This hydria depicts five heavily armored and mounted Amazons wearing Attic helmets and carrying long spears. The legendary nation of female warriors, the Amazons, is first mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, written in the 8th or 7th century BC. The Amazons also appear in the story of Herakles, the ninth of the hero’s labors, which required him to acquire the belt of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. The dynamic imagery on the vase, including the frieze of lions and fawns on the base, is similar to examples at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio. The artist’s signature is inscribed on the base of the vessel, “KARITHAIOS EPOIESEN” (Karithaios made this).
