Agora Object: Agora XXX, no. 238
Chronology:   Ca. 460 B.C.
Deposit:   B 15
Published Number:   AV 30.238
References:   Object: P 14729
Four non-joining fragments, a -- c of shoulder, d of neck. Glaze misfired slightly on tongue pattern on fragment a. From a very large krater. Max. dim. a) 0.127, b) 0.15, c) 0.089, d) 0.093. G. Schwarz, Triptolemos, p. 42, cat. no. V 74, pl. 10, fig. 17:a, b (fragments a and b); Prange, Niobidenmaler, p. 157, cat. no. A 2; Schleiffenbaum, Volutenkrater, p. 323, cat. no. V 200; Hayashi, Triptolemosbildes, p. 142, cat. no. 59.

Triptolemos. Fragment a preserves the upper part of Zeus' face and wreathed head, the god facing to left. Above hishead:

Before him are the flames of Demeter's torch, which she has shouldered, and to the left:

Above, tongue pattern on the shoulder at the junction with the neck. Fragment b shows most of the head, neck, and shoulders of Demeter, dressed in a chiton and standing to left. A straight line at the break indicates that she wore a fillet or a stephane. In front of her is a bit of the scepter (shaft) and a small branch held in one hand by Triptolemos and part of the phiale held in the other, presumably the right. Fragment c comes from the far left of the composition. It preserves a little of the tongue pattern around the handle root (these tongues are shaped differently from those on the shoulder at the junction with the neck) and a bit of an encircled palmette with its tendril. At the right, part of Athena's right shoulder and arm covered by the scaly aegis. Fragment d (not illustrated), from the neck, preserves at the left part of one foot and the lower border of a chiton of a figure to right, then the shaft of something or perhaps the trunk of a tree(?). Preliminary sketch. Relief contour. Dilute glaze: muscles; hair over Zeus' forehead and temple. Red: flames of torch; inscriptions.

That fragment d is from the neck of the krater is shown by these features: its bottom surface is smooth where it sheared off from the shoulder; the leftmost tongue on fragment a is complete at the top, and the distance from it to the inside of the neck is comparable to the lower thickness of fragment d.

For the subject, see 229. Of the three categories of this theme recognized by Dugas (Mélanges Rome 62, 1950, pp. 9--31, reprinted in Recueil Charles Dugas, Paris 1960, pp. 123--139), the scene on 238 belongs in the second category (the departure for the mission) and is one of six by the Altamura Painter. For a brief discussion of these, see Schwarz, Triptolemos, pp. 114--116; Prange, Niobidenmaler, p. 79. Schwarz (Triptolemos, p. 42, cat. no. V 74 and p. 116) has misunderstood fragments a and b and omits fragment c. She did not observe the inscription naming Zeus and thus calls him Triptolemos; nor did she notice the flames of Demeter's torch painted below her name; the goddess on fragment b is not identified and the scepter, branch, and phiale are not linked with Triptolemos but merely mentioned. For Demeter with the torch against her shoulder, see the figure of her in the Triptolemos scene on the calyx-krater in Lyons by the Altamura Painter, E 120 (ARV2 591, 24; Prange, Niobidenmaler, p. 164, cat. no. A 33). 238 must have been one of the grandest of the Triptolemos scenes, resplendent with two Olympians who are almost never present in this mythological illustration. For Zeus, see the representation by Makron on his skyphos in London (B.M. E 140: ARV2 459, 3; Paralip. 377, 3; Addenda 243), on which the god's name is inscribed just as it is on 238; Athena appears in one of the very earliest examples, Reggio 4001, which is probably by Exekias himself, not in his manner (ARV2 147, 6; Paralip. 61, 6; Addenda 41; Schwarz, p. 29, cat. no. V 1).

The Altamura Painter (ARV2 589, 2).