On the Importance of Pottery - TWO

On the Importance of Pottery - TWO

This vessel shows us the importance of Dionysious in Classical Culture and of course also wine and the cult of the grape vine. Dionysios reclines his couch a ship and its pirate crew have become dolphins and swim along and around it. The mast is sprouting vines with full bunches of grapes. The ship is rendered in exquisite detail including the rigging of the sails full of wind and their cables.

Balance symmetry color form ornament and a story illustrated. And on a functional vessel not just for display but using! The potter who created this masterpiece is not recorded. He did not sign his name. Potters rarely did. He is as much a hero as some Spartan king or Athenian orator.

On the Importance of Pottery - ONE

#greekceramics #pottery

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF POTTERY _ONE

Last week I got into a dispute on Twitter with the sort of individuals who want
"History" with the sort of individuals who want Classics and History to be about "Great Characters" by which they seem to mean Heroes.

I argued in defence of social history which they viewed as mundane and awoke.

I enjoy World and General histories as much as Social and Art History and it is also my view Potters are as important as Princes.

Ceramics also tell us something about the societies they come from.

Here's a medley of pots that tell stories or give information about their cultures.

Here's the famous Minoan Octopus Vase. From the earliest time Hellenic art balances simplicity with complexity, observation with fantasy, and decoration that matches form.

This ceramic vessel made several hundred years later on the mainland shows similar characteristics, Yes it is  more formal and decorative and stylised but it has balance and beauty.

Likewise this fully Classical work though here the ornamental banding is limited to two narrow strips that act as a frame and the line work and human figure is as important as the color and form. 

While Greek art of all eras shows an interest in balance and symmetry a special characteristic of the "Classical" era which also saw the rise of various democracies was the emphasis on the human figure.

Finally even the gods become more human for while Zeus holds his thunderbolts he could without them equally be a father sending adult children or servants away on errands. Hermes appears as a human herald and the wings on his boots are almost ornaments and Iris apart from her wings is a well dressed young woman.

Sebastos

#sebastos #augustus

SEBASTOS

Do you know what the Greek Equivalent of AUGUSTUS is ?

Yes it's SEBASTOS

Don't forget to check my https://www.patreon.com/metousia for more sebastos art

KETOS MEDLEY

KETOS MEDLEY

A medley of images of Ketoi

From Sea to Land - More Ketos to Dragons

#CETUS #CETOS #kETOS #Drakon #Dragon

Images of sea Monsters in Greek and Roman Art like the one above often have heads similar to those of dragons in later European Art  such as this one from Galician Spain

or this image of a captured Dacian standard ?

But most of us think of dragons as being more like this ?

There are however transitional forms with the features of the water monsters of the Mediterranean and the flying fire breathers or rain bringers of Northern Eurasia.

St Margaret of Antioch emerging from a dragon which split open after swallowing her.

Carolingian cavalry lead by a rider with a dragon standard.

and of course ST George slaying a dragon 

Most of these images are post Classical but the transition of finned sea monster to winged creature shows the lingering echoes of the effects of Greek and Roman art on later Western Europe ?

Ketos the ancestor of Dragons ?

Are Water monster - Ketos partial ancestors of Dragons
At least in terms of inspiring the images that appear in later European art ?

#cetos #cetus #watermonster #dragon

Note the head of the water monster in this mosaic.

and this image 

and this sculpture from Galicia 

Next time I discuss how a water monster may have become a fire breathing winged creature .