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Illustrating Aristophanes*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

B. A. Sparkes
B. A. Sparkes
Affiliation:
The University of Southampton
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Extract

Editions of Aristophanes need illustrations. By this I do not mean illustrations of theatrical antiquities in the shape of terracottas, vases, etc., that help us to visualise the appearance of the actors and the Greek theatre. Such a visualisation is, I think, proper in dealing with drama, but there are in Aristophanes two other visual aspects. There is first a wealth of vocabulary that refers to objects that the audience of his day would have seen in the theatre in the form of properties. One need only mention such things as Dicaeopolis' chopping board (τὸ ἐπίξηνον τοδί, Ach. 366), Strepsiades' whirl (διὰ τουτονί τὸν δῖνον, Nub. 1473), Prometheus' parasol (τοντί τὸ σκιάδϵιον, Av. 1508), and the pots and pans in Ecclesiazusae (τὰ σκϵυάρια ταυτὶ, Ecc. 753). These properties can be thought of as naturalistically made or fantastically exaggerated. The second group of words comes in the form of mental pictures—images, however weak, that the mention of an object will raise. Much of the richness of effect and of a play's texture is conveyed by these two groups of words, the immediacy of the comic situation is sharpened by the visual and mental images. Old Comedy more than most Greek literature is rooted in contemporary life, and one is anchored in late fifth century Athens as much by the impedimenta as by the political jests.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 95 , November 1975 , pp. 122 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1975

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References

1 Dover, K. J., Aristophanic Comedy (Batsford, 1972) 45Google Scholar; cf. Butcher, S. H., Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art 2 (1898) 371–2Google Scholar, Hermathena xxi (1949–50) 35–6 (G. J. de Vries); Newiger, H.-J., Metaphor und Allegorie (1957) 52 fGoogle Scholar.

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5 The new Greek primer Lampas, by Rees, B. R. and Jervis, M. E. (Blackwell, 1970)Google Scholar, has for its title a word which I had assumed to mean ‘torch’ but its cover and title page are decorated with a wickbearing lychnos. One can only ask the authors and designers of that book to suggest to Praxagora that she attend to the intimate details of her toilet with a lampas and see what response they get.

6 This is common practice on television news where every story has a picture, and was carried to its logical, absurd conclusion in a comedy programme when separate pictures were shown to illustrate the three parts of ‘Lord Privy Seal’.

7 Wasps, ed. Starkie, W. J. M. (Macmillan, 1897) note at v. 1509.Google Scholar,

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19 Professor R. F. Willetts refers me to Phrynichus 44; He notes Browning, Robert's use of the stricture in Medieval and Modern Greek (Hutchinson, 1969) 53Google Scholar where he is comparing it with Mark 2.9.

20 Panofka, T., Recherches sur les véritables noms des vases grecs et sur leurs différens usages d'après les témoignages des auteurs et des monumens anciens (Paris, 1829)Google Scholar.

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23 Agora xii 201–3.

24 See Gomme-Sandbach, , Menander (Oxford, 1973) 165–6Google Scholar, n. to Dyskolos v. 190. There is one in the Eretria Museum.

25 Brussels A 889: ARV 2 329, no. 130, 1645; Paralip. 359, Onesimos. For a different shape of bucket at a well and at a laver, see the Attic red-figure cup Louvre G 291: ARV 2 322, no. 36, 1706, Onesimos; Ginouvès, R., Balaneutikè (Paris, 1962) pl. 13Google Scholar, 40 and pl. 14, 41.

26 Athens, Kerameikos 7357. I am indebted to Dr Ursula Knigge for permission to use this example in my lecture and for its publication here. It is now published in Kerameikos, Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen ix.

27 Ars Antiqua Auktion iv (1962) pl. 44, 131. Cf. an Attic bf amphora of Panathenaic shape in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, which carries the painted inscription καδος τωι κνβιστειτωι. It is de Ridder 243: de Ridder, , Catalogue des Vases Peints (1901) p. 152Google Scholar; CVA 2 (10) pl. 88 (474) 1 and 4, pl. 89 (475) 1 (the text here gives a different reading; see JHS lii (1932) 141 (Beazley's review) and BVAB xiv (1939) 10–14 (Beazley)); Webster, , Potter and Patron in Classical Athens (1972) 78Google Scholar (different reading); Boardman, , Athenian Black Figure Vases, a Handbook (Thames and Hudson, 1974) 168Google Scholar.

