Epic Themes and Vase Painting Based on the Example of Selected Scenes Illustrating Homeric Motifs: Doloneia Cover Image

Wątki epickie a malarstwo wazowe na przykładzie wybranych przedstawień motywów homeryckich: Doloneja
Epic Themes and Vase Painting Based on the Example of Selected Scenes Illustrating Homeric Motifs: Doloneia

Author(s): Dorota Gorzelany
Subject(s): Greek Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Greek vase painting; south Italian vase painting; Doloneia; pseudo-euripidean Rhesus; Greek iconography

Summary/Abstract: The oral form of transmission of the early Greek epics allowed for the free shaping of content by the poet, whose task was to create a coherent narrative, intelligible for all the listeners, while maintaining its key feature – authenticity. This, however, lead to variability in content due to the desire to supplement, that is to show detailed presentations of events or to adapt these to local traditions. Incongruities in content between individual customary versions of these stories are illustrated in relics of vase painting. This article discusses the iconography of scenes associated with the Doloneia, book 10 of the Iliad, in reference to the contents of the epic. Based on a few examples still extant, a formal analysis was conducted on the themes of the main structure and secondary characters shown in Greek illustrations from the Archaic and Classical periods, as well as of southern Italic examples, allowing us to show how versions of the story formed at a given time and to reflect on the changes introduced.

  • Issue Year: XXI/2018
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 103-115
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Polish