Readi Ng the Chigi Vase

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HESPERIA 7I (2002) READI NG

PagesI-22 THE CHIGI VASE

AB STRACT

Longconsidered one of the technicalmasterpieces of ArchaicGreek vase painting,the Protocorinthian Chigi vase (ca. 640 B.C.) hasdefied attempts at interpretation.Its imageryhas most often been understood as a randomas- sortmentof exquisitebut unrelated scenes hunts,horsemanship, theJudg- mentof Paris, and a hoplite battle. It is arguedhere that there is infact a logic behindthe choice of scenes, and that the vase displays apliable thematic unity, focusingupon the stages of maturationofthe Corinthian male and the inter- penetrationof theeveryday, the exotic, the heroic, and the divine in thelives of mortals.

Therewas a time,not very long ago, when no onebothered thinking much aboutwhy particular subjects were painted on particularGreek vases, or whyspecific scenes are found together on the samevase.l The harddis- tinctionbetween myth and genre was the onlydistinction that mattered, andsince a sceneon a pot hadto be one or the other,the choicewas in- herentlyuncontroversial: myth was always appropriate because, well, the Greeksliked myth, and genre scenes were natural, too, because the Greeks haddaily lives like everyone else. Consequently, the searchfor program- maticor thematicrelationships between two or morescenes on a single vasewas rarely undertaken: the iconographyof Greekvase painting was virtuallya randomthing. That time has passed.We now recognizecategories of imageryin whichthe distinctionbetween the generic and the mythological,between themortal and the heroic or divine, is notas strict. Consider certain scenes onAttic Late Geometric and Archaic vases, for example, where the every-

1. In completingthis article,I have veryhelpfill anonymous referees for facilitatedby residenceas a visiting benefitedgreatly from the assistanceand Hesperia)and, above all, Anna Maria scholarat the AmericanAcademy in adviceof manypeople, including Alfred Moretti(Villa Giulia), who graciously Rome,by a Universityof OregonSum- Acres,Judith Barringer, Larissa Bon- allowedme to removethe Chigivase merResearch Award, and by a University fante,Anna Rastrelli (Museo archeo- fromits vitrinefor studyand photo- of OregonHumanities Center Fellow- logico,Florence), Rex Wallace, the graphy.My researchwas also greatly ship.I amvery grateful to andfor all.

American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org 2 JEFFREY M. HURWIT

daylife is givena heroiccharacter through the depiction of Dipylonshields or battlechariots,2 or where(on a few worksby the AmasisPainter) Dionysosmakes his epiphany among mortal men who are on routine hunting expeditions.3 Overthe lastthree decades, the choiceof subjecthas alsoattracted intenseattention, from a variety of perspectives.In the1970s, for example, JohnBoardman began to interpretAttic vases painted during the Peisis- tratidera as political, even subversive, documents. Exekias's famous scene of Ajaxand Achilles amusing themselves with a boardgame when they shouldbe out lookingfor Trojans to 114 iS, in Boardman'sview, redly a thinlyveiled allusion to laxbehavior at the Battle of Pallene,ca. 546, when Atheniansallegedly played dice as Peisistratosattacked and won his final tyranny(Hdt. 1.63). The presenceof theLakonian cult heroes Kastor and Polydeukeson the backof the samevase supposedly indicates Exekias's pro-Spartansympathies as well: taken together, the sceneson the Vatican amphoracomprise an antityrannical manifesto cloaked in myth.Problem- aticas Boardman's "current affairs" approach sometimes is (andimportant as it is to rememberthat a privatelyowned pot is not the sameas a work of publicpropaganda), it has had more than its fairshare of proponents, andit hashelped clarify the ideologicaldimension-the political reflec- tions-of manyGreek images.5 The syntagmaticrelationship between scenes on manyother nonpo- liticalpots is alsoclearer now. We may not know why the Protoattic Nessos Painterchose to paintthe myth of Heraklesand Nessos on thebody of his name-vasein NewYork(ca. 675-650) or Exekias, on his fragmentarykrater fromthe north slope ofthe Acropolis (ca. 530), the combat over Patroklos's corpse.But the odd-looking lion attacking a deeron theneck panel of the Nessosamphora and the lion fights on the Exekiankrater surely function likeHomeric similes: the heroes fight centaurs or each other the way lions mauldeer or cattle.6More broadly, recent structuralist, anthropological, semiotic,and narratological studies have firmly established not onlythat black-and red-figure vase painting is a"construct" encoding cultural themes andsocial attitudes, but also that Archaic and Classical vase painters could approachtheir task with specificprograms and messages in mind,that thereis oftena correlationbetween subject and vase shape, and that the particularcombination of sceneson a vasecould have paradigmatic value (bypairing heroic and mortal behaviors, for instance).7 All in all,the searchfor thematicunity on a vaseis now an ortho- doxenterprise.8 One Archaicvessel has been especially fortunate in the

2. See,e.g., Snodgrass1980; Hurwit pp.69-71. Fora recentinvestigation of 7. The literatureis nowvast, but see, 1985band 1993, esp. pp. 34-36; and the use of the Dioskouroiin Athens,see forexample, the variousessays in Sinos1998. Shapiro1999; and for an uncompro- Berard1989, Hoffmann 1977 and 3. Seevon Bothmer1985, pp. 46-47; misingattack on thosewho would find 1988,Lissarrague 1990, Scheibler 1987, Stewart1987, pp.36-38. politicalcontent beneath Archaic imag- Steiner1993, and Shapiro 1997. 4. Vatican344; Beazley 1986, ery,see Neer2001, esp. pp.292-294. Generally,also Stansbury-O'Donnell pls.64-65. 6. NewYorkNessosamphora: 1999,pp. 118-157. 5. Majordocuments in the debate Hurwit1985a, p. 174 andfig. 72. 8. This is not to saythat the scenes includeBoardman 1972, 1978a,1984, Exekias'sNorth Slope krater: Beazley on a pot arealways thematicallyrelated; 1989;Williams 1980, p. 144,n.55; and 1986,pl. 73;Markoe 1989, esp. pp. 94- evenfor Bron and Lissarrague 1989, Cook 1987;see alsoSparkes l991a, 95, pl.5:a-b. p.21,"thereis veryoften no directlink, READING THE CHIGI VASE 3

devotionit has attracted:the FranSoisvase (ca. 570), by Kleitiasand Ergotimos,which (despite disagreement over details and possible poetic inspiration)has emerged as an anthologyof mythschosen to narratethe heroicpedigree, career, and death of Achilles,with a countercurrentof scenesrelating to the broadertheme of marriage unhappymarriage, on thewhole, but marriage nonetheless.With the battle of pygmiesand cranes on thefoot to supplycomic relief, the FranSoisvase is perhapsthe closest approximationto a "paintedepic" in the 6th century.9 I explorebelow the extent to whichsome organizing principle or prin- ciplesmay be at workon an evenearlier masterpiece of the Greekvase painter'scraft: a smallpolychrome pot whosepieces were found in 1881 duringthe excavationof a hugeEtruscan tumulus accidentally discovered on the propertyof PrinceMario Chigi, atop Monte Aguzzo, above the villageof Formello,about 3.5 krnnorth of Veii.The vesselis nowon dis- playin the VillaGiulia.l°

