Art and Myth in Ancient Greece, ch. 2: a Demonstration of Method; the Return of Hephaistos; Troilos and Achilles

 Our author (T.H. Carpenter) analyzes two stories which are depicted on the Francois Vase: the return of Hephaestus to Olympus, accompanied by Dionysus; and Achilles' pursuit of Troilus outside of Troy. These stories are not well attested in archaic literary sources, and Carpenter picks these stories to make the point that "much of our knowledge for both of these myths comes from depictions of them in ancient art rather than literary sources" (18). He describes the scenes on the Francois vase and then leads us through a pretty tedious catalogue of other depictions of the myth in archaic and classical sources.

1) I find it hard to imagine and think about the Francois vase as a 3d object. This 3d model is not very detailed but at least is helpful for orienting yourself on the vase: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/francois-vase-bf5a13753ad74578a438b79a9e824151

Better images of the two stories in question here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/69716881@N02/8522743550/in/photostream/


Return of Hephaestus

https://www.flickr.com/photos/69716881@N02/8521688103/in/photostream/


Troilus and Achilles
2) This book is not very sophisticated on the relationship between text and image. For a "demonstration of method," I think we could have used more explicit discussion of what the method is. Mostly Carpenter seems to discuss 'iconography' (shared poses and visual traits) and 'literary sources.' He seems very much to treat these images as more or less illustrations of texts, but texts we happen to have lost.

3) It's hard to dispute that on the Francois vase we have Hephaestus on a horse accompanied by Dionysus approaching Zeus and Hera, but I'm not convinced that we should match this story with the one briefly mentioned by Pausanias: that after Hera threw Hephaestus out, he sent her a chair with invisible cords that trapped her; Dionysus then got Hephaestus drunk and returned him to Olympus. Yes, Hera is in a chair on the vase, but so is Zeus and I don't see any signs of distress on her face. Here I think it would have been really helpful to have more engagement with what literary sources do survive, if we're going to be drawing such a direct line between text and image.

4) The catalogue of other artistic representations of these scenes is very tedious and often not very convincing, in the cases where we lack inscriptions for the characters and the iconography is pretty far removed from other images. Like is this Tarantine bronze mirror handle really Achilles murdering Troilus, instead of any generic battle scene?

5) But the Francois vase really is just a delight and joy, and I don't think I've spent enough time with it over the years. Like look at Priam sitting outside the walls of Troy, as Hector and Polites emerge from the gate.

It's so fun that Priam's chair is labeled θΑΚΟΣ. Is that an important detail for some reason? The jar is labeled HYDΡΙΑ, but presumably that jar was an important feature of the story (Troilus accompanying his sister Polyxena to the fountain house to get water).
And how should we interpret this depiction of Troy? Is that an archaizing door? Or a contemporary one to the audience? What's the deal with the circles as decoration on the top of the wall? Lots of attention here to architecture (along with the fountain house on the other side of the vase), which seems worth unpacking.

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