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Bathycles and the Laconian vase-painters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Extract

Excavations at Sparta have cleared up many of the problems connected with the class of pottery now definitely recognised as Laconian, but the great number of the mythological scenes, found mainly on kylikes, form a group quite distinct in spirit and design from the other types of decoration used on Laconian ware, and it is still a question whether the vases with these scenes (nearly all of them found outside Greece) could really have come from the workshops which turned out the vases found in Spartan soil. There must be some distinct and powerful cause, lying outside the normal growth of local artistic tradition, to account for this new development, and this cause, as I will try to shew, seems to be the coming of Bathycles of Magnesia to build the great Throne of Apollo at Amyclae.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1932

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References

1 Cf. Droop, , JHS. xxx. 1910, p. 5Google Scholar: ‘Evidence is not forthcoming from the excavations at Sparta as to the date at which mythological scenes are likely to have been in vogue.’

2 Paus. III. xviii. 9 ff.

3 For comprehensive lists cf. Dugas, , RA. ix. 1907, x. 1907, xix. 1912, xx. 1912, xxvii. 1928Google Scholar; Droop, op. cit. and the full bibliography in Pfuhl, Mal. und Zeichn. der Gr.

4 (III. xviii. 9).

5 Cf. Fiechter, , JdI. xxxiii. 1918, p. 242Google Scholar, and Buschor, , AM. lii. 1927, p. 21Google Scholar.

6 Cf. Furtwängler, , Meisterwerke, p. 695Google Scholar, and Klein, , AA. xxxvii. 1922, p. 12Google Scholar.

7 Cf. Pernice, , JdI. 1901, p. 192Google Scholar.

8 I have made rough tracings of many of the vases to save the reader having to refer to the various publications in which they appear. They are not drawn to a uniform scale and do not show the purple paint of the originals.

9 I owe much to the kindness of Miss E. Haspels, who read this article in manuscript and made a number of helpful suggestions which I have incorporated without acknowledging my debt in each case.

10 596 Vasensammlung zu München, i. Pl. 24= Buschor, , Gr. Vasenm. p. 95Google Scholar, fig. 69.

11 B76, Cat. ii. p. 51; RA. ix. 1907, p. 396, fig. 13.

12 E.g. Lenormant, et de Witte, , El. Cér. iii. 31, 32, 32AGoogle Scholar. An exception is Salzmann, Nécr. de Camiros, Pl. 31, which shews a type with two tails and wearing the usual Corinthian chiton.

13 Furtwängler, , Ant. Gemmen, iii. p. 203Google Scholar and Frank, , Kunstgeschichte in Bildern, I. 2, Pl. 54, 4Google Scholar.

14 Frazer, , Paus. (Comment.), III. xviii. 10Google Scholar.

15 Albizzati, , Vasi Ant. Dipinti d. Vaticano, ii. Pl. 17, 220Google Scholar = DA. i. p. 527, fig. 616.

16 Paus. VI. xix. 8.

17 Gerhard, , AV. ii. p. 21Google Scholar, and Albizzati, op. cit. p. 66.

18 Cf. the lekythos, JHS. xiii. 1893, Pl. III.

19 See No. 13, below, p. 36.

20 AA. xxxviii–ix. 1923–4, p. 82, fig. 19 (not a good reproduction); I owe the excellent photograph here reproduced to the kindness of Professor Koch.

21 A hydria from Vulci, Lenormant et de Witte, op. cit. i. 2 and p. 315, and a lekythos from Vulci, , AdI. 1880, Pl. M 3Google Scholar = Reinach, , Rép. i. 344Google Scholar.

22 Probably the spear on the hydria is the vase-painter's clumsy misreading of a sceptre; cf. Heydemann, , AdI. 1880, p. 90Google Scholar.

23 AJA. xx. 1916, Pl. XI.

24 As Rumpf, suggests, AA. 19231924, p. 83Google Scholar.

25 Cf. below, No. 16, p. 39.

26 I have not seen the kylix itself, but on the photograph the central letter seems undoubtedly to be a digamma; I admit that my suggestion requires a drastic emendation, but there seems no alternative.

