scholarly journals A Mycenaean pictorial vase from Midea

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 113-121
Author(s):  
Katie Demakopoulou
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
Marsh Bird ◽  
Common Motif

The Greek-Swedish excavations on the Mycenaean acropolis of Midea have brought to light a large amount of fine decorated pottery, which includes numerous fragmentary vases and sherds with pictorial decoration. This material has firmly established Midea as an important find-spot of figure-style pottery, like other great Mycenaean Argive centres, such as Mycenae, Tiryns and Berbati. This paper presents a remarkable pictorial vase recently found at Midea. It is a ring-based krater, almost completely restored from fragments, decorated with a row of six birds. The bird is a common motif in Mycenaean pictorial vase painting and also well attested on many other ceramic pieces at Midea, particularly the type of the folded-wing marsh bird. This type of bird is also popular at Tiryns, providing evidence that this category of pictorial pottery from the two citadels, dated to the LH IIIB2 period, was produced in the same workshop, which must have been situated at or near Tiryns. The abundant pictorial pottery from Midea and other significant discoveries at the site, such as monumental architectural remains and important finds, confirm the position of Midea as a great centre, alongside the other two Argive major citadels, Mycenae and Tiryns.

On the Thermon Metopes

1926 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 124-132
Author(s):  
H. G. G. Payne
Keyword(s):  
Principal Series ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Nature ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Interesting Point ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Excellent Article

The principal series of metopes from Thermon has been familiar for so long that further discussion of them may seem unnecessary. I hope, however, that the following pages are justified by the collective result of the small observations which they contain, if not by any single one of these. There is little of a general nature to be said after Koch's excellent article in Ath. Mitt., 1914.I. Chelidon and Aedon. (Antike Denkmäler, ii., Pl. L, 1 (Soteriades). Photographs of details, Ath. Mitt., 1914, Pls. XIII, XIV (Koch)).In the first place, a word as to the technique, the surprising elaborateness of which calls for more close attention than it has hitherto received. An interesting point is that the contours of the female flesh are drawn in bright red, the same as is used for the inscription, and for many details of dress. This use of red outlines for female flesh occurs, though not commonly, on Corinthian vases—on hydriae in the Louvre (E. 695) and in Dresden, where the faces and bodies of the sirens under the side handles are outlined in this way. It is found also in Attic vase painting—in two Sophilos fragments and in the fragment of similar style, from the Acropolis, with Pandrosos and Poseidon. The Corinthianising character of these has long been recognised, and the usage seems to be a subtlety which vase painters occasionally borrowed from the free painting of the time. On the other hand, male flesh in all the metopes is consistently outlined with black; the reason for the distinction is not easy to see, but it is possible that the artist was in search of equivalents for rendering the colours proper to the sexes—brown outlined with black for the male being used to balance white outlined with red for the female. In any case, the distinction was carefully maintained and was evidently felt to be significant.

Ships in Greek Vase-Painting

1949 ◽  
Vol 18 (54) ◽  
pp. 126-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. T. Williams
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
The West ◽  
Trojan War ◽  
Of Greece ◽  
Actual Word

From the several references to the crews of ships in theIliadand theOdysseyit can be seen that the complement of oarsmen is usually twenty. I assume that Homer is describing the Heroic ships, the ships of the Achaeans, and not necessarily the ships of the time in which he lived. However, naval specialists from the west of Greece, like the Phaeacians, were able to build larger ships; for they sent Odysseus home to Ithaca in a ship with a crew of fifty-two. The ship, too, in which Odysseus left Troy must have been about this size; by the time it had reached Circe's island its complement had been reduced to forty-six, including Odysseus and Eurylochus, but then there had been casualties. Each of the ships which originally left Troy with Odysseus had lost six men during the attack of the Cicones; had it not been for this loss, then, the crew would have been fifty-two. It is true that Odysseus' particular ship had lost six men to Cyclops as well; but it is likely that Odysseus' ship would have been made up to strength from the other ships after the incident. It is at any rate clear that Odysseus' ship had a crew ofabout fifty, and that the pentekontor, although Homer does not use the actual word π∊ντηκóντoρoς, was in use at the time of the Trojan War.This deduction is supported by a Mycenaean vase decorated with a ship, found during the excavation of the Tragana Tholos Tomb at Pylos (Koryphasion) and dated by Furumark to 1230–1100.

