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The Sanctuary and Altar of Chryse in Attic Red-Figure Vase-Paintings of the Late Fifth and Early Fourth Centuries B.C.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Edna M. Hooker
Edna M. Hooker
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
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Extract

Two vases exist on which the sanctuary of Chryse is definitely identified by inscriptions. The first is an Attic red-figure stamnos, Louvre G413, attributed to Hermonax, on which is depicted Philoktetes being bitten by the snake at the altar of Chryse. The second is an Attic red-figure bell-krater, Vienna Inv. 1144, of the late fifth century B.C., which depicts Herakles sacrificing at the altar of Chryse. With the first vase may be associated an Attic red-figure calyx-krater, Louvre G342, attributed to the Altamura Painter, which bears no inscriptions, but undoubtedly represents the same scene; and with the second may be grouped four other vases of the late fifth and early fourth centuries B.C., which resemble it sufficiently closely to suggest that they too represent the sanctuary of Chryse. The interpretation of the two Louvre vases has never been in doubt, since they obviously illustrate the story of the biting of Philoktetes by the snake in the sanctuary of Chryse, but the interpretation of the other group of vases has been the subject of some dispute. In this article, therefore, I propose to discuss the connection of these vases with one another and with the two Louvre vases, and to examine their relation to the literary treatment of the legends concerning this sanctuary.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 70 , November 1950 , pp. 35 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1950

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References

1 CVA III Id. pl. 18.1–4.

2 CVA III Id. pll. 4.2–3, 5.1–2.

3 D. Chr. 59.9; Tz. ad Lye. 911; Eust. 330.1; Sch. Il. 2.722; Sch. S. Ph. 194.

4 Schefold, , JdI LII, 50 Google Scholar.

5 Professor C. M. Robertson is of the opinion that the ϟ in this inscription is confused as if the painter had tried to correct it.

6 I am indebted to Sir John Beazley for the dating of this vase.

7 A similar vessel appears on an Attic r.f. fragment ( JHS LIX, 23 Google Scholar) where the priest appears to be putting his hand into it. Sir John Beazley there states that it was a kind of measure and suggests that it may have contained the barleygroats for sprinkling on the altar. This function, however, seems less probable here where Nike is also holding a sacrificial basket in which the barley was usually carried along with the sacrificial knife and fillets (Sch. Ar. Pax 956). Perhaps the measure here contains incense, which was sometimes burnt on the altar in the same way.

8 ARV, 850.

9 Ibid. 852. Schefold, loc. cit., attributes this vase to the Pronomos Painter and dates it c. 390 B.C.

10 Beazley, op. cit. 870. Schefold, loc. cit., attributes this vase to the Talos Painter and dates it c. 390 B.C.

11 Abh. Berl. Akad., (1810) 63 ffGoogle Scholar.

12 Sch. S. Ph. 194. Cf. Philostr. Jun. Im. 17.2; Arg. 1 S. Ph.

13 Suid. s.v. Ἰόλαος.

14 PVA pl. 51, pp. 76 ff. (1813).

15 Philostr. Jun. loc. cit.; AP 15.25 (Besant. Ara), 15.26 (Dosiad, Ara).

16 Inghirami pl. 17, p. 39; de Witte, , Catalogue Durand 113 no. 322Google Scholar; El. 2 p. 361; Guignaut & Creuzer, Rel. de l'ant., pl. 94.354; Gerhard, AZ (1845) 161 ff., pl. 35 (reading ΙΑΣΩΝ in text, ΔΟΕΩΝ in illustration), AVB 3 p. 21 nn. 5 & 6; Muller, Denkm. 1.10, pl. 2; Milani, , Filottete 61 f., pl. 1.1Google Scholar, Annali LIII 284 ffGoogle Scholar.

17 D.S. 4.41.

18 ΙΟΕΩΝ, Laborde 1 p. 30; Ι. ΟΕΩΝ, Arneth, , Das K.K. Münz-und Antiken-Kabinet, 22 no. 276Google Scholar; ΔΟΕΩΝ, AZ (1845) pl. 35.1 (this is stated by Gerhard to be the reading of Ameth); ΛΟΕΩΝΙ, Jahn, , Arch. Anz. (1854) 451 no. 275Google Scholar and von Sacken, & Kenner, , Die Sammlungen des K.K. Münz- und Antiken-Cabinetes 243 no. 276Google Scholar; ΤΕΛΑΜΩΝ, Stephani, , CRend (1873) 227 Google Scholar and Flasch, , Angebliche Argonautenbilder 17 f.Google Scholar; ΛΟΕΩΝ, Stengel, Die Griechischen Kultusaltertumer pl. 3, fig. 11.

