Object Image

Terracotta neck-amphora (jar)

On the body, obverse, Hippolytos, attendant, and Phaidra, with a Fury above

Reverse, two youths

On the neck, obverse and reverse, youth

The Ixion Painter drew on many sources, including drama and mythology, for his vases. The representation her shows Hippolytos, the son of the Athenian hero Theseus, and his step-mother, Phaidra, seated on the right. She fell in love with the youth, and when he repulsed her advances, she killed herself, leaving a letter incriminating Hippolytos. Theseus believed her allegations and was responsible for his son's death. The Fury here foreshadows the tragic fate of the protagonists. The playwrights Sophokles and Euripides treated the story.

Credit: Rogers Fund,...

Ca. 330–310 B.C.
Terracotta; red-figure
62.9 x 62.9cm
06.1021.239
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018

Where you'll find this

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection