The Apotheosis of Heracles or the Apobates race? Revisiting a bell crater from La Loma del Escorial de Los Nietos (Cartagena, Murcia)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to assess the traditional iconographic identification of the obverse of a 4^th century Greek bell crater from the Iberian site of La Loma del Escorial de Los Nietos (Cartagena, Murcia). The scene has been identified as an apotheosis of Heracles. Nevertheless, a detailed analysis of its iconography and of a feature neglected in the previous study of the vase by its excavators —the remains of a shield— make it possible to argue in favor of an apobates race instead —the only scene of this type attested in the Iberian Peninsula. I present here an analysis of both iconographic motifs —the apotheosis of Heracles and the apobates race— that will reveal interesting findings on the ways in which images and iconographic types acquire meaning. It also sheds light on the kind of images favored by the receptors of these vases in the Peninsula — the Iberians. An up-to-date catalogue of Attic vases depicting each theme is included.