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The emergence and function of narrative images

in ancient Greece

LUCA GIULIANI

The Chigi vase A pack of dogs chases a third hare; between two of
these running dogs we unexpectedly find a fox (a vixen,
Does it make sense to ask about the emergence of
in fact), a habitual predator of hares, which here
narrative images? We are so used to such images that
suddenly mutates from hunter to prey.
we take them as a given: we are not in the habit of
The middle frieze (fig. 3) is divided into different
asking how, when, and where the genre might have
sections. On the front of the vase there is a procession.
come into being. Isn’t storytelling one of the constant
It begins with a chariot drawn by four horses, with a
elements of human culture? And where there are stories
servant walking ahead of them; the chariot is followed
to be told in words, can they not easily be transferred
by four riders, each of whom leads a second horse.
into images? If this is true, should we not expect to find
To the right of this group a two-bodied sphinx forms a
narrative images in all cultures and at all times? And
bridge to a hunting scene (fig. 4). Four young hunters
then, what is a narrative image in the first place? Are
are attacking a lion, which has seized a fifth hunter in
there ever images about which it would not be possible
its jaws. At first glance the procession and the hunt
to tell a story? Therefore is not any image—at least
seem to have nothing to do with one another; however,
potentially—a narrative image? The answers to such
on closer inspection a number of elements suggest a
questions depend, of course, on how the terms are used.
connection. In the chariot we see only the driver, but
Rather than attempt a theoretical definition, I prefer to
he is merely a servant. Where, then, is the chariot’s
start with a concrete example. Let us look at the images
owner? The same question can be asked in the case of
depicted on an outstanding specimen of ancient Greek
the four riders. Each of them is leading a second horse,
pottery.
suggesting that they are mounted attendants holding
The so-called Chigi vase (fig. 1) was discovered in the
ready the horses of their masters. The missing masters
late nineteenth century in a chamber tomb near Veii,
are most likely to be found in the adjacent hunting
which at that time belonged to the estate of the Chigi
scene. The procession and the hunt are to be seen as
family.1 It is a wine jug (olpe) that was manufactured in
one coherent image.2 The presence of the attendants,
a Corinthian workshop in the third quarter of the seventh
who remain at an appropriate distance from the lion,
century BC; we do not know whether it came to Etruria
underscores the elevated status of their masters; it also
as an object of commerce or (perhaps more likely) as a
emphasizes the active and planned character of the
precious gift in an exchange between a Greek and an
enterprise. Five aristocratic hunters have set off on
Etruscan. In any case it was ultimately deposited in the
horses and in a chariot to seek out the lion in its own
grave of its owner. The size of the vessel is modest: it is
territory; the attack is at their initiative, and the predator
only twenty-six centimeters high. But its ornamentation
finds itself on the defensive.
is highly sophisticated and comprises a rich variety of
Finally, the upper frieze (fig. 5) shows two groups
figures painted in minute detail. In the following, I will
of warriors confronting one another in perfect phalanx
concentrate on the three horizontal friezes.
formations. In the middle we see the foremost warriors
The lower frieze (fig. 2) depicts a hare hunt. Young
swinging their spears and about to engage with one
hunters crouch behind bushes; one of them has a stick
another; other warriors approach from both sides,
on his shoulder from which hang two dead hares.
running, to provide reinforcement. In the gap in the
left-hand phalanx, between the front line and those
A first draft of this text was translated into English by Joe following, stands a small piper, blowing out a rhythm
O’Donnell. For critical remarks I would like to thank Maria Luisa with his instrument: it is crucial for the phalanx that
Catoni, Regula Giuliani, Clemente Marconi, Franco Moretti, Oliver
Primavesi, Catherine Robson, and Thorsten Wilhelmy. For the digital
no one falls out of step.
images and the permission to publish them, I am grateful to Alessia The order of the three friezes is anything but random:
Argento, Maria Effinger, and Maria Paola Guidobaldi. they build a clear sequence from bottom to top. There is,
1. Rome, Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, inv. 22679.
J. M. Hurwit, “Reading the Chigi Vase,” Hesperia 71 (2002): 1–22;
M. D’Acunto, Il mondo del vaso Chigi: Pittura, guerra e società a 2. This was suggested first by Hurwit, “Reading the Chigi Vase,”
Corinto alla metà del VII secolo a.C. (Berlin, 2013). and confirmed by D’Acunto, Il mondo del vaso Chigi.

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194 RES 67/68 2016/2017

Figure 1. Chigi vase (two views), Corinthian olpe, ca. 640 BCE. Clay, 26 cm high. Rome, Museo Nazionale Archeologico di
Villa Giulia, inv. 22679. Color version available as an online enhancement.

first, an increase in size. The lower frieze is so narrow frieze shows a hunt free of danger, which serves merely
(2.2 cm) that the figures can only be depicted crouching. as a pedagogical model. In the middle frieze we see
The middle frieze is significantly more spacious (4.6 cm) lion hunters heroically engaging in a life-threatening
and the upper frieze, which contains the most figures, enterprise. And in the upper frieze we are presented
broader still (5.2 cm). This coincides with an increase in with war as the ultimate life-and-death struggle.
the ages of the persons depicted. The participants in the There are a number of features shared by all these
hare hunt are naked boys with short hair (the Greeks scenes. First, the depicted action has a collective
regarded this form of hunting as an important element character: any focus on the individual is avoided. This
of education).3 In the next frieze the young men are applies not only to the hare hunt and the battle in the
somewhat older; their hair is long, and most of them upper register but also to the lion hunt, which is so
are clothed. In the upper frieze, the hoplites are bearded artfully composed that none of the hunters is particularly
and therefore adults.4 Finally, from bottom to top the emphasized. There is no protagonist among them to
activities become more and more serious. The lower whom the others could be subordinated as mere helpers.
What is stressed is the behavior of a group in which
all are equal. Second, all the persons depicted are
3. A. Schnapp, Le chasseur et la cité: Chasse et érotique dans la
Grèce ancienne (Paris, 1997), 135–38 and 180–81.
4. The fact that the warriors in the upper frieze are bearded has, confirmation to Hurwit’s assumption (in “Reading the Chigi Vase”) that
oddly enough, never been mentioned; it brings a welcome the age of the persons depicted increases from the bottom to the top.

