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Greek Mythology >> Galleries >> Greek Vase Paintings 5 >> O1.1

O1.1 HEPHAESTUS, EILEITHYIA, TETHYS & OCEANUS

Hephaestus, Eileithyia, Tethys & Oceanus | Attic black figure vase painting
DETAILS
Museum Collection British Museum, London
Catalogue No. London 1971,1101.1
Beazley Archive No. 350099
Ware Attic Black Figure
Shape Dinos
Painter Signed by Sophilos
Date ca. 580 - 570 B.C.
Period Archaic

DESCRIPTION

Detail of Hephaestus, Eileithyia, Tethys and Oceanus from a painting depicting the procession of gods attending the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.

The crippled god Hephaestus rides side-saddle on an ass, his seat is adorned with the head of a crane. Oceanus appears as a bull-horned man with the tail of a serpentine fish in place of legs. He holds a snake (or an eel) in one hand and a fish in the other. Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, and Tethys, the nurse of the gods, are unremarkable figures, although the latter appears to be an older woman with heavier facial features.

The deities are arranged in sympathetic groupings. Hephaestus is paired with the gods of the world-river where, according to myth, he dwelt after being cast from Olympus. Eileithyia and Tethys, as well as Artemis and the Moirae who precede them in the line (see image K16.1), are goddesses of childbirth and infants.

IMAGE DETAIL

Centaur Chiron | Attic black figure vase painting

Detail of the Titan Oceanus.

ARTICLES

Hephaestus, Eileithyia, Tethys, Oceanus

OTHER IMAGES

Thumbnail Athena, Artemis, Moirae

K16.1 Athena, Artemis, Moirae

Thumbnail Hermes, Apollo, Muses

K20.11B Hermes, Apollo, Muses

Thumbnail Ares, Aphrodite, Muses

K20.11A Ares, Aphrodite, Muses

Thumbnail Poseidon, Amphitrite, Charites

K21.3 Poseidon, Amphitrite, Charites

Thumbnail Zeus, Hera, Horae

K17.2 Zeus, Hera, Horae

Thumbnail Chiron, Themis, Hebe

K15.1 Chiron, Themis, Hebe

Thumbnail Dionysus, Demeter, Hestia, Iris

P21.8 Dionysus, Demeter, Hestia, Iris

Thumbnail Themis & Nymphs

T8.3 Themis, Nymphs

Thumbnail Hebe

K18.4 Hebe

Thumbnail Siren

O21.7 Siren