Wolfgang Filser, Die Elite Athens auf der attischen Luxuskeramik (English summary)

Wolfgang Filser Die Elite Athens auf der attischen Luxuskeramik Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 Image & Context Edited by François Lissarrague, Rolf Schneider & R.R.R. Smith Editorial Board: Bettina Bergmann, Jane Fejfer, Luca Giuliani, Chris Hallett, Susanne Muth, Alain Schnapp & Salvatore Settis Volume 16 De Gruyter Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 Wolfgang Filser Die Elite Athens auf der attischen Luxuskeramik De Gruyter Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 IV Gedruckt mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Geschwister Boehringer Ingelheim Stiftung für Geisteswissenschaften in Ingelheim am Rhein sowie des G. Rodenwaldt-Fonds des Winckelmann-Instituts der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. ISBN 978-3-11-044973-0 ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-045411-6 ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-045331-7 ISSN 1868-4777 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar. © 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/München/Boston Einband: Martin Zech, Bremen Satz: Dörlemann Satz GmbH & Co. KG, Lemförde Druck und Bindung: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ∞ Gedruckt auf säurefreiem Papier Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 Meinen Eltern Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 VII Danksagung & Vorwort Für die hilfreiche und anspornende Betreuung, für das nie versagende Interesse an meinem Thema, möchte ich meiner Doktormutter Susanne Muth an dieser Stelle meinen herzlichsten Dank bezeugen. Durch ihr anspruchsvolles kritisches Interesse und ihren analytischen Scharfsinn trug sie entscheidend zur Entstehung meiner Arbeit bei. Rolf Schneider danke ich ebenfalls zutiefst für seine wertvolle Unterstützung, die weit über das gewöhnliche Maß eines „Zweitbetreuers“ hinausging. Bis zur Drucklegung verfolgte er den Fortschritt des Buches mit großer Intensität und war stets zur Stelle, wenn die Hilfe und Erfahrung des Herausgebers benötigt wurden. Bei Luca Giuliani möchte ich mich herzlich für die Unterstützung und fruchtbaren Ratschläge bedanken. Elke Stein-Hölkeskamp half mir durch ihre weiterführende Kritik und Korrekturvorschläge bezüglich des ersten Teils der Arbeit. Auf dem historischen Feld unterstützte mich auch Hans van Wees, dem wie Anette Friedrich herzlich für die hilfreichen Gespräche im Rahmen einer Tagung der Mommsen-Gesellschaft in Wittenberg gedankt sei. Der Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes danke ich für die Gewährung einer Förderung, die mir während der Promotionsjahre die nötige finanzielle Unabhängigkeit gab. Allen Mitarbeitern und Förderern der Stiftung, besonders meinen wohlwollenden Gutachtern Ulrich Sinn und Hans-Ulrich Cain, möchte ich meinen aufrichtigen Dank bezeugen. Auch meinem Vertrauensdozenten bei der Studienstiftung, Thomas Ricklin, möchte ich für die inspirierenden Veranstaltungen im Kreis unserer Stipendiatengruppe danken. Außerordentlich gefreut hat mich die Verleihung des Promotionspreises der Studienstiftung im Jahr 2014. In diesem Zusammenhang möchte ich mich herzlichst bei Annette Julius, Peter Antes und besonders bei Alexander Markschies bedanken. Katrin Hofmann, Katja Brockmann und Mirko Vonderstein vom De Gruyter-Verlag sei für die vorzügliche Beratung, die Arbeit im Zug der Druckvorbereitung sowie die allzeitige Hilfsbereitschaft selbst bei den marginalsten Detailfragen gedankt. Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 VIII Danksagung & Vorwort Außerdem gilt mein freundschaftlicher Dank für die Unterstützung, die mir während der Anfertigung der Arbeit in unterschiedlicher Weise haben zukommen lassen: Stephan G. Schmid, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Mario Torelli, Nikolaus Dietrich, Adolf H. Borbein, Alexander Heinemann, Massimo Osanna, Dieter Mertens, Filippo Coarelli, Annette Haug, Alessandro D’Alessio, Francesca Diosono, Johannes Lipps, Tobias Bitterer, Andreas Grüner, Frederik Damm, Peter Biedrowski, Barbara Bichler, Will Kennedy, Christoph Klose, Corinna Reinhardt, Arne Reinhardt und Antonia Weisse. Es ist nicht der Form geschuldet, wenn ich mich schließlich besonders bei meiner Familie bedanke, die mir immer zur Seite stand, meiner Mutter Ulrike Filser und meinem Vater Johannes Filser, meiner Frau Mara Zatti. Das vorliegende Buch ist die gekürzte und korrigierte Fassung meiner Dissertationsschrift, die ich an der Philosophischen Fakultät der HumboldtUniversität eingereicht und am 3. 