Luckenbach[17] has pointed out that the only right method of investigating the relation is to begin with vase-paintings for which the sources are absolutely certain, as with scenes from the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_. In this way the subjects from other epics can be rightly estimated and the contents of the poems restored. Further, in investigating the sources of the vase-painters, and the extent to which they adhered to them or gave free play to the imagination, the three main periods of vase-painting must be separately considered, though the results in each case prove to be similar. By way of exemplifying these methods he enters in great detail into certain vase-subjects, their method of treatment on vases of the different periods, and their approximation to the text. Thus, the funeral games for Patroklos (_Il._ xxiii.) are depicted on the François vase (see p. 11) with marked deviations from Homer’s narrative; and not only this, but without characterisation, so that if the performers were not named the subject could hardly have been identified. To note one small point, all Homeric races took place in two-horse chariots (_bigae_), but on B.F. vases four-horse _quadrigae_ are almost invariably found.[18] Subjects of a more conventional character, such as battle scenes, farewell scenes, or the arming of a warrior, present even more difficulty. Even when names occur it is only increased. We must assume that the vase-painter fixed on typical names for his personages, without caring whether he had literary authority. In some cases the _genre_ scenes seem to be developed from heroic originals, in others the contrary appears to be the case.[19] It is not, however, unfair to say that the Epos was the vase-painter’s “source.” The only doubtful question is the _extent_ of his inspiration; and, at all events, it was a _source_ in the sense that no other Greek literature was until we come to the fourth century. Turning now to the consideration of later literature,[20] we find in Hesiod a certain parallelism of theme to the vases, but little trace of actual influence. Indirectly he may have affected the vase-painter by his crystallisation of Greek mythology in the Theogony, where he establishes the number of the Muses (l. 77), and also the names of the Nereids.[21] It is, however, interesting to note the Hesiodic themes which were also popular with the vase-painters: the creation of Pandora; the fights of Herakles and Kyknos, and of Lapiths and Centaurs, and the pursuit of Perseus by the Gorgons; the contest of Zeus with Typhoeus (or Typhon); and the birth of Athena.[22]