DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4762#0017
12 CATALOGUE OF VASES.
revival of tragedy which took place, as has been said, in Southern Italy in
the third century B.C. While the actors sought for new interpretations of
the old characters and incidents, they also strove to retain the lofty manner
and large style of the old plays, the effect being something like an approach to
caricature. This may also in some measure explain the fondness for burlesques
of tragedies that prevailed among the farce-writers of the period.
We have thus traced the very great influence that was exercised in more
than one direction by the drama on the vase-paintings of the period, and seen
how the old heroic myths were almost entirely supplanted by new conceptions
involving opportunities for the display of emotion, such as the tragedies of
Euripides could supply. The most popular sources from which these subjects
are drawn are the taking of Troy or the story of Thebes, and such myths as
those of Pelops, Hippolytos, Actaeon, Perseus, Pentheus, and Lycurgos. We
possess two large vases (F 160 and F 278) on which the taking of Troy is
depicted in several scenes, while the single subject of Ajax seizing Cassandra
frequently occurs, as on F 209. Many entirely new myths are introduced at
this period, such as the curious and unique subject which occurs on the hydria
F 155, representing Agrios captured by Oineus, or the representation of the
bull-headed Dionysos on F 194, and the two vases (F 149 and F 193) with
Alcmene on the funeral pile delivered by Zeus from the rage of Amphitryon.
The favourite heroes of the two earlier phases of vase-painting, Heracles
and Theseus, have almost entirely disappeared, perhaps owing to the fact that
they would not possess the same attraction for an inhabitant of Capua or
Tarentum as for an Athenian or Corinthian. We do not possess a single vase
of this period on which Theseus occurs ; Heracles is sometimes seen being
conveyed by Nike to Olympos, but in none of the other scenes so common
on black-figured vases. The Judgment of Paris remains a popular subject
throughout the history of vase-painting, but scenes from the Gigantomachia
become rare, while the Birth of Athene and Peleus wrestling with Thetis arc
now quite unknown. Combats of Greeks with Centaurs or Amazons are
common, but frequently merely as decorative motives on the necks of vases.
Dionysiac scenes are very frequent, but few are of any interest. The game of
cottabos is often introduced in symposia (as on F 37 and F 273), but is not so
common as on purely red-figured vases. A peculiar feature of this period is
the almost universal presence of Eros. Whether the scene be mythological,
Dionysiac, or one of daily life, he appears as an almost essential part of the
conception, especially on the Apulian vases, where he takes an androgynous
form (see later, p. 21). On the smaller Apulian vases the subject is almost
invariably an Eros, as on the series of rhyta and canthari (F 420-443).
Scenes from daily life are perhaps more common than mythological
subjects. On the reverse of the craters and amphorae (with the exception of
the finer examples), and of other vases with double subjects, the invariable rule
is to represent a group of youthful athletes or ep/tebi wrapped in mantles, and
generally conversing together; the usual number is two or three. A strigil,
revival of tragedy which took place, as has been said, in Southern Italy in
the third century B.C. While the actors sought for new interpretations of
the old characters and incidents, they also strove to retain the lofty manner
and large style of the old plays, the effect being something like an approach to
caricature. This may also in some measure explain the fondness for burlesques
of tragedies that prevailed among the farce-writers of the period.
We have thus traced the very great influence that was exercised in more
than one direction by the drama on the vase-paintings of the period, and seen
how the old heroic myths were almost entirely supplanted by new conceptions
involving opportunities for the display of emotion, such as the tragedies of
Euripides could supply. The most popular sources from which these subjects
are drawn are the taking of Troy or the story of Thebes, and such myths as
those of Pelops, Hippolytos, Actaeon, Perseus, Pentheus, and Lycurgos. We
possess two large vases (F 160 and F 278) on which the taking of Troy is
depicted in several scenes, while the single subject of Ajax seizing Cassandra
frequently occurs, as on F 209. Many entirely new myths are introduced at
this period, such as the curious and unique subject which occurs on the hydria
F 155, representing Agrios captured by Oineus, or the representation of the
bull-headed Dionysos on F 194, and the two vases (F 149 and F 193) with
Alcmene on the funeral pile delivered by Zeus from the rage of Amphitryon.
The favourite heroes of the two earlier phases of vase-painting, Heracles
and Theseus, have almost entirely disappeared, perhaps owing to the fact that
they would not possess the same attraction for an inhabitant of Capua or
Tarentum as for an Athenian or Corinthian. We do not possess a single vase
of this period on which Theseus occurs ; Heracles is sometimes seen being
conveyed by Nike to Olympos, but in none of the other scenes so common
on black-figured vases. The Judgment of Paris remains a popular subject
throughout the history of vase-painting, but scenes from the Gigantomachia
become rare, while the Birth of Athene and Peleus wrestling with Thetis arc
now quite unknown. Combats of Greeks with Centaurs or Amazons are
common, but frequently merely as decorative motives on the necks of vases.
Dionysiac scenes are very frequent, but few are of any interest. The game of
cottabos is often introduced in symposia (as on F 37 and F 273), but is not so
common as on purely red-figured vases. A peculiar feature of this period is
the almost universal presence of Eros. Whether the scene be mythological,
Dionysiac, or one of daily life, he appears as an almost essential part of the
conception, especially on the Apulian vases, where he takes an androgynous
form (see later, p. 21). On the smaller Apulian vases the subject is almost
invariably an Eros, as on the series of rhyta and canthari (F 420-443).
Scenes from daily life are perhaps more common than mythological
subjects. On the reverse of the craters and amphorae (with the exception of
the finer examples), and of other vases with double subjects, the invariable rule
is to represent a group of youthful athletes or ep/tebi wrapped in mantles, and
generally conversing together; the usual number is two or three. A strigil,