Black-figured Amphora (Storage Vessel) (Primary Title)
attributed to a painter of, Group E, Greek, active 560 - 540 BC (Artist)
The goddess Athena was miraculously born out of the head of Zeus, king of the gods. In the 7th century, the poet Hesiod wrote that Zeus swallowed his first consort, Metis, wisest of gods and men, because of a prophecy that she could bear a son who would overthrow him. Metis was already pregnant with Athena, who sprang fully grown and armed from Zeus’s head. In many versions of the story, Zeus’s headache is so severe that he asks the blacksmith god Hephaistos to split his skull open with an ax.
Dipinto on underside of foot: see file for drawing.
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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