Red-Figure Calyx-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Medea in Chariot (A); Telephos with Baby Orestes (B)

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Red-Figure Calyx-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Medea in Chariot (A); Telephos with Baby Orestes (B) as ceramic (South Italian, Lucanian · c. 400 BCE).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

This vase includes scenes connected to two Athenian tragedies dealing with children— Medea and Telephos .

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected

FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this ceramic as ceramic and credits Policoro Painter (South Italian, Lucanian, active c. 400 BCE).

The museum's collection notes: The remarkable scene on the front of this vase relates to the famous tragedy Medea , written by Euripides and first produced in Athens in 431 BC. Framed in the center by a halo (recalling her sun god grandfather Helios), the sorceress Medea flies off in a dragon-drawn chariot. Seeking revenge against her husband Jason, leader of the Argonauts, Medea has just slain their two children. Two Furies flank her, while Jason and a distraught nurse and teacher approach the bodies on the altar below. A different tragedy unfolds on the other side of the vase, from Euripides’s Telephos (438 BC). The wounded warrior Telephos holds the baby Orestes hostage

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtRed-Figure Calyx-Krater (Mixing Vessel): Medea in Chariot (A); Telephos with Baby Orestes (B)

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