THE VASE

The Chigivase (Fig. 1) is perhapsthe earliest-known example of a kindof winejug conventionallyknown as an olpe an ovoidor saggingpitcher witha flaringmouth and a verticalribbed handle that is fixedto the rim with a pronglikefeature ending in circulardisks (rotelles).l1 It is usually assignedeither to the secondphase of theMiddle Protocorinthian period (MPCII) or to the LateProtocorinthian (LPC) period, but it is at any ratealmost always given a dateof around650-640.12 otherthan proximity, between the he calls"paradigmatic extension." the vasesimilarly. Mingazinni (1976) differentimages decorating a vase." 9. Stewart1983; Schaus 1986; hasattempted to reviseradically Archaic And thereare still a few scholarswho Carpenter1986, pp. 1-11; Haslam potterychronologies and dates the Chigi insistthat the searchfor iconographic 1991;Isler-Kerenyi 1997. vaseto ca.570; his argumentshave not coherenceon a vase(or, for that matter, 10.Villa Giulia 22679; Amyx 1988, beenwidely accepted. in the sculptureof a temple)is a waste p.32, no. 3. Salmon(1984, p. 106) notesthat of time,the anachronisticexercise of a 11.The modernuse of theword althoughCorinthian vases had found modern,literate temperament that olpe,restricted to suchovoid wine jugs, theirway to Etruriafrom the mid-8th (conditionedby fixedtexts) seeks doesnot correspondwith ancientuse, centuryon, high-qualityCorinthian programmaticlogic and thematic unity when"olpe" could indicate the small lmports. . began to arrlve. ln. slgnltlcant. . ,* wherethe ancientmind (conditioned perfumed-oilflask we knowas the numbersaround 650 (hisdate for the by a predominantlyoral culture) did aryballos;see Amyx1988, pp. 488-489, Chigivase). This is preciselythe time not. See Small1999, p. 573, n. 24, 560-561;Sparkes l991b, p. 63.The whenEtruscan society experienced who believessuch attempts are doomed Etruscansloved the shapeand "greatersocial stratification and to failure"because [the problem of faithfullycopied it in vastnumbers; centralisationof power. . . accompanied iconographicunity] is solelya mod- Amyx1988, pp. 488, 686. by the developmentof an increasingly ernone." Cf. Ridgway1999, pp. 82- 12. Benson(1986, pp. 105-106) elaborateand varied elite material 94, who believesthat the sculptural placesthe beginningof the Chigi culture"(Arafat and Morgan 1994, programsof ancienttemples did in- Painter'scareer in the MPC II period p. 112).The importationof Corinthian deedbear messages, but that they (660-650 B.C.); Boardman(1998, p. 87) potteryappears to be a symptomof these maynot havebeen as logicallyor datesthe vase"late in MPC, near650 phenomena.But, as Small(1994) argues carefullyconstructed as the modern or later";Payne (1933, p. 23), Simon in the caseof Atticpainted vases, the mind(long shaped by written texts (1981,p.50), andAmyx (1988, p. 369) importationof foreignvases may tell us andthe "controlledmessages of dateit to LPC,ca. 640. Ducati(1927, less aboutthe generalcourse of Etruscan Christianart") would like or expect. p. 70) datedthe Chigivase and the cultureand fortunes than is often See alsoStansbury-O'Donnell 1999, tombto the beginningof the 6th thought. pp. 124-129,on problemsof what century;Karo (1899-1901, p. 8) dated 4 J E F F R E Y M . H U R W I T

a b

c d R EA D I N G T H E C H I G I VA S E 5

Figure1 (opposite).The Chigivase. Rome,Villa Giulia 22679. Photosauthor

Figure2. Chambertomb from MonteAguzzo. Museo archeologico, Florence.Photo author

The vasewas depositedin a monumentaltomb that,judging from its rough ashlarand quasi-polygonalmasonry, was built before the end of the 7th century perhapseven as earlyas 630.13The tomb consistedof a S-m-long corridorlikedromos, two narrow,corbel-vaulted side chambers (one of which,3.35 m long and 1.90 m wide,has been reconstructedin the courtyardof the Museo archeologico,Florence; Fig. 2), and a largemain chamber(7.4 m long and 2.55 m wide) at the back.It was in this main chamberthat the piecesof the Chigi vasewere found. The relativelyclose dating of the vase and tomb means that althoughthe tomb might have remainedin use for more than a single generation,the Chigi vase could have been made and paintedat Corinth,exported to Etruria,and buried on Monte Aguzzo allwithin the courseof a few decades,and perhaps a lot less. And that, togetherwith the vase'sexceptionally rich figureddecoration, raisesthe possibilityin turn that the Chigi vase (like, perhaps,the Fran5coisvase two generationslater) was a commissionedpiece, specifi- callymade for an Etruscanin the marketfor items that would,with their foreign cachet, displaythe owner'sgood taste, offer him paradigmsof Greeknessto emulate,or both.l4This possibility admittedly remains small,

13. Forthe dateof the Monte medio" thatis, a dateeven before (whichwas given special treatment Aguzzotomb, see Akerstrom1934, 63is possiblefor the tomb). whenit wasshipped to Etruria,with pp. 17-18;de Agostino1968, pp. 109, 14. ForGreek vases and the Etrus- strutsadded to preventits handles 111;Steingraber 1981, p. 492;and canmarket, see generallyRasmussen frombreaking), see Cristofani A. De Santis,in Bartoloniet al. 1994, 1991 (Corinthianpottery); and Ara- et al. 1981,p. 101;Isler-Kerenyi p. 35 (whereit is suggestedthat fat andMorgan 1994 and Small 1994 1997. "unadatazione all'orientalizzante (Atticpottery). For the Franjcois vase 6 JEFFREY M. HURWIT butthe likelihood that this unique vase arrived in Etruriaas "saleable bal- Figure3 (opposite). TheMacMillan last"is minuscule.It wassurely a specialpurchase.15 aryballos.H. ca.6.5 cm.British The tombon MonteAguzzo was apparentlyransacked twice: first Museum1889.4-18.1. Courtesy sometimein antiquity,and then in late1880 or early1881, when the in- Trusteesof the BritishMuseum habitantsof Formello,who had been given the right to digon Prince Chigi's properties,rediscovered and entered the tombbefore Rodolfo Lanciani couldbe entrustedwith its moresystematic (but still poorly published) excavation.16Some 500-600 impasto, high-quality bucchero, Italo-Geo- metric,and Corinthian potsherds were found in the samechamber as the piecesof the Chigivase (about three-quarters of the vesselis preserved). The finds,though plentiful, were otherwise modest, with the exception of a buccherovessel (datable to thelast quarter of the 7th century)inscribed in fivelines with two of the earliest-knownEtruscan alphabets, some al- most incantationlike,nonsensical syllables (for example,azaruazaru- azaruas), anda dedicatoryinscription that, though open to interpretation, seemsto indicatethat the vase belonged, or hadat somepoint belonged, to someonenamed Atianai.17 If Atianai was the principal occupant of the mainchamber of the tombon MonteAguzzo, we in all probabilityalso knowthe nameof the Etruscanowner of the Chigivase. Althoughincision is abundantlyused for outlines and details, the vase is notablefor a refinedpolychrome technique in black,reddish-purple, andvarious shades of yellowish-brown that is usuallythought to owemuch to contemporarywall or panelpainting.18 We are,in fact,told that a Corinthian(Ekphantos) invented the artof paintingin color(though we arenot toldprecisely when) and we hearof panelpaintings produced as earlyas the 8th century.l9But there is nothingto indicatethat such pro- ductionwas extensive in the 7th century,and it maybe doubtedwhether painterswere particularly specialized this early.The few scrapsof pre- served7th-century free painting, from the walls of theTemple of Poseidon atIsthmia (ca. 650) and the metopes ofthe Temple of Apolloat Thermon (ca.630), might well havebeen the workof one of the few Corinthian