2. 2012 verteidigt habe. Das Buch handelt von der Elite Athens im 6. und 5. Jh. v. Chr. Obschon meine Quelle in erster Linie das bemalte Trinkgeschirr bildet, habe ich mich nicht auf eine rein archäologisch-bildwissenschaftliche Analyse beschränkt, sondern auch eine geschichtswissenschaftliche Interpretation versucht – die Themenstellung drängte im Lauf der Beschäftigung mit dem Stoff immer mehr dazu, dieses Risiko einzugehen. Dass ein guter Teil der hier vorgeschlagenen Interpretationen mit einem Hauptstrom der althistorischen Forschung in Konflikt gerät, ist mir bewusst; Machtkonstellationen zu postulieren, die sich nicht über das Institutionengefüge nachweisen lassen – noch dazu, wenn Schriftquellen zur sozialen Realität Mangelware sind –, mag auf den ersten Blick vielleicht fragwürdig scheinen. Selbstredend soll nicht bestritten werden, dass die demokratischen Institutionen der Konzentration von politischen Entscheidungsbefugnissen in den Händen der Elite Athens im Weg standen. Doch sollte man sich gerade aus heutiger Sicht nicht von der Strahlkraft solcher Institutionen blenden lassen; nicht selten ist das, was auf der großen politischen Bühne geschieht, ein Marionettenspiel, wer die Fäden bewegt, bleibt verborgen. Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 IX Inhaltsverzeichnis Inhaltsverzeichnis Einführung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Theorie und Geschichte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 I. . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 14 30 II. III. Die Reichen, der Reichtum und seine Quellen I.1. Der lange Weg zur Elite – Athen als Eigentumsgesellschaft . . . . I.2. Quellen des Reichtums . . . . . . . . . I.3. Drang nach Exklusivität . . . . . . . . Thorstein Veblens „Theory of the Leisure Class“ II.1. Veblens Welt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II.2. The Theory of the Leisure Class . . . . . II.3. Thorstein Veblens Elitetheorie – Kritik und Aktualität . . . . . . . . . . . II.4. Veblens Emulationslehre . . . . . . . . . II.5. Thorstein Veblen und Jacob Burckhardt . II.6. Leiturgien im klassischen Athen – conspicuous waste? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 33 35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 48 51 . . . . . . 53 Die Elite im Wandel. 600–400 v. Chr. . . . . . . . . . . . III.1. Eine „aristokratische“ Elite in Athen vor Solon? . . III.2. Die aufstrebende Eigentumselite und das Corpus Theognideum . . . . . . . . . . . III.3. Solons Elite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III.4. Die Elite und die Tyrannis – Monopolisierung aller „aristokratischen“ Möglichkeiten? . . . . . . . . . III.5. Die Elite unter Hippias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III.6. Kleisthenes. Die Rückkehr der Eigentumselite . . . III.7. Die Elite Athens in der Zeit der Perserkriege. 490–460 v. Chr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III.8. Perikles und das Ende der alten Elite . . . . . . . . . . 55 56 . . 57 66 . . . 69 75 78 . . 80 83 Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:14 X Inhaltsverzeichnis III.9. Die Elite während des peloponnesischen Krieges – eine späte Renaissance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Tafelteil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Die Bilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 IV. Die andere Nacktheit, die andere Kleidung. Bilder der Arbeit . IV.1. Händler und Handwerker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IV.2. Landwirtschaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 111 122 V. Darstellungen des Symposions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V.1. Eine Einführung zur Gelagesitte in Athen . . . . . V.2. Frühe Gelagebilder bis ca. 530 v. Chr. . . . . . . . V.3. Gelagebilder zwischen ca. 530 und 510/500 v. Chr. V.4. Gelagebilder zwischen ca. 500 und 460/450 v. Chr. V.5. Gelagebilder zwischen ca. 450 und 400 v. Chr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 127 133 149 187 257 VI. Darstellungen athletischer Wettkämpfe und Übungen . . . VI.1. Aspekte der Forschung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI.2. Frühe Athletenbilder bis zur Mitte des 6. Jhs. v. Chr. VI.3. Athletenbilder zwischen ca. 560/550 und 520/10 v. Chr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI.4. Athletenbilder zwischen ca. 510 und 470/460 v. Chr. VI.5. Athletenbilder zwischen ca. 460 und 400 v. Chr. . . . . . 278 278 284 . . . 