Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-89582-8 - Interpreting the Images of Greek Myths: An Introduction Klaus Junker Excerpt More information 1 Achilles and Patroclus in the Trojan War: An introductory case study From early times, the use of the bow and arrow formed a part of Greek military practice, as a dangerous long-range weapon. If the arrow had not struck an immediately fatal blow, it could still be the cause of insidious wounds. If the arrowhead had become completely embedded in the body and perhaps, in the heat of the battle, broken off from the shaft, then the removal of the metal would cause acute pain and, in certain circumstances, cause further damage to the tissues surrounding the wound. In the detailed battle descriptions of the Iliad, wounds caused by arrows are mentioned on various occasions. When the Greek Menelaus has just been struck by an arrow, his initial fear gives way to relief that the binding, which attaches the arrowhead to the shaft, is still visible (4, 150–1): the wound cannot be deep and the damage is therefore slight. So too in the picture that will now be used as a test case for interpretation (Fig. 1), the warrior has been lucky in his misfortune. The arrow portrayed in beautiful detail in the left foreground, so as to put the cause of the wound in his arm beyond all doubt, is still complete and, at the most, slightly bent at the tip, unless the small irregularity in the drawing is unintentional. Yet the abrupt turn away of the head and the open mouth, with the teeth visible and coated in added white, convey something of the pain that the man feels, as his comrade-in-arms applies the bandage to his arm. But the fact that neither man has taken off his armour – the helper still wears his helmet and his companion’s cuirass is only partially unfastened – gives an obvious impression that the wound can be treated there and then, and that the two warriors will probably return immediately to the fray. Thus an unpleasant incident, admittedly, but not a catastrophe: a passing event on the edge of the battlefield, where nothing in the image would lead a viewer to think that the arrow-shot would have fatal conse- quences for the wounded man. So why, then, was an event of such obviously transient significance seen as a theme deserving of representation? If one were to confine oneself exclusively to what is shown in the image itself, then the question could only be answered speculatively. So-called ‘iconography’, the verbal recording of all the visual elements in an image, cannot on its own supply any indication of the significance of the content. A symbol of friendship and solidarity, of the dangers of war or, conversely, 1 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-89582-8 - Interpreting the Images of Greek Myths: An Introduction Klaus Junker Excerpt More information 2 Achilles and Patroclus in the Trojan War Figure 1 Achilles tends the wounded Patroclus. Attic red-figure cup, signed by the potter Sosias, interior, c. 500 BC of the obligation to defend one’s country? Each of these is equally justified as an off-the-cuff idea, with an equally free choice between them, since in the end it is only the spontaneous reaction of a present-day viewer that is being put into words. The path to be followed in a careful interpretation, by contrast, has a clear, yet never wholly attainable, intermediate goal: to recover the cognitive horizons of the people for whom this image was made. ‘Context’ is the term used for the sum of those aspects which could have been fundamental to the contemporary understanding of an image or an object. Often the context of an image can be deduced only very incom- pletely, but in the present case the circumstances are relatively favourable. Enough clues are available, whether provided by the picture itself or taken from external sources, to form the basis for an interpretation. Some of the circumstantial evidence, derived from various fields of context, will be © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-89582-8 - Interpreting the Images of Greek Myths: An Introduction Klaus Junker Excerpt More information Achilles and Patroclus in the Trojan War 3 examined presently. The fundamentals of contextual research will be dealt with in the methodological chapter. In antiquity, no one ever saw the image in the isolated form in which it appears in our illustration. The scene with the two male figures decorates the interior of a large terracotta drinking-cup. The image has a diameter of 17.5 cm.; the bowl of the cup, one of 32 cm. Since the broad outer ring is coated in a lustrous, deep black, the effect is one of looking at the image through an opening. This artistic trick – that is, the decision not to extend the figured scene over the entire surface available – emphasises the some- what miniaturist character of the execution, but also has the effect of focusing attention on the events depicted. The high level of artistic craftsmanship represented by the cup can be directly grasped by anyone who goes to see the original in the Department of Antiquities of the Berlin Museums. The vessel dates from the years around 500 BC: in historical terms, to the period of transition from the Archaic to the Classical period in Greece. The piece is one of the undisputed master- pieces among the painted vases produced in Athens. The term ‘vase’, introduced here, should be understood not as an indication of function, but as a purely conventional expression to convey the sense of a luxury vessel. The contribution of the potter is the first feature to display high quality. The wide-splaying bowl of the cup, very thin-walled in proportion to its extent, sits perched on a slender foot in such a way that the contour of the vessel runs in an elegant, unbroken curve all the way from the round foot to the outer rim of the bowl. Two handles provided the means of holding, at the same time enlivening the shape of the cup. The potter has added his name, Sosias, on the edge of the foot. The painter (assuming that he was not the same person as the potter) has not signed his work. Since no name is found, either, on other vessels which on the basis of style could be identified as works by the same hand, the painter is known by the alias or substitute name of the ‘Sosias Painter’. Even though his oeuvre and his artistic develop- ment are no longer accessible to us, it is beyond question that he was not just a master of the technique of vase painting, but also an innovator within it. For the first time in the history, already centuries long, of Greek vase painting and two-dimensional art in general, we have on the Sosias cup (as it is called in the technical jargon) profile figures whose eyes are also shown in profile. By comparison with the pictorial convention followed hitherto, with the eyes shown in frontal view, an exceptional gain was achieved in the accuracy and vividness of the portrayal of the human figure. One can also see just how innovatory this type of rendering was, from the fact that the same vase painter did not employ it for the scenes on the outside of the same © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-89582-8 - Interpreting the Images of Greek Myths: An Introduction Klaus Junker Excerpt More information 4 Achilles and Patroclus in the Trojan War Figure 2 Heracles takes his place among the gods on Mount Olympus. Exterior of the cup shown in Fig. 1 cup (Fig. 2). In connection with the issue of meaning and interpretation, this stylistic detail deserves attention for showing that, with an artist who shows himself an innovator in terms of formal technique, innovation in the thematic field may also be expected. Painted vessels like the cup by the Sosias Painter are luxury ware, as will be discussed in greater detail in chapter 4. Here it will be enough to give a brief indication of the three main areas of use of pottery, particularly that from Athens. First, to furnish the symposium (symposion), the men’s evening entertainment, accompanied by wine drinking; secondly, for use in association with the honouring of the dead, as props for the celebration of the funeral or for interment as grave goods; and thirdly, to function as votive offerings in sanctuaries, in gratitude to the gods. In principle, each of these three possible uses must be reckoned with in the case of every vessel. In particular cases, a find-spot, the traces of use or even the subject-matter of representations can help to restrict the range of purposes that the vase painter had in mind at the time of the vessel’s making. But in every case we are dealing with prestige objects, whose use goes beyond the sphere of ordinary everyday business. In the case of vases like that by the Sosias © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-89582-8 - Interpreting the Images of Greek Myths: An Introduction Klaus Junker Excerpt More information Achilles and Patroclus in the Trojan War 5 Painter, which can in all aspects lay claim to a special artistic status, such products will also have had a price, as luxury goods valued by those in ‘high society’ for their beauty, but also for the distinction which their ownership conferred.