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Giuliani: Narrative images in ancient Greece 195

Figure 1. (cont’d.)

nameless. Although the painter has taken great care to peculiar balance is maintained and the outcome remains
make every figure look a little different and to give each open. Which of the phalanxes will triumph; which will
of them its own specific appearance and equipment, yield? We don’t know. The same is true for the lion hunt.
there is no indication that we are dealing with individuals The image merely emphasizes the dangerousness of the
that could be identified. Third, there is no intent to build lion and the courage of the hunters. The outcome is
up suspense. The events are depicted in such a way that a indeterminate.

Figure 2. Chigi vase: lower frieze. Color version available as an online enhancement.

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196 RES 67/68 2016/2017

Figure 3. Chigi vase: middle frieze. Color version available as an online enhancement.

At this point we can attempt a first interpretation. following the herald. What we see here is in blatant
These images do not portray specific, unique events contradiction to Greek aristocratic routine and norms
but rather habitual forms of behavior that suggest of behavior. This anomaly raises questions. Who are
repeatability. Clearly the bottom frieze does not depict these women? Where is their journey leading, and
a specific hare hunt but rather a habitual activity that what do they want from the small bearded man? It is
is customary for boys who will grow up to become no coincidence that the painter has appended name
members of a warrior elite. The upper frieze scene also inscriptions to the figures in this (and only this) scene.
shows an action that would have been regarded as The name of the herald and the foremost woman have
habitual by contemporary beholders. After all, every been lost; the second and third women are identified
adult inhabitant of a Greek polis who could afford his as Athanaia and Aphrod[ita]. Enough information has
own armor would have found himself in the field as a been preserved for us to surmise the lost names as well.
hoplite at regular intervals. The lion hunt presents a The foremost female figure must be the goddess Hera
more difficult case. In the seventh century, there were and in front of her is Hermes, the divine herald. The
certainly no longer any lions in the surroundings of small man in the cloak who seems to be the goal of
Corinth,5 so none of its inhabitants would have been in the expedition is called Al[exandr]os: the Trojan prince
the habit of regularly going lion hunting. But does this is the only human in the scene, which might explain his
mean that the lion scene necessarily must refer to a slightly smaller format. What brings the goddesses Hera,
specific, extraordinary event? Let me leave this question Athena, and Aphrodite to Alexandros alias Paris? The
open for the moment. In the case of the hare hunt and answer lies in a story. It is the story of the Judgment of
the battle scene, we are clearly being presented with Paris.6
general patterns of behavior and not with specific Let us pause for a moment here. It is obvious that the
events. vase presents us with two very different sorts of images.
There is, however, one scene on the vase that quite The first sort includes the scenes of the hare hunt and
clearly falls outside this framework. It is located in the war. Here we find courses of action depicted that can be
middle frieze on the back of the jug, directly under the repeated many times, in various circumstances and with
handle (fig. 6). It is the only scene on the entire vessel in different outcomes. The beholder does not require specific
which women appear. There are three of them, walking prior knowledge in order to reach an understanding. The
from right to left. Facing them is a conspicuously small scene on the back of the vase under the handle is a
bearded man with long hair who is wearing a cloak. quite different sort of image: its protagonists have been
The women are preceded by a herald (only the point of given names, and the scene refers to a specific story.
his heraldic staff has been preserved) whose presence A beholder who does not know this story will lack the
suggests that this procession has some sort of official basic key to understanding. What we have here is thus
character. Yet, and particularly in the case of an official a categorical difference. I will now attempt to elucidate
event, we would expect not women but men to be this difference in more detail.

5. L. Winkler-Horaček, Monster in der frühgriechischen Kunst: Die 6. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae VII, 176–77,
Überwindung des Unfassbaren (Berlin, 2015), 317–19. s.v. “Paridis Judicium.”

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Giuliani: Narrative images in ancient Greece 197

