History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2)Walters, H. B. (Henry Beauchamp)
History
History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2)
Walters, H. B. (Henry Beauchamp)
Mythology, Classical, in art; Pottery, Ancient; Pottery, Etruscan; Pottery, Greek; Pottery, Roman
III. Natural products, such as Oinos (Wine) and Opora (Harvest), are
only found personified among the Dionysiac conceptions with which we
have already dealt (p. 65); to these two names we may add those of
Hedyoinos (Sweet Wine), Kissos (Ivy), Kalyke (Bud), and Rodo (Rose),
the three latter coming more under the heading of pet-names than of
strict personifications.
* * * * *
IV. Our next class includes certain groups of personages (all feminine)
which for the most part hold their own throughout all periods of art
and literature, and are, so to speak, more crystallised into definite
mythological personages, associated with the gods and human beings of
the legendary ages. These are the Muses, the Charites or Graces, the
Horae or Seasons, the Moirae or Fates, and the Erinnyes or Furies.
=The Muses= do not appear so frequently in vase-paintings as in
sculpture, and mostly on later vases. Two fine R.F. examples of the
whole nine (with their appropriate attributes) call for mention[1003];
other vases give a more limited number, or even single figures[1004];
but it must be remembered that in such cases identification is
difficult, as characterisation by means of a lyre or scenic mask does
not necessarily connote the presence of a Muse. On one vase Terpsichore
is seen with two figures inscribed as Mousaios and Melousa[1005]; but
these may be no more than fancy names for an ordinary group of
musicians. Five of them are seen in a group with Apollo, Thamyris, and
Sappho,[1006] and elsewhere they accompany Apollo.[1007]
The _Graces_ can nowhere be identified on Greek vases, though they form
a well-known type in sculpture; but there is an Etruscan kylix in the
British Museum (probably copied from a Greek original), which appears
to represent them as an interior group.[1008] The _Horae_ or Seasons
appear (without distinctive names) on the François vase at the nuptials
of Peleus and Thetis, and on the Sosias cup[1009] in an Olympian
assemblage (three in each case); also two of them at the sending forth
of Triptolemos.[1010] The three _Moirae_ (Fates) appear on the François
vase (as above), and once also at the birth of Athena[1011]; the Furies
have already been discussed.[1012]
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