27 Hesiod, , Shield of Heracles, 457 ff.Google Scholar

28 For another inscribed sherd cf. No. 6, below.

29 E 662. CVA. Louvre, i. III Dc, Pl. 7, 1–4; AZ. 1881, Pls. XI 1, XII 1.

30 On a skyphos in the Louvre, 63. CVA. Louvre, vi. III Ca, Pl. 12; JHS. i. 1880, Pl. I, a troop of Centaurs is shewn running to left, some of them fallen: they have human legs and only the human part of the body is shaggy. The Attic fragment, CVA. Athens, i. III Hf, Pl. 1, 2 seems to have more in common with the dinos.

31 Cf. Baur, , Centaurs in Ancient Art, p. 93Google Scholar.

32 W. v., Massow, , AM. xli. 1916, p. 101Google Scholar, and Baur, op. cit., passim.

33 985, Vasensamml. p. 150, fig. 195.

34 Cf. Baur, op. cit. p. 55.

35 Pfuhl, MuZ. fig. 174. The small snake decorating the greave of the Achilles on the dinos seems to appear also on the Timonidas vase, though less carefully drawn; cf. the similar decoration on a bronze greave, Olympia, iv. Pl. LXI. 990.

36 AZ. 1859, Pl. 125.

37 B2, Cat. ii. p. 49 = Loeschcke, , Bonner Studien für Kekulé, p. 250, fig. 2Google Scholar.

38 Cf. Loeschcke, op. cit. p. 250, and Schmidt, E., Der Knielauf, pp. 320, 363Google Scholar.

39 Cf. Malten, , JdI. 1925, p. 143Google Scholar.

40 In the B.M. Cat. loc. cit. it is suggested that the figure on the kylix is Pelops, but the horses of Pelops won their fame in a chariot race and it is natural that they should appear in harness; cf. W. v. Massow, op. cit. p. 27.

41 AM. 1929, Pl. 16, 1.

42 W. v. Massow, op. cit. p. 44, and Payne, , Necrocorinthia, p. 126Google Scholar.

43 Cf. Hitzig, and Blümner, , Paus. (Comment.), III. xix. 4Google Scholar.

44 Cf. on a b.-f. hydria, B.M. B 301.

45 Clara Rhodos, iii. p. 122, fig. 115 and Pl. B. Cf. PhW. 1932, 4 for another interpretation of the scene.

46 On a Corinthian alabastron, Athens 12581, and a kylix, Athens 330. Cf. also JHS. xxxii, p. 374.

47 See below, No. 16, p. 39.

48 Furtwängler, , Sabouroff Collection, i. Pl. 74, 3Google Scholar.

49 AZ. 1859, Pl. 125; Gerhard, , AV. 129, 130Google Scholar.

50 Cf. DA. ‘canis’ and a Caeretan hydria, Louvre, E 701 = Pfuhl, op. cit. fig. 154.

51 British Museum B1 = Fig. 6; Louvre E 665, CVA. Louvre, i, III Dc, Pl. 3, 10; Hermitage 183 = JdI. xxxviii–ix. 1923–4, Pl. 1. Possibly a fragment of a fourth is to be recognised in a sherd in Marseilles, Vasseur, , CR Ac Inscr. 1910, p. 428, Pl. II. 24–6Google Scholar.