28 Caskey, L. D. and Beazley, J. D., Boston Vases iii (Boston MFA, 1963) 1Google Scholar.

29 xi 473b.

30 Av. 1032, 1053; Vesp. 321, 853, 854. In scenes of voting, the urn is sometimes a lekane (as understood in Agora xii 211–16 with pls. 81–7) e.g. ARV 2 416, no. 7, or a hydria, e.g. ARV 2 829, no. 37; Paralip. 422.

31 Agora P 2026: Hesperia iv (1935) 494, fig. 16, 72; Agora xii pl. 96, 2013.

32 E.g. those listed in Agora xii 65, n. 41. The one illustrated here is London BM E 37: ARV 2 72, no. 17, 1623; Paralip. 328, Epiktetos.

33 Agora P 8866: Agora xii pl. 8, 149, and see pp. 64–5. At Aelian VH xiii 40, Themistokles complains that the Athenians use the same vessel as amis and as oinochoe.

34 Agora P 28053. I am grateful to Mrs M. Z. Philippides for allowing me to publish this piece.

35 The late fifth century is after all a period of sophistication in shapes.

36 See Agora xii 180–81.

37 New York 07.286.46, Rogers Fund: ABV 348, no. 2; Paralip. 159. Black.

38 Byzantion xxv (1965) 208–20 (Leroy-Molinghen, A.); Jb lxxix (1964) 73–108Google Scholar (Scheibler, I.): AA 1968, 389–97Google Scholar (I. Scheibler).

39 Corinth IP 2047a: Hesperia xxviii (1959) pl. 70 i (Broneer), from Isthmia.

40 Agora P 28077: Agora xii pl. 11, 191. See AK xi (1968) 8–9 (Sparkes); Agora xii 70–76.

41 Pape, W. and Benseler, G., Wörterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen (1911) 750Google Scholar.

42 xi 484c.

43 AA 1967, 344–66 (P. Mingazzini).

44 Bowdoin College 1915.29: Herbert, K., Ancient Art in Bowdoin College (1964) no. 194CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Attic, fifth century.

45 E.g. Athenaeus v 208c (quoting Moschio); Pollux i 143, vii 129; Hesychius s.v.

46 1. Berlin, Private collection: AA 1967, 176; ARV 2 610, no. 25; Paralip. 396, Manner of the Niobid Painter.

2. Ferrara, from Spina T 579: ARV 2 612, no. 1, 1662; Paralip. 397, The Painter of Bologna 279.

3. Munich 2454: ARV 2 607, no. 84, The Niobid Painter.

4. Munich 2359: ARV 2 1661, ‘recalls the Spreckels Painter’. See Gnomon xxviii (1956) 551 (D. A. Amyx).

5. San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honour 1813: CVA 1 (10) pl. 18 (478) 1 and pl. 19 (479) 1b; AA 1967, 177; ARV 2 610, no. 27, Manner of the Niobid Painter.

47 No. 3 in the previous note.

48 CVA San Francisco 1 (10) text p. 38 (H. R. W. Smith).

49 The presence of the word for shield in this verse may indicate that the word had wider significance; see below.

50 Athens, Acropolis 759: ARV 2 187, no. 54, The Kleophrades Painter. A good picture of a shield case enclosing a shield hanging on a wall is to be seen on Käppeli inv. 415: Schefold Meisterwerke no. 320; Kunstwerke der Antike no. 12; ARV 2 868, no. 45; Paralip. 426, The Tarquinia Painter. A good one for the unwrapping is Bologna PU 274: ARV 2 793, 78, The Euaion Painter.

51 London BM E 536: van Hoorn, , Choes and Anthesteria (1951) no. 640, fig. 93Google Scholar; EWA ii pl. 54, above, right.

52 van Hoorn, op. cit., shows many examples.

