hroughout the history of Ancient Greece, many great works were produced such as statues, buildings and especially pottery. The Black-figure Neck Amphora featured at the Tampa Museum of Art depicts the mythological scene of Herakles battling the Amazon showcases the art style of the period. This large amphora originates from Vulci, Italy made in 520 BC dating from the Late Archaic period. The black-figure technique was developed around 700 BCE originated in Corinth, Greece. This difficult process of creating a black-figure pottery involves placing the clay in a kiln, or a heated oven resulting in the black color that is seen on those vases. This process also includes a liquid clay called a slip which is applied to areas that we not become black. …show more content…
The scene depicted on this Greek vase shows the mythology of the twelve labors of Herakles, son of Zeus and his mistress Queen Alcmene of Theben. Herakles was driven into madness by his stepmother Hera and killed his wife and children. He was punished by King Eurystheus and had to complete his twelve orders. His first task was to defeat the Neamean, Herakles skinned him and wore his fur as a cape. For his ninth labor, Herakles was ordered to get the belt of Hippolyte the Amazonian Queen. The Amazons were powerful female warriors who secluded themselves from men going as far as to keeping their daughters and killing their sons. Herakles was not able to fight them alone so his friends and nephew sailed with him to the Land of Amazons in Thermodon on the Black Sea. Hippolyte came to greet them and asked why they came to her land. Herakles explained that he needed the belt and she promised it to him however, Hera the queen of Gods did not want him to get it that easily so she disguised herself as an Amazonian warrior. Hera warned the Amazonian army that strangers were going to kidnap their queen Hippolyte and decided to retaliate, Herakles was stalked by the ambush, drew his sword and killed Hippolyte then took her