The Sosibios Vase is a Neo-Attic marble krater of the Hellenistic period. [1] It is attributed by signature to Sosibios, a Greek sculptor who was active in Rome during the end of the Roman Republic, and is dated to approximately 50 BCE. It is Sosibios' only known work. [1]
The krater, which stands at 78 cm. in height, is a marble adaptation of a type of metal vessel known from the late fifth century BCE (e.g. The Derveni Krater). [1] It is decorated with a relief depicting Artemis and Hermes standing by an altar and presiding over a Bacchic procession of several maenads. [1] Hermes is wearing a chlamys and bearing the caduceus. Artemis appears in her role as the huntress with a quiver on her back, a bow in her right hand, and a deer hoof in her left. [1] The maenads are shown dancing to music, and are accompanied by a dancing satyr, and an armed warrior and Apollo, playing the cithara. [1]
The artist's signature, reading "by Sosibios the Athenian," is engraved on the plinth of the altar. [2]
The vase was part of the royal collection of Louis XIV from 1692, but entered the Louvre in 1797 after becoming confiscated property under the Revolution. [1] It is presently still housed in the Louvre.
The English poet John Keats traced an engraving of the Sosibios Vase after seeing it in Henry Moses's A Collection of Antique Vases, Altars, Paterae. [3] His 1819 poem Ode on a Grecian Urn is presumed to have been partially inspired by this work. [4]