15. Forthe controversialtheory that importationof Atticpottery is suf- Pallottino1978, pl. 94;Agostiniani Greekpainted vases had virtually no ficient.A similarvariety of uses,and a 1982,p. 76, n. 127;Cristofani 1985, intrinsicor monetaryvalue, see Vickers similarselectivity of productionand p. 87 (whotranslates the dedicatory andGill 1994.Its manycritics include consumption,can be assumedfor inscriptionas "I am [thevase] of Small(1994), who pointsout thatin earlierProtocorinthian imports as well. Atianai.Achapri [?] dedicated [gave?] latercenturies Etruscan consumers 16. Ghirardini1882, p. 292; Ward- me to Venel.Velthur made me."); purchasedAttic painted vases for a Perkins1961, p. 47. andPandolfini and Prosdocimi 1990, varietyof reasons to sit as decorative 17. The vaseitself belongs to pp.24-26. We do not knowwhat the objectson a shelf,to serveas storytelling Rasmussen'sclassification ld; see Ras- wordachaprs means. objetsd'art (likethe Franjcois vase) or as mussen1979, p. 72. Forthe "Formello 18. Payne1931, pp. 92-98; Robert- souvenirs(like Panathenaic amphoras), alphabet"and the dedicatoryinscrip- son 1975,p. 53. and,above all, to be depositedexpressly tion (mi atianaiaachapri alice seneliSi/ 19. See Plin.HN35.16 (Ekphantos) in tombs.Small argues that although the selthurzinace), see Ghirardini1882; and35.55-56 (Boularchos'spainting of Etruscansdo not seemto haveactually Buonamici1932, pp. 107-108; von the "Battleof the Magnetes,"dated by drunkfrom or dinedusing Attic painted Vacano1965, pp. 76-77; Boitani, Plinybefore the 18thOlympiad, or vases,no singleexplanation for the Cataldi,and Pasquinucci 1975, p. 229; 708 B.C.); see alsoSchaus 1988. READING THE CHIGI VASE 7

craftsmenwho primarilypainted polychrome vases and who mighthave easilyadjusted their techniques for different media upon commission; the Isthmiafragments bear decorative patterns and a horse'smane compa- rableto thosefound on Protocorinthianpots, and the Thermon metopes areeven made of bakedclay.20 Theorigin of thepainter of theChigi vase, if notthe vase itself, is also at issue.The person who labeled a fewfigures on theback (see below, Fig. 8) did not writeGreek like a Corinthian:he wrotelike an Aiginetan,in the opinionof some,or a Syracusan,in the opinionof others.2lIt seems likelythat either the writer was not the sameman as the painter(a possi- bilitywe shouldnot dismisstoo hastily)or thepainter was not a nativeof Corinth.22But in anycase the warm,creamy, buff-colored fabric of the vaseis recognizablyCorinthian and its provenienceis not in doubt.23 Thoughthe Chigivase is farlarger than an aryballos(the tinyper- fumeflask that is thequintessential Protocorinthian product), it is stillnot verylarge (H. 26 cm) in comparisonwith otherGreek vases and so de- mandedthe skillsof a consummateminiaturist. This artist properly knownas the Chigi Painter is generallycredited with at least three other worksas well:a fragmentaryolpe fromAigina, an aryballosin Berlin, andthe British Museum's MacMillan aryballos (where, in itslower friezes, less than a centimeterhigh, the artistworked on a nearlymicro- scopicscale; Fig. 3).24 The ChigiPainter is also consideredthe central figurein a smallgroup of polychromevase painters working in the middle of the 7th century(the Chigi Group),25and a recentlypublished

20. Cf. Hurwit1985a, pp. 161-162. 22. See Amyx1988, p. 602,where he verschieden."But evenhe considersit It is truethat the smallwooden pinakes pointsout the dangerin assuming"that "einBeispeil der hochsten Blute des fromPitsa differ from even the most the writingon [a Corinthian]vase was in protokorinthischenStils" (p. 8). colorfulof Corinthianvases in tech- everycase provided by thevase painter No worksincontrovertibly by the niqueand style (red and blue predomi- himself";and Payne 1931, p. 39, where painterof the Chigivase have been dis- nate),but sincethey date to the second it is suggestedthat"the inscriptions on coveredat Corinthitself, though frag- halfof the 6th centurythey cannot Protocorinthianvases show us foreign mentsof an aryballosand alabastron fairlybe usedto suggestgreat differ- artistsworking at Corinth,in the Pro- relatedto his stylehave been found at encesbetween free painting and works tocorinthianstyle." Perachora(Amyx 1988, p.32, C.1 and likethe Chigivase a centuryearlier. For 23. Somehave doubted a Corinthian C.2) anda fragmentaryalabastron with the generalproblem (though focusing originfor the Chigivase; for example, a hoplitebattle scene found at the so- on the 6th century),see Amyx1983. It Rambo(1918, p. 13, n. 1) believesthat calledPotter's Quarter in western is alsouseful to keepin mindthat even the vaseis Etruscan,giving as herreasons Corinthwas attributed to the artist suchlater vase painters as the Athenian its use of landscapein the lowestzone, (theMacMillan Painter) by Dunbabin Euthymides(ca. 510) couldexecute in- its findspotnear Vulci [sic], andthe sup- andRobertson 1953, p.179; Amyx dependentpanel paintings (such as his posedly"sub-Mycenaean" costume of the (1988,p.38, no. 7) prefersan assign- chocolate-brownwarrior on a plaque fluteplayer in the battlescene. I assume mentto the broader"ChigiGroup." For fromthe Acropolis)with a different thatPayne (1931, p. 182,n. 1) is being othersherds from the Potter's(;2uarter rangeof colorfrom that seen on his ironicwhen he callsRambo's conclusion with affinitieswith the ChigiGroup, pots;see Boardman1975, p. 54, fig. 53. "areal contribution." see CorinthXV, iii, nos.285,288,289, 21. Payne1931, pp. 38-39 In the opinionof Karo(1899-1901, 304, and341. (Aiginetan,following Rumpf); Jeffery p. 7), "derThon ist warmgelbund nicht 24. Amyx1988, pp.31-32,369-370. 1990,pp. 125,n. 3, 264 (Syracusan). sehrfein, also von demhellen, grun- 25. The groupalso includes the See alsoLorber 1979, pp. 14-15, lichen,feingeschlammten Thone der BostonPainter and the SacrificePainter; no. 13;Wachter 2001, p. 31. gewohnlichenprotokorinthischen Vasen Amyx1988, pp.33-37. 8 JEFFREY M. HURWIT

Figure4. Oinochoefrom Erythrai, fragmentaryoinochoe from Erythrai in AsiaMinor, with similar scenes of drawing.Scale 1:2. After Akurgal 1992, p. 84, fig. l:a warfare,hunting, and horsemanship, is likely to comefrom his circle if not fromhis ownhand (Fig. 4).26

