An Athenian Black-Figured Hydria

This hydria is restored from fragments with some parts missing, including a fragment of the upper wall at the right of the figured scene. Along the joins there is some repainting.

Stylistically the Otago hydria belongs to the peak of Athenian black figure vase painting, around 530 B.C.

On the shoulder of the vase, below a band of tongue pattern, two Greek warriors are fighting, while two Scythian archers run away to the outer edges of the scene. Of the Greeks, the warrior on the left wears a crested "Corinthian" helmet and is armed with a spear and round hoplite shield. His opponent wears a similar helmet, but its crest is carried high, and his shield is of the cut-out "Boeotian" form which is suggestive of the world of heroes rather than real life. It is not clear what function the Scythian archers serve other than of creating a neat framing device.

On the body of the vase, the figured panel presents the departure of the hero Herakles for Olympos, to receive his reward of immortality.

At the left the goddess Athena steps into a chariot alongside Herakles. Facing the pair is a woman, tentatively identified as the goddess Artemis, though she does not have any distinguishing attributes. But standing behind the horses are her brother Apollo, carrying a lyre, and bearded Dionysos, wearing a wreath, while at the horses' heads is the messenger god Hermes, denoted by his winged boots.

There is modern repainting in both scenes, notably on the Greek warriors on the shoulder, and on the heads of "Artemis" and Dionysos on the body.

It has been suggested that the theme of Herakles' departure for Olympos, accompanied by Athena in a chariot, had political symbolism. The Athenian tyrant Peisistratos is recorded to have regained power in Athens in the middle of the 6th century B.C. by the ruse of disguising an unusually tall woman as the goddess Athena, and having her accompany him in a chariot into Athens, thus giving the impression that the goddess herself supported his return.