Rhesus between dream and death: On the relation of image to literature in apulian vase-painting*

Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies

Volumn 41, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 71-86

  Giuliani, Luca ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF FREIBURG   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 61449127480     PISSN: 00760730     EISSN: 20415370     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.2041-5370.1996.tb00590.x     Document Type: Article

References (62)

1. For a general survey see most recently A. D. Trendall, Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily (London 1989) 74–102.
2. H. Lohmann, JdI 97 (1982) 210–49.
3. H. Lohmann, Grabmäler auf unteritalischen Vasen (Berlin 1979).
4. O. Jahn, Vasenbilder (Hamburg 1839) 5–12; J. Vogel, Szenen euripidäischer Tragödien in griechischen Vasengemälden (Leipzig 1886); C. Watzinger, Studien zur unteritalischen Vasenmalerei (Darmstadt 1899) 33–47; Séchan 1926; Trendall-Webster 1971; A. Kossatz-Deissmann, Dramen des Aischylos auf westgriechischen Vasen (Mainz 1978).
5. Naples, Museo Archeologico, H. 3228 and Milan, Collection ‘H.A.’, Inv. 239; RVAp 193.8/3 and 4. Cf. Séchan 1926; 253–55, 382–84; Trendall-Webster 1971: III.3,9 and III.3,28.
6. Séchan 1926: 383f.
7. Euripides, Andromache 1117–28, trans. by J.F. Nims, in D. Grene and R. Lattimore (eds.), The Complete Greek Tragedies. Volume III: Euripides (Chicago 1959); the translation has been slightly modified.
8. Séchan 1926: 254; Trendall-Webster 1971: III.3,9.
9. Kossatz-Deissmann (n.4), 5.
10. Trendall (n.1), 262: ‘the vase-painters probably drew their inspiration from an actual performance which remained in their memory and influenced the representations on the vases.’.
11. Watzinger (n.4), 43f.; Kossatz-Deissmann (n.4), 1, 167; cf. also E. Zwierlein-Diehl, Gnomon 47 (1975) 65, 67.
12. M. Gigante, in Magna Grecia: Vita religiosa e cultura letteraria, filosofica e scientifica (Milan 1988) 276.
13. In all of south Italian vase-painting, tragic scenes which take place on a stage are found only on a couple of Sicilian kalyx-kraters: Trendall-Webster 1971: III.2,8; III.6,1f.
14. To be sure, long-sleeved, colourfully patterned garments, such as are worn by many figures on Apulian vases, are frequently interpreted as theatrical costumes; but the decisive counter-arguments, which have never been refuted, can already be found in A. Rumpf, Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift 52 (1932) 208–13. If these are theatrical costumes, then why is it that in every picture they are worn only by some figures and not by all? How can it be explained that the main figures, if young and male, are always shown naked? In fact, long-sleeved garments are not theatrical paraphernalia but a distinctive iconographic marker for specific groups of persons: kings, barbarians, and slaves. It is of course entirely possible, and even probable, that the representation of such garments was originally inspired by theatrical costumes. But the question of the genesis of a motif must be fundamentally distinguished from that of its meaning: the long-sleeved garments must be considered as a sign in their iconographic context, and as such they have quite a different function from that of signifying ‘theatre’.
15. 2, BICS Suppl. 19 (London 1967); Trendall-Webster 1971: IV, 11–36.
16. Moret 1975; cf. the review by M. Schmidt, Gnomon 82 (1980) 751–60. The radical nature of Moret's criticism of the philodramatic position can be better understood if one realises that it is that of a disappointed philodramatist: Moret states in the preface that he had begun his study 'sous les auspices de la philologie et avec la quasi-certitude que le resultat confirmerait l‘origine théâtrale des scènes de vases’ (1).