Narration versus description in epic poetry tugging at it, it is stretched tight in every part—so both
sides tugged the body to and fro between them.”9 Such
For this purpose I would like to refer back to a
similes are relatively short. Much longer and particularly
conceptual opposition that is central to literary studies
elaborate is the description of Achilles’s shield in the
from Lessing to Lukács and beyond.7 It is based on the
eighteenth book, at which we shall have a closer look.10
distinction between a narrative and a descriptive mode
Immediately after the death of Patroclus, Achilles is
of representation. Let me start with the narrative. For
burning to avenge the death of his friend. But with him
there to be a story, something unforeseen must have
he has also lost his arms. When Patroclus was killed
happened.8 The narrator reports on something that
he was wearing Achilles’s arms, and these are now
departs from the normal routine; it is this which arouses
worn by Hector. So Achilles must wait until he receives
the interest of the audience. In telling the story, the
new arms. At the request of Achilles’s mother this new
narrator focuses on certain protagonists, on their actions
armor is forged by no less than the divine blacksmith
and suffering; he follows a particular line of events.
Hephaistos. Precisely at this point, where the listener
The horizon within which the narrated action takes place
eagerly awaits the continuation of the action and
will usually be presumed to be familiar: it provides the
Achilles’s revenge, the poet artfully injects a pause in
narrative with a background. Such a background cannot
the form of a detailed description of the new shield.
be narrated; it can only be described. The narrative and
The thematic scope of the shield’s imagery could hardly
descriptive modes have a complementary relationship.
be broader. First come the earth, the sea, and the sky
This applies to the ancient epos just as it does to the
with the sun, moon, and “all the constellations with
modern novel.
which the skies are crowned, the Pleiades, the Hyades,
In the Iliad, the distinction between narrative and
great Orion and the Bear, also called the waggon. This
descriptive parts is particularly evident. On the one
is the only constellation never to bathe in Ocean Stream,
hand, there is a clear story line. It begins with a bang:
but always wheels round in the same place and looks
the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles and the
across at Orion the Hunter with a wary eye.”11 Hephaistos
eruption of Achilles’s anger. The dispute between the
seems to aim at nothing less than a depiction of the entire
commander-in-chief and the Achaeans’ greatest warrior,
cosmos. The god then portrays life as lived in two cities,
and then the latter’s withdrawal from fighting, contradict
one of which is peaceful, the other embroiled in war
every routine form of behavior. The consequences are
(and this exhausts the possibilities, for there is no state
both unforeseen and dramatic. Achilles’s best friend
other than peace or war). Finally, four scenes of rural life
Patroclus goes into battle in place of Achilles and
are described, each of which takes place in a different
wearing Achilles’s arms; he is killed by Hector. In order
season. The claim to completeness is again tangible.
to avenge the death of his friend, Achilles resumes
If we qualify this whole passage of the Iliad as
fighting and kills Hector. In the final book, Hector’s
descriptive, this is to be understood in a double sense.
father, Priam, begs Achilles for Hector’s corpse in order
First, we have the poet describing the shield. But then,
to give him burial. All this forms the suspenseful arc of
second, the scenes on the shield described in the text
a narrative.
are in themselves of a descriptive and not of a narrative
But the Iliad also contains descriptive passages.
sort. What does this mean exactly? Let us take a closer
The narrative flow is frequently interrupted by similes,
look. The difference between the narrative and descriptive
in which some element of the story is compared to a
modes is best illustrated by the example of the city at
phenomenon closer to the audience’s horizon of
war. The town is under siege, as Troy is in the story told
experience. When Achaeans and Trojans fight for the
in the Iliad; attackers and defenders are fighting one
corpse of Patroclus, this fight is compared with the
another. However, there are conspicuous differences
stretching of the hide of a bull, where the men “stand
between the battles that constitute the Iliad’s narrative
round in a ring and stretch it, and the moisture soon
subject and the scene of war described as being
comes out while the fat sinks in and, with many hands
depicted on the shield.
First, every single person appearing in the story told
7. G. E. Lessing, Laocoön: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and in the Iliad is given a name, even when this appearance
Poetry [1766], trans. E. A. McCormick (Baltimore, 1984); G. Lukács,
“Erzählen oder beschreiben?” [1936], in Werke, vol. 4, Probleme des
Realismus; part 1, Essays über Realismus (Neuwied, 1971), 197–242; 9. Homer, Iliad 17.389–93 (trans. E. V. Rieu, rev. P. Jones).
P. Hamon, Introduction à l’analyse du descriptif (Paris, 1981). 10. Ibid., 18.478–608.
8. J. Bruner, Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life (New York, 2002), 15. 11. Ibid., 18.485–89.

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198 RES 67/68 2016/2017

Figure 4. Detail of lion hunt, middle frieze of Chigi vase. Color version
available as an online enhancement.

is only brief due to the person’s death a few verses with dogs: “at the head of the herd a pair of fearsome
later. By contrast, those engaging in battle in the shield’s lions had seized a bellowing bull that roared aloud
depiction are all nameless. Second, the Iliad narrative as it was being dragged off. The young men and dogs
is shaped and driven forward by suspense. Will Achilles were running up to the rescue. But . . . [i]t was in vain
continue to refuse to fight even in the face of an imminent that the shepherds were setting their swift dogs on them
Achaean defeat? Will Patroclus survive or be slain? and urging them forward.”13 Standing there barking,
Will Achilles release Hector’s corpse? The depiction of but careful to avoid any close contact, the dogs are no
the city at war on the shield, on the other hand, is bereft more courageous than their masters.
of suspense. The whole passage concludes with the Here, as on the Chigi vase, we find an encounter
words: “and the warriors met and fought and dragged between human beings and lions in which the lion
away each other’s dead, just as real warriors do.”12 functions as the ultimate embodiment of a dangerous
We do not learn whether the city was successfully predator. However, on the Chigi jug and on Achilles’s
defended or conquered. This is precisely in keeping shield in the Iliad, the two encounters turn out quite
with the function of the episode. This city at war, which differently. On the shield, what is emphasized is the
remains nameless, represents all cities that might be superiority of the lions. The herdsmen keep a safe distance
assailed; of these many cities, some win and some lose— and send in their dogs, but they, too, will not risk an
and precisely for this reason the outcome must remain attack. On the jug, by contrast, the lion is confronted by
open. Rather than telling a story, this passage describes aristocratic warriors, who courageously risk their lives
a process that could occur anywhere at any time. while their attendants maintain a safe distance.
This should be enough to clarify the difference The lion scene on the shield does not aim to tell a
between the two modes. In the Iliad as a whole, the war specific story; rather, it describes a general phenomenon.
between the Achaeans and the Trojans is narrated as Sometimes hungry lions will attack a herd of cattle, and
a story; on Achilles’s shield, the battle between the unarmed herdsmen find themselves unable to defend
attackers and the defenders is described as a habitual their livestock. The scene on the Chigi vase is to be
occurrence that is part of the ways of the world. understood in the same way. From the absence of real
lions in Corinth we can neither deduce that the lion
depicted on the vase is a mythical creature nor that it
. . . and in iconography
functions as a narrative element. The lion hunt on the
With this in mind, let me return to the depiction of vase, like its counterpart on Achilles’s shield, simply
the lion hunt on the Chigi vase (fig. 4). I would like to presents a facet of the world. In this world there are lions,
compare it with the winter scene on Achilles’s shield, and wherever they are found, men of lower standing
part of the cycle of agricultural activities. It is described will keep their distance while courageous aristocrats
as depicting a herd of cattle accompanied by herdsmen engage them in combat.

