Pottery spouted 'krater' (large bowl), solar cross

European Museums, The British Museum

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Prechristian cross inside a circle on a pottery spouted 'krater'

Pottery spouted 'krater'

(large bowl)

Greek, Athenian Geometric,

735-720 B.C. (LGIIa)

From Thebes

The scene shows a man grasping a woman by the wrist as he turns towards a ship with two rows of oarsmen. This may be an early representation of myth; for example, Theseus fleeing Crete with Ariadne, or Paris abducting Helen, the ultimate cause of the Trojan  War.

If the female figure is Ariadne, she may be holding the crown of light with which she illuminated the labyrinth in some versions of the myth. If she is Helen, then the two charioteers seen on the other side of the bowl along with a mounted horseman could be her brothers, Kastor and Plydeukes.

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Supplementary images:

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Pre-Christian cross inside a circle on a potrry spouted 'krater'

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Source:  London, United Kingdom