THE INFLUENCE OF GREEK TRAGEDY ON VASE PAINTING.
§ 1. THEORIES ADVANCED FOR THE EARLIEST POINT OF CONTACT.
The question as to when the tragic drama first began to influence the
vase painters has been in late years a much mooted one. When our
knowledge of vase chronology was far more fragmentary than it is now,
and the black figured fabric was dated as largely a fifth-century B.C.
product, the attempt was made to point out the dependence on the drama
of certain paintings of this style[98]. Later, when the improbability of
this theory became more and more plain, and an earlier date was fixed
for the black figured vases, other scholars endeavoured to show that the
painters of Euphronios’ set—the masters of the severe red figured
kylikes—stood under the influence of the three tragedians[99]. No one
would venture, however, to speak now of the influence of any of the
dramatists upon the vase painters of this style that flourished at the
end of the sixth and beginning of the fifth century. More nearly correct
was the principle laid down by Robert, in his famous book _Bild und
Lied_, that no vase painting of the fifth century B.C. shows the
influence of heroic legends as recast by the tragedians and produced in
the theatre. Before the year 400 B.C. one should not expect to find
scenes upon the vases that are the direct outcome of the tragic drama.
This, however, is going too far to the other extreme. There is a mean
that may be struck, and this is, as will appear, more in accord with the
present knowledge of Greek ceramics.
§ 2. EARLIEST EVIDENCE.
There is one point on which there seems to be little difference of
opinion, and that is, that the lusty choruses of satyrs that abound on
the early red figured vases were largely popularized through the
Dionysiac trains. These groups of dancing, springing satyrs along with
Dionysos are direct reflexions of the scenes that actually took place,
and as these celebrations were the simple beginnings of the tragic drama
there is in this class of pictures a remote echo of the theatre. Yet one
must not understand that the artists were conscious of following any
particular performance[100]. These scenes border more on what we should
imagine a satyric drama to have been. It was a long way from this
comical, kick-about dance of the satyrs around Dionysos and his altar to
the time when the actual performance of the theatre, such as is seen on
the Andromeda krater, occurs on the vases. Still these were beginnings.
Another exceedingly instructive bit of evidence for the development of
tragic influences (or rather it is better to speak still of Dionysiac
influences) is found on a black figured vase in Bologna[101]. The
painting represents the epiphany of the god who rides in a ship borne on
wheels and drawn by two satyrs before whom march two others leading a
steer. The god who sits enthroned upon the ship is being entertained by
flute music furnished by two satyrs riding with him. Such sights we have
reason to believe were not uncommon in Attica, and it may have been in
such a _carrus navalis_ that Thespis travelled the country and
established the beginnings of the later drama. These πομπαί and the
satyr-trains appear therefore to be a very significant inheritance which
the earlier vase painters have left us for the disentangling of the all
too bare literary records touching the origin of the tragic drama.
§ 3. FIFTH CENTURY.
Long before one can distinguish definite plays reflected in the vase
paintings, certain marks of interest in tragedy may be detected. There
are, for example, representations of the ceremony connected with the
dedication of the tripod-prize. The painters of _cir._ 460 B.C. have
already taken up this part of the dramatic performances and have
indicated thereby the growing interest in the theatrical
exhibitions[102]. About the same time also the personification of
tragedy and comedy makes its appearance on the vases[103]. These are not
in themselves points of so great weight, but they help to clear the way
for understanding the tremendous influence which the drama had upon
artists of the succeeding generations.
Down to the middle of the fifth century the predominating force in the
legendary scenes on the vases was Homer and the other epic writers. At
this point the latter began to share their popularity with the
tragedians, and gradually but surely passed into the second place. That
Robert’s position is not a correct one seems to me highly probable, and
nevertheless one finds his words so often quoted that there is need of
placing the evidence together and inquiring anew into the question. For
my own part I am unable to understand why the theatre did not exert an
influence upon the smaller art of vase industry as well as it did upon
the more important art of painting. When one notes in the fifth century
that great artists like Timanthes and Parrhasios were drawn under the
spell of tragedy it is but natural to suppose that the same was true
also in the case of the less famous vase painters. Why should the
influence have been more pronounced in one instance than in the other?
