On the inward side of each handle on the Francois vase is painted a Gorgon. On the outside of each handle is painted the Mistress of the Beasts, and below her, at the bottom of the handle, the strongman Ajax bearing the body of Achilles. The hollow volute shape of the handles would allow poles to be inserted through them - probably the only way such a large (over two-feet tall) krater could be lifted and carried by two slaves once it was filled with wine mixed with water. A Gorgon was often painted on vases used to mix and serve wine, as well as on the bottoms of wine cups - probably as an "apotropaic" image designed to ward off evil from the drinkers - evils such as bad, unmixed and undiluted, or even poisoned, wine? Just as drinkers today often start by drinking to each other's health.

The Gorgon's skin, as well as her tunic, is painted red, like the volutes on the handle and the skin of Ajax and Achilles - which is odd, since the skin of other female figures on the vase, such as the Mistress of the Beasts, is painted white in the traditional manner. She also has a beard. So, like the Bearded Lady in a circus sideshow, she may be an androgynous concoction?

For a closer look at this Gorgon, here is a fine old German black-and-white drawing of her:



The highly stylized curves of the wings on this Gorgon, which echo the curves on the volute handle as well as the vase itself, are quite old. Curiously, they are not duplicated on the wings of the Gorgon on the other handle, which have a more modern-looking V-shape like the wings of the Gorgon on the later red-figure amphora below. Even more curiously, no wings at all seem to have existed on the stone Gorgon that was carved a decade earlier on the pediment of the Temple of Artemis on the island of Corfu, which seems to have served as the archetype, if not the prototype, for how the Gorgon was portrayed. (For more pictures of this Gorgon, click HERE)



This 10-foot- tall stone Gorgon was placed on the pediment above the western entrance to guard the temple and its treasures. To repel thieves and unwelcome intruders, as in the Francois Gorgon the upper half of her body is twisted 90 degrees to confront the viewer, while the bottom half is seen in profile, with the legs spread wide in a half-kneeling position - the conventional pose to show a running figure. But the resulting pose sends a mixed signal: Is this monster confronting and menacing us? Or is she running away?

Since the Corfu temple (590 to 580 BC) was dedicated to Artemis, there may have been a close relationship (some even say identity!) between Artemis and the Gorgon - hence a possible link between them both and the Mistress of the Beasts, who is painted just below the Gorgon on the Francois handles (570 BC). Both the Francois Gorgon and its Mistress of the Beasts have the same archaic curved wings. Though the Corfu temple Gorgon seems not to have had wings on her shoulders, she seems to have wings on her boots or feet. Her beard, if that's what's under her chin, is also much shorter than it is on the Francois vase.

The Mistress of the Beasts on one of the Francois vase handles holds up two lions, or a lion and a lioness, and the Gorgon on the Artemis temple at Corfu is placed between two guardian lions or lionesses. Like the Mistress of the Beasts, she also carries or holds up two creatures. Though all these creatures are omitted in the drawing, photos of the restored pediment show her holding her two sons, the winged horse Pegasus (now lost but known from similar reliefs) and the boy Chrysaos (Golden Sword), both born from Medusa's rape by Poseidon. For before she was turned into a hideous snake-haired monster by a jealous Athena, Medusa was a lovely but vain and foolish girl who boasted of her beauty and her golden locks.

By the time Kleitias painted the Francois vase, the Gorgon he knew had long since morphed into three sisters, one of whom was the mortal Medusa. Whether he meant his Gorgon to be seen as Medusa is not clear. But others often depicted the Gorgon as Medusa, and even showed her being pursued and beheaded by Perseus. Here's one of them, a red-figure amphora from about 490 BC. First, Medusa fleeing. Note, once again, Medusa's strangely static pose as she turns, but only from the waist up, to directly face the viewer. Don't look too long, or too directly back at her, however, or you might be turned to stone.



Now Perseus, pursuing. Note Perseus' sun hat (petasos) worn by travellers, but this one, lent by Hades, is magical, making its wearer invisible; his winged sandals, lent to him by Hermes; his lion skin, lent by Herakles; and his curved sickle to cut off Medusa's head, and a sack to carry it in. Since this scene is on the opposite side of the vase from that of Medusa fleeing, some have suggested the vase is two-faced or ambiguous, so that as one turns it one can see Medusa chasing Perseus, as well as vice versa. This seems to me perverse, though I suppose one could imagine while turning it that Perseus is being pursued in turn by one of Medusa's two sister Gorgons?