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Greek Mythology >> Galleries >> Greek Vase Paintings 1 >> K7.9

K7.9 THE BIRTH OF ATHENA

Birth of Athena | Attic black figure vase painting
DETAILS
Museum Collection British Museum, London
Catalogue No. London B424
Beazley Archive No. 301068
Ware Attic Black Figure
Shape Kylix, Little Master Lip
Painter Signed by the Phrynos Potter
Date ca 560 B.C.
Period Early Archaic

DESCRIPTION

Side A: Hephaestus splits open the skull of Zeus with a mallet to birth the goddess Athena from his head. The king of the gods is seated on a swan-backed chair and holds a lightning bolt in his hand. A miniature Athena springs from his head equipped with a shield. Hephaestus waves a hand in imitation of an Eileithyia (birth-goddess)and carries a two-headed mallet or axe.
Side B: The arrival of Heracles on Olympus (see other image).

ARTICLES

Athena, Zeus, Hephaestus

OTHER IMAGES

Thumbnail Heracles & Athena

H2.4 Heracles