41 ATTIC BLACK-FIGURE NECK AMPHORA FROM THE LEAGROS GROUP Herakles holds the Erymanthian boar upside down on his left shoulder, scaring the daylights out of Eurystheus, who hides in a sunken storage jar (pithos), gesturing excitedly. Athena, on the right, looks on. Iolaos, Herakles’ companion, stands behind him at the far left. Reverse: Dionysos holding a kantharos. Flanking him are two maenads, both dancing away from the god but looking back and gesturing at him. Ca. 510-500 BC. H. 17 in. (43.2 cm.) Ex English collection; Patricia Kluge collection, Charlottesville, Virginia, acquired from Royal-Athena in 1990. Published: J. Eisenberg, One Thousand Years of Ancient Greek Vases, 1990, no. 29.
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The goddess Hera hated Herakles because he was the son of her husband Zeus and the mortal woman Alkmene. When it was fated that Herakles and Eurystheus would be born on the same day, and that the first-born would have dominion over the other and be king of Argos, Hera intervened to have Eurystheus born prematurely. Eurystheus was a spiteful weakling and envious of Herakles. It was he who set Herakles the Twelve Labors, one of which was to capture the vicious boar of Erymanthos. When the hero returned to Argos with the beast, Eurystheus was so terrified that he hid in a pithos. Herakles was a favorite subject of the Leagros Group. The heroic proportions and features are typical and, as usual, there is little wasted space.