DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8577#0369
APPENDIX III 349
period, and seem not to have been made at Corinth.1 Strabo's oarpaKiva ropevfiaTa must have been
Hellenistic relief-pottery of some kind: Megarian bowls, perhaps,2 or, more probably, larger vases
such as have occasionally been found at or near Corinth.3 And these, it need hardly be said, would
have been much more likely to conform with the requirements of Roman taste.
I will end with a very short summary of the other literary sources which have a bearing on the
material discussed in this book.
Pottery. Of archaic potters or vase-painters we hear nothing.4 The only Corinthian potter
known to us was one Therikles, who was a contemporary of Aristophanes.5 The tradition of the inven-
tion of clay-modelling at Corinth by the Sicyonian Butades is, of course, likely to contain a nucleus of
truth. Butades was further credited with having invented antefixes in the form of human heads,
and with having been the first to ruddle clay, or to work with red clay.6 A work which passed as
the original clay-relief of Butades was preserved, according to Pliny, till the time of the destruction of
the city.7 On the antefixes, and on other references to Corinthian architectural decoration, see
Ch. XVII. Beyond the fact that they introduced the art of clay-modelling into Italy, we know
nothing of the artists who accompanied the Corinthian Demaratos to Italy.8
Painting. The very early Corinthian painters of whom we hear are Kleanthes, Aridikes and Ek-
phantos; works of Kleanthes were seen by Strabo, and he at least is a historical figure (cf. p. 93).
The tradition as to the Corinthian primitives is obviously important, but its details are not to be
taken seriously, and despite all efforts to induce them to conform with the archaeological evidence,
they cannot be said to give us any clear idea of the progress of the early Corinthian school.9
Above all, it must be admitted that the picture of the early figure-style given in Ch. VIII does not
tally with the literary sources. These give no hint of a brilliant and complicated polychrome tech-
nique such as we may infer from the Chigi vase, and can actually study in the Thermon and Calydon
metopes. The mere fact that Kleanthes' two pictures at Olympia cannot at the very earliest
have been earlier than these, and that he is put at the head of the list of Corinthian primitives
and described as an artist who used but one colour and drew in outline, shows both that there are
disastrous omissions in the tradition, and that its descriptions of style are either untrustworthy or
unintelligible.
In conclusion, a word as to the Corinthian Aregon. In the passage in which he describes the pictures
of Kleanthes, Strabo mentions a picture by this artist—Artemis flying on a griffon. Reinach ap-
parently assumes that this was also a primitive picture, but we are not told anything about Aregon's
date, and the subject of the picture alone makes it unlikely that Reinach's view is correct; indeed
it is difficult to believe that this picture was earlier than the late fifth century.10
Bronze. We hear in literature of only one archaic Corinthian bronze, the palm-tree, with frogs
1 Cf., however, the late archaic clay shield with relief-
decoration described by Karo in A. Anz. 1930, in.
2 These have been found in some numbers at Corinth:
cf. Shear, A.J.A., 1926, 447, where it is suggested that
they provide the clue to the problem.
3 Cf. the crater from Tenea, Sammlung Sabouroff i,
pi. 74, 3, and two other vases, one at least of which must
have been late, seen by Wieseler in a private collection at
Corinth (Bericht iiber Reise n. Griechenl. 71; Wilisch
103).
* Unless we are to count Hyperbios, 'inventor' of the
potter's wheel, as historical (Pliny 7, 198).
5 Athenaeus xi, 470, &c.; see Buchsenschutz, Haupt-
statten des Gewerbefleisses 17, note 10.
6 Overbeck, Schriftquellen p. 46.
7 In the 'Nymphaeum'; Athenagoras, probably draw-
ing on an earlier source, says that it was still to be seen in
his own time, but Pliny's statement is far more likely to be
correct. 8 Pliny 35, 152.
9 Cf. Overbeck, Schriftquellen 67 ff.; A. Reinach,
RecueilMilliet 62 ff. (Pliny 35, 15 ff.; Athenag., Leg. pro
Christ. 14, 59; Strabo viii, 343; Athen. viii, 346, B, C;
Pliny 7, 205). The traditions are discussed at length by
Studniczka, Jahrbuch 1887, 148 ff. (where references to
earlier literature will be found).
10 The earliest vase that could possibly be quoted as a
parallel would seem to be the Pistoxenos painter's cup
with Aphrodite riding on a swan (Pfuhl fig. 498), and this
is not at all close. Griffons are used to draw chariots on
some early classical clay reliefs (e.g. Mon. i, pi. 18, 2),
but I cannot find a ridden griffon earlier than the fourth-
century vase, Pfuhl fig. 606; Furtwangler (Roscher, s.v.
