From Ionia the style of vase-painting which has been called by various
names, but may best be termed the "orientalizing," spread to Greece
proper. Its main home here was in Corinth; and small Corinthian
unguent-vases bearing figures of swans, lions, monsters and human
beings, the intervals between which are filled by rosettes, are found
wherever Corinthian trade penetrated, notably in the cemeteries of
Sicily. For the larger Corinthian vases, which bore more elaborate
scenes from mythology, we must again turn to the graves of the cities of
Etruria. Here, besides the Ionian ware, of which mention has already
been made, we find pottery of three Greek cities clearly defined, that
of Corinth, that of Chalcis in Euboea, and that of Athens. Corinthian
and Chalcidian ware is most readily distinguished by means of the
alphabets used in the inscriptions which have distinctive forms easily
to be identified. Whether in the style of the paintings coming from the
various cities any distinct differences may be traced is a far more
difficult question, into which we cannot now enter. The subjects are
mostly from heroic legend, and are treated with great simplicity and
directness. There is a manly vigour about them which distinguishes them
at a glance from the laxer works of Ionian style. Fig. 12 shows a group
from a Chalcidian vase, which represents the conflict over the dead body
of Achilles. The corpse of the hero lies in the midst, the arrow in his
heel. The Trojan Glaucus tries to draw away the body by means of a rope
tied round the ankle, but in doing so is transfixed by the spear of
Ajax, who charges under the protection of the goddess Athena. Paris on
the Trojan side shoots an arrow at Ajax.
In fig. 13, from a Corinthian vase, Ajax falls on his sword in the
presence of his colleagues, Odysseus and Diomedes. The short stature of
Odysseus is a well-known Homeric feature. These vases are black-figured;
the heroes are painted in silhouette on the red ground of the vases.
Their names are appended in archaic Greek letters.
[Illustration: _Mus. Napoleon_, 66.