'Underworld' at the Getty Villa

“Underworld: Imagining the Afterlife,” was an exhibit at the Getty Villa in 2018. One of the masterpieces is a krater from Altamura, Italy, dated about 350 B.C. It is almost 6 feet tall and would have been made for a high status individual. The exhibit provided a lens into the underworld during that period.

Grave relief fragment with Danaids, Persephone and Hades, Hermes and Herakles, late 4th century B.C. Gold burial offerings were intended to help the deceased navigate the afterlife.

Storage Jar with Sisyphus and the Uninitiated, about 525 BC

Orpheus emerges as a central figure. Orpheus traveled to the underworld to retrieve his wife, Eurydice. The quest did not turn out well for Orpheus, but he returned from the Underworld, a feat that made him a hero.

Weeping Siren, about 350 - 325 B.C.