Black-Figure Ceramic Cup with the Myth of Heracles and Nereus

Drinking cup (skyphos) decorated in the black-figure technique. The central frieze of the vessel depicts the famous myth of Heracles (Hercules) and Nereus. The hero is shown in the act of wrestling with the sea god Nereus, who is represented with a serpent-like (or triton-like) body. On either side of the scene, two female figures—the Nereids, daughters of Nereus—flee in terror, glancing back over their shoulders. Among the Nereids, Amphitrite, Galatea, and Thetis, mother of the hero Achilles, can be identified.

The Attic skyphos illustrates Heracles confronting Nereus, the old sea god, in an episode connected with the quest for the Hesperides. According to the myth, Heracles needed to question Nereus, a marine divinity endowed with the powers of metamorphosis and prophecy, in order to learn the route to the Garden of the Hesperides. Only after a long and stubborn struggle did Heracles succeed in subduing the god and obtaining the desired information. This scene is of great significance, as it directly links the myth of Heracles and Achilles to the sanctuary of Hera Lacinia, evoking the ancient mythological traditions associated with this sacred place of Magna Graecia.