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Lot Essay
The Seventh Labor of Herakles was the capture of the Cretan bull. King Minos had vowed to Poseidon that he would sacrifice whatever the god sent to him. Poseidon sent a bull, but finding the animal too fine to kill, the King sacrificed another instead. In anger the god caused the bull to rampage the island and for Minos' wife Pasiphae to fall in love with it, the Minotaur being born from the union. Eurystheus sent Herakles to capture the bull, which he subdued with a rope. The hero brought the animal to Tiryns, and no longer mad, it was allowed to roam free.
In Attic black-figure, the capture of the bull was a popular subject, and typically Herakles is shown subduing the bull with rope (see for example the amphora in Munich, Group of Würzburg 199, fig. 16.4 in R. Wünsche, et al., Herakles, Herkules). For examples where the hero subdues the bull by grabbing its horn or grasping it by the neck, as seen here, see nos. 2317-2325 in J. Boardman, "Herakles," in LIMC, vol. IV. The old man to the right is likely Minos, with Pasiphae and a daughter looking on.
In Attic black-figure, the capture of the bull was a popular subject, and typically Herakles is shown subduing the bull with rope (see for example the amphora in Munich, Group of Würzburg 199, fig. 16.4 in R. Wünsche, et al., Herakles, Herkules). For examples where the hero subdues the bull by grabbing its horn or grasping it by the neck, as seen here, see nos. 2317-2325 in J. Boardman, "Herakles," in LIMC, vol. IV. The old man to the right is likely Minos, with Pasiphae and a daughter looking on.