Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Clay objects : Black-figure dinos with chariot race [Π33020]

The Panhellenic character of the Cretan sanctuaries ➔ Black-figure dinos with chariot race

Π33020

Pink clay

Mended from many fragments, restored and overpainted

Height: 31 cm. Diameter: 42 cm.

Gortyn

Sanctuary of Athena on the Acropolis

Archaic period:

570-560 BC:

Gallery:

XVII

Case:

168

Exhibition thematic unit:

Geometric - Archaic - Classical period (10th - 4th c. BC). The Sanctuaries. From Minoan cult to the amalgamation of religious beliefs

Sanctuaries

Description

Black-figure dinos (bowl for mixing water and wine). The rim is decorated with rosettes while on the shoulder is a row of tongue-shaped motifs. The decoration on the body of the vessel is divided into three zones. The main upper zone depicts a row of nine riders on black and white galloping horses, preparing to round the stadium turning-post, the campter, here represented as a pillar with an Aeolic capital, under the watchful gaze of the standing judge. In front of them are the prizes, two large bronze tripod cauldrons. In the lower zones are pairs of opposed real or mythical animals, usually different: a ram, panthers, male goats, a bird with spread wings, sphinxes, a lion and a wild boar. Based on the iconographical and stylistic characteristics and the quality of the vessel and its decoration, it is safely attributed to the workshop of the important Attic vase-painter Sophilos. This is an exquisite imported vase, rare in Crete.

Bibliography:

W. Jοhannowsky, Il santuario sull'acropoli di Gortina, Annuario della scuola archeologica di Atene 2002, 107, no. 639, pl. 26 (incomplete description of scenes).

Author:

K. S.

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