The Erinnyes or Furies play an important part in the nether-world scenes,[[856]] and one is also represented at the punishment of Ixion.[[857]] They pursue Orestes after the slaughter of his mother and Aigisthos to Delphi and Tauris,[[858]] and even when with Pylades he comes to make himself known to Electra.[[859]] Among other mythological scenes they are found at the combat of Herakles and Kyknos[[860]]; with Pelops,[[861]] and with Medeia and Jason[[862]]; and threatening with punishment the hero Agrios, who is seized and bound upon an altar by Oineus and Diomedes.[[863]] Kerberos is once seen without Herakles in the under-world vases[[864]]; and there is a very curious representation of his being chained up by Hermes.[[865]]
Hekate as a Chthonian deity frequently appears on the under-world vases[[866]]; she is also connected with Eleusinian scenes and legends,[[867]] such as the sending of Triptolemos,[[868]] the birth of Dionysos or Iacchos,[[869]] or with the rape and return of Persephone.[[870]] She appears also as a single figure.[[871]] Allusion has already been made to the Chthonian associations of Hermes, Triptolemos, and Iacchos (pp. [27], [52]).
FIG. 123. THANATOS AND HYPNOS WITH BODY OF WARRIOR (FROM BRIT. MUS. D 58).
Thanatos, the personification of Death, appears on vases[[872]] almost exclusively in one aspect, as the bearer of souls in conjunction with Hypnos (Sleep); they convey the body of Memnon from Troy to his home in Egypt,[[873]] and this type is borrowed for other scenes (e.g. on the funeral lekythi) in which an ordinary warrior is borne “to his long home.”[[874]] In one instance Thanatos is seen urging Ajax on to commit suicide[[875]]; he also appears on another vase where the subject may relate to the story of Ixion.[[876]] Representations of Death-demons or Harpies,[[877]] and of Κῆρες θανάτοιο, or small winged figures boding or signifying death,[[878]] are by no means uncommon. It has been held by some writers that the personifications of Thanatos above referred to are more properly to be regarded as Κῆρες θανάτοιο.[[879]] These small winged figures are also employed to represent a soul escaping from a deceased person[[880]]; or, again, to indicate the souls of Achilles and Hector (or Memnon) when weighed by Zeus (see below, pp. [130], [132]).[[881]] We also find actual representations on B.F. vases of the ghost of a hero, especially in Trojan scenes; he floats through the air fully armed, with large wings.[[882]]
§ 3. Cosmogonic and other Deities
In the next instance it will be found appropriate to discuss sundry representations which are connected with the earlier or Titanic cosmogony, although, with the exception of the Gigantomachia, already discussed, allusions thereto are comparatively rare on vases.
Chief among these personages is Ge or Gaia, the Earth-mother, half Titanic, half Chthonian, who is usually represented as a figure rising half out of the ground, with flowing hair. She thus appears in several Gigantomachia scenes (as the mother of the giants, who were Γηγενεῖς, earth-born),[[883]] and at the birth of Dionysos and Erichthonios, where she hands the child to Athena.[[884]] As a full-length figure she appears protecting her sons Tityos and Antaios against Apollo and Herakles respectively[[885]]; also in certain doubtful scenes on B.F. vases as the Nursing-mother (Κουροτρόφος), with two children in her arms,[[886]] though we have already seen (p. [30]) that these are susceptible of another interpretation. Finally, the series of scenes in which men are represented hammering on the head of a female figure rising from the earth[[887]] may be regarded as referring to Gaia, with allusion to the custom of smiting on the earth to raise spirits. In this connection Gaia is undoubtedly to be identified with Pandora (see below).[[888]] A cognate subject is that of a similar female head or bust in company with Eros, sometimes found on late Italian vases.[[889]] If Gaia is here intended, her connection with Eros finds some support in the poetic cosmogonies[[890]]; otherwise it may be Aphrodite.
The story of Kronos, who swallowed the stone given to him by his wife Rhea in place of his children, is possibly depicted on one vase,[[891]] though the genuineness thereof is open to doubt. The stone is enveloped in drapery to prevent discovery. A bust of Kronos has also been identified on a vase.[[892]] The story of Zagreus and his destruction by the Titans, which belongs to the same cycle, also finds one or two representations. One vase appears to represent them devouring him piecemeal.[[893]]
Another personage who may perhaps be regarded as of pre-Olympian origin is Themis, who comes between Gaia and Apollo in the occupation of the prophetic stool at Delphi (Aesch. Eum. 2). Aigeus, the father of Theseus, is represented as consulting her seated on her tripod,[[894]] and one vase has been supposed to depict her conversing with Zeus before the birth of Dionysos.[[895]] She also appears at the Judgment of Paris.[[896]]