52 Cf. Milchhoefer, , Anfänge der Kunst, p. 180Google Scholar, and Paus. II. xxii. 5.

53 Der Seelenvogel, p. 16.

54 Cf. Perrot and Chipiez, iii. p. 769, fig. 544, p. 779, fig. 548.

55 Cf. E. Wasmuth, Assyrische Plastik, figs. 38 and 40.

56 E.g. JHS. 1883, p. 19, fig. 14, and a frieze from Xanthus, , B.M. Sculpt. B 312–3Google Scholar.

57 JdI. xvi. 1901, p. 193, fig. 2.

58 Cf. Garstang, The Hittite Empire, Pl. 46.

59 Cf. Morin-Jean, , Dessin des Animaux en Grèce, pp. 78, 94Google Scholar.

60 Louvre S 1679, CVA. Louvre, vi. III Ca, Pl. 9; B.M. 95. 10–27, 1; a plate in Vienna = Payne, op. cit. Pl. 30, 8.

61 Louvre E 664. CVA. Louvre, i. III Dc, Pl. 3, 8; AZ. 1881, Pl. XII 4.

62 Published in AJA. xxv. 1921, Pl. IV.

63 A fragment in the Archaeological Museum at Florence is perhaps from a fourth.

64 383, Vasensamml. i. Pl. 13.

65 JdI. xvi. 1901, p. 191, fig. 1.

66 Munich, 327, Vasensamml. i. p. 26, fig. 37Google Scholar; British Museum B 37, Walters, , Hist. Anc. Pottery, i. Pl. 21Google Scholar; Vatican 124, Albizzati, op. cit. ii. Pl. 12.

67 E 670, CVA. Louvre, i. III Dc, Pl. 3, 5.

68 E.g. Vatican 306; Albizzati, op. cit. iii. Pl. 29, and the François vase.

69 Cf. Buschor, in FR. iii. p. 220Google Scholar. Ionian artists also seem to have been familiar with the story at an early date.

70 Apollod. I. 8. 6.

71 Cf. note 66 above.

72 382, Vasensamml. i. Pl. 13.

73 British Museum B 4 = Petrie, , Naukratis, i. Pl. VIIIGoogle Scholar; Hermitage 183; British Museum B 1; Louvre E 665 (cf. above, No. 8, p. 32).

74 ÖJh. x. 1907, p. 9.

75 E 669, CVA. Louvre, i. III Dc, Pl. 3, 12.

76 Many of the pictures on the Throne must have been large compositions illustrating several incidents, e.g. Nos. 12, 15, 19.

77 Paus. III. xix. 2.

78 Louvre, E 864(= Mon. Ined. 1856, Pl. 10, 1), and Graef, , Vasen von der Akropolis, iv. Pl. 98, 2406Google Scholar.

79 In Corneto., , AD. I. 22Google Scholar, and Loeschcke, , JdI. 1887, p. 275Google Scholar.

80 op. cit. p. 279.

81 JdI. viii. 1893, Pl. 1 = Pfuhl, op. cit. fig. 207 (the three figures at the left side are omitted).

82 Hauser, , JdI. viii. 1893, p. 93Google Scholar.

83 Thiersch, , Tyrrhenische Amphoren, p. 55Google Scholar.

84 Homeric Hymn to Apollo, 355 ff.

85 Hesych. and cf. Harrison, J. E., Themis, p. 399Google Scholar.

86 The chariot appears in Ionian pictures of the Tityos story; cf. Furtwängler, , Ant. Gemmen, iii. figs. 57, 58Google Scholar, and a Pontic vase, Lenormant et de Witte, op. cit. ii. 59.

87 Plutarch, , Quaest. Graec. 12, 293 c (Septerion)Google Scholar.

88 Cf. above, note 78.

89 Thiersch, op. cit. p. 57, takes it to be a snake in the hand of one of the Eumenides, but in the reproductions published it seems to be clearly a bow. I have not seen the vase.

90 Schol. Apoll. Rhod. i. 179.

91 Cf. notes 78 and 79 above.

92 Iph. in T. 1259, and cf. Harrison, J. E., Themis p. 385 ff.Google Scholar

93 Cf. No. 4, above, p. 29.

94 Cf. No. 2, above, p. 27.

95 Albizzati, op. cit. ii. p. 46.

96 For Ionic influence in the drawing of the ribs cf. Jacobsthal, , Theseus auf dem Meeresgrunde, p. 22Google Scholar.

97 E 666, CVA. Louvre, i. III Dc, Pl. 3, 7.

98 ÖJh. x. 1907, p. 13.