53 London BM E 38: ARV 2 72, no. 16, 1623; Paralip. 328, Epiktetos. See HSCP iv (1893) 29–30 (Howard).

54 The Dyskolos of Menander, ed. Handley, E. W. (Methuen, 1965)Google Scholar.

55 Hesperia xviii (1949) 114–27 and pls. 6–8. The one with the inscription is no. 7, pl. 8 and figs. 3 and 4.

56 Agora A 957: Hesperia, op. cit., no. 10, pl. 7.

57 Milan 266: ARV 2 379, no. 145, The Brygos Painter.

58 Bulletin of the John Rylands Library xlv (1962–3) 256, no. 4; cf. Handley, on Dyskolos v. 536Google Scholar, also Gomme-Sandbach, , Menander 219Google Scholar, n. to Dyskolos v. 536.

59 Berlin V.I. 3228: Pfuhl fig. 276: Buschor, Satyrtänze fig. 74.

60 Madrid 11039: ARV 2 1097, no. 17, The Naples Painter; and see Hesperia xxv (1956) 304–5 (Pritchett, W. K.)Google Scholar.

61 Mnemosyne ix (1956) 224 (Jongkees, J. H.)Google Scholar, citing IG i2 374, 142 = Caskey, L. D., Fowler, H. N., Paton, J. M., Stevens, G. P., The Erechtheum (1927) i p. 386, ll. 22–3 (408/7 B.C.)Google Scholar. Jongkees is careful to point out that work had not been resumed on the Erechtheum in 411 B.C., but he hazards a guess that there was building machinery still on the Acropolis in that year. Indeed, a close association with the one temple is unnecessary, the fact of linguistic usage suffices.

62 E.g. New York, Metropolitan Museum, 142 (= 96.9.375): Richter, G. M. A., Catalogue of Bronzes (New York, 1915) no. 665Google Scholar.

63 See above n. 57.

64 Menander, Dyskolos 599Google Scholar, and see Gomme-Sandbach, , Menander 227Google Scholar, n. to v. 599; Pollux vi 88.

65 See Jb xl (1925) 213 (Deubner); Caskey, and Beazley, , Boston Vases iii 77Google Scholar.

66 Boston MFA 13.195: ARV 2 35, no. 1, 1621, The Gales Painter. For a list of processions to Athena, see Auktion MM xviii, 1958, text pp. 27–8 to no. 85 (a black-figured Attic band cup). Shefton, Brian (AR 1969–1970, 59)Google Scholar has quoted Aristophanes, Ach. 253–4Google Scholar in connection with a red-figured pelike by the Pan Painter in Newcastle upon Tyne, which shows a kanephoros followed by an elderly woman (ARV 2 1659, middle (Lucerne Market, AA); Paralip. 386; AR 1969–70, 59, fig. 13).

67 Ferrara, from Spina T 57C VP: ARV 2 1143, no. 1, 1684; Paralip. 455, The Kleophon Painter.

68 Ach. 241; Lys. 647.

69 Boston MFA 95.24 (C. P. Perkins Fund): Caskey and Beazley, Boston Vases iii Suppl. pl. 26; ARV 2 1159, iii; Paralip. 458, near the Chrysis Painter. See Caskey and Beazley, text pp. 78–9, and Ginouvès, Balaneutikè 311–18.

70 Agamemnon, ed. Fraenkel, Eduard (Oxford, 1950) p. 593Google Scholar.

71 Munich 2347: AM lxv (1940) pls. 1 and 2, 1; cf. Erlangen Univ. 486: AM lxv (1940) pl. 2, 2; ARV 2 250, no. 21, 1639, The Syleus Painter.

72 Boston MFA 99.527: ABV 430, no. 25, The Guide-line Class (see Paralip. 184); Boardman, Athenian Black Figure Vases, a Handbook fig. 287.

73 Cf. the cryptic entry in the Souda: ξηνός' · ὁ κορμός.

74 Elementi Plautini in Plauto (Florence, 1960) 412–3.

75 E.g. New York, Metropolitan Museum 06.1021.117: Richter and Hall no. 35; ARV 2 1656, bottom. Boston MFA 13.196: ARV 2 631, no. 38; Paralip. 399, The Chicago Painter. And see BCH lxxxvii (1963) 579–602 (Bovon) and AK xvii (1974) 78–85 (Hölscher).

