More Poseidon Images

Next week is Haloea so our theme is Poseidon on Ceramics

 vessels in contrasting styles also showing what the painters did with a limited palette of slips

Is this Poseidon?

IS THIS POSEIDON OR ... ?

It is generally presumed this ancient Greek Bronze is a statue of Poseidon

WHY ?

We have no idea if he was holding a thunderbolt or trident spear.

He could just as easily be a javelin throwing athlete?

One of the reasons this is thought to Poseidon is that similar images exist but in different media.

This is a coin Note the VERY similar pose.

metousia,

And again here. Given the custom of "dressing" some statues it's possible the bronze is missing a separate piece of bronze detachable drapery or was given a metal cloak of gold once installed in a temple or shrine?

Poseidon and Bad and Good Art

Classical Greek Art didn't emerge like Athena from the head of a god. It evolved and some of the archaic artists really couldn't draw! 

This is a ceramic plaque from a Corinthinian workshop.

Yes it is Poseidon. See the badly rendered trident and then there's the misuse of sgraffito.

This seems to have been a rush job? Especially compared to this!

Note the much more careful elegant linework in this closeup of Poseidon Enthroned.

Most of the finest classical pieces came from Attic workshops.

I'm wondering if the many metics encouraged to migrate to Athens included Ceramic painters ?

I'm wondering how the ceramics painters practised their drawing skills with no supply of cheap paper. Did they practise on broken pots? Did they use wax or clay tablets?

Amphitrite in Art Two

Amphitrite in Art Two .
Here's two more vase paintings.
The first one features Theseus Athena and Amphitrite.

There is a story that Minos tested Theseus' claim to be a son of Poseidon by throwing a ring into the sea. Theseus dived in after it. Aided by dolphins he swam down to Amphitrite's underseas palace and retrieved not only the ring but also a golden crown.

Given the presence of dolphins and Triton supporting Theseus plus Athena appearing this suggests to me that there may have been another lost version of this story in which Athena sponsors and protects Theseus as he encounters his father's wife and given how mnay dramas did NOT survive even perhaps a play in which Athena argues for the need for wives to be kind to sons their husbands had by other women?

The other story we have about Poseidon and Amphitrite is that she was reluctant to marry him and this image seems to show Iris messenger of the gods acting as a matchmaker between the two gods?

Sometimes when written versions don't surivive as more than summaries in the mythographers vase paintings and other art give us more of the story.

But don't forget the ancients may have perceived these images differently!

Amphitrite in Art One

Amphitrite Goddess of the Sea

There are very few surviving stories featuring her as much more than a name  but her appearances in art suggest there may be missing stories that have not survived.

She is mentioned by Hesiod, Apollodoros, and Ovid and some other writers.

She was an Oceanid a daughter of  the Titans Oceanus and Tethys who married Poseidon and together they ruled the seas. Take a look at these images.

The striking thing about them is that although Poseidon ? Neptune got all the temples in popular art used in homes, mosaics, frescos, and lastly this vase painting, Poseidon and Amphitrite seem to be shown as co-equal consorts?
You rarely seen images of other gods together as married couples.

The other striking feature is how often Amphitrite is semi naked and always from the waist down. This is perhaps not so odd givne other deities being depicted this way but when she is shown as semi naked its always from the waist down.

But there is another way of depicting Amphitrite. There are vase painting images that refer to a story of her meeting her husbands son Theseus.

That's the topic for my next post!