15% OFF sitewide with code SELENE15
black figure kylix of Herakles fighting the Nemean lion
£55.00
This image is taken from a neck amphora attributed to the black-figure painter, Antimenes. It dates to ca 525 BC and is currently in a private collection. The twelve labours of Herakles were a popular theme in Greek iconography from the Archaic through to the Hellenistic era, and Herakles was a particular favourite of Antimenes. Here, he is depicted completing his first labour, which was to retreive the hide of the Nemean lion. 12cm x 12cm
quantity
about this pottery collection
This pottery collection is produced in Greece in the workshop of the Lioulias family, with whom It's All Greek is proud to have been working since 2004.
about the lion
Symbol of strength, courage and protection. The Greeks regarded lions as the guardians of shrines, entrances and palaces, such as the Lion Gate at Mycenae, and as protectors of the hearth and home.
In Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, heroes such as Achilles are compared with lions at moments of extreme passion and power. Herakles, in his first labour, overcame the hitherto invincible Nemean lion, and thereafter wore the impenetrable lionskin.