Red-Figure Column Krater (Mixing Vessel): Apollo and Goddesses with Chariot (A); Komos (Revel) (B)

Since this column-krater is the most important of 12 vases painted by a Greek artist whose name is unknown, the great English vase expert, Sir John D. Beazley, named him (or her) the Cleveland Painter, after our city. Other vases by the Cleveland Painter are now in New York, Vienna, Paris, and Copenhagen, as well as museums in Greece and Italy. The chariot scene on the main side of the vessel is a divine one, as indicated by the presence of Apollo, identified by his lyre and laurel wreath. With him are three goddesses, probably his sister Artemis (facing him), together with Hera (wearing a crown and holding a scepter and libation dish), and Hebe, the daughter of Zeus and Hera, on her way to meet her future husband, Herakles.