Herakles the Hero
Joanne Hwei Ping Lim

Throughout classical antiquity, Herakles was one of the most widely depicted figures in art, and he became especially significant for the Greek world in the sixth century BCE, as is clear from the increasingly widespread representation of the hero. An example of one of these illustrations is seen on the black-figure skyphos by the "Theseus Painter" in the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, which dates around 500 BCE. After I have examined and described this particular vase, I will then go on to compare it with other vases which feature Herakles, and these vases have been chosen by carrying out a comprehensive search for images of such a class of pottery in the Perseus database. As a result, I am able to contextualize a museum object with which I have had direct contact simply by tapping into the pool of colored images conveniently stored in Perseus instead of having to draw my material from countless art books which do not always provide color photographs of the artifacts.

The skyphos in the Mount Holyoke College Museum shows similar scenes on both sides of the main body-that of a seated Herakles, accompanied by Athena and Hermes, and on either side, below the handles, are included two goat-like creatures. These scenes show Herakles at the end of his labors and his life on earth as a mortal. He is in fact the only one among the many heroes to undergo an apotheosis, thereby securing for himself a seat amidst the blessed immortals on Olympus.

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