DOI Heft:
Nr. 11
DOI Artikel:Huddilston, John H.: The significance of Greek pottery
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47723#0482
447
somewhat artificial society loved to indulge. Fantastic
and overfilled scenes illustrate the decadence of art, and
are in striking contrast with the dignified and plain
compositions of Attic artists; but the potters catered to
the public taste, and they produced what in each place
was salable.
The settlements in Sicily, of which Thucydides gives
a detailed account in the sixth book of his history, can
be traced in the excavations; the local wäre is found
along with the oldest Greek fabrics in the earlist graves,
and gradually the latter crowds the former from public
favor. The new colonists from Rhodes, Chalcis, Megara,
Corinth, brought with them the superior technic of the
East, and the result was that the towns of Sicily became
as thoroughly Greek, even in the early part of the sixth
Century b. c., as were those of Greece proper; this
influence of the East over the West can be most advan-
tageously observed in the vases and coins that come
from Sicily and Lower Italy.
So we may trace here and there the influence of the
Attic ascendency in ceramics, and follow the routes of
trade along which Athenian art and culture were carried
to Mediterranean and Black Sea ports; for Attic vases
have been unearthed all the way from the Crimea to
Genoa. Especially interesting is the fact that the vast
majority of Attic and Corinthian vases have been dis-
covered in Etruscan tombs; this shows that the Etrus-
cans were in close touch whit Greece long before Rome
threatened to be a vital force in Italy. The chronology
of this people has, indeed, been based upon deductions
made from the vase finds in Etruscan tombs.1) There
is a very early black-figured vase on which is painted
a vessel being loaded with vases; they are even hung
upon the sail-yards. This is but one of the Greek, or it
may be Etruscan, merchantmen that plied the seas with
cargoes of vases. More conspicuous proof of influence
of one people upon another would be difficult to find;
the vases relate volumes on the Hellenizing of the Italian
and the Sicilian races.
Scenes where historical personages figure are ex-
tremely rare, as the realm of mythology and legend
usually provided ample scope for subjects. There are,
however, a few instances, of the artists having entered
the domain of reality. The most notable examples of
an historical group are the pictures that show the assault
of Harmodius and Aristogeiton upon Hipparchus. The
tyrant is violenty set upon by the democratic enthusi-
asts in a männer suggesting the famous group of the
Tyrannicides in Naples. We may be grateful for a re-
presentation of this memorable event made at a time
when the tragedy was still fresh in the mind of the
public, for one, at least, of the vases must be dated
about 500 b. c., This murder, which ushered in the day
of political liberty in Athens, is an event in the history
of Europe of marked significance. In another painting
it has been thought that an army of Peisistratus or
Hippias may be recognized.
There was found at Naucratis the fragments of a large,
elegant vase bearing the name of Phanes, son of Glaukos;
now as we learn from Herodotus2) that Phanes, a native
of Halikarnassos, deserted Amasis for Cambyses in the
*) G. Karo in Bull, paletnologia Italiana, 1898, pp. 141 ff.
2) III. 4.
latter part of the sixth Century b.c., and that this was one
of the causes which led to Cambyses’ invasion of Egypt,
there is a possibility that the traitor had dedicated this
costly vase in the Apollo temple to win favor with the
god, and perhaps the displeasure of the public at Phanes’
having taken such a step may be recognized in the
widely scattered and finely broken fragments from which
the vase was recovered. To be sure, there are no
means of proving that the famous deserter is identical
with the Phanes whose name has reached the modern
world on the Naucratite vase, but the style of the wäre
and the whole circumstance renders the identity at
least possible1).
Another interesting vase is the krater in the Louvre
decorated with a scene that represents the death of
Croesus according to the legend described in the third
ode of Bacchylides.
Sappho is painted on at least four vases. At one
time she is seated and toward her a Nike hurries with
a victor’s wreath. And again she is surrounded by an
admiring group of women, one of whom places a wreath
upon her head, and another holds her lyre, while the
famous poetess reads from the scroll open in her hand.
The best known picture is on the Munich amphora,
where we see Alcaeus and Sappho standing before each
other, each holding a lyre and a plectron.
Of no little historic interest is the array of names
both of artists and their favorites, that are preserved
on the vases. There are about four hundred and fifty
artists whom we know exclusively from their signatures,
and about five hundred and sixty £tzZoz-names, thad
add materially to the charm of the pictures. Most of the
artists’ names and all but five of their favorites occur
on Athenian vases, so that, meagre Information as
mere names may be, we thus become acquainted with
a thousand Athenians. Many of these are duplicates
of names attested by the historians. The Alcmeonidae
are particularly prominent; at least three generations
may be traced in the names of Alcmseon, Hippocrates,
and Megacles. It is not affirmed that these names are
used by the vase-painters as applying to the person-
alities whom we know in the sixth Century of Athenian
history, but the notoriety of this family had unquestion-
ably something to do with the frequent appearance of
these names. We see strong youths of distinguished
appearance bearing the names of Hipparchus, Hippias,
Callias, Alcibiades, Leagros, and we cannot but wonder
whether the artist had in mind the historical personage
who afterward had so important a part in the affairs
of Athens. This question is a much mooted one and
hardly admits of satisfactory solution; it is certain that
the style of the paintings sometimes precludes the pos-
sibility of any connection between the artist and the
Greek known in history. When, however, Miltiades’
name is found in connection with a Persian horseman
of about five hundred b. c., it is difficult not to grant
that we hove here a direct allussion to the hero of
Marathon.
Another dass of vases that are of obvious historical
importance are the Panathenaic amphorae. The Pan-
athenaic festival, celebrated with special pomp every
’) Naukratis— Part I. of the Egyptian Exploration Fund, 1886, p. 55.
