[175]. The original shows no trace of the fire that is so prominent in the publications. There can, however, be no doubt that a burning torch was meant, if not so painted originally.
[176]. vs. 954 ff., 1052, 1061 ff.
[177]. P. [25] above. It should be noted that this is the first example of a Pentheus scene discovered in Pompeii or Herculaneum.
[179]. The episode seems to have been first told in the Ἰλίου Πέρσις of Arktinos. Polyxena being led by Neoptolemos to the tomb of Achilles appears on an Attic bl. fig. vase of cir. 550 B.C., vid. Berlin cat. 1902; pub. Overbeck, Bildwerke, pl. 27. 17. Two gems of the severe style in the Berlin Antiquarium (nos. 489, 490), pub. Overbeck, op. cit. pl. 27. 13 and 14, also represent the sacrifice. The painting in the Pinakotheke of the Propylaia may have been by Polygnotos (cf. p. [21] above), and if it was, Euripides no doubt had often seen it. This showed her about to be sacrificed; Paus. 1. 22. 6.
[180]. ‘Megarian Bowls’ is a name applied to a class of small cups decorated with a band of relief. The ware is red or black, and appears both in glazed and unglazed form. The largest number of the vases has been found in Megara, hence the name ‘Megarian.’ As many have been discovered also in Boeotia and other places, the present terminology is somewhat misleading. Examples of this ware are to be found in every large museum in Europe. The British Museum possesses no less than nine such cups, and fragments from fourteen others (vid. cat. iv. pp. 251–256). The reliefs illustrate mostly scenes from the Theban and Trojan Cycles. Whether the terra cotta presented a cheap way of reproducing silver and gold cups, which were highly prized, and served therefore the place of our casts, or whether the bowls were made from special moulds and are to be considered independent works of art, is quite uncertain. The fact that there are in existence three copies of the same work, each agreeing in every detail with the others, would seem to point to the former supposition. Robert, who has handled this set of monuments most thoroughly, distinguishes two classes: (1) the whole vase is cast from one mould; (2) the reliefs having been made separately are stamped on the ready bowl. Vid. especially Robert’s Homerische Becher for the whole question; cf. also p. [27] ff. above.
[181]. Fig. 12, pub. by Robert, op. cit. p. 73 ff.
[182]. Fig. 13: pub. Mon. d. Inst. ii. pl. 12; Welcker, Alte Denkmäler, iii. pl. 23. 2; Overbeck, Bildwerke, pl. 28. 2.
[183]. The first play belonged to the trilogy containing the Aigeus and Theseus, which made up a set of purely Attic interest. It is well known that Euripides deepened and widened the belief in the Athenian heroic period.
[184]. Suidas names an Hippolytos of Lykophron—a poet of Alexandria.