99 Apollodorus, II. vii. 5.

100 Luce, , AJA. xxvii. 1923, p. 32Google Scholar, gives a full list of examples. A rather similar motive is used for a picture of the struggle of Theseus with the Minotaur on a Chalcidian hydria, Louvre F 18 = Rumpf, Chalkidische Vasen, Pl. XXVI.

101 Cf. Morin-Jean, op. cit. p. 102.

102 Cf. above, No. 7, p. 31. Jacopi, in publishing it, notes that the episode appeared among the reliefs of Gitiadas in the Chalkioikos (Paus. III. xvii. 3).

103 FR. i. 1–2.

104 Cf. below, No. 16, p. 39.

105 op. cit. p. 122.

106 Cf. Loeschcke, , AM. xix. 1894, p. 516Google Scholar, and Malten, , JdI. xxvii. 1912, p. 253, note 3Google Scholar.

107 E.g. B.M. B 264 = Gerhard, op. cit. i. 38, and Lenormant et de Witte, op. cit. i, 49 A. The episode appears only twice on Corinthian ware; (a) on an amphoriskos, Athens 664 = Loeschcke, op. cit. Pl. 8, in a version quite different from the others; (b) on a krater, unusual in technique and design, B.M. B 42 = Walters, op. cit. i. Pl. 21, 1, where the picture seems based on the same model as the Laconian one. Cf. Payne, op. cit. p. 142.

108 Cf. Malten, op. cit. p. 232 ff.

109 Munich 384, Vasensamml. i. Pl. 13.

110 FR. i. 11–12.

111 Cf. Tod, and Wace, , Cat. of the Sparta Museum, p. 102 ff.Google Scholar On the kylix lack of space has forced the palmette from the throne of Zeus down into the space behind.

112 Below, No. 17.

113 13910 = JHS. xxx. 1910, p. 19, fig. 7.

114 JHS. xxx. p. 20.

115 Pfuhl, op. cit. i. § 232.

116 A b.-f. skyphos in Philadelphia, AJA. xxvi. 1922, p. 174Google Scholar, fig. 1, shows Herakles holding Nereus in the same way, by the neck.

117 Odyssey, iv. 408.

118 British Museum B 225, CVA. B.M. iv. III He. Pl. 55,3a, and Bibl. Nat. 255 = Gerhard, op. cit. ii. 112.

119 Overbeck, , Gesch. d. griech. Plastik, i. p. 70Google Scholar.

120 Cf. No. 3, p. 28, No. 7, p. 31, and No. 15, p. 37.

121 AA. 1898, p. 189, fig. 3.

122 B 6, Cat. ii. p. 51 = Studniczka, , Kyrene, p. 23, fig. 18Google Scholar. Cf. Cook, A. B., Zeus, i. p. 95Google Scholar.

123 Boehlau, Aus Ion. u. Ital. Nekrop. Pl. x. 4.

124 Boehlau, op. cit. p. 128.

125 Hauser, , ÖJh. x. 1907, p. 10Google Scholar.

126 Cf. Gardiner, , JHS. xxvii, p. 7Google Scholar and AZ. 1880, p. 63.

127 Gardiner, op. cit. p. 16.

128 Ibid.

129 Like the fragment of an architectural frieze from Amyclae, , AM. lii. 1927, Pl. XXIIIGoogle Scholar.

130 Cf. Cook, A. B., Zeus, i. p. 511 f.Google Scholar

131 Boehlau, op. cit. p. 127.

132 Ἐφημ. 1892, par. 16, and Fiechter, , JdI. xxxiii. 1918, pp. 131–2Google Scholar.

133 Cf. Fiechter, op. cit. p. 135.

134 Cf. Buschor, , AM. lii. 1927, p. 14Google Scholar.

135 RE. iii. p. 125.

136 Meisterwerke, p. 693.

137 H. Mühlestein, Die Kunst der Etrusker, Pls. 124, 125.