The Trojan Ketos on the Hesione Vase: Iconography, Paleogeography, and Osteology

This archaeological note proposes that the animal skull appearing on the Hesione Vase (Museum of Fine Arts Boston 63.420) and often identified as a Miocene giraffid belongs to an equid. The imagery of the sixth-century BCE vase is examined in relation to the iconographic tradition of the Lernaean Hydra and the ketos (sea monster). The paleogeography of the Corinthia and comparative osteology of the skull are considered. The possibility is raised that the skull belongs to a Plio-Pleistocene hipparionine equid, discovered in the Corinthia during clay collection in antiquity.