[147]. Opinions vary on this point. Three different views are held. (1) The temple of Athena remains the scene throughout the rest of the play; the Areiopagos (v. 685) becomes then merely a part of the stage decorations given by the periaktoi. (2) Between v. 235 and v. 685 the scene was changed from the Acropolis to the Areiopagos. (3) There is no scene from v. 235 other than the Areiopagos. The latter seems to me absolutely untenable. Repeated allusion is made to the temple and to Orestes clinging to the old image in the δῶμα (v. 242 ff.). Regarding the first and second, it makes little difference whether the scene was in fact shifted or whether it was represented on the wings. The practical working was the same in either case.
[148]. The present whereabouts of the vase is not known. Pub. Baumeister, Denkmäler, ii. p. 1118; Overbeck, Bildwerke, pl. 29. 9; Reinach-Millingen, Peintures, ii. 68; also as frontispiece to the 4th ed. of Paley’s Aeschylus. He disposes of it in a line or two, and, with the usual accuracy which characterizes philologists when dealing with matters of archaeology, says the vase is ‘probably nearly contemporaneous’ with the Eumenides (p. 584). The composition is remarkably like the Assteas painting, Wiener Vorlegeblätter, ser. i. pl. 7. The figures of Apollo and Kadmos, as well as the two Athenas, have much in common. There is the same roundness and plumpness in the figures. Furthermore, Assteas was partial to bust figures and never lost an opportunity to introduce them. The border on the veil of the female bust of our vase is Campanian, as are also certain other details. All this brings me to the opinion that Assteas, who was very likely from Paestum and may have been in touch with Campanian styles as well, was the painter of our vase. It is at least from the school of Assteas. A painting by Python (J. H. S. 1890, pl. 6), one of the set of Assteas, exhibits the same treatment of hair and decoration that is found on the painting, fig. 9.
[149]. These feathers, for that is what these projections are, can be counted on dozens of helms belonging to this period. Athena and warriors wear them alike. Their occurrence before the latter part of the fourth century B.C. is unknown to me.
[150]. Cf. Aisch. Supp. v. 463.
[151]. Pub. Arch. Ztg. 1860, pl. 137. 4 = Overbeck, Bildwerke, pl. 29. 8.
[152]. Vid. Arch. Anz. 1890, p. 90.
[153]. It is worth noting that, when viewed both from the artistic in his plays and the art that was an outgrowth of his plays, Sophokles occupies the same position as regards Aischylos and Euripides. Cf. my Attitude of the Greek Tragedians toward Art, p. 32 ff.
[154]. P. [35], note 3, and p. [36], note 3.
[155]. Poet. 1450a. 25.
[156]. Rep. 8. 568a.