Ghost of Hellas

The Annunciation by Angelos Panagiotou (b. 1943, Greek). Painted in 1986. Private Collection.

Around 510-500 BC, an Athenian vase painter placed a small scene at the center of a wine cup: a dog scratching its ear with its hind leg. No gods, no heroes, no battle lines. Just an itch. It's an Attic red-figure stemless cup, currently housed at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and displayed in Gallery 16 on the Ground Floor. Made in Athens, it was likely intended for the world of the symposium: a broad, shallow wine cup held by reclining drinkers and repeatedly raised throughout the evening. The painter was an anonymous artist scholars call the Euergides Painter. His name is a modern convention derived from Euergides, the potter who crafted the cups he decorated. Active around 515-500 BC, the artist worked during the years when the red-figure technique was beginning to replace black-figure vase painting. Let's look at the dog: its slender body, pointed snout, long tail, elegant legs, and ears resemble the hunting dogs ancient writers associated with Laconia or Sparta. Writing in the 4th century BC, Xenophon describes the ideal hunting dog in terms of speed, proportion, strength, a keen nose, and a long tail; I believe these qualities perfectly match the one on this cup. What makes this choice particularly striking is its modesty. During the same period, painters like Euphronios and Euthymides were experimenting with the new red-figure style using bold anatomy, movement, perspective, and ambitious scenes. Euthymides even boasted on one vase that his work was 'much better than Euphronios's.' Here, the Euergides Painter reduces the drama to a hound and an itch.

Owl of Athena (2nd version) archaeologyart.shop/products… This design inspired by an ancient Greek kalpis (a form of Greek pottery) decorated with Owl of Athena. (ca. 470 BC.) In Greek mythology, a little owl (Athene noctua) traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the goddess of wisdom, or Minerva, her syncretic incarnation in Roman mythology.

Oedipus and the Sphinx archaeologyart.shop/collecti… The story of Oedipus is perhaps the best known of all the Greek myths. Acc. to greek mythology Oedipus wanders to Thebes, where he meets the Sphinx, a terrible creature who guards the gates of the city. The Sphinx devours all those who pass by and cannot answer the riddle: What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs at night?

Etruscan youth playing the flute and riding a dolphin. archaeologyart.shop/collecti…

The Siren by John William Waterhouse.

Dionysos Crossing the Sea, c. 535 BC. Terracotta kylix (interior), from Vulci, Italy. Diameter 41/2 inches. (Museum Antiker Kleinkunst, Munich).

“Cum Patientia” – After Daniel de la Feuille, “Devises et emblèmes,” 1691. This is a later version. Text is likely from Ephesians 4:2 – “Be humble and gentle; with patience, bearing with one another in love.”

Maenad carrying a thyrsus and a leopard with a snake rolled up over her head. Tondo of an ancient Greek Attic white-ground kylix 490–480 BC from Vulci. Collection: Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany.