DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8577#0149
CORINTHIAN FIGURE STYLE 129
Quite apart from the positive evidence of the existing Corinthian examples,
the probability that such a subject would find pictorial form in the Argolid
region is obviously very strong. The skeleton of the Corinthian type is seen
in the well-known geometric fibulae;1 the fact that these are probably Boeo-
tian does not of course affect the view that the composition, as known to the
archaic (post-geometric) world, was a Corinthian invention.
Herakles and the Centaurs.
1-2. Protocorinthian (Johansen pi. 30, 1; cf. p. 145, and the oinochoe pi. 7).
Cf. Johansen pi. 22, 2, another centauromachy.
3-5. Kotylai nos. 693, 941; aryballos no. 858.
Cf. the pinakes A.D. i pi.7,7b; ii, pi. 29,5 ; and a fragmentary metope from
Thermon with part of a centaur and the name of Pholos (Deltion 1915,
parartema 47; 1916, 187). The kotyle no. 941, pi. 31, 9-10, is the most
interesting of these; directly and indirectly it tells us the story more completely
and more vividly than any other vase. The beginning of the tale,2 a favourite
theme with the later archaic period, is here omitted—or rather, not by any
means omitted, but implied: for the weapons (bow in case, quiver, and sword)
hanging on the wall of the cave, recall the friendly reception of Herakles by
Pholos; the pithos, hatf juried in the ground, with the lid beside it,3 and the
tree-stump (?) with faggots, tell of the meal.4 But the artist, as usual, chooses
the dramatic moment—the moment when the other centaurs, attracted by
the smell of wine from the opened cask, burst in upon the party. Pholos starts
up, with one hand raised in dismay—hesitating, distressed at the violation of
his hospitality. Herakles acts; seizes burning branches from the fire, and
drives the centaurs in confusion from the cave. Hermes and Athena stand
out of sight, watching and taking no part.
Hermes and Athena often accompany Herakles in the later, Attic, versions
of the story; there is one detail of our Corinthian picture that is a little diffi-
cult to explain—the object which Hermes is holding in his hands. This has not
been noticed before, but the photograph shows it quite clearly: I suggest,
tentatively, that it is a bowl; that Hermes and Athena, having shadowed
Herakles on his long journey to Pholoe, regaled themselves outside the cave,
when Herakles and Pholos were feasting within. Archaic art loves symmetry
as well as antithesis, and Hermes, with the bowl in his hands, forms an
obvious counterpart to Pholos with cup. Like Pholos, he and Athena have
been disturbed by the intrusion of the centaurs in the middle of their meal.
1 A.J .A. 1911, 1 ff.; Jahrbuch 1916, 288 ff.; story, for it was the smell of wine which attracted the
Schweitzer, Herakles 163. centaurs from the forest.
2 Stesichorosfrag.7; Diod.iv,i2,3; Apollod.ii.5,4. 4 And the faggots are a part of the story, not
3 This I take to be the meaning of the black band simply because Herakles was to use them against the
immediately below the pithos: it cannot be the centaurs, but because the myth delighting, like the
ground, as that is not indicated elsewhere. The picture, in antithesis tells us that Herakles' meal was
removal of the lid was an important point in the cooked, the centaur's raw (Apollodorus, loc. cit.).
3575 c
Quite apart from the positive evidence of the existing Corinthian examples,
the probability that such a subject would find pictorial form in the Argolid
region is obviously very strong. The skeleton of the Corinthian type is seen
in the well-known geometric fibulae;1 the fact that these are probably Boeo-
tian does not of course affect the view that the composition, as known to the
archaic (post-geometric) world, was a Corinthian invention.
Herakles and the Centaurs.
1-2. Protocorinthian (Johansen pi. 30, 1; cf. p. 145, and the oinochoe pi. 7).
Cf. Johansen pi. 22, 2, another centauromachy.
3-5. Kotylai nos. 693, 941; aryballos no. 858.
Cf. the pinakes A.D. i pi.7,7b; ii, pi. 29,5 ; and a fragmentary metope from
Thermon with part of a centaur and the name of Pholos (Deltion 1915,
parartema 47; 1916, 187). The kotyle no. 941, pi. 31, 9-10, is the most
interesting of these; directly and indirectly it tells us the story more completely
and more vividly than any other vase. The beginning of the tale,2 a favourite
theme with the later archaic period, is here omitted—or rather, not by any
means omitted, but implied: for the weapons (bow in case, quiver, and sword)
hanging on the wall of the cave, recall the friendly reception of Herakles by
Pholos; the pithos, hatf juried in the ground, with the lid beside it,3 and the
tree-stump (?) with faggots, tell of the meal.4 But the artist, as usual, chooses
the dramatic moment—the moment when the other centaurs, attracted by
the smell of wine from the opened cask, burst in upon the party. Pholos starts
up, with one hand raised in dismay—hesitating, distressed at the violation of
his hospitality. Herakles acts; seizes burning branches from the fire, and
drives the centaurs in confusion from the cave. Hermes and Athena stand
out of sight, watching and taking no part.
Hermes and Athena often accompany Herakles in the later, Attic, versions
of the story; there is one detail of our Corinthian picture that is a little diffi-
cult to explain—the object which Hermes is holding in his hands. This has not
been noticed before, but the photograph shows it quite clearly: I suggest,
tentatively, that it is a bowl; that Hermes and Athena, having shadowed
Herakles on his long journey to Pholoe, regaled themselves outside the cave,
when Herakles and Pholos were feasting within. Archaic art loves symmetry
as well as antithesis, and Hermes, with the bowl in his hands, forms an
obvious counterpart to Pholos with cup. Like Pholos, he and Athena have
been disturbed by the intrusion of the centaurs in the middle of their meal.
1 A.J .A. 1911, 1 ff.; Jahrbuch 1916, 288 ff.; story, for it was the smell of wine which attracted the
Schweitzer, Herakles 163. centaurs from the forest.
2 Stesichorosfrag.7; Diod.iv,i2,3; Apollod.ii.5,4. 4 And the faggots are a part of the story, not
3 This I take to be the meaning of the black band simply because Herakles was to use them against the
immediately below the pithos: it cannot be the centaurs, but because the myth delighting, like the
ground, as that is not indicated elsewhere. The picture, in antithesis tells us that Herakles' meal was
removal of the lid was an important point in the cooked, the centaur's raw (Apollodorus, loc. cit.).
3575 c