17. Moret 1975: 143.
18. Moret 1975: 106–11: ‘le héros agenouillé sur l'autel’.
19. Moret 1975: 177: ‘La tragédie a servi de point de départ; elle n'a été qu'un prétexte. Pour traduire en langage figuré une situation légendaire encore inédite, le peintre a recouru à tout un arsenal de formes et de figures que lui offrait la tradition iconographique. Réminiscences visuelles et emprunts analogiques ont été déterminants dans l'elaboration de cette image, qui montre que les préoccupations littéraires ont compté pour bien peu dans les meilleurs ateliers d'Italie méridionale.’.
20. Moret 1975: 176 and 241 with n.6.
21. Moret 1975: 176.
22. A good comparison is offered, for example, by Pentheus retreating before the maenads' attack on the external painting of a dish deriving from the same workshop context as the two volutekraters: Ruvo 1617; RVAp 400, 15/27; H. Sichtermann, Griechische Vasen in Unteritalien (Tübingen 1966), Fig. 139, K 80.
23. This is the significant title of the well-known book by Trendall and Webster.
24. In general on the iconography of Rhesus: Trendall-Webster 1971: III.5, 7–8; Moret 1975: 187–89; F. Brommer, Odysseus (Darmstadt 1983) 33f.; K. Schefold-F. Jung, Die Sagen von den Argonauten, von Theben und Troja in der klassischen und hellenistischen Kunst (Munich 1989) 202f. One must exclude the fragments of a large open vessel from the circle of the Iliupersis Painter in a private collection in Basel, which Brommer has wrongly connected with the murder of Rhesus: see M. Schmidt in Der zerbrochene Krug (exhibition catalogue Basel 1991), no. 86. An interpretation in terms of Rhesus is also improbable for the Apulian fragment Würzburg H 4705: RVAp 42,2/34; the armed Thracian reclining with closed eyes probably belonged to a representation of Orpheus playing music among the Thracians and should probably be identified as one of the attentive listeners.
25. On the legend and its transmission see B. Fenik, Iliad X and the Rhesus: The Myth= Collection Latomus 73 (Brussels 1964); cf. A. Dihle, Homer-Probleme (Opladen 1970) 34–40.
26. 2 (Munich 1991) 22.
27. So, explicitly, in the hypothesis; cf. Ritchie 1964: 6–29. Ritchie's attempt to defend the transmitted version against this suspicion and to prove that it is Euripidean does not seem convincing to me; for strong counter-arguments cf. H. Fränkel, Gnomon 37 (1965) 228–41. For the interpretation of the play cf. most recently V. J. Rosivach, Hermes 106 (1978) 54–73; A. P. Burnett in P. Burian (ed.), Directions in Euripidean Criticism (Durham 1985) 13–51; E. Pöhlmann in Festschrift Robert Werner. Xenia 22 (1989) 53–55.
28. See on this (independently of the question of attribution) Ritchie 1964: 39f., 345. I am less convinced by the arguments of V. Iliescu, Klio 58 (1976) 367–76, who tries to identify allusions in the play to the Thracian king Kotys I (who ruled 384–59 BC): the connection is much too vague to provide a solid basis for a dating. For other attempts to date the Rhesus on the basis of historical considerations, cf. Ritchie 1964: 359.
29. Schol. on Iliad 10.43 = Pindar fr. 262.
30. Euripides Schol. 528 (Schwartz); the dating derives from the fact that the tragedy is said to have been staged by Euripides in his youth.
31. Museo ArcheologicoH.2910: RVAp 417,16/18.
32. Antikensammlung, Inv. 1984.39 = RVAp 2nd supp. Part I (1991) 146, 18/17a; cf. L Giuliani, Tragik, Trauer und Trost (Berlin 1995) 31–33, 94–102.
33. Iliad 10.479–81, tr. R. Fagles (New York 1990); all further citations from the Iliad are taken from this translation.
34. Rhesus 621–26, tr. R. Lattimore, in D. Grene and R. Lattimore (eds.), The Complete Greek Tragedies. Volulme IV: Euripides (Chicago 1960); all further citations from the Rhesus are taken from this translation.
35. AntikensammlungV.I.3157: RVAp 441,8/102a.
