Iconographic considerations on the fragmentary krater Altamura, MAN, 10190 (Tomb 1, AGIP)

Abstract

The iconographic study of the fragments of the volute-krater of Altamura was carried out through the comparison with scenes depicted in Apulian vase painting, in Greek sculpture and painting. The battle scene between a Greek knight and two oriental infantrymen, which finds a marked similarity with a painting decorating the Kinch Tomb in Lefkadia, suggests the existence of a further pictorial model in addition to those of Philoxenus of Eretria and Apelles hypothesized for the representation of the subject. The Underworld Painter, who was the author of the krater, could have drawn from pictorial and sculptural prototypes, made in the Greek territory, to compose a figurative apparatus aimed at exalting the superiority of the Greek civilization over the eastern enemy.