side B: Lyre-player
The popularity of Herakles’ combat with the Nemean Lion in the 6th century B.C. may have been connected with the establishment of the Nemean Games as a Panhellenic festival, a festival open to all Greeks, in 573 B.C. The back of this vase shows a man playing a lyre and perhaps performing in a contest at a festival. (Jessica Powers 2008)
On view
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
