PICTURE ANALYSIS Monuments Relating to the Odyssey

Two Unpublished Vases Relating to Odysseus and Polyphemus

• The paper examines two previously unpublished vases that depict the scene of Odysseus and his comrades escaping from the cave of Polyphemus.

• The central objectives are:

  1. To place these vases within the broader context of vase painting history, highlighting their distinctive features and contributions.

  2. To analyze how the designs on the vases relate to the established 'typography' of the myth, which refers to the conventional ways the legend is visually represented.

• A comprehensive analysis of a vase involves a dual consideration of its artistic technique and the narrative form of the legend it portrays. This includes comparing the vase to both earlier and later depictions of the same myth.

Carlsruhe Kelebe

• The first vase under consideration is a krater of the kelebe form, which was discovered in Locri and is currently held in the Museum at Carlsruhe.

• The kelebe is noted as an early and austere form that was particularly favored by Corinthian potters.

• Later iterations of the kelebe feature taller handles, often adorned with relief decorations, while the original early form continued to be produced alongside these later variations.

• This vase is documented in archaeological records, having been referenced in Arch. Anz. 1851, p. 33, and cataloged by Dr. W. Frohner. It also appears in Heydemann's catalog of Polyphemus vases in Annali, 1876, p. 352, g.

• Despite its intriguing technique and historical mentions, the vase has never been formally published.

• The vase features a black ground with a white overlay applied to the rim and a wide band around the body. This white band serves as a base for the design, which is executed in black with inner details incised and highlighted with red and violet hues.

• The practice of overlaying natural clay with white was an early technique that was widespread in Rhodes, Melos, and Cyrene (as noted by O. Puchstein, Arch. Zeit. 1881, p. 222).

• The use of a white band likely served to maintain the aesthetics of the older black-figured style during a transitional period when black paint began to cover the entire body of vases, thus necessitating the development of the red-figured style.

• Vases that combine a black ground with a white band are typically characterized by drawing that is fine, delicate, and precise, indicative of a well-developed artistic style. The Carlsruhe kelebe is a prime example of this aesthetic.

• The design on the vase reproduces a type that was already well-established, suggesting that the artist was working from an existing pattern or tradition.

• Vases with a white ground were particularly popular in Locri, although they were often smaller in size. Dr. Klein has suggested that the white ground was less practical, which would have made these vases luxury items (Euphronios, p. 98).

• An illustrative example is the example is the