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approaches that of the red-figure vases, although the methods employed are nearer to the black-figure system. At a much later time a similar method was attempted by Italian artists, as variation from the later red-figure style. (See below, p. 251.)

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Case 26. Vases (of a somewhat late style) mainly from Boeotia. In the two upper shelves are some curious vases in a style of coarse burlesque from the shrine of the Cabeiri (a group of daemons, associated in this instance with Dionysos) near Thebes. From the inscriptions found on other vases from this site, it is evident that for the special purpose of the local cult, this form of the black-figure style was continued at Thebes till the fourth century.

2nd shelf. Burlesque scene of Circè and Odysseus.

Circè offers a cup of the magic drink, which Odysseus, however, can drink with impunity. Near her loom is a man half changed to a pig.

Cases 27-32. Miscellaneous vases of Attic manufacture. In

Fig. 106.-Woman preparing Wool.

Case 28 are inferior examples of the method of black figures on a cream ground, already seen above (Cases 22, 23).

[Before crossing the room we turn to the Standard- and Tablecases A-E.]

Standard-case A. Most of the vases in this case have for their principal subject one of the Labours of Heracles. The strangling of the Lion of Nemea is a specially favoured subject. Among the other subjects represented are: B 154, the Blinding of Polyphemos by Odysseus and two companions, who thrust the end of the pinepole into the eye of the Cyclops.

The two-handled cup (or cantharos) with departure and combat scenes is painted with unusual minuteness and care. The modern fragment beside it has been removed from the body of the cup, and is an instructive example of the skill of some restorer.

Standard-case B. Further Labours of Heracles and other subjects connected with the heroes, e.g., the Combat of Theseus and the Minotaur. B 240. The shade of Achilles (or of Patroclos)

passing over the Greek ships. B 215. Peleus wrestling with the sea-goddess Thetis, who afterwards became his bride and the mother of Achilles. According to the legend, Thetis sought to avoid capture by successive transformations. In the early vases different moments of time are simultaneously represented, as in the present case, where we see Thetis herself and two of her changes, a panther and a lion, in a single group. The bird-like figures on each side, combined with the large eyes, have no reference to the subject; they are variations of the eye-decoration shown in Case 19. On this vase the black figures on a red ground are combined with a black on cream decoration for the neck.

Pedestal 1. B 147. The Birth of Athenè, from the brain of Zeus in the presence of Hephaestos, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, Eileithyia. These deities all have their names inscribed. (The figures of Heracles and Ares, which complete the group, are mainly restored.) For a further discussion of this subject, see below.

Fig. 107. Vase by

Pasiades. B 668.

Table-case C. Drinking cups (kylikes). The subjects are for the most part either very small in the middle of the rim or entirely absent. Selected specimens of this group, all signed with the names of the artist or potter, are placed in the shade above. [Other examples are at the back of Cases 48, 49.] These include vases with the names of Archicles, Hermogenes, Xenocles, and Tleson, the socalled Little Masters' (see p. 215).

The remaining vases in this shade are also signed. They include an early Boeotian aryballos, with incised patterns and the name of Gamedes; B 631, a jug, with black vine branches on a cream ground, signed with the name of the potter, Charinos, and also with an inscription of most unusual length for a vase: Ξενοδό[κ]η [μοι δοκεί αîя кaλý. (Xenodokè, methinks, is a fair maiden.') (See p. 213.)

B 668. Small alabastron (fig. 107), very finely painted, with two Maenads and a crane, the latter drawn with a Japanese feeling for bird life. By Pasiades, an artist not otherwise known. Found at Marion in Cyprus.

The smaller shade contains B 679, a large kylix. Interior, four war-galleys at sea. In the middle is a Gorgon's head, which (like the mask on the vase mentioned above, Case 19, and the Gorgoneion in the kylix B 427 immediately below) is in effect a red-figure drawing. Exterior, a banqueting scene in black on a cream ground.

