Attic red-figure pelike, ca 480 BC, Rome, National Etruscan Museum of the Villa Giulia

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ

Attic red-figure pelike, ca 480 BC, Rome, National Etruscan Museum of the Villa Giulia.

How is old age (Geras) represented?  As a bald, emaciated, hunchback man with goatee beard, propping himself up on a wobbly staff. The scene depicts Hercules’ encounter with Geras, in the course of the former’s travels. The robust and handsome torso of the hero, who leans on a long club, functions as counterweight to the inevitable decrepitude that afflicts the body of mortals.

© Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia. Photograph: Mauro Benedetti