Casket with Warriors in Combat
10th-11th Century CE, Byzantine Empire
The Walters Art Museum
On this casket, traditional representations of the Labors of Herakles (Hercules) have been transformed into scenes of curly-haired cupids engaged in various forms of military combat. The object thus gives us a good impression of the lighter, at times comical quality of Byzantine secular art. Such boxes were probably used to hold valuables or important documents.