286 319 374 . . . . 398 399 . . 405 . . 437 . . 504 . . 538 VIII. Schluss. Die Geschichte der Bilder – Versuch einer Synthese VIII.1. Symposia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VIII.2. Athletik. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VIII.3. Pferdehaltung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 568 572 574 IX. English Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 581 X. Symposia, Athletik und Pferdehaltung. Versuch einer statistischen Auswertung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591 VII. Darstellungen der Pferdehaltung . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII.1. Pferdehaltung und Reiterei in Athen . . . . . . . VII.2. Frühe Bilder der Pferdehaltung bis zur Mitte des 6. Jhs. v. Chr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII.3. Bilder der der Pferdehaltung zwischen ca. 560/550 und 520/10 v. Chr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII.4. Bilder der Pferdehaltung zwischen ca. 510/500 und 470/460 v. Chr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII.5. Bilder der Pferdehaltung zwischen ca. 470/460 und 400 v. Chr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:14 XI Inhaltsverzeichnis X.1. X.2. X.3. X.4. X.5. Zur Datierung der Vasen . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zur Darstellungsweise der Ergebnisse . . . . . . Ergebnisse der Symposionsdarstellungen . . . . Ergebnisse der athletischen Darstellungen . . . . Ergebnisse der Darstellungen der Pferdehaltung . . . . . . . . . . 591 592 592 593 594 Anhang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 Anmerkungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 Abkürzungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745 Bibliografie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746 Abbildungsverzeichnis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787 Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:14 581 English Summary IX. English Summary This book inquires into the nature of the Athenian elite of the 6th and 5th centuries BC primarily on the basis of the images on the vases made for the symposion. While looking at these vases one will quickly note that the greater part of the surviving images – over 6000 pieces were examined for this study – deal with richly clad men riding on horses, wasting time in the palaestra and at sports festivals, banqueting in the presence of equally beautiful servants and prostitutes. By analyzing the principles of how economic power of the few is translated into the imagery, new insights into the Athenian luxury vessels and the Athenian elite itself are provided. Despite this per se very rich source of information, this study begins with a definition of who the elite is (chs. I–III). This brought about the divided structure beginning with a study of the historical debate as well as the effort to involve socio-economic criteria before the images are discussed. Far from attempting to redraw the history of this paramount period of Greek antiquity, the focus lies on the questions of the elite culture of Athens and its inevitable contexts: What are the social and economic criteria for being part of the elite? What sources of wealth do we know about? What changes concerning the elite can be noted during the course of the 6th and 5th centuries BC? Why has there never been an aristocratic elite in Athens and what are the impacts of this fact? One of the most prevalent notions of Archaic and Classical Athens is its dual history: the aristocratic society of the 6th century (and before) and the democratic society of the 5th century (and later). On this basis, a model of an elite was reconstructed that had to undergo certain changes due to the political and institutional development. However, neither before nor after the democratic reforms of these institutions did an „aristocratic“ elite exist in terms of socioeconomic categories. Also, there is no evidence to suggest that the leverage of the upper-class families ended with the political shift. Through established tactics the accumulation of wealth generated political influence and the waste of resources by means Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 582 English Summary of conspicuous consumption maintained the social imbalance in the 5th century as it did in the 6th. As it always depended solely on one’s wealth – normally in the form of land property (ch. I.2.1) – whether a citizen was part of the upper class or not, the established families tried to distinguish themselves on the ground