DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47071#0125
DRAMATIC POETS
121
the theatre. Much learning and ingenuity have been
expended in attempts to reconstruct various plays from the
extant fragments in comparison with representations on
vases. But here we are concerned with methods rather
than with results, which belong rather to the sphere of
literary criticism.
We might well expect to find the influence of the great
Orestean trilogy of JEschylus reflected in the work of the
vase-painter. But this appears only to a limited degree.
50. Orestes and Clytsemnestra
Indeed, the plays of ^Eschylus do not seem to have offered
many subjects that appealed to the artist. There are
indeed several vases that represent Orestes slaying
ALgisthus on the throne of Agamemnon ; and in others
Clytsemnestra tries to defend ALgisthus with the same
axe with which she slew Agamemnon. This indeed re-
minds us of the line uttered by Clytsemnestra when she
realises her danger - “ Give me quick the axe that slew
my husband.” But this whole story, and especially the
prominence of the axe, seems to have been emphasised, as
121
the theatre. Much learning and ingenuity have been
expended in attempts to reconstruct various plays from the
extant fragments in comparison with representations on
vases. But here we are concerned with methods rather
than with results, which belong rather to the sphere of
literary criticism.
We might well expect to find the influence of the great
Orestean trilogy of JEschylus reflected in the work of the
vase-painter. But this appears only to a limited degree.
50. Orestes and Clytsemnestra
Indeed, the plays of ^Eschylus do not seem to have offered
many subjects that appealed to the artist. There are
indeed several vases that represent Orestes slaying
ALgisthus on the throne of Agamemnon ; and in others
Clytsemnestra tries to defend ALgisthus with the same
axe with which she slew Agamemnon. This indeed re-
minds us of the line uttered by Clytsemnestra when she
realises her danger - “ Give me quick the axe that slew
my husband.” But this whole story, and especially the
prominence of the axe, seems to have been emphasised, as