Black Figure Amphora Essay

The Antimenes painter created a black figure Amphora featuring the fight between Herakles and Apollo c. 520-510 BCE. Although the artist doesn’t cover the entire story, the Amphora adequately represents the myth due to the artist’s depictions of the central figures of the myth. From the tripod locked in perpetual struggle between the two adversaries to the key details that identify the actors in this myth, the artist does an adequate job at representing the myth. The Amphora’s register featuring the myth of Herakles and Apollo was done in the black figure style. This technique is done in such a way that the main parts of the figures such as their body and accessories are mainly black. By selectively applying the slip used to turn the figures black however, it allowed them to incorporate very fine details such as the hair on Herakles’ lion

The tripod sits nuzzled underneath the arm of Herakles while Apollo is firmly holding its legs. The tripod itself was the source of the Oracle’s ability to create prophecies and after denying Herakles a prophecy on how to cure his disease he attempted to steal the tripod. His brother Apollo however, did not want Herakles to steal the prized tripod. The importance of the tripod in the portrayal of the myth comes from the fact that the clash between Herakles and Apollo is itself the climax of the myth. Shortly after the two begin fighting, Zeus splits the two a part and gives Herakles a solution to his problems. The incorporation of the tripod itself is what allows this scene to be directly translated to be the myth of Herakles and Apollo as opposed to say the myth of Herakles and the Bull. The tripod being fought over by two figures, one cloaked in the skin of a lion, the other dressed like a god are details that allow the viewer to make a connection between the legend and the