In dealing with the subjects depicted on Greek vases, we naturally regard the Olympian deities as having the preeminence. We will therefore begin by considering such scenes as have reference to actions in which those deities were engaged, and, secondly, representations of general groups of deities, either as spectators of terrestrial events or without any particular signification. It will then be convenient to deal with the several deities one by one, noting the subjects with which each is individually connected. We shall in the following chapter proceed to consider the subordinate deities, such as those of the under-world and the Dionysiac cycle, and personifications of nature and abstract ideas. Chapter [XIV]. will be devoted to the consideration of heroic legends, mythological beings, and historical subjects; and in Chapter [XV]. will be discussed all such subjects as relate to the daily life of the Greeks.
The Olympian Deities
One of the oldest and most continuously popular subjects is the Gigantomachia, or Battle of the Gods and Giants, which forms part of the Titanic and pre-heroic cosmogony, and may therefore take precedence of the rest. The Aloadae (Otos and Ephialtes), strictly speaking, are connected with a different event—the attack on Olympos and chaining of Ares; but the scenes in which they occur are so closely linked with the Gigantomachy proper that it is unnecessary to differentiate them. We also find as a single subject the combat of Zeus with the snake-footed Typhon.[[37]]
The locus classicus of Greek art for the Gigantomachia is of course the frieze of the great altar at Pergamon (197 B.C.), but several vases bear representations almost as complete, though it is not as a rule possible to identify the giants except where their names are inscribed.[[38]] Most vases give only one to three pairs of combatants.
FIG. 111. GIGANTOMACHIA, FROM IONIC VASE IN LOUVRE.
Some pairs are found almost exclusively together, e.g. Athena and Enkelados, or Ares and Mimas; Artemis and Apollo are generally opposed to the Aloadae Otos and Ephialtes, Zeus to Porphyrion, and Poseidon to Polybotes (Fig. [112]) or Ephialtes. Hestia alone, the “stay-at-home” goddess of the hearth, is never found in these scenes, but Dionysos, Herakles, and the Dioskuri all take their part in aiding the Olympian deities. Zeus hurls his thunderbolts[[39]]; Poseidon is usually depicted with his trident, or hurling the island of Nisyros (indicated as a rock with animals painted on it) upon his adversary[[40]]; Hephaistos uses a pair of tongs with a burning coal in them as his weapon[[41]]; and Dionysos is in some cases aided by his panther.[[42]] Aeolus occurs once with his bag of winds.[[43]]
FIG. 112. POSEIDON AND THE GIANT POLYBOTES, FROM THE KYLIX IN BERLIN.
The following groups can be identified on vases by inscriptions or details of treatment:—