THE SCENES

The insideof the rimof the Chigivase is decoratedwith hatchingand whitepinwheel rosettes, while fine lotuspalmettes adorn the pronged handleand rotelles (Fig. 5). On theexterior, between the neck and shoulder(again covered with lotus palmette chains painted in whiteover a dark background)and the base(with two abstractzones, one withblack rays thatlead the eye upward,the otherof reddish-purplehorizontal stripes againsta darkground), there are four figured bands or friezes(I-IV). 26. E. Akurgal,cited in Cookand I. In the lowestfrieze (2.2 cmhigh), three nude short-haired hunters Blackman1970-1971, p. 41 (attribution to the ChigiPainter); Neeft 1991, use a packof long-taileddogs to ambushlong-eared hares (and, in one p. 15 (E-1);Akurgal 1992 (attribution case,a vixen)from behind four or five bushesthat have the fluidityof to the "ErythraiPainter"); Schnapp aquariumplants (Fig. 6). These are the onlyelements of landscapefound 1997,p. 478 (5 bis);Boardman 1998, in anyzone. One kneeling hunter carries a lagobolon,or throwingstick, as p.278. he signalsa companioncarrying a braceof deadhares on his backto stay 27. See,e.g., Schnapp1989, figs. 99-100. A few archinglines preserved lowbehind a bush.There is no clearindication in thepreserved fragments belowthe fronthooves of the chariot of the sortof trapor netfound in otherrepresentations of hare hunting.27 teamin the zoneabove might belong to Fillingornaments (hooks, crosses, pinwheel rosettes, S-spirals, zigzags, sucha trap. R E A D I N G T H E C H I G I VA S E 9

Figure5. Chigi vase,rim and mouth. Photoauthor

Figure6. Chigi vase,detail. Photoauthor

andlozenges formed of opposingtriangles) are lightly scattered in the spacesbetween the figures. The directionof thepursuit is mostlyright to left.28 II.The nextfrieze (4.6 cm high) appears at firstglance to be a collec- 28. Forthe harehunt, see Anderson tion of fouror fiveformally discrete elements, with moreabstract orna- 1985,pp. 32-34, andSchnapp 1997, ments-S-spirals,lozenges, zigzags tastefilllystrewn about. First, there is pp. 180-181. a paradeof long-hairedhorsemen, wearing tunics, riding bareback, using JEFFREY M. HURWIT IO onlyreins and halters, andmoving fairly stiffly from left to right Eachrider also leads (Fig.1 za). a riderlesshorse, and so theseyouths ablynot jockeys areprob- themselves(like the racerson the MacMillan Fig.3)29 but aryballos; squires(hippostrophoi) leading mounts for orwarriors absentcompanions (hippobateis),aswe knowthem from other vases of andafterward, at theperiod Corinthand elsewhere.30 Perhaps, as some missingwarriors think,those areto be founddismounted and fighting zoneabove.3l on footin the Alternatively,the foursquires could be holdingthe forother youths in the horses samezone (as we shallsee) or for use in a nextcomes a light team.For four-horsechariot, driven by a loneyouth another(this time butled by nude)youth on foot,who looks back upon overhis shoulder his fellows (Fig.1 b).32Although the S-spiral hovering leadrider and the betweenthe chariothas the characterof a punctuation horsemenand chariot mark,the areprobably part of the sameprocession. Theparade is broughtto an abrupthalt by a staticbicorporate sphinx- amonster with two bodies but a singleface, who wears an elaborate floral crown(or else the ornament growsout of herhead) and who, like a Archaicfigure, smiles a good littlesmile (Fig. 6). Sphinxesare usually ousmembers of the innocu- Protocorinthianmenagerie and take their friezeafter frieze beside placein lions,panthers, boars, goats, and birds, inpairs. They are singlyor neverfound in a Protocorinthiannarrative andthere is no hint context,33 thatthey could also be, in Greekart and destroyersof men and imagination, posersof existentialquestions. Even so, it is recallingthe sphinxor worth sphinxeswho carryoff a fallenwarrior from battlefieldon a roughly the contemporaryrelieffromtheacropolis of (sometimesthought to be Mycenae Corinthianin origin).34The Chigisphinx may notbe as sinistera creatureas thosebut, given the brutalscene to follow (inwhich a youth is savaged),it maynevertheless introduce intimations of mortalityor (as I shallsuggest) liminality.At all events,while creatures suchasdouble-lions are known in NearEastern and Mycenaean art,35 the double-sphinxseems to be a specificallyCorinthian invention, and this examplemay be the firstof herstrange breed. Nextto thesphinx, a nearly symmetricaland self-contained lion hunt takesplace (Fig. 7). Fouryouths (onenude but belted, the otherswearing cuirasses)spear a magnificent beastthat has caught a fallencomrade in its jaws-heis the onlyhuman casualtyfound on the vase.Purplish blood poursoutof all(apparently mortal) wounds.Whether lions actually roamed

29.It is possiblethat they are nian leading hydriaby the HuntPainter, the horsesto a startingline ca. 34. Payne1931, pp. 89-90; for 555). othersto race,and it is interesting Boardman1978b, p. 39, fig. 35; Fuchs that, 31. Cf. Greenhalgh1973, pp. 85- accordingto Pausanias(5.8.8), 86. andFloren 1987, pp. 192,205. horseracing was introduced to 35. Foran the 32. Fivechariots race 8th-centuryplaque in OlympicGames in the 33rd aroundthe New Yorkwith a Olym- secondfrieze of the Chigi double-bodiedwinged piad,or 648 B.C. close Painter's lion from to the dateof aryballosin Berlin Ziwiychin Iran,see Osborne theChigi vase and (Amyx1988, p. 32, 1996,fig. 42 MacMillan no.2), andthe chariot (MetropolitanMuseum aryballos. heremay be 51.131.1).For a sucha racerbeing led to the double-bodiedlion on 30.Greenhalgh 1973, pp. starting a Mycenaeanlentoid 84-88, lineby the youthon foot. gem (Athens, 96-146;Simon 1981, pl. 67 NationalMuseum (Lako- 33. Amyx1988, p. 661. 2316),see Mylonas 1983,p. 192,fig. 148. READING THE CHIGI VASE II

Figure7. Chigi vase,lion hunt. Photoauthor

the 7th-centuryPeloponnese is impossibleto say,given the presentstate of evidence.36But it is alsobeside the point. For even if the ChigiPainter hadseen one in thewild (or in a cage)or hadseen an imported lion skin, the lion he paintedand incised here, with its flamelikemane, is usually thoughtto be basedon Neo-Assyrianmodels: the ChigiPainter was a roughcontemporary of Assurbanipal (669-626 B.C.).37 Horsemenparticipate directly in the lion attackdepicted on the oinochoefrom Erythrai (Fig. 4), andso we maywonder whether the whole passageon the Chigivase from the horsemen and chariot to thelion hunt is a Protocorinthianrevision of imageryfound in the palacereliefs of Ninevehor Nimrud, where kings and their entourage, riding chariots and horses,slaughter animals by the dozen.Seventh-century Corinthians like the Chigi Paintermight have seen suchimages on importedAssyrian

36. Lionsare so commonin of Xerxes'invasion force). Though it is to Xenophon(Cyn. 11.1-4),one hadto Minoan,Theran, and Mycenaean art, sometimeswondered what kind of lions leaveGreece for foreign lands (such as andtheir representation is at timesso thesewere (mountain lions?), there is the mountainsof Mysia)in orderto detailed,that Aegean artists and their anotherstory that at the endof the 5th huntlions. Cf. Arist. Hist. an. 579b7, audiencesare likely to haveseen them centurythe greatpankratiast Pouly- 606blS;also Anderson 1985, pp. 4, in the wild;see Morgan1988, pp. 44- damas(an Olympic victor in the year SS-56.As faras Corinthianvase 45. Lionbones and teeth have actually 408) killeda lionwith his barehands in paintingis concerned,lions virtually beenfound in LateBronze Age emulationof Herakles.This beastwas disappearfrom animal friezes around contextsat Kea,Kalapodi, and Tiryns saidto havecome from the regionof 575-SS0;Payne 1931, p. 67;Amyx (see,e.g., Boessneck and von den MountOlympos, and that it wasa 1988,pp. 664-665. Driesch1979 and 1981), though that "real"lion is suggestedby Lysippos's 37. Payne1931, pp. 67-69; Brown evidenceis equivocal(the teeth may laterrepresentation of the renowned 1960,pp. 170-176;Amyx 1988, p. 663 havebeen imported as amulets).He- featin reliefon a statuebase at Olym- (who,citing representations of female rodotos(7.125-126) says that lions pia (ca.337); see Paus.6.5.4-6; Moreno lionswith manes,doubts Corinthian werepresent in northernGreece as late 1995,pp. 91-93. Nevertheless,by the vasepainters were directly familiar with as 480 (whenthey attacked the camels beginningof the 4th century,according realones). JEFFREY M. HURWIT

