Mixing bowl with the exposure of baby Aegisthos
The mixing bowl with the exposure of baby
Description
This krater stands 63.5 cm (25 in) tall and has a diameter at the rim of 58.5 cm (23 in). The style is
There are two distinct sides to the krater. On one side,
It is a particularly gruesome myth, although none of the gruesomeness is pictured outright here: it is up to the viewer’s familiarity to recognize that Thyestes raped his daughter because Apollo told a prophecy that a son born of that union would kill Thyestes’ brother Atreus, against whom he has a grudge. It is impossible to know now why Atreus, so critical to the plot of the myth, is not depicted on the pot or, presumably, in the play itself. Also unknown are the significance of several objects drawn on the pot: a yellow object in Aegisthos’ hand, which Vermeule recognizes as the hilt of the sword that will later confirm that Aegisthos is the son of Thyestes, although that interpretation of the object is not without criticism.[5] Also drawn is a necklace next to Pelopeia, which might have been important to the play. The play must also differ from the myth in Adrastos being king, which is not commonly cited, and the fact of Thyestes’ presence at the exposure of Aegisthos, which is not in the myth we know. The inclusion of Dionysus on the other side may reference the fact that festivals to Dionysus often featured plays, of which this might have at one time been one.
The krater is attributed to the Darius Painter, for similarity in several stylistic and iconographic elements. Called one of the most literate painters, this pot provides inscriptions labelling several of the important figures, which have been instrumental in identifying this pot with the play Thyestes at Sikyon, even though we don’t have the play itself.
References
- ISBN 978-0892368075.
- ^ "Mixing bowl (calyx-krater)". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- ISBN 978-0500288771.
- ^ "FABLES 50 - 99, TRANSLATED BY MARY GRANT". Retrieved 29 April 2016.
- .