Greek, made in the province of Apulia, southern Italy (probably Tarentum)
The Darius Painter

Hades, god of the Underworld, with his wife Persephone next to him, shakes hands with Dionysos, god of wine and rebirth. This is the only known ancient image of Dionysos in the Underworld, perhaps interceding on behalf of his worshippers. The other figures, most of them labeled, are related to Dionysos: (on the left) Persis (a maenad, follower of Dionysos), Oinops (a satyr), and an unnamed maenad; (on the right) Aktaion (with antlers—he was turned into a stag), Pentheus (mistaken for a beast and ripped apart in a Dionysian ritual), Hermes (the messenger god who conducted souls to the Underworld), and Agave (Pentheus’ mother). Below the palace, a paniskos (playful imp of the forest) plays with Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the entrance of the Underworld.

Large, elaborately decorated vases like this one once furnished late 4th-century tombs of wealthy Greeks whose families had settled in the region of Apulia in southern Italy centuries before.

 

Wheel-thrown, slip-decorated earthenware with incised inscriptions, about 335-325 B.C.
Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, Florence Scott Libbey, and the Egypt Exploration Society, by exchange, 1994.19