12. Ibid., 18.539–40. 13. Ibid., 18.579–84.

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Giuliani: Narrative images in ancient Greece 199

Figure 5. Chigi vase: upper frieze. Color version available as an online enhancement.

In the Iliad the distinction between narration and routine. Our vase, however, was produced by a culture
description is made clear by grammatical signals. In of aristocratic warriors, where the public sphere was
narrative passages, verbs usually appear in their aorist completely dominated by males; let me remind you that
form: this tense, like the English preterite or the French on the whole vase there are no women except in this
passé simple, is generally used for actions conceived scene. Within such an androcentric culture, the procession
as simple and transitory. The similes are invariably in of the three ladies does not correspond to any sort of
the present tense. In the shield description, where the routine; it must refer to a specific, unprecedented event.
actions depicted do not come to a conclusion, the Even though such a dichotomy between the habitual
dominant verb form is the imperfect (a tense that, in and the exceptional is simple, it is not trivial. The border
opposition to the aorist, is generally used for continuous between the two does not necessarily lie where we would
events lasting in time). Moving from the Iliad to the expect it. Our painter considers the ladies’ procession as
Chigi vase we obviously need to adjust our perspective. exceptional, but not the lion hunt with the presence of a
In an image, we should not expect to find any
grammatical signals to express time reference. Nevertheless
it seems possible and useful here as well to distinguish,
as we have done in the Iliad, between descriptive and
narrative representations. This distinction operates on two
different levels: on the level of the subjects depicted and
on the level of the modes of depiction.
With regards to the subjects, we are dealing with a
dichotomy between habitual activities and exceptional
events. On one side, we see what habitually happens in
the world. Male members of an elite engaging in hunting
and war present us with facets of customary aristocratic
behavior. Quite different is the case of the procession of
the three ladies preceded by a herald. In a matriarchal Figure 6. Detail of Judgment of Paris, middle frieze of Chigi
society, perhaps such a procession would be part of a vase. Color version available as an online enhancement.

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200 RES 67/68 2016/2017

sphinx. For us, it would be natural to consider the sphinx But does not a descriptive image also allow its beholders
to be a creature of myth. Not so for a Corinthian vase to associate what they see with a story? This is, of
painter. On Corinthian pottery we frequently find animal course, perfectly possible; hunters and warriors in
friezes, and many of them include sphinxes; they belong particular might have many stories to tell from their
to the same level of reality as lions, panthers, bulls, goats, own or others’ experience. But exactly therein lies the
and water birds.14 The frame of what is accepted as real difference: the descriptive image allows for many stories
and habitual varies from one culture to another. We must and does not require one (and only one) story to be told.
always reconstruct the specific frame of reference; herein Here there is no puzzle that needs to be solved.
lies the hermeneutic challenge. This brings us to a simple definition of a narrative
Let me now turn from the subjects to the modes of image. It is an image that presents a particular event that
depiction and to what is demanded from the beholder. falls outside the normal routine. In so doing, it makes
Descriptive and narrative images confront their beholder reference to a specific story, with which the beholder is
with quite different expectations. Descriptive iconography presumed to be familiar. Without such prior knowledge
describes patterns of habitual behavior that claim general the beholder will not be in a position to understand the
validity. In this sense, such iconography also has a point of the depiction. In this sense, every narrative
normative character: this is how one catches hares, this image presents a challenge to the beholder. On the
is how one hunts lions, and this is how one conducts other hand, the narrative material also represents a
war. At the same time, these behavioral patterns are challenge for the creator of the image, who must make
supposed to be familiar to those they are addressing. it unambiguously clear to which story the image is
Descriptive images portray the life of the elite in a way referring. In this sense, the image of the encounter
that their audience (which itself belongs to the elite) between the three goddesses and Paris is unambiguous.
knows and expects. In this sense, they do not provoke But it is also comparatively unspectacular. It gains its
further questions. It would make little sense, for example, narrative power from its ultimate outcome: Paris will
to ask why the boys are hunting hares or why the men are adjudicate the victory in the beauty contest to Aphrodite;
engaging in battle. The only answer can be as follows: the goddess in turn will make him seduce the most
because hunting hares and fighting wars are normal parts beautiful of all women, Helena, the wife of Menelaos,
of their lives. These activities are within their general the king of Sparta; and from this the war of Troy will
realm of experience. follow. What is remarkable here is the incongruity
Narrative iconography operates quite differently. between the narrative plot as such and the limited
The narrative image depicts an extraordinary action or possibilities of the image.
event that falls outside the framework of established
convention. The anomalous character of the event raises The emergence of narrative images
questions and demands a story. But this is a story that
the narrative image itself is unable to tell: like any Lessing would have found this hardly surprising.
kind of image, it does not have the words to do so. In his Laocoön he famously claimed that poetry is
The task of telling the story falls to the beholder, who particularly well suited for narration, whereas the strength
must, of course, already know the story that he is of painting lies in its capacity to describe.15 An important
supposed to tell. It is not a story he can simply extract constituent of narration is suspense. A storyteller can
from the image. The beholder has to know that the three easily achieve this aim, because it’s up to him to decide
goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite are competing in what sequence and at what speed to present the single
to establish which of them is the fairest. That decision episodes of the story. The protracted, stepwise delivery of
can only be made by an independent judge, and this information, progressing toward an impending conclusion,
role falls to the Trojan prince Paris/Alexandros. Anyone keeps the listener in a position of uncertainty: his investment
who is not familiar with at least the broad outlines of in the narrative will inevitably lead him to desire (or to
this story will be unable to comprehend what the image fear) particular outcomes. This is not what a painter can
on the jug is depicting. In this sense, narrative images achieve. Everything he depicts is there to be seen, all at
are picture puzzles that can only be solved by those once; he cannot withhold information now, in order
who already have the key to their solution. to deliver it later. He has no (or very little) ability to direct
the gaze of the beholder. Only in the twentieth century

15. Lessing, Laocoön, chap. 16; L. Giuliani, Image and Myth:


14. Winkler-Horaček, Monster in der frühgriechischen Kunst, 287–90. A History of Pictorial Narration in Greek Art (Chicago, 2013), 2–3.

