Ancient Greek Art: Hypnos, Thanatos & the Body of Sarpedon

Hypnus & Thanatus, gods of sleep & death, lifting the body of Sarpedon | Greek vase, Athenian red figure calyx krater

"Send Thanatos (Death) to carry him away, and Hypnos (Sleep), who is painless." - Homer, Iliad 16.453

N12.1 HYPNOS, THANATOS & THE BODY OF SARPEDON

Museum Collection: Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA
Catalogue Number: New York 1972.11.10
Beazley Archive Number: 187
Ware: Attic Red Figure
Shape: Krater, calyx
Painter: Signed by Euphronios
Date: ca 515 BC
Period: Archaic

SUMMARY

The body of Sarpedon is carried away from the battlefield of Troy by the twin winged gods, Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death). The pair are depicted clothed in armour, and are overseen by Hermes Psykhopompos (Guide of the Dead). The scene appears in book 16 of Homer's Iliad:

"[Apollon] gave him [the dead Sarpedon] into the charge of swift messengers to carry him, of Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), who are twin brothers, and these two presently laid him down within the rich countryside of broad Lykia." - Homer, Iliad 16.681

ARTICLES Thanatos, Hypnos, Hermes