P10.5 HERACLES WRESTLING TRITON
| Museum Collection | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
|---|---|
| Catalogue No. | Boston 62.1185 |
| Beazley Archive No. | - |
| Ware | Attic Black Figure |
| Shape | Hydria |
| Painter | Attributed to the Chiusi Painter |
| Date | ca. 520 B.C. |
| Period | Archaic |
DESCRIPTION
Heracles wrestles the fish-tailed god Triton. The deity has the head, arms and chest of a man with the serpentine-tail of a fish in place of a lower torso and legs. The hero wears a lion-skin cape and quiver strapped to his back. The wrestlers are flanked by Nereus, the old man of the sea, and his daughter Amphitrite or wife Doris. In this scene Triton is probably championing his grandfather Nereus who in myth Heracles sought to capture in search for the garden of the Hesperides. The key figures in this scene are labelled on a similar vase from the same period (see image P10.1).