History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2) by Walters et al.
9. BANQUETS AND REVELS
995 words | Chapter 126
A group of subjects which play an important part on vases of all
periods, especially the height of the R.F. style, but which do not
exactly fall under any of the headings so far enumerated, is that of
scenes connected with banquets and revels, especially of Athenian
ephebi. In the ordinary “type” of banquets at all periods (as in other
branches of art) the participants recline on couches on their left
elbows, the right arm being free to use, and that hand often holding a
drinking-cup or other appropriate attribute.[1876] In this fashion the
gods—such as Dionysos, Hermes, or Herakles after his apotheosis—indulge
in the pleasures of the banquet and the wine-cup.[1877] There are
scenes which represent the preparations for a banquet,[1878] or young
men on their way thither[1879]; and in those depicting the feast itself
a table is often placed before the couch, on which viands of various
kinds are seen[1880]; or the krater (mixing-bowl) stands by, ready for
the drinkers to replenish their cups.[1881] Vases are also filled by
means of a funnel.[1882] The results of over-indulgence are sometimes
realistically indicated on the R.F. cups.[1883] After the
drinking-bouts come amusements of various kinds, notably the game of
the kottabos.[1884] No instances of this occur before the middle of the
R.F. period, and on the cups of that time it is usually only indicated
by the manner in which the banqueters twirl their kylikes with a finger
crooked in the handle,[1885] preparatory to throwing the remaining
drops of liquid at the little figure on the top of the kottabos-stand,
the hitting of which caused part of the apparatus to fall with a
ringing noise.[1886] On the latest Athenian and many Apulian vases the
stand is often represented as well,[1887] not only in position for the
game, but borne along by revellers.[1888] It is also carried by
Seileni, Maenads, or Eros, and used by Dionysos at his banquets.[1889]
Other amusements take the form of music and dancing. The banqueters
themselves play the lyre or flute,[1890] or listen to male and female
performers on those instruments,[1891] or a young girl dances for their
amusement.[1892] The women jugglers, tumblers, and acrobatic
sword-dancers who often appear on late vases[1893] no doubt often
contributed to the entertainment of the “gilded youth” of their day.
Sometimes a banqueter is represented reclining on his couch and
singing, the words in one or two cases being inscribed as proceeding
out of his mouth.[1894] Not only men but women are represented
banqueting, as on the psykter by Euphronios at Petersburg, which has a
group of courtesans.[1895] This character also appears on the R.F.
vases at the men’s banquets.[1896]
The κῶμος or revel is equally popular with the banquet. It usually
takes the form of a procession of young and elderly men in various
unrestrained attitudes,[1897] dancing,[1898] singing,[1899] playing the
lyre, flute, or other instruments,[1900] carrying drinking-cups and
other vessels,[1901] or balancing them in sportive manner.[1902]
Frequently these κῶμος scenes are of a Dionysiac character, the god
himself, Seileni, Satyrs, and Maenads taking part,[1903] and sometimes
human beings are mingled with them. On a vase of the series connected
with the comic stage (Fig. 134, p. 161) a father is seen dragging a
drunken youth home from a banquet; but these scenes of rioting are not
always necessarily conceived as taking place before or after social
festivities. On a red-figured cup at Petersburg the subject of the
return from the feast of the Brauronian Dionysos is depicted in most
realistic fashion, the revellers indulging in all sorts of buffoonery
and fantastic actions, which suggest an Athenian counterpart of modern
Bank Holiday amusements[1904]!
To turn to a subject of a quieter character, what may be termed “love
scenes” are not uncommon on vases, especially of the later period. On
the Apulian vases indeed such subjects are innumerable. The usual type,
occasionally found on earlier vases,[1905] is that of a youth and a
seated girl exchanging presents, such as mirrors, wreaths, baskets of
fruit or jewel-boxes, Eros being frequently present.[1906] Scenes of
this kind were originally interpreted somewhat fantastically, as having
some reference to the Eleusinian or other mysteries,[1907] an idea
which no one would now seriously hold. Similar scenes which have no
particular import, such as groups of women, often with Eros, occur on
many R.F. vases of the later fine style, especially the pyxides and
lekythi.[1908] They are all clearly fanciful, and belong to an age when
tastes resembled those of the eighteenth century in their
artificiality. There are also some instances, especially on the R.F.
vases, where the sentiment is more definitely expressed, and couples
are seen embracing or caressing one another in amorous fashion.[1909]
It is not necessary to make more than passing allusion to the many
vases on which this harmless sentiment is replaced by coarseness and
open indecency of treatment, some of which, however, belong to the very
finest stage of red-figure painting.
Finally, we may mention here a few subjects of a _genre_ character
which seem to defy classification, and yet are sufficiently definite to
require separate mention. Such are the scenes so common on the
interiors of R.F. kylikes, which represent ephebi in all kinds of
attitudes, or carrying all sorts of objects, the great aim of the
artist being to find the most suitable design to fill in the circular
space.[1910] Thus we have such subjects as a youth putting on a greave
or sandals,[1911] carrying a wine-amphora[1912] or a lyre,[1913]
playing with castanets,[1914] or pursuing a hare[1915]; reclining at a
banquet[1916]; armed with a club or a large stone[1917]; a man leading
a leopard,[1918] and a man who seems from his gestures to be treading
unawares on a snake[1919]; and others of an athletic or military
character, of which mention has already been made. There are also many
subjects which appear to have a meaning, yet are not mythological, and
cannot be satisfactorily explained; such instances it would, however,
hardly be profitable to describe in detail.
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