Vaphio
Vaphio, Vafio or Vapheio is an ancient site in
The main objects found there were transferred to the
Objects found
The objects include a large number of
Vaphio is the largest find in the Aegean of Mycenaen and
The gold cups
By far the finest of the grave goods are a pair of golden cups decorated with scenes in relief, showing two different methods of capturing bulls, perhaps for the bull-leaping activities practised by the Minoan civilization of Crete, or for sacrifice. On one, with three scenes, a cow is used to lure a bull; they mate, and a rear leg is then roped; this is sometimes called the "Peaceful Cup" or the "Quiet Cup". In the other, the "Violent Cup", bulls are stampeded into nets, although one seems to escape, shoving catchers aside.[7] The so-called "Violent Cup", showing netting of bulls, bears a remarkable resemblance to the description of the beginning of the ritual of consecration for the laws of Atlantis described in Plato's dialogue Critias, where bulls are captured for sacrifice, using no iron tools or weapons.[8]
These "form perhaps the most perfect works of Mycenaean or Minoan art which have survived", according to
It had long been recognised that the cups were probably not by the same artist, and had stylistic differences. Ellen Davis suggested that at least one of the cups was produced in mainland Greece. Davis illustrates both the compositional and stylistic differences between the cups, demonstrating that one appears to be Minoan and the other Mycenaean.[13] Hood agreed, and this is now the usual view. There is a difference in quality, the Cretan "seduction" cup being finer, and in the treatment of the tops and bottoms of the scenes.[14]
Rather confusingly, "Vapheio cup" is now used as a term for the shape of the gold cups in Aegean archaeology, which is found in pottery as well as metalwork.
Notes
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, p. 897.
- ^ Daux 1963, p. 764.
- ^ Hood, 166-167
- ^ Hooker 1967, p. 275.
- ^ Hood, 228
- ^ Hood, 227-228
- ^ Hood, 166-167
- ^ Plato, Critias, section 119e
- Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911
- ^ Clark 1956.
- ^ Hooker 1967, p. 275 note 44, finds them "well within the tradition of Cretan art", and adduces a bull scene from Katsambas (ILN, 14 August 1965)
- ^ Hogan 2008.
- ^ Davis 1974, p. 472
- ^ Hood, 166-167
References
- Clark, Kenneth (1956), The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (2 ed.), Pantheon Books, p. 233
- Daux, Georges (1963), "Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques en Grèce en 1962", Bulletin de correspondence hellénique, 87 (2): 764
- Davis, E. (December 1974), "The Vapheio Cups: One Minoan and One Mycenaean?", The Art Bulletin, 56 (4): 472–487, JSTOR 3049295
- Hogan, C. Michael (14 April 2008) [2007], Knossos fieldnotes, Modern Antiquarian
- ISBN 0140561420
- Hooker, J.T. (July 1967), "The Mycenae Siege Rhyton and the Question of Egyptian Influence", American Journal of Archaeology, 71 (3): 269–281, JSTOR 501560
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vaphio". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 897. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the