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Giuliani: Narrative images in ancient Greece 201

have pictures learned how to move in time, gaining is provided by a story that matches exactly what we see.
greater control over their audience: film has become the This is the tale of Heracles and his nephew Iolaos killing
medium in which the production of suspense has pride the “evil-minded Hydra” of Lerna.18 From later sources
of place. Until then, in visual imagery it had always been we learn that Hera, who protected the Hydra, sent a
much easier to depict the ways of the world than the plot large crab to attack Heracles, but Heracles crushed it
of a specific story. with his foot. Of particular interest is the weapon in
If we turn to ancient Greece, we find throughout the hand of the smaller man, who is obviously to be
the Bronze Age an imagery that never steps over the identified with Iolaos. It is short, curved, and seems
border of what is purely descriptive; neither in the to have a serrated edge: this form does not correspond to
Minoan nor in the Mycenaean culture do we find any conventional weapon. In depictions of this myth
objects decorated with images that appear to refer to that appear a hundred years later than our fibula,
specific stories. The same is true for the Early Iron Age. Iolaos holds a toothed sickle (an instrument that is
On Geometric vases of the eighth century BC we find normally connected less with fighting monsters than
again and again depictions of how war is waged, how with agricultural activities).19 The only literary mention
festivals are celebrated, and—on grave vases—how the of a sickle is to be found in an Attic tragedy from the
dead are buried. What we see are variations on the later fifth century BC.20 On the basis of these later
theme of elite behavior and routines.16 Narrative images pieces of evidence we can confidently identify Iolaos’s
do not emerge before the beginning of the seventh instrument on the fibula as a sickle. At the same time,
century BC. it is clear that no beholder of the fibula would have been
To make this case, I will limit myself here to one able to recognize the sickle if he didn’t know the story,
representative example: a bronze bow fibula from not only in its broad outline but in detail. To sum up,
Boeotia dating around 700 BC (fig. 7).17 The middle of the scene of the fight with the serpent and the image of
the fibula features a large circular rosette, which allows the horse on wheels both deviate from the ways of the
room in the corners for figural scenes. To the right we world; both refer to specific stories that the beholders
see water birds and between them a horse. On closer are expected to know.
inspection we see that at the end of the horse’s legs are Let us attempt to draw some preliminary conclusions.
not hooves but wheels, which are connected by axles. In Greece, around 700 BC, narrative images like the
The left-hand corner features an arrangement of water ones we see on the fibula are something completely new;
birds and fish that is abruptly interrupted by a large we find nothing equivalent on earlier artifacts, where
multiheaded serpent, which stretches the entire height the iconography remains purely descriptive. The same
of the image and which is being fought by two men, one is true for many other cultures as well—for all cultures
large and one small. The smaller man is attacking the of European prehistory, for example.21 It is unlikely that
serpent with a short, bent weapon. The larger man has
bunched together the serpent’s many heads with one 18. Hesiod, Theogony 313–18.
hand and seems to be drawing back the other (which 19. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae V, 35–37,
has not been preserved) to deliver a blow. Meanwhile, s.v. “Herakles,” nos. 1991–92, 1994–95, 2011; V, 890, s.v. “Iolaos,”
a large crab is approaching him from behind. no. 24–26.
20. Euripides, Ion 191–93. Here the sickle is not connected with
What is going on here? Horses do not move on
Iolaos, but with Heracles himself.
wheels; a horse on wheels must be a human artifact, 21. Of course, this is a sweeping statement many prehistorians
a machine in the shape of a horse. Who has fabricated would hardly agree with. Depictions that I would define as descriptive
it, and for what purpose? The answer to these questions are often considered to be narrative, without any systematic attempt
is provided by the story of the wooden horse of Troy. to distinguish between a narrative and a descriptive mode of
representation. This is not accidental. The distinction itself originated
In the scene on the left we also have a highly improbable
from an analysis of Greek epic poetry and has proven useful in dealing
combination of multiheaded snake, two heroes with with Greek iconography—but with this we remain in the horizon of
different weapons, and a crab. Here again, the explanation Greek culture. It remains to be seen to what extent we can usefully
apply such an obviously helleno-centric distinction to other cultures.
All I can do here is propose a thought experiment. If we choose to
16. Fundamental is K. Fittschen, Untersuchungen zum Beginn der apply our distinction to (e.g.) European Paleolithic iconography,
Sagendarstellungen bei den Griechen (Berlin, 1969); see also Giuliani, sticking to the definition of narrative images that I propose, then the
Image and Myth, 26–52, and “How Did the Greeks Translate imagery of Paleolithic caves will be found to refer to the world as it is
Traditional Tales into Images?” in Images for Classicists, ed. K. M. taken to be, and not to the plot of specific stories, which the intended
Coleman (Cambridge, MA, 2015), 25–29. beholder is supposed to know and to recognize. The same, I think,
17. Giuliani, Image and Myth, 54–55. would hold true for the iconographies of the European Bronze Age.

