Amphora Showing Heracles Battling the Nemean Lion

ca. 520 BCE

attributed to Antimenes (painter-potter in Athens)

The combat between Heracles (Hercules) and the Nemean lion, the first of his twelve labours, is seen in black figures on this krater. Attributed to the Antimenes Painter, the depiction captures the tension of the fight between the Greek hero and the supposedly invulnerable animal. After his victory, Heracles skinned the wild beast and inherited its strength and ferocity along with the pelt. This is a recurring theme in Greek art, sometimes interpreted as the triumph of civilisation over the wilderness embodied by the lion.

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