Pedestal 2. A large crater (B 360), with a departure of warriors on the front. On the reverse the archaic subject, not much used in the black-figure vases, of a bull attacked by two lions.

Standard-case D. Amphorae, with various myths relating to deities. The subjects include: Hermes leading the three goddesses (Hera, Aphroditè, and Athenè) to be judged by Paris. Paris, when

shown, sometimes awaits the procession and sometimes flies in alarm.

The Birth of Athenè from the brain of Zeus (B 218; B 244; fig. 108; compare B 147 on Pedestal 1, and B 424 on Table-case F). The traditional method in which the subject is represented is of

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special interest, since some writers have thought that it may throw light on the composition of the east pediment of the Parthenon (p. 24). It can hardly be supposed, however, that in the front of her own temple Athene would have been represented of diminutive scale in comparison with Zeus, and it is more likely that she was

Fig. 108.-Birth of Athenè. B 244.

a standing figure of equal dignity with her father. The principal figures beside Zeus and Athenè are the Eileithyiae, who wave their hands as if weaving spells, Hephaestos, who clave the skull of Zeus with his double axe, and Hermes (cf. the red-figure vase, fig. 120). This case also contains six renderings of the War of the Gods against the Giants.

Standard-case E. A group of vases in this case, B 148 to 153, in a rather formal and affected style, with a uniform arrangement of inverted lotus buds and other decorations, have been thought to be Attic works produced under strong Ionic influence.

It will be observed that, with few exceptions, the amphorae and hydriae are divided by the central gangway into two well-marked classes: (1) In Cases 18-32 and A-E, already described, the body of the vase is red all round, and the subjects are only bordered by the palmettes and scrolls below the handles. (2) In Cases 33-64 and F-K, on the opposite side of the room, the body of the vase is covered with black varnish, with the exception of a well-defined panel, which contains the subject usually within a decorative border. The two classes must have been in a great measure contemporary, and both systems seem to be continued in the red-figure style. It is, however, in the case of the panel subjects that the direct transition from the one style to the other is most obvious. We shall see that the two styles are combined on the panel amphora B 193, and there is the closest resemblance in the treatment of the panel in the black-figure hydriae in Cases 39-51 and in the red-figure hydriae in Cases 3-4 in the Third Vase Room. It is therefore plain that the panel vases must have been continued until the conclusion of the black-figure style, but the inferior limit of the red-body vases is less clearly marked, since the systems of ornament under the handles of the red-figure vases have a less direct connexion with those of the black-figure amphorae with red body.

Cases 33-41. Miscellaneous black-figure vases. Among the subjects deserving notice are:

B 173 (Case 36). Aeneas leaving Troy, and carrying his father Anchises.

B503. The witch Circè standing between two of the companions of Odysseus, whom she has changed to pigs.

B 502 (Case 40) and another vase (Case 41). Odysseus bound beneath the ram approaches the Cyclops Polyphemos. Odysseus beneath the ram occurs also in B 407 (Case 44).

Cases 39-47 contain many Attic three-handled water pitchers (hydriae). Several of the pitchers indicate clearly the purpose for which they were intended by having scenes of maidens drawing water at a fountain for their subject. Thus in B 331 (Case 47) six maidens with their pitchers are come to the famous Athenian fountain of Callirrhoè, which is identified by the inscription, Kaλ(A)p(pón κpy, and which is represented as a well-house, with a stream of water flowing from a lion's mask (fig. 109).

B 329 (Case 46) shows a front view of the well-house. B 335 shows a double well-house with a spout on each side.

Cases 48, 49. Select vases, of which the majority are signed. Among the contents of these cases are:

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Several kylikes of the Little Master' school, referred to above.

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These include cups with the names of Archicles, Tleson, and Hermogenes; also cups inscribed Hail and drink well' (or 'drink me') Xaîpe κai miei ev (or míov èué B 414); and similar cups with meaningless imitation inscriptions.

B 300. Hydria signed by Pamphaios (cf. p. 215). The principal subject is Dionysos with a train of Satyrs and Maenads.

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