Lekythos with Philoktetes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, August 2008

Terracotta Squat Lekythos (oil flask)
Greek, Attic, red-figure, ca. 420 BC
Philoktetes on Lemnos

Accession # 56.171.58

The painter, as yet unidentified, has created an exceptionally expressive composition on this vase. It concerns Philoktetes, a Greek hero who inherited the arrows of Herakles, thus their prominence here. In the story of the Trojan War, these arrows were necessary for the conquest of the city. On the way from Greece, Philoktetes was bitten by a snake that caused such a painful and foul-smelling wound that he had to be left on the island of Lemnos. Philoktetes, downcast, sits under a barren tree and holds his bandaged foot- a picture of utter despondency. Ultimately, he will be rescued and healed.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.