Calyx-krater (mixing bowl) with Telephos and Orestes

Telephos, wounded by Achilles’ spear, learned that only the weapon that caused the wound could cure it. Here he threatens to kill the child Orestes unless Orestes’ father, Agamemnon, persuades Achilles to help him; Agamemnon and Orestes’ mother, Clytemnestra, react with horror. Above them are the seer Calchas, Apollo, Hermes, and a woman. The figures’ names were added in white paint but are now mostly illegible. The vase is signed on the bottom step of the altar by Asteas, a prolific vase-painter who worked in Poseidonia (later called Paestum).