I2 ivories,metalwork, or textiles.38 The lionon the Chigivase is the earliest- knownexample of the Assyriantype in Protocorinthianvase painting- the normalProtocorinthian lion had previouslybeen basedon Hittite models whichsuggests a suddenexposure to strongAssyrian influence, somehowprecipitated by Assurbanipal's conquests and fostered, perhaps, bythe policies of Kypselos,who overthrew the aristocraticBacchiads and establisheda tyranny in Corintharound 657, toward the beginning of the ChigiPainter's career. Finally,below the handle, in a spotthat would have been obscured by theforearm of anyoneactually pouring from the vase, is theonly explicitly mythologicalscene on theolpe (and, with the exception of the scenewith the frontaland non-narrativedouble-sphinx, the only one with female figures):the Judgment of Paris(Fig. 8). This is the earliestextant repre- sentationofthe myth, but the storywas presumably familiar (to the Greeks, anyway)from popular folktale as well as from the cyclicepic Kypria.39 Set betweenthe lion hunt and the last rider of theprocession, this scene, too, is formallyself-contained: to the left,a long-hairedParis (who here goes byhis usual Homeric alias, Alexandros), then the missingHermes (iden- tifiedby the tip of his kerykeion),who presents the divinebeauty contes- tantsHera (who is all but lost),Athena (who is helmetlessbut labeled Athanaiaand who carries in herhand a floralornament reminiscent of the lotuspalmette chains on the rim and neck of thevase),40 and, last, Aphrodite (in appearanceshe is nearlyidentical to Athenabut Aphrod [ita] is in- scribedvertically beside her). The discoveryof the buccherovessel with theEtruscan abecedaria in thesame tomb suggests that its occupant, whether or not he wasnamed Atianai, knew the myth,or knewGreek, could at leasthave sounded out the labels.4l Now,this inconspicuously placed scene seems to announcethe themes of beauty,decision, and ultimately marriage (if we looselyregard the subse-

38. It is, of course,unlikely that a theJudgment of Parishad no impact is littleto differentiatethe threecon- Protocorinthianvase painter would untilaround 550, whenthe myth testants,elther . ln. appearanceor attrl-. havevisited Assyrian capitals himself. appearsfor the firsttime on the so- butes;see, e.g., LIMC II,1984, p. 958, See Frankfort1970, figs.211-214; also calledBoccanera panels from Cerveteri no.10, pl. 703, s.v.Athena (P. De- Gunter1986; Barnett 1956, pp.232- andthe so-calledPontic amphora in margne);LIMC V, 1990,pp.324-325, 233, fig.2. Anderson(1961, p.15) Munichby the ParisPainter; see Spivey no. 455b,pl.238, s.v.Hermes (G. Sie- suggeststhat horseback riding becomes andStoddart 1990, p. 100,fig. 51; bert);LIMC VII, 1994,p. 178,nos. 9, morepopular in the 7th centurythan it Brendel1978, pp. 153-157.For the 12, 13, pl.107, s.v.Paridis Iudicium hadbeen before because of NearEast- iconographyof theJudgment in (A. Kossatz-Deissmann). erninfluences, and Payne (1931, general,see Clairmont1951; and 41. Cf. Boardman2001, who sug- p.71) evensuggests that the typeof LIMC VII, 1994,pp. 176-188, s.v. Pari- geststhese labeled figures "are the only horseseen on the Chigivase is in- disIudicium (A. Kossatz-Deissmann). figuresthat might have puzzled the debtedto Assyrianmodels. 40. In latervase painting Athena is Etruscanbuyer" (p.31). 39.The Judgment would also be sometimesshown holding a branchor One mightnote here the tradition depictedseventy or eightyyears later flowerin herhand; see, e.g., LIMC II, thatthe Greekalphabet was introduced on the elaborateCorinthian mythologi- 1984,pp. 960, 1005,1011,nos. 31, to Etruriaby the Corinthianmerchant calencyclopedia known as the Chest 523b,583, 584, pls.706, 758, 761, s.v. Demaratus,a Bacchiadrefugee who of Kypselos,made of cedar,ivory, and Athena(P. Demargne). On the Chigi settledin Tarquiniaafter 657; see gold,and copiously inscribed (Paus. vasethe devicemay be an attemptto Spiveyand Stoddart 1990, p. 96. In 5.19.5).While a varietyof Greekmyths feminizethis mostmasculine of god- fact,the alphabetwas probably intro- andmythological figures invade desses.At the sametime, in manyearly ducedby Euboeansby 700 or so. Etruscanart in the centuryafter 650, representationsof theJudgment there READING THE CHIGI VASE I3

Figure8. Chigi vase,Judgment of Paris.Photo author

quentunion of Pariswith Helen of Spartaas a marriage),which might at firstsuggest that the Chigivase was commissioned as a weddingpresent. Butthere may be moreto it thanthat. The contest,after all, ultimately led to war,the subjectof the zone above.This displayof femalesand Paris's 42. Forsacred prostitution at imminentchoice had disastrous consequences, sending the strong souls of Corinth,see Salmon1984, pp.398- manyheroes to Hadesas surelyas didthe epicanger of Achilles. 400;and Williams 1986, p. 21, who arguesthat the sexualactivity itself On thevase, however, judgment has not yet been rendered. Moreover, wouldhave taken place in the city the contest'swinner was notjust anygoddess: she wasAphrodite, with belowAcrocorinth (a difficulthike), Apollothe most important deity of Corinth,the city's patron goddess and andthat only the proceedswould have protector.She was probably introduced to Corinthfrom the Near East by beendedicated above. the end of the 8th century heranalogue is the PhoenicianAstarte at 43. On manylater vases Paris himselfrealizes the dangerand the time of the unificationof the Corinthianpolis by the aristocratic attemptsto flee;see, e.g., Beazley 1986, Bacchiads(they may have promotedher as a unifyingforce in the pls.21.2 (C Painter),35.3,35.5 synoikismos).At anyrate, when Aphrodite arrived she broughtwith her (Lydos);also Gantz 1993, p.569. thephenomenon (unique in Greece)of sacredprostitution, an activity cen- 44. LIMCII, 1984,p. 47, no.359, teredin a poorlypreserved temple of Aphroditeatop Acrocorinth as early s.v.Aphrodite (A. Delivorriaset al.)is the 7th century,around the timeof the ChigiPainter.42 It is possible, CorinthMuseum 4039, a terracotta as statuettein pudica pose datable to the then,that the depictionof theJudgment, which of courseresulted in the mid-7thcentury. The goddessalso selectionof Aphrodite,Paris's illicit relationship with Helen, and the Tro- appears(with Pegasos) on an early-7th- janWar, operates on morethan one level. First, it actsas a warningto the centuryplaque from Perachora; Wil- (male)symposiast or banqueterto avoidsuch decisions himself: the fe- liams1986, p. 14.Aphrodite appears maleofthe species(divine or mortal) is dangerous.43Second, it mayreflect lateron the Chestof Kypselosnot only in itsJudgment scene, but alsoin one the relativelyrecent selection and establishment of Aphroditein the city panelwith Medea and Jason and in (thegoddess may make her first appearance in Corinthian sculpture around anotherwith Ares (Paus.5.18.3,5). For the sametime as the creationof the Chigivase).44 The scene,with its Aphroditeand early Corinth, see also eroticovertones, furthermore hints not at marriagebut at the sacred pros- Blomberg1996, pp. 82-84. titution andin thewords of Pindar,the charms of"young women, host- 45. See Salmon1984, p.398; to many,handmaidens of Peitho" forwhich lascivious Corinth was Pindar,fr.107 Bowra(Ath. Deitno- esses sophistai13.573c-574c). See alsoKurke so famous,and which, for Strabo, was even the principal source of Corinth's 1996. proverbialwealth.45 I4 JEFFREY M. HURWIT

