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 World of Art Art and Myth in Ancient Greece 2nd Edition
Thomas H. Carpenter

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1 The ‘François Vase’. Attic black-figure volute-krater from Chiusi, signed by the
potter Ergotimos and the painter Kleitias, side A, c. 570. 66 cm (26 in.)
About the Author:
T. H. Carpenter is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Ohio
University, where he has taught since 1997. He was awarded a
master’s degree in theology from Harvard University and, after
earning his doctorate in classical archaeology at Oxford University,
he worked for four years as chief researcher at the Beazley Archive
at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Professor Carpenter’s other
books include Dionysian Imagery in Fifth-century Athens (1997) and
Mythology: Greek and Roman (1977).
Contents

Preface

Chapter 1
Introduction

Chapter 2
A Demonstration of Method: The Return of Hephaistos;
Troilos and Achilles

Chapter 3
Portraits of the Gods

Chapter 4
The Ascendancy of the Olympians

Chapter 5
Perseus; Bellerophon

Chapter 6
Herakles

Chapter 7
Theseus

Chapter 8
Argonauts; Calydonian Boar Hunt

Chapter 9
The Trojan War
Chapter 10
The Aftermath of the War

Selected Sources

List of Illustrations

Index of Mythological Subjects

Index of Common Attributes

Preface

In recent decades many theories have been proposed for the

interpretation of Greek myths; however, the reader will quickly notice
that none of them is mentioned here. This is in part because even a
summary review of the theories is far beyond the scope of this small
book, and in part because the focus here is on identification rather
than on interpretation.
The primary purpose of this book is to help readers identify
scenes from myth in Archaic and Classical Greek art while at the
same time showing that the depictions often need to be seen in a
developmental context to be understood. My intention has been to
provide a dependable groundwork on which further studies can be
built since it is my firm conviction that interpretation can only follow
careful examination, identification, determination of a chronological
context, and recognition of patterns of development (when they
exist).
Questions of what specific meaning certain myths may have had
for a particular polis, or for Greeks in general, will certainly occur to
readers, as will questions as to why a particular scene was put on a
vase or shield band or temple pediment, or why it was depicted one
way and not another. These are important questions, and it is my
hope that observations here may give some basis for seeking
answers to them.
2 Limestone metope from Selinus. Perseus beheads Medusa who already holds the
winged horse Pegasos. Athena, without attributes, stands beside him. c. 530. 1.47
m (57⅞ in.)
Chapter 1
Introduction

