the era between the end of the Mycenaean age and the beginning of the Classic age. Greek society was marked then by tribal hereditary power and a growing land-owning aristocracy. The worship of particular gods in certain sacred places united Greeks of different tribes and cities through common sacrifices and common competitive games. The Geometric style reached its apex about the time of this krater, and the largest and most characteristic vases came from the area of the Dipylon Gate. These kraters served as sacrificial vessels and as tomb-monuments (Kjellberg and Saflund 53-55).
Greek relief sculpture differs from that of Egypt in that Egyptians tend to present historical figures in their sculpture, while the Greeks tend to present mythical events in their narrative reliefs and in so doing commemorate historic events indirectly. Schefold notes the mythic nature of certain Greek reliefs and cites as an instance the three-figure reliefs showing Orpheus and Eurydice, Medea and the daughters of Pelias, Theseus and Peirithous, and Heracles among the Hesperides. They came into existence one by one between 420 and 405 B.C. They may have been set up for the altar of the Twelve Gods in the marketplace of Athens. The Orpheus relief is the most perfect three-figure composition and "could only have been carved at that moment, about 420, when the double rhythm in the construction of the figure allowed each to be linked with two others. With the release from the class
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