III.The narrowthird frieze (2.5 cm high) represents another hunting scene,with badly faded white hounds chasing four white mountain goats, threestags, and one hare over a darkbackground marked by an occasional whitepinwheel rosette (Figs. 6-7). The mostly clockwise chase echoes the predominantdirection of the harehunt on the lowestfrieze, but here (as in mostProtocorinthian hare hunts) the dogsare on theirown: there are no humanfigures lying in ambushor directingthe dogs in theirpursuit.46 IV.The battlescene of the fourthzone (5.2 cm high),which is not technicallya friezesince it is interruptedby the handle,has alwaysre- ceivedmost of the scholarlyattention given to thevase (Fig. 9). The rea- sonis thatit is usuallyconsidered "the earliest unequivocal representation ofwhat is knownas 'hoplite warfare,"' thought to havebeen developed just a generationor two earlier.47Its representationof hoplitewarfare, however,is not so unequivocal.The Chigiwarriors do not carryshort swords like standardhoplites and someof them (likeGeometric warriors and Homericheroes) carry two spears onefor overhand thrusting, the other a reserveor even a throwingspear. A soldierwith two spears but no sword is not the sortof hopliteTyrtaios the ChigiPainter's rough contempo- rary hadin mindwhen he advised:"let [our man] close hard and fight it outwith his opposing foeman, holding tight to thehilt of hissword, or to his longspear."48 The Chigiwarriors are certainly heavily armed foot-soldiers fighting sideby side in closearray, with hoplon overlapping hoplon. But either hoplite tactics,as the Chigivase (and a few otherProtocorinthian vases) depict them,had not yet uniformlyreached their "classic" stage of development or the ChigiPainter did not intendan exactdocumentation of military tactics;he mayinstead have used all those spears to createpleasantly intri- catelinear patterns, for example, or to givean impressionof sheernum- bersand the claustrophobiaof battle,or evento elevatehis warriorsto heroicrank (or all of theabove).49 His goal,after all, was to decoratea vase andconvey certain ideas with its imagery,not to producea tacticaltrain- ing film.50 In anycase, two armies,each aligned in twounequal ranks with per- hapsa littlemore space between them than a classichoplite phalanx ought to have,meet just to theright of center(Fig. 9). It is the instantwhen the linesfirst collide (the othismos, or"push"), and no onehas yet fallen or died.

46. Schnapp1997, p. 180. manner."But perhaps our concep- dentally,indicate that light-armed 47. Osborne1996, p. 164;also tion of hoplitewarfare and the hoplite fighterscould dart out fromthe ranks Cartledge1977, p. 19;and Murray reformin the 7th centuryis not as of the hoplitesto throwjavelins and 1980,pp. 125-126,who describesthe accurateor completeas is often evenrocks at the enemy,and then battleas "the most successful portrayal thought;see, e.g., Krentz1985. [See returnto the protectionof the hoplites' of hoplitetactics which has survived." alsoP. Krentz's article "Fighting by the shields. Salmon(1977, p. 87) concedesthat the Rules:The Inventionof the Hoplite 49. Cf. Anderson1991, pp. 18-20; Chigibattle is an inaccuraterepresenta- Agon"in thisissue of Hesperia.-Ed.] Salmon1984, pp. 73-74; for Homeric tion of hoplitewarfare but still "depicts See alsoShanks 1999, pp. 107-119, heroeswith two throwingspears, see, veryeffectively the essentialnature of 126-130.Generally, see Hanson1991. e.g., Patroklosat II. 16.139-141. hoplitetactics . . . [successfully]repre- 48. Tyrtaios8.33-34 (trans.Latti- 50. Cf. Shanks1999, p. 129. sentingmassed formation in a pleasing more).The nextlines (35-38), inci- READING THE CHIGI VASE IS

Figure9. Chigi vase,battle scene. Photoauthor

The armyon theleft, in fact,has been caught off guard: its frontrank sets onlyfour men against five while, at the farleft (Fig.l:a), two soldiers are still arming spearsof unequallength, fitted with throwingloops, lean besidethem andcohorts carrying only one spearhave to runto jointhe fray.Like the armyhe painted,the ChigiPainter has seemingly nodded, too, sincethere is one headtoo manyfor the nineshields of the second rankand the four soldiers in thefront rank have five pairs of legs(Fig. 9).51 Butwhat the armyon theleft lacks in preparationand arithmetic it gains in lyricism,as the self-absorbed,pompadoured auletespatially isolated andadditionally set off by the dark color of histunic setsthe rhythm for the advancewith his double-flute(strapped tightly around his head).52

51.This hasbeen taken as evidence area."On the otherhand, Robertson rightis clearlyemphasized by their thatthe ChigiPainter has compressed findsit difficultto believethat the vase differentshield blazons, and on the andtransferred to the smallsurface of paintercould have conceived of sucha MacMillanaryballos, in anycase, the his vasea largerbattle painting, with battle"unaided" by the inspirationof a ChigiPainter surely nodded once again, manymore figures, found on a wallor wallpainting; cf. Payne1933, p. 14. sincehe paintedthe fifthwarrior from panel,the numericaldiscrepancies ForShanks (1999, p. 115),the prob- the left, movingright, with his shield arisingduring the processof transla- lem apparentlydoes not exist,since in blazonvisible, when we shouldbe tion.On the one hand,Robertson artas in realitythe individualhoplite lookingat its emblemlessinterior. (1975,p. 53) doubtsthat the meticu- hadno identityapart from the massed 52. Anotherflute player appears on lousChigi Painter could have been so formation:the "body"of the phalanxis a Protocorinthianaryballos from clumsy,suggesting instead that the all thatmatters and the loss of indivi- Perachora;Amyx 1988, p. 25 (D.1). ChigiPainter merely"felt he hadnot dualitymakes the numbersirrelevant. The Spartansused flute players to help spacedthe legs quiteright and that the But the individualityof the hoplites keeptheir formations even and tight as compositionneeded thickening in that withinthe armyattacking from the theyattacked (Thuc. 5.70). JEFFREY M. HURWIT I6 Anotherreason the battle sionsof scenehas been the theChigi vase is its focusof mostdiscus- suggestionof pictorial overlappingshields simply but depth,with its layers of effectivelyindicating Classicalworks as the Nereid spatialrecession (such depthany Monument,250 years better).53The shields later,do not represent theonly of thehoplites shieldswhose blazons advancingfrom the right- power, we cansee bearthe prowess,and ferocity: birds expectedemblems of anda boar of prey,bull's head, (Figs.l:c, 6). Oneshield growlinglion's head, Withinthe is,however, unusual imaginedscene forits gorgoneion. ingscowl Medusa'sfrontal-faced, is, of course,intended tongue-and tusk-bar- function to frightenthe wasalso apotropaic, enemyaway. In realityits joyingthe meantto fendoff evil winepoured from the spiritsfrom those en- shieldswith olpeitself. It is worth gorgoneia areknown from notingthat bronze Carchemish,where 7th-centuryOlympia and onewas probably lost alsofrom indefense of the city by a Greekmercenary againstthe Babylonians.54 fighting

