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Lot Essay
The Konnakis Painter, who takes his name from an inscription on a fragment in Taranto, was the first to paint figures entirely in added colors against the black glaze of the vase, as seen prominently on this impressive krater.
The goddess Aphrodite cursed the women of Lemnos because they neglected her shrines and afflicted them with an evil smell. Because of this, the men of the island took up with their female slaves, seized from Thrace. Out of revenge, the women killed all their male relatives. Only Hypsipyle, the Queen of Lemnos, saved her father by placing him in hiding. When Jason and the Argonauts spent two years on Lemnos, he fathered two children with Hypsipyle and swore eternal fidelity to her, but upon sailing on to Colchis, he soon forgot his vows. Once Jason departed, the woman of Lemnos turned against their Queen for sparing her father, forcing her to flee the island. She was taken by pirates and later sold to Lycurgus, King of Nemea, who entrusted her with his son Archemoros. When the Argives marched against Thebes, they met Hypsipyle on their way and requested her aid in finding water. She left the child momentarily and when she returned, she discovered that he had been killed by a snake.
That Hypsipyle and Archemoros are depicted on this vase there can be no doubt on account of the identifying inscriptions. The subject is not common in Greek vase-painting, although the two are shown in similar fashion on Hellenistic relief bowls of circa 200 B.C. and on contorniates (bronze medallions) from the 4th century A.D. (see C. Boulotis, "Hypsipyle," LIMC, vol. VIII, nos. 13-14). A fragment of Euripides play, Hypsipyle, survives and this may have been the inspiration for the Konnaikis Painter. For a fragmentary Paestan red-figured calyx-krater depicting the death of Archemoros see p. 144, no. 242 in A.D. Trendall, The Red-figured Vases of Paestum, and for several Apulian red-figured volute-kraters depicting the dead Archemoros see nos. 8-10 in W. Pülhorn, "Archemoros," LIMC, vol. II.
The goddess Aphrodite cursed the women of Lemnos because they neglected her shrines and afflicted them with an evil smell. Because of this, the men of the island took up with their female slaves, seized from Thrace. Out of revenge, the women killed all their male relatives. Only Hypsipyle, the Queen of Lemnos, saved her father by placing him in hiding. When Jason and the Argonauts spent two years on Lemnos, he fathered two children with Hypsipyle and swore eternal fidelity to her, but upon sailing on to Colchis, he soon forgot his vows. Once Jason departed, the woman of Lemnos turned against their Queen for sparing her father, forcing her to flee the island. She was taken by pirates and later sold to Lycurgus, King of Nemea, who entrusted her with his son Archemoros. When the Argives marched against Thebes, they met Hypsipyle on their way and requested her aid in finding water. She left the child momentarily and when she returned, she discovered that he had been killed by a snake.
That Hypsipyle and Archemoros are depicted on this vase there can be no doubt on account of the identifying inscriptions. The subject is not common in Greek vase-painting, although the two are shown in similar fashion on Hellenistic relief bowls of circa 200 B.C. and on contorniates (bronze medallions) from the 4th century A.D. (see C. Boulotis, "Hypsipyle," LIMC, vol. VIII, nos. 13-14). A fragment of Euripides play, Hypsipyle, survives and this may have been the inspiration for the Konnaikis Painter. For a fragmentary Paestan red-figured calyx-krater depicting the death of Archemoros see p. 144, no. 242 in A.D. Trendall, The Red-figured Vases of Paestum, and for several Apulian red-figured volute-kraters depicting the dead Archemoros see nos. 8-10 in W. Pülhorn, "Archemoros," LIMC, vol. II.