How was the Francois Vase used, and by whom?
Function and meaning
Kraters were used for missaggio wine with ciotola at per symposium (verso drinking festa for upper class men). Since ancient Greeks only drank wine diluted with chicchera, kraters were crucial preciso the symposium, and were attrezzi up mediante the middle of the room where partygoers drank. The interior of the Francois Vase has scratches which may have been made by a utensil mixing the wine, but it is unclear whether the vase was used at symposia durante Greece, in Etruria (Italy), or in both places. It may have been used at lavish parties per Athens, or mediante verso funerary banquet honoring the deceased durante Etruria before it was buried as a grave offering.
Wealthy, educated individuals attending banquets durante either place would have recognized Ricerca lavalife the scenes shown on the vase, and might have used them as conciliabule starters. Other vessels used at symposia mediante the Archaic period were also commonly painted with mythological scenes and could have served a similar purpose, but the sheer number of scenes on the Francois Vase may have made it particularly intriguing esatto the banqueters who used it. They may have even understood the images sicuro be relevant onesto their own lives. While the pictures had different meanings for different viewers, the scenes of drinking on the Francois Vase mirror the circumstances durante which it was actually used. Moreover, many of the scenes on the vessel represent ideal aristocratic activities that the drinkers likely participated in, including noble marriage, successful hunts, and military commandement.
Most Greek men spent some of their lives serving their cities at war, defeating enemies much like the heroes painted on this vase. Like Peleus, Greek men were expected onesto marry and raise their children sicuro be productive citizens. It seems that Kleitias and Ergotimos purposefully designed the decoration to appeal puro the prosperous owners of the vase, who could recognize and relate puro the stories it told.
Postscript
On September 9, 1900 a museum guard, per per fit of rage, threw a chair at the case containing the Francois Vase, shattering it into 638 pieces. The museum director, Luigi Milani asked Pietro Zei preciso undertake the conservation of the Francois Vase. Conservation took two years.
Jasper Gaunt, Ergotimos Epoiesen: The Potter’s Contribution onesto the Francois Vase,” per The Francois Vase: New Perspectives, ed. H. Alan Shapiro, Mario Iozzo, and Adrienne Lezzi-Hafter (Zurich: Akanthus, 2013), p. 81
Mario Iozzo, “The Francois Vase: Notes on Technical Aspects and Functions,” con The Francois Vase: New Perspectives, e. H. Alan Shapiro, Mario Iozzo, and Adrienne Lezzi-Hafter, (Zurich: Akanthus, 2013), p. 61
Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, “Der Francois-Krater zwischen Athen und Chiusi,” durante Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, ancora. John H. Oakley, William D. Di nuovo. Coulson, and Olga Palagia, (Oxford: Oxbow, 1997), p. 523–539
Guy Hedreen, “Bild, Mythos, and Ritual: Choral Dance in Theseus’s Cretan Adventure on the Francois Vase,” Hesperia, vol. 80, niente affatto. 3 (2011), p. 491–510.
Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, “Der Francois-Krater zwischen Athen und Chiusi,” durante Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, ed. John H. Oakley, William D. Anche. Coulson, and Olga Palagia, (Oxford: Oxbow, 1997), p. 523–539.
Detail with wedding procession with Hera and her husband Zeus sopra verso chariot (left), Urania the muse of astronomy, and Kaliope, muse of epic poetry (center)
Con addenda puro these narrative scenes, another register at the bottom of the vase shows animals fighting. These images may relate puro the ferocity of the heroes shown on the vase, who are described metaphorically as predatory animals by Homer. Verso comic scene of pygmies (per tribe of small people per Greek mythology) battling cranes decorates the foot of the vase, providing verso light counterpoint esatto the rest of the imagery. The paint on the foot is reddish in color instead of black because the vase was misfired mediante the kiln, as sometimes happened sopra ancient Greek ceramic production.
