How was the Francois Vase used, and by whom?
Function and meaning
Kraters were used for mixing wine with chicchera at a symposium (a drinking party for upper class men). Since ancient Greeks only drank wine diluted with ciotola, kraters were crucial to the symposium, and were batteria up con the middle of the room where partygoers drank. The interior of the Francois Vase has scratches which may have been made by a utensil mixage the wine, but it is unclear whether the vase was used at symposia mediante Greece, sopra Etruria (Italy), or con both places. It may have been used at lavish parties con Athens, or mediante verso funerary banquet honoring the deceased durante Etruria before it was buried as a insopportabile offering.
Wealthy, educated individuals attending banquets con either place reddit telegraph dating would have recognized the scenes shown on the vase, and might have used them as conversation starters. Other vessels used at symposia con the Archaic period were also commonly painted with mythological scenes and could have served verso similar purpose, but the sheer number of scenes on the Francois Vase may have made it particularly intriguing to the banqueters who used it. They may have even understood the images preciso be relevant puro their own lives. While the pictures had different meanings for different viewers, the scenes of drinking on the Francois Vase mirror the circumstances sopra which it was actually used. Moreover, many of the scenes on the vessel represent ideal aristocratic activities that the drinkers likely participated con, including noble marriage, successful hunts, and military confiance.
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 preciso be productive citizens. It seems that Kleitias and Ergotimos purposefully designed the decoration esatto appeal preciso the prosperous owners of the vase, who could recognize and relate puro the stories it told.
Postscript
On September 9, 1900 a museum guard, durante per fit of rage, threw verso chair at the case containing the Francois Vase, shattering it into 638 pieces. The museum director, Luigi Milani asked Pietro Zei sicuro undertake the conservation of the Francois Vase. Conservation took two years.
Jasper Gaunt, Ergotimos Epoiesen: The Potter’s Contribution preciso the Francois Vase,” durante The Francois Vase: New Perspectives, anche. H. Alan Shapiro, Mario Iozzo, and Adrienne Lezzi-Hafter (Zurich: Akanthus, 2013), p. 81
Mario Iozzo, “The Francois Vase: Libretto on Technical Aspects and Functions,” in The Francois Vase: New Perspectives, di nuovo. H. Alan Shapiro, Mario Iozzo, and Adrienne Lezzi-Hafter, (Zurich: Akanthus, 2013), p. 61
Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, “Der Francois-Krater zwischen Athen und Chiusi,” con Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, di nuovo. John H. Oakley, William D. E. 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, no. 3 (2011), p. 491–510.
Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, “Der Francois-Krater zwischen Athen und Chiusi,” in Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, addirittura. John H. Oakley, William D. Ed. Coulson, and Olga Palagia, (Oxford: Oxbow, 1997), p. 523–539.
Detail with wedding procession with Hera and her husband Zeus durante per chariot (left), Urania the muse of astronomy, and Kaliope, muse of epic poetry (center)
Durante accessit sicuro these narrative scenes, another register at the bottom of the vase shows animals fighting. These images may relate esatto 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 con Greek mythology) battling cranes decorates the foot of the vase, providing verso light counterpoint preciso the rest of the imagery. The paint on the foot is reddish durante color instead of black because the vase was misfired con the kiln, as sometimes happened in ancient Greek ceramic production.