03/10/2026
A real masterpiece!
The Derveni Krater, exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, is one of the most elaborate metal vessels from ancient Greece yet discovered.
Found in 1962 in an undisturbed Macedonian tomb of the 4th century BCE at Derveni, not far from Thessaloniki, the krater is a tour de force of highly sophisticated methods of bronze working.
Weighing 40 kg, it was made of bronze with a high tin content of 15%, which endows it with a superb golden sheen without the use of any gold at all!
It is most unusual to find much figural decoration on the bodies of substantial Greek bronze vessels of the Archaic and Classical periods.
The krater was discovered buried, and though originally made for w**e and symposiums, it was reused as a funerary urn for a Thessalian aristocrat whose name is engraved on the vase: Astiouneios, son of Anaxagoras, from Larissa.
The funerary inscription on the krater reads: ΑΣΤΙΟΥΝΕΙΟΣ ΑΝΑΞΑΓΟΡΑΙΟΙ ΕΣ ΛΑΡΙΣΑΣ, meaning: “Astiouneios, son of Anaxagoras, from Larisa.”
It is dated between 370-320 BCE and is composed of two metal leaves which were hammered and then joined, although the handles and their volutes (scrolls) were cast and attached.
The main alloy used is copper and tin, and it gives it its golden color, but at various points, the decoration is worked with different metals as overlays or inlays of silver w**e leaves, copper, bronze, and other base metals.
Snakes with copper and silver inlaid stripes frame the rising handles, wrapping their body around masks of underworld deities.
On the shoulder sit four cast bronze figures: on one side a youthful Dionysos with an exhausted maenad and a sleeping Silenos, and a maenad handling a snake on the other.
The main front scene represents the mythological wedding of god Dionysos and Ariadne, the Cretan princess, while the wedding party celebrations have started around the krater with Dionysos' followers dancing and drinking in ecstasy.
Kraters (mixing bowls) were used to mix undiluted w**e with water and, most likely, various spices as well. The drink was then ladled out to fellow banqueters at ritual or festive celebrations.
When excavated, the Derveni krater contained cremated bones that belonged to a man aged 35 to 50 and to a younger woman.
To see the rest of this amazing tomb's treasures, you have to visit the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum on a guided tour.
There's much more in gold, silver, and bronze there!
