AN ATTIC BLACK-FIGURED NECK-AMPHORA

Sisyphos, the King of Ephyra (an older name for Corinth) was described by Homer in the Odyssey as the most cunning of men (Book II, 593-600).  For his trickery, he was punished by Hades, who condemned him to the Underworld where Sisyphos was compelled to roll a huge bolder up a hill in perpetuity, since the bolder would roll back down as soon as he neared the top.  The scene was only rarely depicted on vases.  For a list, which includes 10 other Attic neck-amphorae in addition to the present example, see J.H. Oakley, “Sisyphos I,” LIMC, pp. 783-784.  Here the gates of the Underworld are indicated by the two Doric columns, with Hermes standing to the left, gesturing towards Sisyphos to the right.  Cerberus, the hound of Hades, stands in between, with one head looking at the god, the other at Sisyphos.

The Kleophrades painter was named by Beazley from a potter’s signature on a red-figured cup painted in the Cabinet des Medailles, Paris.    He was one of the best red-figure vase-painters of the late Archaic period, a contemporary with the Berlin Painter.  In addition to red-figure, he also painted a large number of Panathenaic prize amphorae, which were always in black-figure.  Early in his career he also painted a small number of neck-amphorae in the older technique, as here.