Ionian vases.
In very recent years it has been possible, for the first time, to trace
the influence of Ionian painting, as represented by vases, on the rise
of art. The discoveries at Naucratis and Daphnae in Egypt, due to the
keenness and pertinacity of W. M. Flinders Petrie, threw new light on
this matter. It became evident that when those cities were first
inhabited by Ionian Greeks, in the 7th century, they used pottery of
several distinct but allied styles, the most notable feature of which
was the use of the lotus in decoration, the presence of continuous
friezes of animals and of monsters, and the filling up of the background
with rosettes, lozenges and other forms. Fig. 8 shows a vase found in
Rhodes which illustrates this Ionian decoration. The sphinx, the deer
and the swan are prominent on it, the last-named serving as a link
between the geometric ware and the more brilliant and varied ware of the
Ionian cities. The assignment of the many species of early Ionic ware to
various Greek localities, Miletus, Samos, Phocaea and other cities, is a
work of great difficulty, which now closely occupies the attention of
archaeologists. For the results of their studies the reader is referred
to two recent German works, Bohlau's _Aus ionischen und italischen
Nekropolen_, and Endt's _Beitrage zur ionischen Vasenmalerei_. The
feature which is most interesting in this pottery from our present point
of view is the way in which representations of Greek myth and legend
gradually make their way, and relegate the mere decoration of the vases
to borders and neck. One of the earliest examples of representation of a
really Greek subject is the contest of Menelaus and Euphorbus on a plate
found in Rhodes. On the vases of Melos, of the 7th century, which are,
however, not Ionian, but rather Dorian in character, we have a certain
number of mythological scenes, battles of Homeric heroes and the like.
One of these is shown in fig. 9. It represents Apollo in a chariot drawn
by winged horses, playing on the lyre, and accompanied by a pair of
Muses, meeting his sister Artemis. It is notable that Apollo is bearded,
and that Artemis holds her stag by the horns, much in the manner of the
deities on Babylonian cylinders; in the other hand she carries an arrow;
above is a line of water birds.
[Illustration: Conze. _Mel. Tongefasse_, 4.