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202 RES 67/68 2016/2017

Figure 7. Bronze fibula, Boeotia, ca. 700 B.C. London, British Museum, inv. 3205. Drawing
courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

the absence of narrative imagery was caused by a lack narrative images inhere? Second, narrative images are,
of stories. It is hard to imagine a human culture without when they emerge, rare, and they remain a small
stories. Storytelling seems to be everywhere and at all minority; even in later periods, the majority of images
times, but narrative images are not. The emergence of are descriptive.25 We therefore need to explain not only
narrative imagery, whenever it occurs, poses a problem the emergence but also the rarity of narrative images.
and needs to be explained.22 I will try to provide an Let us return once more to the Chigi vase. Its images
explanation for its appearance in ancient Greece.23 depict different facets of the lifestyle of an elite. If we
In fact, we need to answer two questions. First, any look for a Greek concept under which all these facets
narrative image requires a considerable amount of can be subsumed, none would seem more suitable than
additional effort. It involves the image maker deviating that of agō ́ n. It is a term that covers a broad spectrum of
from his routine of representing habitual forms of meanings, extending from rivalry and competition to
behavior to instead depict something unusual that struggle and war. The boys hunting hares in the lower
requires an explanation while, at the same time, offering frieze are engaging in agonal behavior, as are the lion
a clue.24 The recipient, in turn, will have to take up this hunters in the middle and the warriors in the upper
clue and identify the one story to which the image is frieze. Moreover, the narrative image on the back also
referring, in order to find an explanation for what is refers to an agonal contest. It therefore seems that agon
depicted. Both producers and recipients will accept such here functions as a common denominator.26
increased effort only if it can be expected to produce
additional value, in whatever form. The question is, 25. To appreciate this relation, one has to take into consideration
where did the additional cultural and social value of not only what is exhibited in a museum, but also the material that is
kept in the storerooms. Many curators have a certain bias in favor of
narrative images. These are images that ask for a story and thereby
22. This did not occur to me when I was writing Image and Myth. In require an active contribution from the beholder; it is therefore easier
that book, I tried to understand the history of ancient pictorial narrative as to engage visitors with this kind of iconography.
a story of problem-solving; but I took the emergence of narrative images 26. It was Hurwit who brought up the notion of agon here, not
in Greece as something given, that needed no explanation. without putting forward doubts about its usefulness: “the idea of the
23. Ancient Egypt and the Middle East would require a separate agôn is too broad to be of much use: it is hard to think of many Greek
inquiry (see n. 21). works of art that do not concern conflict or competition in some way”
24. This, of course, is true only for the first invention of a narrative (Hurwit, “Reading the Chigi Vase,” 16–17, quote at 17). This is
image, not for all its subsequent repetitions. But it is exactly the first perfectly true; if we were looking for a specific interpretation that was
invention that constitutes our problem. valid only for the images of the Chigi vase, then agon would not be

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Giuliani: Narrative images in ancient Greece 203

Archaic elites and agonistic behavior Only rarely are older ancestors mentioned, but these
exceptions are telling. When Diomedes, king of Argos—
The concept of agon calls to mind one of the great
the youngest of all the Achaean heroic warriors—gives
historians of the nineteenth century, Jacob Burckhardt.
his first speech in the assembly, he starts by introducing
In his Cultural History of Greece the idea of agon took
himself. He mentions his great-grandfather, Portheus; his
pride of place. Burckhardt identified competitive behavior,
grandfather, Oeneus; and his father, Tydeus—all of them
together with the striving for freedom, as the fundamental
brave and wealthy.31 In this genealogical sequence we
driving force (treibende Kraft) of Greek culture: “The
note a high degree of geographic discontinuity: Portheus
agon is the general element that, as soon as the necessary
and Oeneus reside in Kalydon in Thessaly; Tydeus
freedom is provided, brings all wishes and abilities to
moves to Argos and finally dies in Thebes. Diomedes
fermentation. In this respect the Greeks are unique.”27
sticks strictly to his vertical patriline and does not
In Burckhardt’s view, “[o]nly small free aristocracies
mention other descendants of Portheus or Oeneus: there
could express the will to self-distinction among equals.”28
is no horizontal extension. He is not talking about a kin
Burckhardt’s portrayal of the Greek aristocracy of the
group from which he could draw support (which, if it
Archaic period as engaged in continual competitive
existed, we would have to imagine being scattered
behavior has been enormously influential. It would be
across Thessaly, the Argolis, and Boeotia). Diomedes
hard to find another text in the field of classics that has
is simply speaking as an individual, praising the prestige
had such a far-reaching effect as the chapter on “the
of his breeding. In later times, a specific term will be
agonal individual” (der agonale Mensch) in Burckhardt’s
coined for this: eugéneia, being well born.32 The claim
Cultural History of Greece.
of being eugenē ́ s implies the tracing of a vertical
But we could try to go one step further than
patriline back in time; it does not imply belonging to
Burckhardt. To what kind of group are we concretely
a kin group extending horizontally in the present.
referring when we talk about a Greek elite? Neither
Let us move from poetry to social reality and consider
Burckhardt nor ancient historians of the following
what is usually taken to be the paradigmatic example of
generation considered this question to pose a problem.
ancient Athenian aristocracy: the Alcmaeonids, some
The elites in ancient Greece were envisioned along the
of whom played an important role in Athenian politics
lines of the European aristocracy of the Ancien Régime:
from the seventh century BC onward.33 The most famous
as a coherent, enduring network of families (génē) that
of them is Cleisthenes, who at the end of the sixth
was clearly set apart from the rest of society and whose
century achieved a fundamental reform of the polis and
higher status was generally accepted. Membership of
its politics. Herodotus calls Cleisthenes an Alcmaeonid
this aristocracy, so the general implicit assumption runs,
man and mentions that his mother was the daughter of
would have been decided by descent. This idea held
the tyrant of Sicyon (whose name was also Cleisthenes),34
sway for a long time. It was refuted in the 1970s, when
but neither Herodotus nor any other fifth-century source
two young French historians were able to show that
ever uses the term génos for the Alcmaeonids.35 This is
long-lasting kinship groups that asserted their elite status
not a purely lexical question, for in Herodotus’s telling of
in relation to others simply did not exist in ancient
Cleisthenes’s struggle for power, the latter’s family is
Greece.29
conspicuously absent: genealogical ties seem to play no
A closer look here is worthwhile. In the Iliad a
role whatsoever.
member of the warrior elite will occasionally boast by
In Archaic Greece, the focal point of social
naming his father and sometimes also his grandfather.30
organization was not the kinship group (génos) but the
individual household (oíkos). Kinship ties beyond the
a very interesting category. But it is exactly the pervasive presence of household were of very limited importance. It is also
agonistic subjects in Greek iconography as a whole that is puzzling
rare to find continuity over several generations at burial
and requires an explanation.
27. J. Burckhardt, Griechische Kulturgeschichte [1898–1902],
vols. 5–8 of Gesammelte Werke (Basel, 1955–57), 8:84. The text goes 31. Homer, Iliad 14.113–20.
back to lectures that Burckhardt gave in the 1870s. 32. A. Duplouy, Le prestige des élites: Recherches sur les modes
28. Ibid., 8:85. de reconnaissance sociale en Grèce entre les Xe et Ve siècles avant J.-C.
29. F. Bourriot, Recherches sur la nature du génos (Paris, 1976); (Paris, 2006), 37–46.
D. Roussel, Tribu et cité (Paris, 1976). 33. Bourriot, Recherches sur la nature du génos, 548–56.
30. W. Donlan, The Aristocratic Ideal in Ancient Greece: Attitudes 34. Herodotus, Histories 5.66–67.
of Superiority from Homer to the End of the Fifth Century B.C. 35. The first source to do so, at the end of the fourth century,
(Lawrence, KS, 1980), 15. is Aristotle’s Athenaion Politeia (20.1 and 28.2).