THEREADING

What,if anything, do these variousfriezes and scenes have to dowith one another?Howshould we readthe imageryon anything?The answer thisvase? Is this hasmost often been vaseabout Theusual way of "no." lookingat the Chigivase assortmentof exquisite but has beenas a random disconnectedimages. So, Boardmanhas suggested that for example,John painted the Judgmentof somehowas an Pariswas "presumably cluded afterthought,i55and Tom thatit is unlikelythat Rasmussenhas con- thread anyonewill be ableto runningthrough all the find"a connecting periodsshow majorscenes.... Many quiteunrelated scenes at Greekvases of all andthereis no differentlevels or on needto searchfor unity oppositesides, suchrigorouslya of themeat this early plannedwork."56 For dateeven on knewwhathe wasgoing Rasmussen,then, the Chigi task to painton the vase Painter howelse could it be beforehe sat downto the make. "rigorouslyplanned"? Thisview has been the buthe hadno pointto There scholarlyconsensus. havein the pastbeen a arguedonce few minorityopinions; thatthe Chigivase "for for example,I activitya the mostpart displays Corinthianyouth of about the kindsof andoffshow 640 couldbe expected his arete."57 The to engagein other hunting,equestrian, words,display the skill, andbattle scenes, in male, courage,and elitism of thoughthis the idealCorinthian notto interpretationcannot quite mentionthedivine beauty accommodatethe lion hunt lionsand contest-unlesswe posit divinitiesin the7th-century theexistence of recentlyagreedthat "it Corinthia.Robin Osborne has is seemsunlikely that the more accidental,"buthe sees combinationof scenes the "nosingle way to 'read' here subjectaftervaguely theseimages" and drops andpursuit suggestingthat "the themes 53.Hurwit thatrun through the of display,decision, 1985a,pp. 160-161; upcritical figureddecoration here Robertson1975,p. 431. pathsfor any viewer."58 suggestivelyopen 54. Ifvase thehas Boardman1980,p. 51 and a singleoverarching fig.20. petition,struggle, theme,it is surelythe 55. contest) a conceptthat agon (com- Boardman1993,pp. 31-32. hunts,battle,thethe subsumesthe hare 56.Rasmussen Judgmentof Paris,and andlion 1991,p. 62. possiblythe 57.Hurwit1985a, p. cavalcade,if the 58. 158. Osborne1996,p. 164. READING THE CHIGI VASE I7

horsemenand charioteerare to be consideredpotential racers. But the ideaof theagon is toobroad to be of muchuse: it is hardto thinkof many Greekworks of artthat do not concernconflict or competitionin some way.Beyond this it is possibleto readthe imagery of thevase more tightly alongtwo dominant axes: 1) thevertical, up and across the stack of figured zones;and 2) the horizontal,around the secondzone (the main one). Thatthe imagery was not randomly selected and deployed andthat the ChigiPainter engaged in somedegree of advanceplanning-seems likelyfrom a numberof considerations.The squiresof the middlefrieze, again,might be holdinghorses for hoplites in the battlezone above (unlikely,but not impossible) and the inconspicuous position oftheJudgment of Parison theback of thevase (Fig. l:d) seemsan appropriate choice for a painterwhose interest in mythologicalnarrative was on thewhole mini- mal.(Alternatively, it is possibleto arguethat the handlefunctions as a pointer,leading the eyedown to the scene,and thus emphasizing it. But fromthe perspectiveof a recliningbanqueter having his cupfilled by a slaveor attendant pouring from the olpe, the scene would have been virtu- allyunnoticeable.) As significant,perhaps, is thedirect and surely not coin- cidentalalignment of thegrinning frontal faces of the double-sphinxand the gorgoneionof the shieldin the zone above(Fig. 6) a shortaxis of (female)apotropaism that would have been completely visible to theputa- 59. Stansbury-O'Donnell1999, tive(male) symposiast. So, too, it maynot be accidental that the flute player pp. 71-74, fig. 29, findsa similar soundingthe notesof the attackin the battlescene is placedalmost pre- viewingaxis on the ChigiPainter's ciselyabove the boygesturing to his companionto staydown in the hare aryballosin Berlin,where a "nucleus"of hunttwo zones below (Fig. l:b) a shortaxis of signalingand signalers.59 - . . . two groupsot opposlngwarrlors ln t ze But thereis alsoa longervertical axis and it delineatesa processof mainfrieze is alignedwith the lion's headspout above, two racingchariots maturationacross the three principal zones: the boys hunting hares in the in the zonebelow, and a confronting lowestzone are, with their short hair and nudity, in factmere boys (hare- lion andbull in the zonebelow that. In hunting,relying upon trickery, is especiallyassociated with adolescents);60 fact,the alignmentis not precise:the thehorsemen, charioteer, and lion hunters (and even the figure of Paris)in spacebetween the two chariotsis just thesecond zone, with their long hair and tunics, are more properly youths; to the left of the axisestablished by the Opposltlon. . otP warrlors* ln- t ze zone andthe heavilyarmed foot soldiersof the top zone arepresumably men above,so thatthere is a slightdeflection (thesmall auletes is short-haired,like the boys in the lowestzone, though fromthe purelyvertical. This asymme- hiscoiffure is different).The vertical axis, in otherwords, marks a progres- tryis characteristicof the Chigivase, as sionof the Corinthianmale from boyhood, to youth,to filllmanhood- we shallsee below. transitionsall madein the contextof variousagones, a Corinthianpaideia 60. Vidal-Naquet1986, pp. 118- looselycomparable to thethree-stage agoge that marked the public educa- 119. 61. Forrest1968, pp.51-54. The tionand military training of malesat Sparta.6lThere is, as far as I know,no originsof the agoge arenotoriously evidencefor an analogous system at work in 7th-centuryCorinth (Bacchiad murky.It is possiblethat the regimen orKypselid) and it wouldbe unwise to arguefor such an institution on the wasinstituted or morerigorously basisof a few vases.Nevertheless, the sameprogression appears on the codifiedin the aftermathof the battle ChigiPainter's aryballos in London(Fig. 3) and,to a lesserdegree, on the of Hysiae,which Sparta lost to Argos in 669, butit couldbe muchlater, the Erythraioinochoe (Fig. 4), whereboys are missing from the harehunt productof a lengthyevolution rather below. thana singlereform. See, for example, Therecan be no questionof therole hunting played in theeducation, Kennell1995, p. 146,who datesthe initiations,and ethos of a hoplitesociety.62 Indeed, the hunting engaged in foundationsof the agoge to the early bythe boys and youths in thelower zones on allthree vases can be seenas 6th century. preparationfor the warfareof the menabove. The variousnotions that 62. Forwhich see Vidal-Naquet 1986,pp. 117-122;Schnapp 1997, huntingis a rehearsalfor battle, that man is an animalwho existsto be pp. 123-144. huntedlike any other animal, and that war is a subcategoryof hunting(or JEFFREY M. HURWIT I8 huntinga subcategoryof war)are welldocumented later. "The exercise [of hunting]itself is the bestpossible trainingfor the needsof war,"writes Xenophonin the Cyropaedia (1.2.10),and for Aristotle "the art of waris fromone point of viewa natural modeof acquisition.Hunting is a partof thatart; and hunting ought to be practicedboth against wild beasts and againstmen who, though intended bynature to beruled by others, will not submit,for that kind of waris by naturejust" (Pol. 1256b,20-26).63 The verticalprogression from hunt to battleon the Chigivase (as well as on theMacMillan aryballos and the oinochoefrom Erythrai) seems to earlyexpression of this be an ingrainedGreek attitude, and it maysuggest sortof initiatorypractices the expectedof youthsin ArchaicCorinth. From thispoint of view,the Chigi vaseis a programmaticpiece, designed informits buyer and audience to Greeksymposiast or Etruscan banqueter- ofwhat makes a mana man.64 Thisvertical axis, withits paradigmof Greekmaleness, is inthe generic7th-century grounded present:Corinthian boys really hunted hares andCorinthian youths really rodehorses and chariots and Corinthian reallyfought other men men (evenif a fewof thoseshown fighting on wieldtwo spears, like thevase Homericheroes). The horizontalaxis, on the handthat is, the courseof other the secondzone movesfrom concrete ityto fantasyand myth. real- Genrefades away when the paradeof andchariot itselfa horsemen heroizingvehicle, often used to dissolvethe ariesbetween mortals and bound- heroes65reaches the double-bodied (Fig.6). In latermyth sphinx andart, again, the (single)sphinx can dangerousand erotic be botha interlocutorof youths,"posingthem riddles of lifeand manhood may be what whenthey are still too inexperiencedto stand,"combining "the under- clawedbody of a man-eaterwith the wings raptorand a facemade for of a love,"a femaledestroyer of males.66But bea faithful guardian shecan aswell as a predator:in sculptureshe is the7th centurythe bythe end of markerof tombs,squatting atop grave ingthe deadas the stelai,protect- "dogof Hades,"as she is knownin one scription.67 funeraryin- The Orientalizingcreature on the Chigivase may function as a simi- larkind of sign,a boundarymarker signalinga newand different level of being.For on the otherside of her is the lion huntand the onlyhuman casualtyon the vase (Fig. 7). Even if lionhunts did take place in the 7th- centuryPeloponnese, they must stillhave been considered rare and exotic occasions.This exampleis still morelikely to be a referenceto Eastern hunts.It is surely quasi-heroic as well:these Corinthians are killing (and

