"October 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



229 



subjects treated of by Euripides, who waa considered by 

 Aristotle " the most tragic of poets." The influence of 

 comedy is of another kind. Here we have no traces of 

 any revival of Aristophanes and his contemporaries, whose 

 plays were too essentially topical to be adapted for such 

 a purpose ; nor, again, of the new comedy of Menander, 

 which was purely a comedy of manners. The influence 



Fia. 3.— Situla (Buctet),of Apulian fabric, with scene repre- 

 senting Diouysos espousing Ariadne. The stand is modern. 

 About 300 B.C. 



here is peculiarly local, and is derived from a kind of farce 

 which was popular in Southern Italy and Sicily, and which 

 either dealt with subjects of daily life or with burlesques 

 of mythology. In many of these comic scenes as pourtrayed 

 on the vases, the actual stage is represented (stv Fig. 1) ; in 

 others we have merely the figure of a comic actor dancing 

 or otherwise. The costumes are closely related to those 

 of the Aristophanic comedy ; the figures wear grotesque 

 masks and have padded stomachs and tight trousers. On 

 many vases of this period on which scenes from mythology 

 are represented, although the theme is essentially tragic, 

 yet the treatment of the subject has to our eyes a distinctly 

 grotesque or even comic effect. This appears to be quite 

 unintentional, and is supposed to be due to certain 

 elements of exaggeration attending the revival of tragedy 

 in Southern Italy. 



The influence of the drama on the vases seems to have 

 supplanted almost entirely the old heroic myths that were 

 at one time so popular, and to have directed the artists 

 rather to seek opportunities for the rendering of human 

 passion. Hence the most popular subjects are now such as 

 the story of " Thebes or Pelops' line or the tale of Troy 

 divine." Subjects from daily life are equally common, such 

 as banquet scenes, the game of cottabos, athletes in the 

 gymnasium, or what are known as " toilet scenes." The 

 commonest subject of all is that of a youth and girl ex- 

 changing presents, such as fruit, sashes, or toilet-boxes ; 

 probably these are intended for scenes of courting (as 

 Fig. 3), but as a rule they are merely fanciful, and are 



Via. 4. — Phiale (Saucer), painted with a 

 figure of Ganymede, in the style of a fresco 

 painting, with light and shade effects. Second 

 century B.C. 



parallel to the figures represented on Dresden china and 

 other modern works of art. A peculiar feature of this 

 period is the almost universal presence of Eros, the god 

 of love, whatever the character of the subject. 



Two classes of subjects to which we have not yet alluded 

 have an important bearing on the purpose for which these 

 vases were manufactured, namely, for use at funerals {sec 

 Pig. 2). The first class represents scenes in the nether 

 world, and consists generally of a central group of Pluto 

 and Persephone seated in a building, surrounded by such 

 figures as Orpheus and Eurydice, Herakles with Cer- 

 berus, Tantalos, 

 Sisyphos, and 

 Ixion. The second 

 is confined to 

 scenes represent- 

 ing ofl'erings at 

 the tomb of the 

 departed, which 

 generally takes 

 the form of a 

 shrine or small 

 temple, at which 

 the relatives offer 

 libations or meet 

 to mourn, as on 

 the Athenian 

 lekythi described 

 in the last article. 

 It is natural to 

 suppose that these 

 scenes represent 

 the worship of a 

 deified ancestor of 

 the family, such 

 as is known to have been a universal custom among the 

 Greeks. 



Artists' signatures are very rare on vases of this period, 



and only three are 

 known by name : 

 Assteas, Python, 

 and Lasimos. The 

 twc latter only 

 cccnr once, the 

 British Museum 

 possessing a very 

 fine specimen of 

 Python's work, 

 with an interesting 

 subject — the deli- 

 veranceof Alcmena 

 from the wrath of 

 her husband Am- 

 phitryon by Zeus, 

 who sends rain to 

 quench the firs on 

 which she was to be 

 burnt. The style of 

 Assteas and Python 

 is very similar, and 

 both appear to have 

 been resident at 

 Pfestum. 



With the vases 

 of Southern Italy 

 we must group a 

 small class of spe- 

 cimens of Etruscan art. These vases are undoubted 

 imitations of Greek fabrics imported into Etruria, and 



FiO. 5.— Hydria, of Tarentine fabric, 

 with painting in opaque wliite on black 

 ground. About 200 B.C. 



