Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 92-93.(Budapest, 2000)
SZILÁGYI, JÁNOS GYÖRGY: "Les Adieux". A Column-krater of the Syracuse Painter
earlier only on lekythoi: the warrior is now a hoplite. 20 At roughly the same time the motif of the libation preceding departure, which appears several times in Homer but almost unknown in black-figure, 21 suddenly becomes quite frequent in several versions; 22 in the most popular one a woman stands facing the warrior with a jug in one hand, holding a phiale towards him with the other, either filling or preparing to fill it with the wine of libation; sometimes she asks for the phiale, held in the hand of the warrior, to fill. If the picture is not accompanied by an inscription or other means of identification it is generally assumed to be a depiction of everyday life: a departing soldier taking leave of his family. 23 But the frequent occurrence of the scene seems itself to beg the question of whether it means this and this much alone. The sociological way of interpretation, which views the departing hoplite at once as individual and as the emblematic representation of the ideal citizen of the Athenian city-state, ready to face a "beautiful death" (kalos thanatos) 24 if the interests of the polis should demand it, seems to present a much broader and richer field of meaning. There is obviously a certain of truth in this approach, quite independent of whether it should be extended, as many would have it, by reference to cultic initiation to manhood and citizenship. 25 The two explanations do not in principle contradict one another: in Athens, however, where attainment of majority was linked to age from the beginnings of democracy and, in a wider sense, even earlier, the latter is valid only metaphorically, not in the context of actual ritual. 26 It does seem, however, that the meaning of the pictures is not yet exhausted in this way; their message in fact proves susceptible, by virtue of their innate quality and often by the painter's own intention as well, to possibilities of not simply polyvalent, but - in the strict sense of the word - veritably polyphonic interpretation. There is a particular quality in these farewell-scenes that strikes the observer with an intensity corresponding to the abilities and sensitivity of the artist, but which can never be completely overlooked: whether the warrior is leaving in a chariot or on foot, apart from a few exceptional and visually-motivated cases, there is no trace in them of the triumphant atmosphere of expected victory, the hope the warrior will make a glorious return to the circle of those now bidding him farewell, 27 a mood that makes itself 20 Spiess, A.B., Der Kriegerabschied auf attischen Vasen der archaischen Zeit, Frankfurt a.M. 1992, at present the most complete account, touching upon all the iconographie types, but giving only a sketch of the red-figured representations. On these see Matheson, S.B., Polygnotos and Vase Painting in Classical Athens, Madison 1995, 269-276. 21 But see .Spiess, op. cit. 83-84. 22 Beazley, Boston, op. cit. H., 1954, 77, with earlier literature and refutation of the home-coming interpretation; Spiess, op. cit. 172-175. On the interpretation in detail already Stephani, op. cit. (n.18) 134 ff.; see also Matheson, op. cit. (n.20) 338, n. 14 (with bibliography). 23 So recently, among others, Prange, M., Der Niobidenmaler und seine Werkstatt, Frankfurt a.M. 1989, 75-76; Matheson, loc. cit. (n.20) esp. 271; Oakley, J.H., The Phiale Painter, Mainz 1990, 43-44; Id., The Achilles Painter, Mainz 1997, 58. 24 See the contribution of Loraux, N. and Vernant J.-P. inLa mort, les morts dans les sociétés anciennes (éd. Gh. Gnoli - J.P. Vernant), Cambridge-Paris 1982, 27-43 and 45-76 (based primarily on the literary evidence). 25 Matheson, loc. cit. 271 and n. 15 (bibliography). 26 This point was stressed by A. Brelich in his Paides e parthenoi, Roma 1969 (ristampa 1981), 226. 27 This was noticed already by Stephani, op. cit. (n. 18) 139.
