| Red-figure Amphora | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The vase on display among other Greek antiquities in the Louvre | |
| Material | Ceramic |
| Created | between 410 and 400 BCE |
| Present location | Louvre Museum |
Thegigantomachy by the Suessula Painter is a painting on a red-figureamphora from theClassical period of Greece. It is the work of the Suessula Painter, an Athenian vase-painter whose name is unknown. He worked in bothCorinth andAthens and is recognizable by his style, with great freedom of posture and a unique shading of figures. Created around 410–400 BCE, this notable example ofred-figure pottery stands 69.5 cm tall, 32 cm wide.
This vase is separated in registers, with the largest register encircling the belly of the amphora being the only one decorated with mythological scenes; the one below is empty and the one above is simply covered in floral motifs. The vase differs in its two sides; both represent theGigantomachy, the fight between the Giants, Gaïa's sons and the Olympian gods, accompanied byHerakles. The first side is much more elaborated than the second one, leading specialists to believe it might be a reproduction of the Gigantomachy ofPhidias depicted inside the shield of the Parthenon Athena.[1]
On the A side, one can seeZeus ready to hit a Giant identified asPorphyrion[2] with his lightning bolt, next toNike on a chariot run by horses, whileDionysus' chariot one is run by panthers.Poseidon is on the same side, on the back of a horse.Athena and Herakles – with his leonte, the skin ofNemean lion, killed for his first labor – are fighting side by side, under Nike's carriage. Around them, and recognizable by their varying attributes areApollo,Artemis, andHermes. They all are fighting giants, recognizable by the fact that they are not wearing any kind of clothes.
On the less intricate B side, a reproduction of the shield, is the rest of that Gigantomachy scene, withAres andAphrodite on a chair in the middle.Demeter,Persephone,Hekate, and theDioskouroi are also present and fighting the Giants.
The painting was made by an Athenian artist at the peak of Athenian imperialism over the Greek world after winning theGreco-Persian wars and taking control of the treasury of theDelian League. Representations of Gigantomachy,Centauromachy, orAmazonomachy were quite common during theHigh Classical Period: depictions of theOlympian gods triumphing over outsider societies were a metaphor of the Athenian victory over the Persians, and their subsequent supremacy over Greece.[3]