Greek Red-Figure Column Krater Depicting Eos and Kephalos

During the 5th Century B.C., Athens was the nexus of a veritable Golden Age of artistic creation and intellectual enlightenment. In fact, most of the statues and buildings we now associate with ancient Athens were created during this dynamic period: the temples on the Acropolis, the Theater of Dionysus, and the Athenian Agora were all erected in this era. Painted onto the side of this vase, Eos, the goddess of dawn, pursues the hunter Kephalos, who carries two spears in his hands and wears his hat behind his head. Eos wears a belted chiton, disc earrings and a sakkos in her hair; Kephalos is dressed in a chlamys and has a fillet in his hair On the right, a bearded king clad in a himation stands holding a scepter; on the left, a youthful companion of Kephalos, wearing a himation and a wreath in his hair, runs away. The other side of the vessel depicts three youths who wear himations and have fillets in their hair. Similar vessels were believed to be used as cinerary urns, and surely this piece would have made a splendid memorial if that was the case