Hydria (water jar): Theseus and the Minotaur
550-530 BCE
Description
Theseus and the Minotaur. Theseus stands in the center facing right and holds the Minotaur by one horn while stabbing the monster with a short sword. The Minotaur, who kneels near Theseus's feet, raises his right arm in the air as he falls victim to the fatal blow. The two figures are flanked on either side by two pairs of spectators, a woman and a youth. The women both wear long peploi with mantles while the youth are both nude save a chlamys over their shoulders. On the shoulder are four pairs of dancing satyrs and nymphs. The satyrs are nude with tails while the maenads (female revelers) wear long peploi and fillets decorating their hair. Added red is used throughout to indicate details, for example, the Minotaur's mane and ornamentation on the peploi. A black-figure fragment already in the HUAM collection (acc. no. 1977.216.2383), providing a large section of the main scene, was found to join with this hydria by Aaron J. Paul on 30 June 1995. The fragment provides the lower part of the bodies of Theseus, in the center of the hydria's main figure scene, and the Minotaur's right arm and leg to the right, and the drapery and left leg of the youth to the left of the figure scene. The fragment completes the figure scene on the hydria, which, except for a few small minor fragments missing, renders the vase now virtually complete.
Dimensions
44 x 43 cm (17 5/16 x 16 15/16 in.)
Provenance
Edith J. Purrington, Edgartown, MA, (by 1963), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1963.
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