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Francois Vase (Florence 4209)

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An Attic black-figure volute krater signed by the potter Ergotimos and the painter Kleitias, made around 570 to 560 BC, found in 1844 in an Etruscan tomb at Chiusi and held today by the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze under inventory number 4209. Standing 66 centimetres tall, it carries some 270 painted figures across six registers, 121 of them individually named by inscription, making it one of the richest surviving pictorial sources for early Greek myth. Its shoulder frieze shows the procession of the gods to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, led by the centaur Chiron and the messenger goddess Iris; Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hermes are named among the deities present, alongside the sea deities Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris and Okeanos and other attendant figures. A separate register on the body shows Hephaestus, drunk, riding a mule back to Olympus, escorted by Dionysus and a procession of satyrs. Other registers depict the Calydonian boar hunt, the funeral games for Patroclus, the Lapiths battling centaurs, Theseus' crane dance on Crete, Achilles ambushing Troilus, and a battle between pygmies and cranes around the foot. Later secondary retellings of the wedding procession name several further deities, including Hestia, Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions.

Facts
Origins
Creation
570 BCE to 560 BCE 1
Attributed To
Potter Ergotimos and painter Kleitias, both signed on the vase 1
Country
Italy (found in Etruria; the subject matter and workshop are Attic Greek) 1
Custody
Current Location
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze, Florence, inventory number 4209 1
Current Custodian
Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze 1
Physical Form
Medium
Attic black-figure ceramic, volute krater 1
Dimensions
Height 0.66 metres; rim diameter 0.57 metres 1
Subject Matter
Depicted Subject
The procession of the gods to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the return of Hephaestus to Olympus, and five further mythological scenes across the vase's six registers. 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Achilles, Figures

This source names Achilles directly: "Theseus' crane dance on Crete, Achilles ambushing Troilus, and a battle between pygmies and cranes around the foot."

Aphrodite, Figures

This source names Aphrodite directly: "goddess Iris; Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hermes are named among the deities present, alongside the sea deities Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris and Okeanos and other attendant..."

Apollo, Deities

This source names Apollo directly: "Iris; Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hermes are named among the deities present, alongside the sea deities Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris and Okeanos and other attendant figures."

Apollo, Figures

This source names Apollo directly: "Iris; Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hermes are named among the deities present, alongside the sea deities Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris and Okeanos and other attendant figures."

Ares, Figures

This source names Ares directly: "the messenger goddess Iris; Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hermes are named among the deities present, alongside the sea deities Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris and Okeanos and..."

Artemis, Figures

This source names Artemis directly: "Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hermes are named among the deities present, alongside the sea deities Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris and Okeanos and other attendant figures."

Athena, Figures

This source names Athena directly: "Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hermes are named among the deities present, alongside the sea deities Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris and Okeanos and other attendant figures."

Demeter, Figures

This source names Demeter directly: "further deities, including Hestia, Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Dionysus, Deities

This source names Dionysus directly: "a mule back to Olympus, escorted by Dionysus and a procession of satyrs."

Dionysus, Figures

This source names Dionysus directly: "a mule back to Olympus, escorted by Dionysus and a procession of satyrs."

Eileithyia, Deities

This source names Eileithyia directly: "Hestia, Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Hephaestus, Figures

This source names Hephaestus directly: "A separate register on the body shows Hephaestus, drunk, riding a mule back to Olympus, escorted by Dionysus and a procession of satyrs."

Hermes, Figures

This source names Hermes directly: "Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hermes are named among the deities present, alongside the sea deities Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris and Okeanos and other attendant figures."

Hestia, Deities

This source names Hestia directly: "several further deities, including Hestia, Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Hestia, Figures

This source names Hestia directly: "several further deities, including Hestia, Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Leto, Deities

This source names Leto directly: "deities, including Hestia, Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Leto, Figures

This source names Leto directly: "deities, including Hestia, Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Poseidon, Figures

This source names Poseidon directly: "Chiron and the messenger goddess Iris; Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Artemis and Hermes are named among the deities present, alongside the sea deities Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris and..."

Tethys, Deities

This source names Tethys directly: "Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Tethys, Figures

This source names Tethys directly: "Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Themis, Deities

This source names Themis directly: "including Hestia, Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Themis, Figures

This source names Themis directly: "including Hestia, Demeter, Leto, Themis, Eileithyia and Tethys, that neither source read for this record independently confirmed against the vase's own inscriptions."

Theseus, Figures

This source names Theseus directly: "the Lapiths battling centaurs, Theseus' crane dance on Crete, Achilles ambushing Troilus, and a battle between pygmies and cranes around the foot."

Belongs to Tradition

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