formerly Astarita Collection
circa 560 BC
height cm 43
cat. 35525

The mission of Menelaus and Ulysses to Troy to obtain the return of Helen, the failure of which negotiations will lead to the Trojan War, is illustrated on this late-Corinthian krater (a vase used in banquets for mixing wine and water). The two heroes, with the herald Talthybios, sit on the large steps of an altar of the shrine of Athena and are received by the priestess Theano, wife of Antenor, accompanied by three handmaids and by a procession of horsemen, perhaps composed of her own sons.