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7.3: Death of Sarpedon (Euphronios Krater)

  • Page ID
    359639

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    Ancient Greek pottery featuring intricate designs, with figures depicted, set against a dark background.

    Artist: Euphronios (painter) and Euxitheos (potter)
    Medium: Red-figure ceramic
    Art Historical Time Period: Archaic Greek (ca. 515 BCE)

    The Death of Sarpedon is painted on a krater, a large bowl used to mix wine and water at Greek parties. The picture shows a scene from Greek mythology where the hero Sarpedon is carried by Sleep and Death, while Hermes watches. The Greeks made art like this to tell stories and show their love of myths and heroes.

    This krater was special because of its red-figure style, which allowed artists to add tiny details to the people and their clothes. The muscles and faces look very real, which was a new idea at the time. This style became very popular in Greek art and even influenced later Roman and Renaissance artists.

    Vocabulary

    • Red-figure A painting style where figures are red on a black background.

    Student Authors

    • Jasmine Casal ’25 and Stephanie Toval ‘25

    References and Image Attribution

    • Beazley, J.D. The Development of Attic Red-Figure. University of California Press, 1986.
    • Neer, Richard T. Greek Art and Archaeology: A New History. Thames & Hudson, 2011.
    • Osborne, Robin. Archaic and Classical Greek Art. Oxford University Press, 1998.
    • Image: “Euphronios Krater (8254576758)2” via Wikimedia Commons by Ismoon, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic. Modified from original

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