The Sarpedon Krater

Once the pride of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Sarpedon krater is a wine-mixing bowl crafted by two Athenians, Euxitheos (who shaped it) and Euphronios (who decorated it), in the late 6thc BC. The moving image Euphronios created for the krater, depicting the stricken Trojan hero Sarpedon being lifted from the battlefield by ‘Sleep’ (Hypnos) and ‘Death’ (Thanatos), was to have an influence that endured well beyond Antiquity.

Nigel Spivey not only explores the vibrant Athenian civilization that produced the krater, but also reveals how its motifs were elaborated in later Greek art and in the Christian iconography of the Renaissance.

He tells the story of a small object, once consigned to the obscurity of an Etruscan tomb – yet a work of art whose influence extends far beyond its size and former confinement. The Sarpedon Krater is a fascinating case-study of the deep classical roots of the ideas and iconography of western art.