Overview: handles front and rear

Overview: handles right and left

Overview: handles left and right

Overview: handles oblique left front and oblique right rear

Overview: handles rear and front

Main panel: Helen and Aphrodite

Collection: Berlin, Antikenmuseen
Summary: Paris and Helen with Aphrodite and other goddesses
Ware: Attic Red Figure
Painter: Name vase of the Heimarmene Painter
Date: ca. 430 BC
Dimensions:

H. 18.0 cm.
Primary Citation: ARV2, 1173.1; Para, 459; Beazley Addenda 2, 339
Shape: Amphoriskos
Period: Classical

Condition:

The vase is in fair condition. The shoulder scene is better preserved. The scene on the body has suffered from pitting, encrustation and fracturing of the surface.

Decoration Description:

Paris and Helen. Helen's first meeting with Paris in Sparta. Helen sits on Aphrodite's lap, her head veiled like a bride's. She is deep in thought, her head bent and her eyes down. Aphrodite has her arm around Helen's shoulder. A woman stands behind Helen holding a small chest; she is Peitho, goddess of Persuasion. Aphrodite wears a peplos and a diadem, Peitho a peplos and sakkos. Helen wears a chiton and a mantle, the latter pulled up to cover her head. To the right of the central group, a naked, winged boy (Himeros or Desire) grasps the arm of a nude youth who must be Paris. A sword hangs on a strap across his chest and a long spear is propped against his left arm. He stands in a contraposto pose, his left hand resting casually on his hip, his eyes meeting Himeros'. There are four women to the left of the central group. The two closest to Helen and Aphrodite are Nemesis and a companion, who stand with their arms around each other. Nemesis, who wears a sakkos over her hair, points an accusing finger at Helen with her outstretched right hand. Both women wear chitons. Further left are two more women who stand facing one another conversing, seemingly disconnected from the central scene. There is a bird perched on the finger of the woman on the right, who wears a chiton and sakkos. The woman on the left wears a chiton and himation, which she pulls close around her. One of the women is identified as Heimarmene. Two Erotes fly on the shoulder of the vase.

Inscriptions:

By the seated women: *A*F*R*O*D[*I*T*E], Aphrodite. By the woman holding the chest: *P*E[*I]*Q[*O], Peitho. To the left: *N*E*M*E*S*I*S; [.]*U[.]*E. The first is Nemesis, the second has been interpreted in various ways ([*T]*U[*X]*E?). On the far left *E*I*M*A*R[*M*E*N*E], Heimarmene. On the right, by the winged youth: *I*M*E[*R*O*S], Himeros.

Sources Used:

Boreas 9 (1986) pl. 1.2-3; Gehrig et al. Führer, pl. 87.

Other Bibliography:

FR, pl. 170, 2 and iii, 313; Ghali-Kahil 1955, pl. 8, 2-3; RM. 47 pl. 7, 4; Neugebauer pl. 64.2; Beilefeld ZV. pl. 22 fig. 31; G.V. Celle 40, 183; EAA, iii, 1133; v, 405 fig. 533; vi, 78; Ant. Kunst 7, pl. 30, 4; Neumann 1965, 22-23; Greifenhagen 1968, figs. 17-20; Vogt literatur 339 above; LIMC, I pl. 383, Alexandros 45; Boardman 1989, fig. 308.