The Darius Painter
Apulian red–figure amphora depicting Actaeon’s death
- Southern Italy, Apulia. From Ceglie del Campo, ca. 320 BC.
- Inv. АВ 3207
- Clay, varnish, paint
- В. 99 cm.
- Conservators: I. Makarova, I. Sivova, E. Minina
This monumental Panathenaic amphora was found in the 19th century in Ceglie di Campo in Southern Italy, in the territory of modern Apulia. There, in one of the tombs were found several magnificent vases of one of the last great Greek vase painters, the Darius Painter (named after the famous krater in Naples with the image of the council of the Persian king and marked with the name "DAREIOS").
The body of the vessel is divided into two parts with a central belt depicting pairs of opposing beasts and fantastic creatures. Below is the popular Italian scene of the punishment of Actaeon, a Boeotian hunter who watched the goddess of hunting bathe. Artemis turned Actaeon into deer, who was ripped apart by his own dogs. Along with the seated Artemis, the vase depicts Lissa ("rage") siccing the dogs on Actaeon and seated Aphrodite, whose son - Eros - is trying to draw the mother's attention to what is happening. Above is a rare myth about the rape of the son of king Pelops young Chrysippus by the future father of Oedipus kink Laius, who was teaching Chrysippus to ride a chariot. Kidnapping by death dressed as a foreigner occurs at night: five stars shine (now faded), but Pelops (as a descendant of Asia Minor, dressed in an eastern outfit) catches up with the kidnapper and grabs his son by the hand. Another symbol of salvation can be seen on the neck of the amphora - Zeus having taken the shape of an eagle takes a beautiful girl to the heavenly world.
The reverse shows the traditional for Apulian funerary vases groups of women and naked young men, bringing each other symbolic gifts: chests, ribbons, branches of sacred trees, wreaths, mirrors. Everything speaks of the posthumous salvation of the soul through love, the union of male and female origins, upon which the cosmos is based.