Talking Vases

In the nineteenth century, the prevalent view, as articulated by Luckenbach, was that the Homeric subjects on Archaic Greek vases were in fact drawn directly from the Iliad and Odyssey. Shortly before Kleitias painted his version of the games on the Francois Vase, Sophilos had also depicted the funeral games, even going to the rare expedient of labeling the scene. A good example is Vatican 35617, a Corinthian hydria dated to the decade 560/550,49 which, despite its fragmentary state, can help us to define the relationship between the Homeric poems and vases with epic subjects. As one critic comments, the Homeric passage in no way suggests that Nestor’s cup is a good or convenient cup from which to drink, as it is described in the inscription. A more pertinent example of local lore in regard to Attic vase-painting is the role Menestheus plays in Athenian painting, one that is greater than one would expect from the Homeric poems

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