Meaning in the Later Prehistoric Rock-Engravings of Mont Bégo, Alpes-Maritimes, France

1997 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 103-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Barfield ◽  
Christopher Chippindale
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Maritime Alps ◽  
Common Motif ◽  
Prehistoric Art ◽  
The Status ◽  
Geometrical Form ◽  
Physical Objects

The later prehistoric rock-engravings of Mont Bégo, in the Maritime Alps on the French–Italian border, provide a rare possibility of grasping the meaning of a group in prehistoric art. Two elements in their limited repertoire of forms are daggers and halberds, which also occur as physical objects or as images in the contemporary sites of adjacent north Italy; their contexts show they are, in that area, associated with the status of adult males in society. That same interpretation is applied to the Mont Bégo figures, and this is found congruent with other motifs — especially ploughs and cattle — in the repertoire. It may explain also the other common motif, a geometrical form interpreted as a map of a prehistoric farmstead, by associating it with plough agriculture and land division. The insights developed from the study for what ‘meaning’ amounts to in the study of prehistory are set down.

Cattle egrets and Bustards in Greek Art

1961 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 44-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Benton
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
British Museum ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Marsh Bird ◽  
Cattle Egret ◽  
Greek Art ◽  
Crow Tribe ◽  
The One ◽  
Considerable Depth

There is a bird perched on the neck of a bull on a Late Bronze Age krater from Enkomi in the British Museum (plate I 1). It has long legs and a long neck, and it is much larger than any of the crow tribe, so often seen on cattle. Its long pointed bill is fixed on a point in the bull's neck probably removing a tick or something of the sort. The operation is painful and the bull tosses his head. On the other side of the vase the bird has lost his footing but still keeps the grip of his bill on the neck of the bull (plate I 2). That daggerlike bill is longer than the one on the other side of the vase. We must therefore suppose that the bill in the earlier scene has been inserted into the bull's neck to a considerable depth. No wonder the bull is plunging about to dislodge the operator.A bird with long neck, long legs, and long beak can only be a marsh bird, and as it is hunting for insects on the neck of a bull, it can only be a Cattle Egret (plate I 4.), though its body bears some resemblance to the bodies of birds which are probably meant for geese or swans; its beak is more formidable. Presumably this insect-hunting bird is not a deity revealing him or herself; but perhaps Cypriots are more secular than Mycenaeans.

scholarly journals The Country Cart of Ancient Greece

1903 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 132-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. L. Lorimer
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greece ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
The One ◽  
As If

The vase painting reproduced in Fig. 1 is taken from a large red figured pyxis in the National Museum at Athens. Both lid and body are decorated with wedding scenes, which will be described in detail below (see p. 150); we are here more particularly concerned with the group on the body, in which the bridal pair are represented as driving to their new home. They are seated in a low cart drawn by two horses; the bride appears to be sitting in front of her husband, but is probably meant to be by his side. The horses are led by a young man, whose exomis and pointed cap mark him as a servant. The attempt to render the cart in a realistic manner has involved the artist in great difficulties. The two wheels, which are of the ordinary four-spoked type, are supposed to be seen in perspective, but they are drawn as if they were both on the same side of the cart, the one over-lapping the other.

THE SPHINX ON THE ROOF: THE MEANING OF THE GREEK TEMPLE ACROTERIA

2013 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 201-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Petit
Keyword(s):  
Compact Group ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Archaic Period ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
Symbolic Value ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Extended Group

In the Archaic period, from the end of the seventh and above all in the sixth century bc, sphinxes are ubiquitous in the figured decoration of Greek temples. They appear not only as acroteria, but also on antefixes and simas. As acroteria, they always occur as lateral versions, flanking the central acroterion at a distance. Although these figures have recently been the subject of several exhaustive studies, their significance remains a matter of debate. In the absence of explicit texts, the only means of comprehending their meaning is by examining the combinations of figures in which the sphinx makes an appearance. It is their association in three-part or heraldic compositions with a central vegetal or floral motif which provides the key to the explanation. This group is similar to that known in the Levant in which two sphinxes flank a ‘Tree of Life’, a group which the Old Testament texts allow us to identify as the cherubim guarding the Tree of Life of Genesis 3.24. This group was transmitted to Cyprus and to the Aegean world without losing its meaning. A series of documents allows us to verify that the ‘extended’ group of acroteria that we are concerned with has not lost its symbolic value by comparison with the ‘compact’ group known particularly from Archaic Greek vase-painting. An explanation in terms of eschatological ends and aspirations also permits us to interpret the other associations of the sphinx – with gorgons, with horsemen and with ‘Nike' figures.