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204 RES 67/68 2016/2017

sites.36 Finally, the rules on which blood feud was which is depicted in the upper frieze of the Chigi vase
based are illuminating: the obligation to take revenge (fig. 5), robbed the well-trained, highly mobile single
concerned only the father, the brothers, and the sons of warrior—the heroic prototype of which is swift-footed
the person murdered.37 Here, too, there is no trace of a Achilles in the Iliad—of his military predominance and
wider ranging kinship group. Nowhere in Archaic Greece much of his social privilege. The composition of the elite
do we find any evidence of clans tracing back their changed.
genealogy to a common ancestor, with their members This had consequences for the meaning of the term
supporting each other, able to mobilize resources for a aretē ́ . It was widely extended, ultimately coming to
common purpose, or considering themselves to constitute encompass any kind of merit, ranging from specific skills
an elite. But if such kin groups did not exist—if descent to moral character. This lack of semantic specificity is
and birth within such a group could not represent a symptomatic. It is a central peculiarity of the Greek elite
criterion—on what basis was it decided whether someone that its membership was based on public reputation:
belonged to the elite? on prestige. But prestige could be acquired in an almost
In the Homeric poems, members of the elite are infinite variety of ways. We are dealing with an elite that
denoted simply as agathoí (the good) and distinguished suffered from a chronic indeterminacy of delimitation
from the kakoí (the bad).38 In order to be regarded as an criteria.40
agathós an individual had to possess a certain amount A sharp contrast is offered by the Roman aristocracy
of wealth, but this was not sufficient. Qualities and of the Republican period, the nobility. This nobility was
capacities subsumed under the general term of aretē ́ limited to a small number of family groups, the gentes,
were also necessary. In Greek, it usually happens that an that were able to preserve their collective identity over
adjective and an abstract noun are directly correlated to centuries. The status of one aristocratic gens in relation
each other, like andreíos (brave) and andreía (courage); to others was measured in terms of the number and rank
in exactly this sense the adjective agathós corresponds of high political officers that the family had produced in
to the abstract noun aretē ́ (one could construct alternative the course of its history. This system led to the creation
terms like agathía or agathosýne, but neither of these of an aristocracy that was clearly structured and equally
words existed in Greek). It is not surprising that men and clearly delimited from the rest of society. It was precisely
women were believed to possess different kinds of aretē ́ : this phenomenon that was missing in ancient Greece.
women’s was related to beauty, fidelity, and skills in This allowed for a degree of social mobility that was
weaving, whereas that of men mainly consisted of the unusually high for the ancient Mediterranean.
abilities of outstanding warriors. An interesting testimony for this kind of mobility is
Conceptions of military valor underwent a fundamental given by a corpus of poems from the late Archaic period
change at the turn from the eighth to the seventh century, associated with the name Theognis.41 One of the central
with the emergence of the hoplite phalanx: rows of focus points of these poems is the distinction between
heavily armed men standing close to each other and people who belong to the elite and people who do not.
marching in step, each using his own shield to cover also Theognis is obsessed with this, and he incessantly
his neighbor, and relying on the shield of his other complains about the distinction having become blurred
neighbor for his own coverage.39 This new formation, and the boundary porous: the good man (agathós), he
claims, is always at risk of becoming bad (kakós) by
36. Bourriot, Recherches sur la nature du génos, 831–1042;
mingling with bad people who pretend to be good.42
S. C. Humphreys, “Family Tombs and Tomb Cult in Ancient Athens: The observation might, of course, be perfectly correct.
Tradition or Traditionalism?” Journal of Hellenic Studies 100 (1980): Theognis is wrong only insofar as he takes this to be a
105–12. new phenomenon, a sign of the crisis of his own time.
37. O. Murray, “The Symposion as a Social Organisation,” in But the “good old days” in which the borders of the
The Greek Renaissance of the Eighth Century B.C.: Tradition and
Innovation, ed. R. Hägg (Stockholm, 1983), 196; cf. Homer, Iliad elite were clear and generally recognized seem never to
9.632–36 and Odyssey 24.433–36.
38. Donlan, The Aristocratic Ideal, 1–34. 40. It was Alain Duplouy who recently drew a connection
39. K. Raaflaub, “Citizens, Soldiers, and the Evolution of the Early between the indeterminacy of Greek elites and their propensity
Greek Polis,” in The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece, to competitive behavior, as had been stressed by Burckhardt (see
ed. L. G. Mitchell and P. J. Rhodes (London, 1997), 169–93; idem, Duplouy, Le prestige des élites).
“Archaic and Classical Greece,” in War and Society in the Ancient and 41. Donlan, The Aristocratic Ideal, 77–95; Duplouy, Le prestige
Medieval Worlds: Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, and Mesoamerica, des élites, 43–44, 269–70.
ed. K. Raaflaub and N. Rosenstein (Cambridge, MA, 1999), 129–61. 42. Theognis 305–7, 577.