If Aischylos and Euripides were popular enough to warrant the support of
the illustrious artists, one may correctly assume that the vase painter
grasped this point likewise. The latter was primarily concerned in
producing something saleable, and the pictures that were popular and
saleable for the first class were no less so for the second class. This
so far has, however, no further weight than one’s personal opinion. Let
us turn to the monuments and see what there is to bear out this view.
The Berlin Andromeda krater may be referred to first[104]. This is one
of the most brilliant examples ascribable to tragedy. The profusely
decorated costumes induce one to believe that the artist really
reproduced the dress of the actors in Euripides’ play. The theatrical
air about the work is quite unmistakable, and its Attic origin leads one
to connect it directly with the immense success won by the _Andromeda_
in 412 B.C. The Kyklops vase, published and discussed below, also dates
from the last quarter of the fifth century[105]. A vase in Naples
representing Diomedes’ rape of the Palladium has been referred to
Sophokles’ Λάκαιναι, and its date is _cir._ 420 B.C.[106] The painting
on the Lower Italy vase published below is also from about this same
time and follows the _Eumenides_[107]. I refer lastly to the celebrated
satyr-play vase in Naples as belonging to this period, and furnishing at
the same time the most palpable evidence of theatrical influence upon
the artist[108]. The picture shows a recital of a satyr chorus in the
presence of Dionysos and Ariadne, and is, as it were, a snap-shot of
this peculiar institution. The painting has long been the keystone of
the ancient testimony concerning the nature of the satyric drama. The
richness of the costume worn by Dionysos and Ariadne gives an invaluable
illustration of the actors’ dress. In this regard the work is in direct
accord with Pollux’s καὶ ἐσθῆτες μὲν τραγικαὶ ποικίλον ... ὁ δὲ κροκωτὸς
ἱμάτιον· Διόνυσος δὲ αὐτῷ ἐχρῆτο, καὶ μασχαλιστῆρι ἀνθινῷ καὶ
θύρσῳ[109].
These are the most important examples that can be brought forward to
show the influence of the drama on fifth-century vase painting, and
although not to be compared with the vast number of paintings of a later
period that indicate the development of tragic tendencies, they seem
nevertheless to constitute a considerable array of evidence for the
occurrence of definite tragic scenes borrowed from the drama. The vase
paintings therefore of the last quarter of this century do furnish
undoubted traces of the forms of the myths seen in the theatre[110].
§ 4. THE FOURTH CENTURY AND THE CONDITIONS IN LOWER ITALY.
Till the close of the fifth century, or at least till the time of the
Peloponnesian War, the export of vases from Athens, Corinth, and other
centres in Greece was a lively and paying industry. This traffic had
been carried on with all the Mediterranean and Black Sea ports, but
especially with the cities of Italy. By far the largest number of sixth-
and fifth-century Attic vases now in the European museums and private
collections have come from excavations in Etruria. This article of trade
must have been highly prized by the Etruscans, and it is to their
fondness for Greek vases that we owe a very large part of our knowledge
in this important field of classical archaeology. With the founding of
Greek colonies in Italy the Greek industries were likewise established,
and it was but a question of time till Thurii (founded 445 B.C.),
Tarentum, Herakleia, and other cities supplied the western demand for
vases, and so destroyed the Attic trade. As a matter of fact, few Attic
vases belonging to the fourth century have been discovered in Lower
Italy, and this means that from about 400 B.C. the demand had fallen
off, and the manufacture in Athens had become gradually less and less
important.
