§ 1. DISTINCTIONS OF TYPES In the earlier vase-paintings deities are often not only indistinguishable from one another, but even from kings and other mortal personages, attributes and subtle distinctions of costume being ignored; and in the period of decline a similar tendency may be noted, due in this case not so much to confusion of ideas as to a general carelessness of execution and indifference to the meaning of the subject. In the former vases it was, doubtless, largely the result of conventionality and limitation in the free expression of forms; but it is a peculiarity not confined to painting, and may be observed not only in the minor arts, in terracotta and bronze figurines, but even in sculpture of a more exalted kind—as, for instance, in the female statues from the Athenian Acropolis. Thus, all the deities are draped, and their costume differs in no respect from that worn by mortals; all alike wear the chiton, himation, or chlamys, and ornamentation of the drapery with embroidered patterns is no mark of distinction. It is only as the art advances in the B.F. period that the necessity for differentiation makes itself felt, and each deity becomes individualised by some peculiarity of costume or special attribute which makes it possible to recognise them without difficulty. To give a brief survey of these characteristic marks will be the object of the following pages.[1942] Among the Olympian deities, _Zeus_ is generally bearded, and fully draped in long chiton and mantle; on R.F. vases he wears a laurel-wreath. He fights the giants from his chariot, but otherwise is standing, or seated on a throne, which is often carved and ornamented with figures.[1943] He usually holds a thunderbolt, or a sceptre, surmounted by an eagle or otherwise ornamented; in one or two cases the termination is in the form of a lotos-bud, curiously conventionalised.[1944] _Hera_ is distinguished by the _stephane_ or broad diadem, often ornamented, and covered with the bridal veil, the edge of which she draws forward with one hand in the attitude considered typical of brides. Her sceptre is sometimes surmounted by her emblem—the cuckoo.