Gryps p. 1772) recognized that Aregon's picture could
scarcely be archaic.
period, and seem not to have been made at Corinth.1 Strabo's oarpaKiva ropevfiaTa must have been
Hellenistic relief-pottery of some kind: Megarian bowls, perhaps,2 or, more probably, larger vases
such as have occasionally been found at or near Corinth.3 And these, it need hardly be said, would
have been much more likely to conform with the requirements of Roman taste.
I will end with a very short summary of the other literary sources which have a bearing on the
material discussed in this book.
Pottery. Of archaic potters or vase-painters we hear nothing.4 The only Corinthian potter
known to us was one Therikles, who was a contemporary of Aristophanes.5 The tradition of the inven-
tion of clay-modelling at Corinth by the Sicyonian Butades is, of course, likely to contain a nucleus of
truth. Butades was further credited with having invented antefixes in the form of human heads,
and with having been the first to ruddle clay, or to work with red clay.6 A work which passed as
the original clay-relief of Butades was preserved, according to Pliny, till the time of the destruction of
the city.7 On the antefixes, and on other references to Corinthian architectural decoration, see
Ch. XVII. Beyond the fact that they introduced the art of clay-modelling into Italy, we know
nothing of the artists who accompanied the Corinthian Demaratos to Italy.8
Painting. The very early Corinthian painters of whom we hear are Kleanthes, Aridikes and Ek-
phantos; works of Kleanthes were seen by Strabo, and he at least is a historical figure (cf. p. 93).
The tradition as to the Corinthian primitives is obviously important, but its details are not to be
taken seriously, and despite all efforts to induce them to conform with the archaeological evidence,
they cannot be said to give us any clear idea of the progress of the early Corinthian school.9
Above all, it must be admitted that the picture of the early figure-style given in Ch. VIII does not
tally with the literary sources. These give no hint of a brilliant and complicated polychrome tech-
nique such as we may infer from the Chigi vase, and can actually study in the Thermon and Calydon
metopes. The mere fact that Kleanthes' two pictures at Olympia cannot at the very earliest
have been earlier than these, and that he is put at the head of the list of Corinthian primitives
and described as an artist who used but one colour and drew in outline, shows both that there are
disastrous omissions in the tradition, and that its descriptions of style are either untrustworthy or
unintelligible.
In conclusion, a word as to the Corinthian Aregon. In the passage in which he describes the pictures
of Kleanthes, Strabo mentions a picture by this artist—Artemis flying on a griffon. Reinach ap-
parently assumes that this was also a primitive picture, but we are not told anything about Aregon's
date, and the subject of the picture alone makes it unlikely that Reinach's view is correct; indeed
it is difficult to believe that this picture was earlier than the late fifth century.10
Bronze. We hear in literature of only one archaic Corinthian bronze, the palm-tree, with frogs
1 Cf., however, the late archaic clay shield with relief-
decoration described by Karo in A. Anz. 1930, in.
2 These have been found in some numbers at Corinth:
cf. Shear, A.J.A., 1926, 447, where it is suggested that
they provide the clue to the problem.
3 Cf. the crater from Tenea, Sammlung Sabouroff i,
pi. 74, 3, and two other vases, one at least of which must
have been late, seen by Wieseler in a private collection at
Corinth (Bericht iiber Reise n. Griechenl. 71; Wilisch
103).
* Unless we are to count Hyperbios, 'inventor' of the
potter's wheel, as historical (Pliny 7, 198).
5 Athenaeus xi, 470, &c.; see Buchsenschutz, Haupt-
statten des Gewerbefleisses 17, note 10.
6 Overbeck, Schriftquellen p. 46.
7 In the 'Nymphaeum'; Athenagoras, probably draw-
ing on an earlier source, says that it was still to be seen in
his own time, but Pliny's statement is far more likely to be
correct. 8 Pliny 35, 152.
9 Cf. Overbeck, Schriftquellen 67 ff.; A. Reinach,
RecueilMilliet 62 ff. (Pliny 35, 15 ff.; Athenag., Leg. pro
Christ. 14, 59; Strabo viii, 343; Athen. viii, 346, B, C;
Pliny 7, 205). The traditions are discussed at length by
Studniczka, Jahrbuch 1887, 148 ff. (where references to
earlier literature will be found).
10 The earliest vase that could possibly be quoted as a
parallel would seem to be the Pistoxenos painter's cup
with Aphrodite riding on a swan (Pfuhl fig. 498), and this
is not at all close. Griffons are used to draw chariots on
some early classical clay reliefs (e.g. Mon. i, pi. 18, 2),
but I cannot find a ridden griffon earlier than the fourth-
century vase, Pfuhl fig. 606; Furtwangler (Roscher, s.v.
Gryps p. 1772) recognized that Aregon's picture could
scarcely be archaic.