Most surveys of Greek mythology are, quite rightly, based on literary

sources, since these are the principal repositories of ancient myths.
Some surveys include the occasional ancient sculpture or painted
vase as illustrations, some use a mixture of ancient, renaissance and
modern art, and still others use new works specifically created for
them, but in few cases is the reason behind the choice of
illustrations or the connection between them and the text at all clear.
The scenes float in a kind of ahistorical limbo.
In fact, ancient Greek art is also a rich source for the knowledge
of myths and one that can be studied in its own right. The way a
story is shown may develop and change over a period of time, so
that a depiction of a myth from 580 BC will probably be very different
in content (as well as in form) from a depiction of the same myth in
400 BC. Sometimes a story is shown for which no literary source
survives, sometimes the details of the story shown are quite
different from those in literary versions, and sometimes life is given
to a story known only in a late and abbreviated form.
This book is an introductory survey of myth as it appears in
surviving ancient Greek visual arts created between about 700 and
300 BC. Though some familiarity with the Homeric epics and Greek
tragedies is assumed, the book is intended for the interested general
reader as well as for the student of classics or of myth. It begins
with a brief survey of the types of ancient sources that have come
down to us and continues with an examination in some depth of the
development in art of two myths as a demonstration of a method for
such studies. The largest part of the book, however, is a survey of
the development of some of the more important myths (a word used
here to encompass heroic legends as well as stories of the gods).
 The focus is ancient Greek narrative art – depictions of scenes
that tell stories. Thus, portraits of the gods are only of interest as
they define attributes by which a deity may be recognized in
narrative scenes, and, as a result, few non-architectural free-
standing sculptures and few coins are included here, since often
they simply repeat (and perhaps refine) a type established much
earlier on. By Greek art not only the art of the Greek Aegean – East
Greece, the islands, the mainland and the Peloponnese – is meant,
but also the work of Greek artists or their followers in the West –
particularly South Italy (Magna Graecia) and Sicily.
A starting point of 700 BC is chosen because this is roughly the
date when the first certain depictions of myth appear in Greek art,
on Attic vases. An end point of 300 BC is chosen in part because the
death of Alexander traditionally marks the end of the Classical
period, and in part because it is towards the end of the 4th century
that Attic vases painted with narrative scenes, one of our most
important sources, finally ceased to be produced.
The traditional terms Geometric, Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic
are used here as names for historical periods and stages in the
development in Greek art. Geometric refers to the period from about
900 to 700 BC when Greek art began to be revitalized after the
stagnation of the ‘dark ages’ that followed the destruction of the
Mycenaean world. The art of this period, mostly painted vases and
small bronzes, is characterized by the use of geometric forms of
decoration (as opposed to free forms). Stylized human figures in
narrative scenes appear on vases by about 750 BC, but scenes from
myth do not occur before the end of the century. Trade with the East
developed during the late 8th century and the influence of Eastern
forms and styles is clear in Greek art of the 7th century – the term
‘orientalizing’ is often used to describe the new developments
through which geometric forms give way to more natural ones and
fantastic figures and shapes proliferate. The 6th century was a time
of consolidation and prosperity in Greece, and the term Archaic is
used to describe the art of this period. This was, without any
question, the most creative period for the depiction of myths in art,
and many of the conventions established then carried on into later
times. The sack of the Acropolis in Athens by the Persians in 480 BC
and the subsequent destruction of the Persian fleet by the Athenians
traditionally marks the end of the Archaic period and the beginning
of the Classical, when Greek art reached its full and powerful
maturity. The term Hellenistic, then, is used to describe the history
and art of the Greek world from the death of Alexander in 323 on
into the 1st century BC. The great social and political changes during
the Hellenistic period are paralleled by great changes in the way
myths were understood and depicted, but these changes are beyond
the scope of this book.
The depiction of myth in the visual arts uses a ‘language’ quite
different from literary languages, and it is a language that must be
learned through careful observation. Each element of the depiction
must be examined and seen in relation to all of the other elements
before the intention of the work can be fully understood. Nothing
takes the place of careful looking, but beyond that, there are
conventions that must be learned which form a kind of shorthand by
which a gesture or an object or even the direction an individual is
facing can have a particular meaning, often quite different from the
meaning we might impose on them based only on our own
experience. Furthermore, the relation between the form and the
subject also has an effect on the language – the focus of the
sculptor preparing a pedimental group of the battle of the gods and
giants for a public building such as a temple is obviously different in
many ways from that of a vase-painter putting the same subject on
the inside of a drinking cup to be sold to a private individual.
A general survey of the major types of ancient narrative art
available to us, with an attempt to put them in some chronological
context, is a logical starting point for this study. Then, as individual
objects are presented later on, the specific problems of their
‘language’ will be discussed in more detail.
To start, it is worth stating the obvious points that the depictions
of myth that have survived represent only a small fraction of those
that were made, and that any statement we make about the earliest
or latest scene or image could be contradicted tomorrow by a new
discovery. Even more significant is the virtual disappearance of
whole art forms. During the 5th and 4th centuries BC wall-paintings
in public places were certainly a major form for the depiction of
myth, but almost none have survived, and our knowledge of the
most famous comes only from occasional references to them by a
few later writers, and perhaps from pale reflections of parts of a few
on some painted vases. Of course, almost all traces of woven fabrics
have vanished, yet we know from depictions on vases and from
literary sources that figure scenes often appeared on them. Likewise,
most carvings in wood and ivory have turned to dust. Very few
objects of gold or silver have come down to us from antiquity
because of the value of the metals themselves, which was far
greater in the eyes of some than were the forms in which they were
cast. So too, most ancient bronze sculptures were melted down for
reuse and a great many marble works were burnt in lime-kilns for
mortar.
For descriptions of works of art now lost, two ancient authors are
of particular importance. Pliny the Elder, a Roman rhetorician and
historian, wrote his Natural History around the middle of the 1st
century AD. In it he discusses many ancient artists and in so doing
mentions titles for many of their works – thus we know the subjects
depicted if not the details of the works themselves. About a century
later Pausanias, a Greek geographer, perhaps from Lydia, travelled
extensively in Greece and wrote a detailed account of what he saw
in his Description of Greece. Much of the book is devoted to history
and topography of the sites visited, but Pausanias was clearly
fascinated by religion and art, and he describes many depictions of
myth and legend in great detail. For our purposes, Pausanias’
descriptions are the more valuable.
Paintings on vases are, in many ways, the richest source for
ancient depictions of myth and legend. This is in part because of the
large number of surviving vase-paintings (or parts of vase-paintings)
and in part because of the creativity of some of the painters using
the form. While in most ancient civilizations painting on pottery is
relatively unimportant and is rarely a medium for narrative scenes, in
Greece, particularly during the Archaic and Early Classical periods, it
attracted significant talent and developed alongside sculpture and
wall-painting as an art in its own right. The survival of so many
painted vases – though still only a small fraction of those made – is
due to several factors. Of considerable importance are the durability
of the material and its inherent valuelessness. It cannot be melted
down and under most conditions it does not decay. Even when a
vase is broken into many pieces it can be put back together again
and the depiction on it examined, yet the fragments are otherwise
worthless. Another factor is the value put on painted vases by non-
Greeks – particularly the Etruscans – who often treated them as
treasured objects and put them in their tombs, where they remained
in relatively good condition, of little interest to ancient tomb robbers.
Also, the popularity of the vases in foreign markets encouraged the
growth of the pottery ‘industry’, which certainly increased the
quantity produced, if not always the quality.
Narrative scenes first appeared around 750 BC on Attic vases and
figure scenes continued to be the primary interest of Attic vase-
painters from then on into the 4th century. During the 7th century,
Corinth was the foremost producer of pottery in Greece, exporting
great quantities to both the East and West.[3] Though a narrative or
figured style did exist in Corinth throughout this period (and even in
the 6th century), the Corinthian style was primarily ornamental, with
animal friezes, and the quantity of figured vases produced was
always relatively small.
3 Corinthian amphoriskos. The Return of Hephaistos (?). Early 6th century. 11.5
cm (4⅝ in.)