It was to favourable soil that this industry was transplanted. The
cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily were as Greek as were Athens and
Corinth, and they were, besides, far more prosperous. The fourth century
was one of great luxury in these western capitals and Athenian art and
letters found a hearty welcome here. It is instructive to observe the
clear traces of Athenian art that are at hand on the coins of these
regions. The legends on the coins of Thurii, Herakleia, Terina, and
Syracuse, dating from the latter half of the fifth century b.c., are as
distinctly Pheidian in style as are those of the corresponding time at
Athens[111], and this shows clearly the intimate intercourse that
existed between the East and the West, and how rapidly the colonists
took up and appropriated the artistic notions of Athens. Many other
things point to the thoroughly Greek landscape of Southern Italy. Greek
names of cities abounded everywhere, and the ancestral hero of most of
the Apulian towns was Diomede—the Aeneas of the South[112]. Each town
had its own mint and struck its own coin with, of course, a Greek legend
and a Greek inscription. Tarentum soon became the largest and most
influential city of Magna Graecia. The city founded by Taras was
destined to be the Athens of the West for some time to come. Here was
the centre from which Attic influences penetrated inland. The literature
and art of Hellas were received here and handed on to the neighbouring
cities. It is but natural that this flourishing capital should have
become the seat of the vase industry for this part of Italy. The
manufacture was not, however, confined to the limits of the city. We
know that other towns in Apulia contributed to the vast number of vases
that we know as ‘Tarentine’ fabric. There is every reason to believe
that this thoroughly Greek industry continued without any interruption
till the capture of Tarentum, 272 B.C.; but at this point the interest
in vase manufacture no doubt began to abate somewhat. When the
commercial independence and rank of Tarentum were gone the period of
decline began, and the vases that belong to the third century B.C. are
neither numerous nor of great worth artistically. The mysteries of Lower
Italy vase chronology are, however, too great to be settled for some
time to come, and it is best not to be rash in assigning hard and fast
dates to a class of monuments, the investigation concerning which is
quite in its infancy.
But what can be said about the drama at Tarentum? The remarks already
made hardly render it necessary to emphasize the high esteem in which
the Attic tragedy was held. That it was patronized extensively and that
it was _the_ literature of the time was true in any Greek city of the
fourth century, and here where a new Athens flourished it must have been
doubly true. It is interesting, however, to learn something definite in
this regard concerning the Tarentines. We learn from Plato that the
people were inveterate theatre-goers, and that they did not stop short
of drunkenness at the Dionysiac feast[113]. In another place one is told
that when the Roman general Valerius sailed into the harbour in 282 B.C.
the Tarentines were celebrating the Dionysia and paid no heed to the
practical Roman[114]. Worse than this, Pyrrhus found it necessary to
order the theatres to be closed that he might succeed in getting the men
out for military service[115]. Such was the favourable soil in which the
Attic drama took root in Lower Italy, and in this centre the influence
of tragedy on the vase decorators was perhaps more far-reaching than in
any ancient city.
The extent of the influence may be seen by an examination of the
paintings on the Lower Italy vases. It has long since been noticed that
many of the Apulian, Campanian, and Lucanian vase paintings have a
marked theatrical composition. The costumes, posings, and gestures are
often notoriously stage-like. In many cases one can observe the
reminiscence of the stage setting; the scene often represents a temple
or palace in or before which the action occurs[116], and even where one
is not able to determine upon the literary source of the picture the
dramatic handling is plain, and one is convinced that some tragedy
furnished the suggestion for the work. The paintings are not to be
considered by any means reliable copies of any particular scene in a
theatre. They were abridged, extended or modified at the notion of the
artist. When he took his ideas from the tragedian, he might turn the
characters round to please his own fancy, putting in or omitting others.
He never illustrated. The value of these paintings in helping one to
reconstruct the lost plays is very considerable. They are generally
certain to provide more valuable information regarding the lost
literature than the few fragments that may have come down to us[117]. As
the three tragedians of the fifth century B.C. were practically the only
ones that were read and heard with pleasure in the fourth century, their
work is the source of nearly all of the paintings based on tragedy. We
may pass on therefore to our study of Aischylos, Sophokles, and
Euripides in their influence upon the vase painters.