The exact date and place of its facture are unknown. There is also a warrior wearing only one sandal, whose identity is disputed: Pentheus, Lycurgus of Thrace or perhaps Jason? On the belly, the frieze in relief, 32.6 cm tall, is devoted to the divinities Ariadne and Dionysus, surrounded by satyr and maenads of the Bacchic thiasos, or ecstatic retinue.

The top part of the krater is decorated with motifs both ornamental (gadroons, palm leaves, acanthus, garlands) and figurative: the top of the neck presents a frieze of animals and most of all, three-dimensional satyrs are casually seated on the shoulders of the vase, in a pose foreshadowing that of the Barberini Faun. The vase is composed of two leaves of metal which were hammered then joined, although the handles and the volutes (scrolls) were cast and attached. It contained 1968.31 g of burnt bones belonging to a man aged 35-50 and a younger woman. It was previously devoted to producing a mixture of wine, undrinkable by itself, water, and undoubtedly various spices the drink then being ladled out and distributed to fellow banqueters at ritual or festive celebrations. Weighing 40 kg, it is composed of a special alloy composed of bronze and tin in skillfully chosen amounts, which allows it to display a superb golden sheen without using the slightest bit of gold.Īt the time of its discovery, the krater was serving as a funerary urn for an aristocratic Thessalian whose name is engraved on the vase: Astiouneios, son of Anaxagoras, of Larissa. The Derveni krater is a volute-krater, the most elaborate of its type, discovered in 1962 in a tomb at Derveni, not far from Thessaloniki it is conserved at the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum.

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