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Giuliani: Narrative images in ancient Greece 205

have existed in Greece. Due to the lack of genealogical period was intended for declamation at a symposium;
criteria, determining whether somebody belonged to almost all of this poetry is about convivial drinking.44
the elite or not had always been a problem. And it is Many of these poems are characterized by a high
exactly the recognition of this chronic lack of social degree of complexity, which demanded considerable
determinacy that leads to a better understanding of the concentration by both declaimer and listener. Shorter
Greek tendency to embrace competition. poems (skólia) could be improvised, occasionally as
an antiphony, when a symposiast would introduce a
theme in a few verses and challenge his companions to
Narrative iconography as a trigger for competition
take it up and continue in the same rhythm. Particularly
In ancient Greek society, competition first seems popular were riddles (gríphoi, ainígmata), which provided
to have been in the realm of martial ability. However, the opportunity for participants to prove their ingenuity
with the emergence of the phalanx and the decline and presence of mind.
of the lone elite warrior, it shifted from war into other The Chigi vase, our starting point, is a wine jug
areas. Here again the difference between Greek and intended for use at a symposium. How should we
Roman elites is telling. The Roman nobiles focused their understand the function of the image of the Judgment
rivalry exclusively on politics; the Greek elite, however, of Paris in such a context? The question can be put in
concentrated their competitions on areas that we would more general terms, given that narrative images are most
associate with leisure: sport, social carousal, and often found on sympotic vases—jugs, kraters, amphoras,
homoeroticism. Decisive here were a well-trained body, hydrias, and cups. In an encyclopedic treatise on
beauty, comeliness, and—last but not least—a high symposia written in Roman imperial times, we find the
degree of cultural competence. Many of these features verb kylikēgorêin: “to talk about the cup.”45 Such talk
and skills could be cultivated and improved through can hardly refer to discussion about the cup as a drinking
practice. This required one to spend a good deal of vessel; it can only connect to what was depicted on it.
time in the gymnasium and at symposia. In our context The images on cups and other vases must have played
it is above all the symposium that is interesting, for an important role in conversation. This, I argue, was
it constituted the center of Greek elites’ social life.43 precisely their function. It is in the context of agonal
Symposia took form around 700 BC; their fundamental competition that we should understand the additional
elements remained more or less constant for centuries. value and the cultural function of narrative images. It is
This long-term success seems to have been based not not by chance such images emerge more or less at the
least on the fact that, as an institution, the symposium same time that the Greek elites lose their exclusive
was able to reconcile—unusually enough—the desire for military function, and at the moment when the symposium
pleasure with competitive behavior. as an institution takes shape.
Now what exactly is a symposium? It is, first of all, In the seventh century BC, anybody who had even a
a wine-drinking competition conducted according rudimentary knowledge of the elites’ lifestyle could talk
to fixed rules by a small, exclusive group of men. The about descriptive images of hunting and war, as we
demanding nature of this event is already indicated by find them on the Chigi vase. The small narrative image
the form of the drinking vessel that was used. In the on the back of the vessel required something more: its
sixth and fifth centuries, the most popular vessel was beholder had to be familiar with the story. At this point
a stemmed cup (kýlix), which, according to convention, he could succeed or fail. This created ideal prerequisites
was to be held by its foot. The stem and wide bowl for a competition. It is perfectly legitimate to consider
require dexterous handling, which becomes more narrative images as puzzles, but this analogy has its
difficult as more wine is consumed; the cup is a limits. Any puzzle loses its fascination in the very
paradoxical drinking vessel that places its user in an moment in which it is solved. But for narrative images
increasingly tricky double bind. Second, wine promotes this is not true. Here the identification of the story
conversation. Poetry was central to symposiastic
interactions. Almost all the lyric poetry of the Archaic
44. E. Pellizer, “Outlines of a Morphology of Sympotic
Entertainment,” in Murray, Sympotica, 177–84.
43. Murray, “The Symposion,” 195–99; see also O. Murray, 45. Athenaios, Deipnosophistaí 11.461E and 11.480B; see A.
“Sympotic History,” in Sympotica: A Symposium on the Symposion Heinemann, Der Gott des Gelages: Dionysos, Satyrn und Mänaden auf
(Oxford, 1990), 5–11; M. L. Catoni, Bere vino puro: Immagini del attischem Trinkgeschirr des 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. (Berlin, 2016),
simposio (Milan, 2010), 78 and 223. 57 with n. 164.

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206 RES 67/68 2016/2017

constitutes only the first step, which allows the participants


to pursue the agon further and further. One of them might
have added details of the story that had previously not
been mentioned; the next might have recited matching
verses from memory; this in turn could lead to further
variations on the theme. The narrative image opens up
a wide range of possibilities for convivial competition.
For an aristocratic culture that lived from the agon and for
the agon, this must have been a game well worth playing.

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