2*
somewhat artificial society loved to indulge. Fantastic
and overfilled scenes illustrate the decadence of art, and
are in striking contrast with the dignified and plain
compositions of Attic artists; but the potters catered to
the public taste, and they produced what in each place
was salable.
The settlements in Sicily, of which Thucydides gives
a detailed account in the sixth book of his history, can
be traced in the excavations; the local wäre is found
along with the oldest Greek fabrics in the earlist graves,
and gradually the latter crowds the former from public
favor. The new colonists from Rhodes, Chalcis, Megara,
Corinth, brought with them the superior technic of the
East, and the result was that the towns of Sicily became
as thoroughly Greek, even in the early part of the sixth
Century b. c., as were those of Greece proper; this
influence of the East over the West can be most advan-
tageously observed in the vases and coins that come
from Sicily and Lower Italy.
So we may trace here and there the influence of the
Attic ascendency in ceramics, and follow the routes of
trade along which Athenian art and culture were carried
to Mediterranean and Black Sea ports; for Attic vases
have been unearthed all the way from the Crimea to
Genoa. Especially interesting is the fact that the vast
majority of Attic and Corinthian vases have been dis-
covered in Etruscan tombs; this shows that the Etrus-
cans were in close touch whit Greece long before Rome
threatened to be a vital force in Italy. The chronology
of this people has, indeed, been based upon deductions
made from the vase finds in Etruscan tombs.1) There
is a very early black-figured vase on which is painted
a vessel being loaded with vases; they are even hung
upon the sail-yards. This is but one of the Greek, or it
may be Etruscan, merchantmen that plied the seas with
cargoes of vases. More conspicuous proof of influence
of one people upon another would be difficult to find;
the vases relate volumes on the Hellenizing of the Italian
and the Sicilian races.
Scenes where historical personages figure are ex-
tremely rare, as the realm of mythology and legend
usually provided ample scope for subjects. There are,
however, a few instances, of the artists having entered
the domain of reality. The most notable examples of
an historical group are the pictures that show the assault
of Harmodius and Aristogeiton upon Hipparchus. The
tyrant is violenty set upon by the democratic enthusi-
asts in a männer suggesting the famous group of the
Tyrannicides in Naples. We may be grateful for a re-
presentation of this memorable event made at a time
when the tragedy was still fresh in the mind of the
public, for one, at least, of the vases must be dated
about 500 b. c., This murder, which ushered in the day
of political liberty in Athens, is an event in the history
of Europe of marked significance. In another painting
it has been thought that an army of Peisistratus or
Hippias may be recognized.
There was found at Naucratis the fragments of a large,
elegant vase bearing the name of Phanes, son of Glaukos;
now as we learn from Herodotus2) that Phanes, a native
of Halikarnassos, deserted Amasis for Cambyses in the
*) G. Karo in Bull, paletnologia Italiana, 1898, pp. 141 ff.
2) III. 4.
latter part of the sixth Century b.c., and that this was one
of the causes which led to Cambyses’ invasion of Egypt,
there is a possibility that the traitor had dedicated this
costly vase in the Apollo temple to win favor with the
god, and perhaps the displeasure of the public at Phanes’
having taken such a step may be recognized in the
widely scattered and finely broken fragments from which
the vase was recovered. To be sure, there are no
means of proving that the famous deserter is identical
with the Phanes whose name has reached the modern
world on the Naucratite vase, but the style of the wäre
and the whole circumstance renders the identity at
least possible1).
Another interesting vase is the krater in the Louvre
decorated with a scene that represents the death of
Croesus according to the legend described in the third
ode of Bacchylides.
Sappho is painted on at least four vases. At one
time she is seated and toward her a Nike hurries with
a victor’s wreath. And again she is surrounded by an
admiring group of women, one of whom places a wreath
upon her head, and another holds her lyre, while the
famous poetess reads from the scroll open in her hand.
The best known picture is on the Munich amphora,
where we see Alcaeus and Sappho standing before each
other, each holding a lyre and a plectron.
Of no little historic interest is the array of names
both of artists and their favorites, that are preserved
on the vases. There are about four hundred and fifty
artists whom we know exclusively from their signatures,
and about five hundred and sixty £tzZoz-names, thad
add materially to the charm of the pictures. Most of the
artists’ names and all but five of their favorites occur
on Athenian vases, so that, meagre Information as
mere names may be, we thus become acquainted with
a thousand Athenians. Many of these are duplicates
of names attested by the historians. The Alcmeonidae
are particularly prominent; at least three generations
may be traced in the names of Alcmseon, Hippocrates,
and Megacles. It is not affirmed that these names are
used by the vase-painters as applying to the person-
alities whom we know in the sixth Century of Athenian
history, but the notoriety of this family had unquestion-
ably something to do with the frequent appearance of
these names. We see strong youths of distinguished
appearance bearing the names of Hipparchus, Hippias,
Callias, Alcibiades, Leagros, and we cannot but wonder
whether the artist had in mind the historical personage
who afterward had so important a part in the affairs
of Athens. This question is a much mooted one and
hardly admits of satisfactory solution; it is certain that
the style of the paintings sometimes precludes the pos-
sibility of any connection between the artist and the
Greek known in history. When, however, Miltiades’
name is found in connection with a Persian horseman
of about five hundred b. c., it is difficult not to grant
that we hove here a direct allussion to the hero of
Marathon.
Another dass of vases that are of obvious historical
importance are the Panathenaic amphorae. The Pan-
athenaic festival, celebrated with special pomp every
’) Naukratis— Part I. of the Egyptian Exploration Fund, 1886, p. 55.
2*