English: PLATE VIII

Gods and Giants

1. Ge rises from the earth as if to implore Poseidon to stay his hand as he thrusts his trident into the breast of her son, Polybotes.

2. In the centre of the picture Apollo, grasping his unstrung bow in his left hand, with his right hand drives his sword at Ephialtes, who defends himself with a spear. At the left, the armed Ares is pressing a spear-head into the breast of the falling Mimon, while at the right Hera endeavours to transfix Phoitos, who, though tottering backward, boldly continues fighting.

3. In the outer group at the right Athene is depicted trying to turn Enkelados to stone by holding before him the gorgoneion of her aegis, while at the same time she aims a lance at his breast. In the opposite group, Artemis appears in the act of burning Gaion with blazing torches, and in the centre, Zeus, marked by his sceptre, and Porphyrion are engaged in mutual combat, the one hurling a thunderbolt and the other a stone. From a red-figured kylix of the early fifth century b.c., in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Furtwängler-Reichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei, No. 127). See pp. 8-9.