63.See also Xen. Cyn. 1.18,12.1-8; thatthe Anth.Pal. Greeksperpetually fight 14.17,quoted in Rihll1993, against (insteadof warningmen about the dan- p.from 84, theirnatural enemies, the Per- Burges1876: "hunting is a sian gerof Womanor indicatingcivic pride practiceforwar; barbarians.See alsoLissarrague in the andhunting teaches 1989,p. 43, citygoddess, Aphrodite) it refers onecatchto a who notesthe fusingof the to thingconcealed; to wait usually the kindof choicemen must make forthose "separatespheres" of the hunter comingon; to pursuethe and whenthey take a brideand so embark fleeing." hopliteon somevases; Rihll 1993, Cf. Isoc.Panath. 163, who pp. upona newstage of life. states 83-84; Schnapp1997, pp. 150-156. thatnext to the universalhuman 65. See Sinos1998, pp. 75-78. war 64. It is possiblethat even the poly- againstsavage beasts, the most 66. See Vermeule1979, p. 171. semousJudgment of Parisscene plays righteousandnecessary war is the one a 67. See Richter1961, p. 6. rolein thisoutline of maturation,if READING THE CHIGI VASE I 9

in onecase dying) like the heroes of theirown legends and epic similes as wellas like Assurbanipal and the other Great Kings of Nimrudor Nineveh. It is as if thesefive youths have dismounted the fourhorses and chariot heldby the squires on theother side of thesphinx and have stepped across or behindit into anotherontological realm, one veryfar fromthat of the hare-huntingboys in the zone below.68An associationbetween the equestriansand the lion huntersseems to be confirmednot onlyby the numbers five hunterscorrespond to the fourriderless horses and the chariot butalso by the Erythraioinochoe (Fig. 4), wherehorsemen ac- tuallyparticipate in the hunt. Thishunt, probably to be thoughtof as takingplace in somevaguely imaginedEastern landscape or mountainside, is followed by the only scene of puremyth on the vase,the Judgmentof Paris(Fig. 8), managedby Hermes,god of transitions.The Judgment scene is supposedto haveoc- curredon Mt. Idain theTroad, close to areasthat still boasted lions in the Classicalperiod; for a Corinthianof the 7th century,this setting was, like Aphroditeherself, sufficiently Eastern.69 The sphereof heroesand divini- tiesand the sphere of theexotic East, in otherwords, have merged, and so perhapshas the sphere of everydaylife. As we progressaround this middle zone,we seemto proceedfrom reality to Orientalizing/heroicto divine realms.But what appear to us as differentlevels of beingmay not have seemedso to the Archaictemperament, just as in the supposedlydocu- mentaryhoplite battle of theupper zone, the presence of twospears in the handsof manywarriors may be an attemptnot so muchto fill spaceor activatethe sceneas to give that"reality" a heroic or epictinge. Taken together,these images may suggest, instinctively or by design,the inter- penetrationof the everyday,the heroic, and the divine in thelives of men. This axis,perhaps, shows what makes a mana hero:leonine courage and thecompany and favor of thegods. But it hintsas well at thepermeability of theboundaries between the mortal and divine and, with the ambiguous doublenessofthe double-sphinx, the mauling ofthe youth by the lion, and the imminent,fateful decision of Paris,the dangersof suchan existence. We canonly wonder whether the Etruscanowner of the Chigivase wouldhave grasped its logic.But he mightwell have been struck by the formalasymmetry of its imagery,seen in the inequalityof the armiesof the battlefrieze theircollision takes place just to the rightof center (Fig.l:b) or in the displacementof the heraldicsphinx from the center of thevase, where we mighthave expected it, or evenin theJudgment of Paris,which is not setwith perfect symmetry along the line of the handle abovebut is shifteda littleto the right(Fig. l:d). This off-centeredness 68. Cf. Schnapp1997, pp. 181, 192, who alsonotes the contrastbetween encouragedthe turningof the vasein one'shands, and that very action the lion-hunting"heroes" of this zone wouldhave encouraged a process of associationand obliquely reinforced with the simple"jeunes hommes" of the the kindsof transitionsarticulated along the axesof thevase. Like Paris, harehunt. whohas not yet madehis choice,the viewer is offeredoptions different 69.The Iliad (24.28-30)sets the coursesto follow,one vertical, one horizontal ratherthan a single,rigid, locationof theJudgment only in controllingthematic structure. In thisway, the unity or thematic armature "Paris'scourtyard." The Kypriaand Euripideantragedies set the scene of thevase is pliable.And this may be whatthe ChigiPainter relied upon specificallyon Mt. Ida;see Gantz1993, fromthe start thevirtues of displacement,the intricacies of iconographic pp.567-571. association,and the dynamicpleasure of the tangent. JEFFREYM. HURWIT 20

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JeJ0reyM. Hurtuit UNIVERSITYOF OREGON DEPARTMENTOF ART HISTORY EUGENE,OREGON 97403 [email protected]