Chapter 4B. Group Scenes: Social groups, audiences, Dionysiac thiasos

Processional way zigzagging up to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (broken columns at right of slide). The Siphnian Treasury originally stood just below the small reconstructed treasury that you see slightly left of center here.

Pot to hold wine (amphora) in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Height 13 ins (33 cm.). c. 540-530. Glossy black paint on red clay; details created by additions of dark red paint, and by cutting through the back paint (incising) so that the clay shows through. the pot is unbroken andin excellent condition, although there has been a lttle surface damage.

A beared man in a long robe and cloak holds a large drinking cup in one hand and raises the other in greeting toward two woman. An inscription over his head says "Dionysos." One woman wears a leopard skin, apparently tucked into her belt, holds a small deer by its legs in her left hand, and a strand of ivy in her right. The second woman holds a rabbit by its ears in her right hand, and a strand of ivy in her left. They have their arms around each others shoulders, and step (dance?) forward in unison, front feet raised, back feet on tiptoe. They wear bracelets and necklaces, and one has an earring. (The ear of the other has been damaged).

An inscription says "Amasis made (the vase). We don't know if he also painted it, so we call the painter the Amasis Painter, i.e., the painter who worked with Amasis. The Amasis Painter loved to represent Dionysiac scenes. Like many other artists of his time, he expended a lot of effort --incising was slow, picky work--to create fine detail, showing the people with elaborate clothes, jewelry, and hair.

The vase comes from Vulci in Italy, an Etruscan site. Because it is in such good condition, it vase was probably placed in a grave not long after it was made. Numerous vases by this painter are known, but not one has come from a legal excavation