76 I still find the precise meaning of μία μάχαιρα puzzling. See Eranos lii (1954) 81–7 (Erbse).

77 AJA xlix (1945) 508–18 and figs. 1–4. For a discussion of σκάφη, see Ginouvès, Balaneutike 51–60. That one should beware of making too precise correspondences is shown by the fact that on a fragmentary bf plaque from the Acropolis, which shows a scene of grape picking and of men carrying shallow dishes like the Geras Painter's one, the inscription in the field mentions κανῆ. Does this refer to the trays they carry or to deep baskets on the ground which are on the missing fragments of the plaque? See AJA xlix (1935) 477–8 (Beazley).

78 Berkeley 8.4583: ARV 2 286, no. 10; Paralip. 355, The Geras Painter. A good picture of a skaphe is Auktion MM xl, 1969, no. 95, pl. 39, and see CVA Oxford 1 (3) pl. 2 (94) 9 and pl. 7 (99) 3 with Beazley's text.

79 North frieze in B.M.: Smith, A. H., The Sculptures of the Parthenon (1910) pl. 42 and text p. 56Google Scholar. South frieze in B.M.: Smith, op. cit. pl. 87. North frieze in Vatican: RM xlvi (1931) pl. 11 with pp. 87–9 and cf. p. 88, fig. 4 for Carrey's drawing; Kaschnitz-Weinberg, G., Sculture del Magazzino del Museo Vaticano (1937) no. 399, pl. 74Google Scholar; Schefold, , Meisterwerke 300, p. 245Google Scholar.

80 Lecce 602: ARV 2 569, no. 39; Paralip. 390, The Leningrad Painter.

81 In Platnauer's edition ‘ivy’ has a note and the bleating of the sheep a parallel, but the grape basket receives no mention.

82 Corinth IP 586: Hesperia xxvii (1958) 32, no. 42 and pl. 14b; AJA lxv (1961) 264–5. Hellenistic.

83 REA lxv (1963) 279–89.

84 Head HN 257; May, J. M. F., Ainos: its history and coinage 474–341 B.C. (1950) 96Google Scholar, n. 2 and pl. 10, K 2–3.

85 Hesperia xxv (1956) 260–61 (W. K. Pritchett).

86 Corinth IP 2139: Hesperia xxviii (1959) 337, fig. 11 and pl. 72c (Broneer quoting Pallas).

87 Agora P 11017: Agora xii pl. 88, 1853 and see pp. 217–8.

88 A full treatment has now appeared in BSA lxviii (1973) 397–414 (Jones, Graham and Sackett with J. D. Bu'Lock) and 443–8 (Geroulanos) and 448–52 (Jones).

89 Ure, P. N., The Origin of Tyranny (Cambridge, 1922) 197–207Google Scholar.

90 London BM B 507: ABV 426, no. 9, The Keyside Class; Boardman, Athenian Black Figure Vases, a Handbook, fig. 285.

91 Delphi Museum: Fouilles de Delphes iv (1909) 74–5; P. de la Coste-Messelière, Delphes (1943) pl. 82; P. de la Coste-Messelière, Au musée de Delphes (1956) pl. 23.

92 Toledo, Ohio 1958.69: Paralip. 169; Boardman, Athenian Black Figure Vases, a Handbook fig. 209. Beazley's suggestion that the man on the right is using a sieve seems unlikely.

93 Pollux vi 106; x 121; Hesychius s.v.

94 Agora xii 105–6 with bibl.

95 Agora ST 201 and 193.

96 Penguin Books, 1973, p. 97.

97 In Maia xv (1963) 22–3, Dover points out the significance of magic at this stage in the scene. I notice that the entry for ἐξάλειπτρον in the supplement to LSJ says ‘for “unguent-box” read “unguent-flask” or “-basin”’. A case of hedging one's bets!

98 Op. cit. p. 97.

99 Silver ladle: AJA xlvii (1943) 209 ff.; bronze ladle: Königsberg inv. F 28: Lullies, R., Antike Kleinkunst in Königsberg Pr. (1937) no. 192, pl. 31Google Scholar.

100 Haverford College, Pennsylvania: ARV 2 557, no. 116, 1659; Paralip. 387, The Pan Painter.

101 Loeb, 1933, p.v. Gulick's inclusion of twelve illustrative plates of pottery, mainly red- and black-figure, with the conventional ancient names beneath, is very odd in view of his opinions.