19 Gerhard, AZ, (1845) 178 f., pl. 35.2. Raoul-Rochette, , in his Peint. ant. inéd., 401 ff.Google Scholar, pl. 6, had already published it simply as a sacrifice of the heroic age.

20 Birch, & Newton, , Catalogue of Greek & Etruscan Vases in the British Museum I 248 no. 804*Google Scholar. Cf. Flasch, op. cit., 19 ff.

21 Michaelis, , Annali XXIX 243 Google Scholar.

22 Smith, C., JHS IX 1 ff., pl. 1Google Scholar. Cf. Engelmann, Bilderatlas zu Homer (Od.) pl. 4, fig. 17.

23 BMC Vases III, 300 ff., pl. 16Google Scholar.

24 C. Smith had wished to join the head of Athene to the draped figure and take the scene as a sacrifice to Athene on the Akropolis at Athens.

25 He was followed in this by Smith, A. H. (JHS XVIII 274 ff.Google Scholar), who quoted Bakchylides 16.13 ff. to account for the presence of Athene on the London fragments.

26 CRend (1869) 179 ffGoogle Scholar.

27 This is highly unlikely. If the scene represented the sacrifice on Mt. Kenaion, Herakles would be wearing the poisoned robe; but here we have the very end of the sacrifice with the meat being roasted over the altar-fire, and the robe is supposed still to be hanging up behind Herakles!

28 The reference to Mt. Oite is surely an error. Herakles made no sacrifice on Mt. Oite, for he was already dying when he was brought there. The description of the sacrifice to Zeus Patroos in the Trachiniai of Sophokles (S. Tr. 237 f., 287 ff., 752 ff.), which Murray cites, refers to the sacrifice on Mt. Kenaion.

29 JdI LII 50. ff., fig. 10.

30 Schefold, U., figs. 70, 71.

31 Cf. parts of ships on other red-figure vases, e.g., Bologna 303, Mon. sup. pl. 21, and Ruvo, Jatta, 1501, AZ (1846) pll. 44–45.

32 Beazley, op. cit., 850.

33 The identity of the sacrificer is less certain on the Taranto fragments, where he has no attribute and there are no inscriptions, but the similarity between these fragments and the two Leningrad vases makes it highly probable that all three depict the same scene.

34 On the Taranto fragments only one youth appears assisting at the sacrifice, but there was probably a second youth on the missing part of the vase. The small pot held in front of the column clearly indicates the presence of an attendant to the right of the altar.

35 Leningrad, (St. 1790), CRend (1866) pl. 4.1Google Scholar.

36 Arg. 1 S. Ph.; AP 15.25 (Besant. Ara); Tz. ad Lyc. 911; Sch. Il. 2.722; Sch. S. Ph. 194, 1326. Sophokles, however, seems to have regarded Chryse as a separate goddess (S. Ph. 194, 1327). Cf. Eust. 330.1.

37 S. Ph. 1326.

38 An altar of this type is depicted on a red-figure bell-krater (Naples Market, AZ, 1853, p. 59); and low altars of rough stones appear on a red-figure hydria (Berlin 2380, AZ, 1867, pl. 222), on a red-figure column-krater (Louvre K343, FR. 3 p. 365), and on a red-figure bell-krater (Syracuse 41621, CVA III I pl. 22.1), all depicting Orestes taking refuge at the altar from the Erinyes. There is a low altar of small pebble-like stones on a white-ground lekythos (Berlin 2251, Benndorf pl. 27.3). There seem to be no other examples of rough stone altars in vase-paintings.

39 Arg. 1 S. Ph.; Tz. loc. cit.

40 Jebb, , Sophocles: the Philoctetes 4 n. 1Google Scholar.

41 The attitude of Herakles is identical on the two Leningrad vases, except that on Leningrad 33A a stick is substituted for the club of Leningrad 43f, and a fillet for the two sprays of leaves.

42 Thus, even if the two Leningrad vases and the Taranto fragments are to be grouped together, there must have been at least three independent representations of this scene: London E494 of c. 430 B.C; Vienna 1144 of the late fifth century; and a wall-painting or a third vase-painting of about the same date, from which the Leningrad vases and the Taranto fragments may have been derived.

43 Arg. 2 E. Med.

44 Bieber, , Greek & Roman Theater 49 ffGoogle Scholar.