The 7th century was the period of experimentation for Attic

potters and virtually none of their wares were exported beyond the
Greek islands. Towards the end of the century, however, a technique
called black-figure, borrowed from Corinth where it had been
perfected, became the standard for Attic pottery and was to remain
so for at least a century. With their black-figure vases decorated with
narrative scenes rather than with ornamental animal friezes, Attic
potters had captured the export market from Corinth by the middle
of the 6th century.
For the black-figure technique a silhouette figure is painted onto
an unfired vase and details are incised with a sharp tool so that after
the vase is fired they remain the light colour of the clay while the
figure is black. Red and white paints are occasionally used, though
sparingly, for some details.
Around 530 BC Attic vase-painters invented a new technique
called red-figure. It is literally the reverse of black-figure. The figure
is reserved, that is, it is left the colour of the clay, while the
background is painted black. Where details were incised in black-
figure, here they are indicated with painted lines the thickness of
which can be regulated by the density of the glaze. Some of the
earliest vases in the new technique with a black-figure scene on one
side and a red-figure scene on the other are called bilingual vases.
[4] By the beginning of the 5th century red-figure was the dominant
technique and remained so on into the 4th century.

4 Attic bilingual amphora. Herakles, carrying a club and spits for roasting meat,
leads a bull to sacrifice. The same scene appears on the reverse in red-figure, c.
530. 53 cm (20⅞ in.)

A few Attic potters and/or painters signed their vases, but most
vases are unsigned. The names given in the captions for the painters
of unsigned vases are inventions by modern scholars who have
recognized individual hands. So, for example, the Berlin Painter is
named after a particularly fine vase in Berlin, and the Achilles Painter
is named after a figure on one of the painter’s best vases. The
choice of names is quite arbitrary.
While Corinth and Athens were the most important producers of
painted pottery during the first half of the 6th century, the vases of a
third region, Laconia, are also important for the study of myths in
Greek art. Laconian potters borrowed the black-figure technique
from Corinth towards the end of the 7th century, but it was not until
about 580 that narrative scenes began to appear on their vases.
Then, for more than fifty years a school of Laconian figured painting
flourished, and exports reached the East and West. By 520, however,
probably due to competition from Athens, the Laconian figured style
had all but vanished.
Other centres, such as Boeotia, Euboea, Rhodes, Chios and some
of the East Greek cities produced some figure-decorated pottery
during the 6th century. Also, of some importance for our purposes
are two black-figure styles probably produced in Italy during the last
third of the century. So-called ‘Chalcidian’ vases show a strong Attic
influence, and while inscriptions on them are in the alphabet of
Chalkis on the island of Euboea, it is likely that they were made in
Italy. Caeretan hydriai show strong East Greek influences, but they
were in all likelihood made in or near Caere (modern Cerveteri) in
Etruria. By the 5th century Athens had captured the market in
painted vases and was virtually the only Greek producer of them.
However, after the middle of that century schools of red-figure
pottery appear in the Greek colonies of South Italy and Sicily,
probably started by Attic immigrants, and continue to produce vases
on through the 4th century, primarily for local consumption.
Several schools of South Italian vase-painting have been
identified. The earliest, called Lucanian, seems to have started in
Metaponto around 440, and then during the 430s another school,
called Apulian, was probably established at Taranto. Other schools
developed in Sicily at the end of the 5th century and are connected
with schools that developed in Campania, and particularly at
Paestum.
There is an important difference between most Attic and South
Italian depictions of myth. Few Attic vase-paintings of mythological
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