The Siren Painter’s Eponymous Vase and Etymological Aspects of the Septuagint
The Siren Painter’s Eponymous Vase and Etymological Aspects of the Septuagint

Summary/Abstract: The Siren Painter’s famous eponymous vase1 contains details of much interest to students of nautical equipment and ancient seafaring practices. The representation of Odysseus tied to his mast has received understandably more attention than the image on the reverse side of the vase with its fantastical winged symposiasts. The two images are clearly related but their relationship, we will suggest, may be as much verbal as mytho-psychological. In essence, this extended article sets out to show that the two vase paintings represent the artist’s attempt to express the full gamut of etymological possibilities inherent in the name ‘Sirens’. Our analysis is intended to enhance the reputation of vase painters as highly literate individuals whose artistic schemata are informed and even dictated by verbal interconnections. The second - but not secondary - aim of this article is to examine occurrences of the word ‘Sirens’ in the Septuagint. Here too etymologies will be seen to highly active in the penumbra of the text.

• Details
• Contents