36. P. H. von Blanckenhagen, AJA 61 (1957) 78f.; N. Himmelmann, Erzählung und Figur= Abh. Mainz 1967, no. 2, 82f.; W. Raeck, JdI 99 (1984) 21. On the other hand, H. Froning, JdI 103 (1988) 169–99, is not convincing.
37. On Book 10 of the Iliad see F. Klingner, Hermes 75 (1940) 359: ‘ein Nachtstück, wie es sonst keins in der Ilias gibt.’ On the Rhesus see H. Strohm, Hermes 87 (1959) 257f.: it is the only Attic drama that takes place in darkness from beginning to end.
38. Iliad 10.11f.
39. Rhesus 617f.; cf. Iliad 10.437.
40. Iliad 10.475; cf. A. Morard, Bulletin Association Guillaume Budé 1963, 386: Rhesus' horses are quite certainly not tied to the chariot with their reins, ‘car les rênes font partie d'une bride […]. Un cheval mis au repos est tout d'abord débarrassé de sa bride, ne serait ce que pour lui permettre de manger facilement.’.
41. Rhesus 769–72.
42. Iliad 10.10.498f. (translation slightly modified).
43. One cannot exclude the possibility that the vase-painter knew of additional poems about Rhesus which have not survived. Nevertheless, any methodologically sound comparison between the iconography of the vase-paintings and literature must limit itself to transmitted texts; the vicious circle that uses the vase-paintings to derive conclusions about the (lost) texts and then uses these latter to interpret the vase-paintings has been employed often enough and can scarcely be recommended as a valid method. In the present case, accepting this methodological limitation is made easier for us by the fact that by the 4th century BC not only Book 10 as part of the Iliad but also the Rhesus tragedy had already become famous texts. These surely transmit to us not just some marginal variants of the legend but its two most widely current literary versions.
44. Cf. C. Weiss, Griechische Flussgottheiten in vorhellenistischer Zeit (Würzburg 1984) 113f.
45. Eustathius 817.27–29. The motif of the oracle does not appear in the Iliad, while the tragedy seems to presuppose it: Rhesus 600–04; cf. Fenik, op.cit. (n.25) 25f.
46. Rhesus 919–31; on the iconography of Strymon cf. H.A. Cahn in Proceedings of the 3rd Symposion of Ancient Greék and Related Pottery (Copenhagen 1987) 107ff.
47. But already this puts one on thin ice, for the motif of the Muse as the mother of Rhesus was not necessarily invented by the author of the Rhesus; it could just as well be an older traditional element. On the other hand the — not entirely appropriate — exhaustiveness with which the Muse tells the chorus of her love affair with Strymon seems rather to suggest that here an unusual variant is being introduced which as such also needs a special narrative justification. At any rate, the dramaturgical meaning of this variant in the specific context of the tragedy is clear: the author of the Rhesus needs an adequate adversary for Athena and acquires one most easily by supplying Rhesus with a divine mother.
48. Rhesus 622–26.
49. Rhesus 797.
50. Rhesus 893.
51. Rhesus 668–70.
52. Rhesus 10.489–93.
53. Rhesus 10.502–06.
54. Rhesus 642–67.
55. Pöhlmann, op.cit. (n.24) 54; cf. also Ritchie 1964, 125.
56. Iliad 10.482f.
57. Iliad 10.507–12.
58. Iliad 10.496f.; cf. A. H. M. Kessels, Studies on the Dream in Greek Literature (Utrecht 1978) 44–49.
59. Rhesus 962–73, 980–82 (translation slightly modified). The friendship with Orpheus, to which Rhesus' mother appeals (966), is based upon relations of kinship: Orpheus is the son of the Muse Calliope and hence a cousin of Rhesus.
60. K. Buresch, RhM 49 (1984) 424–60; R. Kassel, Untersuchungen zur griechischen und römischen Trostliteratur= Zetemata 18 (Munich 1958) p.44.
61. Diog. Laert. 2.55; cf. [Dion. Hal.] Rhet. 6.1 = H. Usener, ed., Dionysii Halicarnasei quae fertur ars rhetorica (Leipzig 1895) 26.10–12.
62. [Dion. Hal.] Rhet. 6.5 = Usener, op.cit., 30.9f., 31.5.