Attic Geometric Vase Scenes, Old and New

1966 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Boardman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
Filling Device ◽  
Siamese Twin ◽  
Funeral Practice ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Dead Man

The New York crater, 14.130.15 (PLATES I–III), was first published by Miss Richter fifty years ago. Since then it has frequently been accorded illustration and comment both for its figure scenes—notably the prothesis, the chariot friezes and the occurrence of ‘Siamese twin’ warriors—and for its place in the development of Attic Geometric vase painting. There are, however, a number of features in the figure scenes which have escaped notice hitherto in publication, and which are of some interest to the student of Geometric funeral practice and iconography.The prothesis itself (PLATE II a) is conventional enough in most of its details. The child crouching over the legs of the dead man extends his arms over them. The child standing behind the head tears his hair with one hand while the other seems to be stretched towards the dead man's mouth. Certainly no branch or fan is held—the motif found in some other prothesis scenes. Before the child's leg is a small fish. The gesture and the fish (an odd filling device, if it is one) are not readily explained but may be borne in mind when other features of the frieze are discussed.

scholarly journals A disguised Pentheus hiding in the British Museum?

2004 ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Oliver Taplin
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
The Public ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Painted Pottery ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Artistic Tradition

During the last twenty-five years, two opposing trends have dominated over the debate about the relationship between mythological narratives in vase-painting and those in tragedy. On the one hand, there are those who regard the paintings as dependent upon works of literature; on the other hand, there are those who argue that the artistic tradition is fully self-explanatory with no need of any reference to any literature. This paper analyzes some cases, in which the whole phenomenon seems to be more complex, and to be inextricable from the part played both by painted pottery and by the theatre in the whole lives of those who were the public for these pots and these plays.

The Dionysiac Painter

1935 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-232
Author(s):  
Noël Oakeshott
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
History Of

Mr. A. D. Trendall 's welcome publication (JUS liv, 175) of a volute crater in the Taranto Museum brings to light the second of two very important early South Italian vases. The other was published two years ago by Wuilleumier in RA 1933. ii, 3, and now that they have both been revealed it is time for them to sever partnership. Theyhave long left a gap in the history of South Italian vase painting, and have not unnaturally been usually classed together as the two important unpublished Taranto craters. One began to think of them automatically as companion pieces, probably by the same hand. But this they are now shewn not to be. This conclusion, which I can base on a study of photographs only, is confirmed by Mr. Trendall. His vase, with the Birth of Dionysos on the obverse, and an Amazonomachy on the reverse, is so like the well-known volute crater Naples 2411 (Sacrifice to Dionysos and a Centauromachy), as he has already indicated,8 that I do not hesitate to say that they are by the same hand, and to suggest that a name must be found for this important artist, whom I still disassociate from the Sisyphus painter, though he follows closely in his tradition. He also painted the Brussels volute crater A1018 with the Apotheosis of Heracles.

Attic Vase Painting During The Persian Wars

1932 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-142
Author(s):  
T. B. L. Webster
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
The West ◽  
Persian Wars ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Greek Vases ◽  
The One ◽  
Single Figure ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Late Works

The Persian wars is a vague term. I use it to cover the A period between the battle of Marathon (490 B.c.) and the peace of Callias (448 B.c.): I use it merely as a label, and do not wish to imply that the Persian wars were the cause of the change which takes place in Greek art during that period. This change can be seen in all the arts: in sculpture the landmarks are the west pediment of the temple of Aphaia at Aegina, the east pediment of the same temple, the west pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, and the east pediment of the same temple: in literature the change is perhaps more easily traced in the works of Pindar than elsewhere. In the early odes, e.g. Pythian X (498 B.c.), the connexion of the myth with the rest is purely external, for it is linked on by the one word ΥΠερβορέων, in the later odes the whole is often subordinated to the moral which Pindar wishes to point: in Pythian IV (462 B.c.) the moral is ‘Do not banish good men’, and the myth of Pelias and Jason gives a disastrous instance. The earlier ode is composed of beautiful parts loosely joined together, the later is an organic unity with a moral purpose running through the whole. This same change can be traced in Greek vases. Here we have a large number of works of art which can be dated with considerable accuracy and assigned to particular painters. The criteria for dating need not be considered here: the attribution to painters is largely the work of J. D. Beazley and rests ultimately on stylistic grounds. In some cases we have signatures and can call the painter by his name, e.g. Euphronios, Euthymides, but more often none of the vases are signed and the names are conventional, e.g. Berlin painter, Niobid painter. I shall consider in turn subjects, composition of the whole picture, and composition of the single figure,2 during two periods, the ‘ripe archaic’ and the ‘early classical’, which are bounded on the one side by the ‘early ripe archaic’, on the other by the ‘classical’: the late works of Euphronios and Euthymides (early ripe archaic) with the early works of the Berlin painter and his fellows (ripe archaic) are to be dated in the decade 500–490 B.c., the ripe works of the Berlin painter and his fellows from 490 to 480 B.c., the late works of these painters 480 to 470: then come the ‘early classical’ painters, the Penthesilea painter, the Niobid painter, &c., till 450; with the Achilles painter the other boundary is crossed into the ‘classical’ period.1

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