This Attic pelike is an excellent example of the early Red-Figure Style of the Classical period. This wheel-made vase, a type of amphora, was used for wine or oil. The main decorative scene depicts a well-known mythological episode: Hercules defeats the servants of the Egyptian king Bousiris, who tried to sacrifice him in order to appease their god and get rid of the pest that plagued their land. The Africans are depicted bald and gesticulating wildly to convey their despair. This scene has intensity and drama, and the artist paid particular attention to the details and the architecture of the altar. This vase is attributed to the Pan painter, one of the most inventive and able vase-painters in Athens at the beginning of the 5th century BC.