Читать книгу Greek Tragedy in the Light of Vase Paintings онлайн

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In dealing with even the subject of vase paintings and extant tragedy, it was not possible to omit saying a word regarding the general question of the earliest influence of the drama upon the vase painters; this has been done, however, very briefly, and is no more than a sketch. Some may think that the subject is disposed of too quickly; many pages, indeed, might have been written to advantage on this much mooted point, but this would have required going far aside from the task which I set myself; and, further, it did not seem wise to encumber the work with a discussion necessarily of a nature to appeal to the archaeologist rather than to the student of Aischylos and Euripides. It is the latter’s needs that have been uppermost in my mind, and it will be found that I have written for him first and for the archaeologist second.

My aim has been to collect and publish all paintings that can with a high degree of probability be said to be inspired by any of the extant tragedies, and to unfold the relation of the two to each other in such a way as to throw the greatest possible light upon the interpretation of the literature. Many of the publications where one can find these paintings are so expensive and inaccessible that but a comparatively small number of classical students can make any use of the original works; the result is that this important class of monuments has been very little used by philologists. Wherever it seemed necessary, synopses of the plays have been given, and these will place the student in possession of everything required for a full appreciation of the reproductions. Reference has been made to other monuments representing scenes based on the plays, so that there is in fact a sort of archaeological commentary for those who care to go further and examine the general influence of the poet over the artist. It should be borne in mind, however, that I have not been concerned with the myths involved except in so far as they were the forms invented or followed by the tragedians. To be sure, opinions will not be unanimous regarding the interpretation of some of the paintings, but wherever I have not felt sure of the debt of the artist to a given play I have preferred not to publish the work; some such are mentioned in a separate chapter, where reference is also made to the literature. My endeavour has been to keep as far as possible aloof from conjectures and reckless theories into which one is apt to be drawn in dealing with questions in archaeology; sins of omission should be less reprehended in a work of this character than sins of commission, and although I shall no doubt be judged guilty of both, I hope to have erred rather on the side of the former.