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THE VINE AS PART THE ART OF ANCIENT GREEK (ATHENEAN) POTTERY
Ancient Greeks honored and worshiped Dionysos for the magnificent gift he had bestowed on them, the vine and the incredible derivative the wine. This is evident among other places on the ancient Greek pottery, where the depiction of wine and in general of grapes and vines is extremely rich and of major interest. This can be easily explained. Most of the shapes of ancient Greek pottery are related to wine in their uses. Thus pottery artists combined quite successfully the use of the ceramic pots and their decoration and have given us many, varying and interesting compositions where vine and wine are dominant. This is the reason why Dionysos, the undisputed God of vine cultivation and wine fermentation, ends up being the most depicted god figure of ancient ceramic pots.
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THE VINE
The oldest to date artistic compositions relating to vines decorate pythous and wine decanters that were found at the Akrotiri ancient settlement of Thera and date back to the 17th -16th century BC and depict votrys (grapes). Abour 8 to 9 hundreds of years to find again depictions relating to wine or vines on pots. It is the well-known amphora at the Archaeological Museum of Eleusis, dated to 670BC (fig. 1): at the neck of the amphora we see Polyphemos holding on his right hand a cup, the “kissyvion” which contains “easy-drinking flame-black” wine, with which Odysseus treated him so that the Cyclop would be incapacitated “via inebriation”. |
(fig.1)
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Now we come to the 6th century BC where the decoration swith vines and wine become very frequent, while quite prominent is also the presence of Dionysos. On two very well-known pots, the boiler of potterer Sophilos dated to 580BC (fig. 2) and on the helical crater of ceramists Cleitias and Ergotimos (fig. 3) dated to 570BC, Dionysos is depicted to arrive at the marriage of Peleas and Thetis holding vine branches bearing grapes (oschous), whereas on the second one, the God carries on his shoulders a present to the newly wed, an amphora most likely containing wine.
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fig.2
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fig.3
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Apart from these, there are numerous others with Dionysos as the protagonist who bears oschous, votris (grapes) as an identifying mark as well as wearing a grape-wreath.
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fig.4
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fig.5
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And of course apart from Dionysos, we have members of his followers, the Satyrs and the Maenads, holding vines and grapes with their hands.
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fig.6
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The presence of oschous on pottery art with Dionysian themes is somethimes necessary from the context of the story it is telling. Thus on the known cylix of Exeias dated at 530BC, Dionysos is travelling by boat whose mast has turned to a vine, a reference to the known story of the kidnapping of the God by pirates, whom the God frightened by transforming the boat’s mast into a vine. (fig. 7) |
| Furthermore, on scenes relating to the return of Vulcan (Hephaestus) to mount Olympus, the presence of the vine an obvious reference ot wine, the means by which Dionysos achieved to mellow the wrath of the limping God and to lead him to the palace of the Gods. (fig. 8) |
fig.8
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fig.9
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Finally, sometimes the vines are just use to cover empty space on various decorations, as for example on the cylix from Attica dated at 530BC which shows Dionysos and his mother Semeli (fig 9). |
| The vine however, is not the exclusive decoration of Dionysian decorations. For example on amphora Z of Andokides dated about 515BC we have a reclining Hercules in good spirits under the shade of a vine, the presence of which aims to stress once again the wine of the symposia that the son of Alcmene cherished. (Fig. 10) |
fig.10
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There are more ceramics with Hercules as the protagonist and with the presence of vines, a fact that is attributed to the special relationship of the hero with Dionysos, both having the same homeland. On one of these pots, Dionyos and Hercules are shown together under the shade of a vine. (fig.11)
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fig.11
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fig.12
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Oschous are also found on pottery art where the depicted are mere mortals in situations where the presence of vines is justified. They are encountered for example on symposia scenes where the participans wear grape-wreaths on their heads, or in scenes of collecting grapes from vineyards. Furhtermore, it is not by chance that these decorations are on cylices and craters that is on shapes whose use are related to serving and drinking wine. This is why it is on cylices and on craters that we encounter vines giving life on the handles even when the theme of the rest of the decoration is not related to vines or wine. (Fig. 12)
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Με μεγάλη επιτυχία η εταιρεία Κατώγι – Στροφιλιάσε συνεργασία με την Λουΐζα Καλλιγά εγκαινίασαν την εικαστική έκθεση «Οινοποιείο» την Πέμπτη 17...
Το Λευκό Άτι είναι το πρώτο λευκό κρασί της επωνυμίας Louisa Calliga που συνεχίζει την παράδοση.
Το Λευκό Άτι είναι ένα λευκό...
