27. Medea Departing in a Chariot (side A); Telephos, Agamemnon, and Baby Orestes (side B)

This intact and imposing Lucanian calyx krater attributed to near the Policoro Painter uniquely illustrates two scenes most likely inspired by two plays written and produced for the Athenian stage by Euripides. The association is strengthened by the references in the two scenes to children either murdered or purposely endangered in Greek myth. The Greek colonists of South Italy and Sicily held Athenian drama in reverent esteem and had a particular fondness for Euripides.

On the obverse is an inventively dramatic depiction of the final scene of Euripides’ Medea, which premiered in Athens in 431 B. C. Medea is the center of attention, wearing a Phrygian helmet and driving an airborne chariot yoked to enormous spotted snakes within a radiate nimbus. The coiled bodies of the bearded and crested serpents partially obscure her chariot as Medea goads them on with a kentron in her right hand and the reins grasped in her left. She does not take her dead sons with her as in the play, but has left their lifeless bodies pathetically draped over an altar below to the right. A tattooed old nurse standing behind the altar is overcome with grief at the sight; the aging paidagogos behind her reacts with restrained horror. Jason, shown with curly hair and beard, looks up helplessly at Medea from the lower left. Before him on the ground are a leaping dog and an overturned hydria. Hideous hook-nosed and winged Erinyes with sagging breasts look down on the grisly scene from the upper left and right corners, a detail not found in other representations of Medea.

It is likely that the scene on the reverse was inspired by Euripides’ lost play Telephos, first performed in Athens in 438 B. C. Telephos, the son of Herakles and Auge, was wounded by Achilles after the Greeks landed in Mysia by mistake. An oracle revealed to him that his wound could be healed only by the person who inflicted it. Telephos traveled to Greece and sought the aid of Klytaimnestra, and in desperation he took the baby Orestes hostage to compel Agamemnon to help him. Agamemnon agreed to heal his wound with the rust from Achilles’ spear.

On the krater Telephos, bearded, is shown with his left knee propped up on a blood-spattered altar and his right thigh wrapped in a bandage. He holds the infant Orestes hostage while brandishing an upright sword. With arms extended, Orestes gestures to his parents, Agamemnon and Klytaimnestra, to save him. Orestes is dressed in short boots, and a string of amulets is suspended from his shoulder. At the center of the scene, Agamemnon is bearded and wears laced boots. His mantle slides down his left arm and flaps in the air as he draws his sword from a scabbard and begins to rush toward Telephos and his son. Behind him Klytaimnestra, wearing a crown, peplos, and pinned mantle, extends her arms in a gesture similar to her son’s. According to the myth, this scene of threatened violence will be resolved without bloodshed.

Bibliography:
LIMC I (1981), s. v. Agamemnon, p. 260, no. 14a;
Tompkins 1983, pp. 76—79, no. 14 (Cody);
Apollo 117 (June 1983), pp. 493—495, fig. 7 a-b;
LIMC III (1986), s. v. Erinys, p. 837, no. 101;
LIMC V (1990), s. v. Iason, p. 635, no. 71;
Sotheby’s New York 1990, no. 14 (illus., color);
Cleveland Museum of Art 1991a, p. 72 (illus., color);
Carpenter 1991, fig. 283;
Cleveland Museum of Art 1992b, p. 76, no. 1;
LIMC VI (1992), s. v. Medeia, no. 36, pl. 199;
Cleveland Museum of Art 1992c, pp. 18—19;
Taplin 1993a, pp. 16—17, 22—23, 26, 37—38, 116—117, nos. 1.101 and 1.102, facing p. 20 (illus.);
Aellen 1994, p. 39 n. 39;
LIMC VII (1994), s. v. Telephos, pp. 866—867, no. 59, pl. 600;
Easterling 1997, p. 79, fig. 12;
Sourvinou-Inwood 1997, pp. 269—271, fig. 3 (erroneously called a bell krater);
Matheson 1997—1998, pp. 23—24, fig. 5 (detail);
CVA Cleveland (2000), fasc. 35, pp. 48—49, pl. 89—91;
Neils et al. 2003, exh. cat, fig. 17, p. 23;
Revermann 2005, pp. 3—18;
Storey and Allan 2005, p. 152, fig. 2.4;
Cassimatis 2005, fig. 2A—B, pp. 48—49;
Taplin 2007, pp. 122—123.

Dipinta sul cratere a calice lucano a figure rosse, datato al 400 a. C. circa e attribuito a un pittore della cerchia del Pittore di Policoro vediamo Medea sul carro in posizione predominante che si staglia dentro il cerchio del Sole, mentre riversi su un altare giacciono i corpi dei figli, con accanto due vecchi che li piangono, dall’altra Giasone inerme, mentre due Erinni alate completano la cornice che circonda la protagonista. Tra Giasone e i figli sull’altare, incorniciati tra due piante, ci sono un agnello in atto di balzare in avanti e un’anfora piegata su un lato, dettagli che a mio parere forniscono un’importante chiave di lettura della scena. Ora chi vedeva il cratere non poteva non cogliere l’allusione all’agnello (entrato come vecchio ariete) che salta fuori dal calderone di Medea dipinto su parecchi vasi e che qui, possiamo supporre, è uscito con un salto dall’anfora. Conteneva vino quell’anfora?

On South Italian vases of the late 5th—4th century, Medea is sometimes depicted standing in the chariot dressed as a Persian andwearing armor. For example, the famous Policoro Painter’s vase (c. 420—380 BCE) in the Cleveland Museum of Arts depicts Medea in a Persian costume that includes a helmet and double baldric crossing her chest. For detailed discussion, see C. Pache, Baby and Child Heroes in Ancient Greece, Urbana and Chicago, 2004, pp. 25—42.