Four non-joining fragments of rim and neck, P 25978 a preserving the spiral of one handle, P 28759 with start of shoulder. Two small fragments (P 25978 b and c) give a bit of the flange of a handle and part of the inside of the neck opposite the handle on P 25978 a. P.H. of P 25978 a to rim 0.107; to top of handle 0.17; est. diam. at rim 0.38; max. dim. b) 0.078, c) 0.087, P 28759: 0.145. H. A. Thompson, Hesperia 27, 1958, pl. 45:b (fragment a); Schleiffenbaum, Volutenkrater, p. 324, cat. no. V 205; LIMC VII, 1994, p. 937, no. 185, s.v. Theseus.

A, Theseus(?) and the Marathonian Bull. At the far left of P 25978 a, next to the handle zone, there is a Doric column, then in front of it a youth to right, wrapped in a cloak and holding a stick in his right hand, not quite sitting on a block stool. He looks at a youth, who is almost down on one knee to right, a cloak over his outstretched left arm and a spear in his lowered right hand. Then, separated by a tree, comes Theseus(?), who has a club made from a stout branch. Around the head of each figure is a wreath. The bull (hindquarters missing) is down on one knee to left. Above, on the right, another tree. On side of mouth, key pattern to left; on lower zone of neck, encircled palmettes in black glaze to right. Ivy on flanges of handles. P 28759 comes from Side B (the lines of glaze on the inside indicate this). It preserves a youth (head, left shoulder and arm, right knee and most of right foot missing), kneeling to left, torso in back view, a club in his right hand. On the right, the rim and bowl of a krater standing on the ground, overlapping a figure (drapery over lower legs, feet) seated to left. Below, more of the palmette pattern. Preliminary sketch. Relief contour. Incised line for hair contour. Dilute glaze: muscles; folds of flesh on bull's neck. Red: wreaths; leaves of trees; hearts of palmettes; edge of each handle flange; band on inside below rim and at bottom of neck, line at outer and inner edge of rim and top side of spiral.

Whether the youth with the bull is Herakles or Theseus cannot be determined without an attribute. The stick held by the youth does not really resemble the club of Herakles, which normally tapers to a fine grip, its opposite end stout and heavy. The nudity of the youth seems more suitable for Theseus, although on many occasions Herakles appears nude, even in a scene where he captures the Cretan Bull (see Basel, Antikenmuseum und Sammlung Ludwig BS 488 by the Delos Painter, on which the hero's name is inscribed: ARV2 172, 4; Addenda 184; there he restrains the beast as it leaps forward). The reason for opting to identify the youth on 234 tentatively as Theseus, as others have done (see below), is chiefly because Theseus and the Marathonian Bull is a far more popular subject in the late 6th and early 5th centuries than the corresponding exploit of Herakles. For the subject, see Heldensage³ 254--257 (red-figured examples, where 234 is cat. no. 70); J. Neils, The Youthful Deeds of Theseus [Archaeologia 76], Rome 1987, passim, but esp. p. 154, cat. no. 9 and p. 56 for 234); and F. Brommer, Theseus: Die Taten des griechischen Helden in der antiken Kunst und Literatur, Darmstadt 1982, pp. 27--34; LIMC VII, 1994, pp. 936--938, s.v. Theseus (J. Neils).

For encircled palmettes on the necks of red-figured volute-kraters, cf. the following, all in the upper zone and all in reserve, not black glaze: one by the Nikoxenos Painter, Munich 2381 (ARV2 221, 14; Addenda 198); another akin to him, Toronto 959.17.187 (ARV2 223, ---, 2; Paralip. 346, 2); two by the Karkinos Painter: New York, M.M.A. 59.11.20 (ARV2 224, 1) and New York, M.M.A. 21.88.74 (ARV2 224, 2; Addenda 198).

234 probably belongs among those vases akin to the Nikoxenos Painter rather than those by the painter himself or in his manner. The drawing of the figures and drapery is much simpler on the Agora vase when compared with figures by the Nikoxenos Painter, even smaller ones that are set in a frieze: e.g., Munich 2381; Oxford G. 136.36 and 40 (ARV2 221, 15); London, B.M. E 160 (ARV2 222, 19); and Würzburg 531 (ARV2 222, 25). The figures on 234 lack the double vertical line separating the pectoral muscles and the three-dimensional drapery folds that are an essential part of the Nikoxenos Painter's style. The column with the top-heavy capital is best paralleled on Athens, N.M. 1425 (ARV2 223, 6; Paralip. 346, 6), which is akin to the painter.