Illustration
An Attic lekythos vase, c. 450 BCE. This type of vessel was used for storing fine oils and perfume and often dedicated in burials. Here, Charon is depicted, the boatman who ferried souls across the river Styx to Hades. To the right is Hermes, identified by his kerykeion or herald's staff and fulfilling one of his functions as guide to the dead. The white-slip background is a typical decoration for lekythoi. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
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This image was first published on Flickr.
Original image by Peter Roan. Uploaded by Mark Cartwright, published on 20 March 2013. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. This license lets others remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
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Lekythos Depicting Charon
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Rython in the Form of Charon
Cite This Work
APA Style
Roan, P. (2013, March 20). Attic Lekythos. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1120/attic-lekythos/
Chicago Style
Roan, Peter. "Attic Lekythos." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified March 20, 2013. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1120/attic-lekythos/.
MLA Style
Roan, Peter. "Attic Lekythos." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 20 Mar 2013. Web. 21 Feb 2025.