of a fictitious noble ancestry reaching back into mythical times and „noble“ behavior like horse breeding, sports and symposia. The forged Eupatrid status of the Athenian elite (see especially ch. III.1) surely sheds some light on how a homus novus attempted to veil his low-brow ancestry, a typical phenomenon of an open society with telling similarities in modern Western societies. The lamentations of the Theognidean corpus (ch. III.2) – at times hard to digest due to the blunt snobbish attitude – are clearly the most abundant testimony for the period in question, but we grasp similarities in Solon’s reforms as well, which not only react to the fact that many had become bitterly poor, but also to the struggle within the elite, obviously brought about by the ascent of former peasants without considerable property. Actually, the conflict between parvenus and the conservative elite was always inherent in a society that allowed any citizen who made enough money to rise to power. This socio-economic background led to the highly stylized emulative culture that manifests itself on the surfaces of the Athenian black- and red-figured drinking ware, which were analyzed with the tools designed by Thorstein Veblen (ch. II). Veblen’s materialistic perspective is – if taken cautiously and stripped of its 19th century positivistic tendencies – highly compatible with the significance of objects in Athenian vase painting and its general attention to detail. Conspicuous consumption and systematic waste of wealth (i. e. the surplus of society as a whole) are concepts that go to the core of an early elitist system like the Athenian society of the 6th and 5th centuries. Indeed, we do not only encounter these mechanisms in the private sphere of the imagery of the drinking vessels, but also in the public space. While Peisistratos used the „image“ of the wealthy man riding into town with Athena by his side in the chariot box (a very common image on the Athenian vases of the period under study), Alcibiades and other hippotróphoi boasted about hippic victories which were thought to generate fame for the entire polis (see the end of ch. VII). Actually, the democratic system does not inhibit the display of riches if disguised in the right manner, like it is the case with the leiturgies (ch. II.6): Indeed this institution, commonly seen as a rigid control mechanism of individual wealth and power, is suited very well for conspicuous consumption, which is proven by the fact that the trierarchy was used by the super-rich to outdo each other and embellish the war ships they financed in seemingly impractical ways. Emulation of the rich is the basic principle of the elite system and of the economy of a property-based society as a whole; the motor of this system Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 English Summary 583 seems to be the longing for an impossible status, which is that of the real aristocrat or monarch. If any family should achieve a similar monopoly, it means the end of this society and thus the end of the Athenian elite as such. Only once, under Peisistratos and his sons, did these conditions prevail for a longer period, which clearly influenced the imagery on the sympotic vessels. After the tyranny, things quickly turned the way they had been before. Nothing indicates that this system collapsed during the (proto-)democratic polis, on the contrary: In the 5th century – as Margaret Miller has shown – the luxury culture surpassed by far everything that was known to date. Along old lines the accumulation of wealth generated political leverage while the wasting of resources through conspicuous consumption preserved the social imbalance. To put it simple: As this set-up did not change after the reforms of the phylai but has rather been reinforced, why should the upper-class nature of the imagery of the Athenian vases have undergone a fundamental change? The second and main part of this study deals with the images on these vessels, which the rich Athenians (but not only them!) used during their banquets, thus being able to observe themselves (or who they longed to be) depicted ideally while drinking, riding on horses and wasting time in the palaestra. As there was only one circle of rich men – the Athenian elite – in the reach of experience of the potters and vase painters in the Kerameikos, it is out of question whose lifestyle and longings served as models for the images. Why should we then call those painted pots luxury vessels? A common error in this debate is the linking of the supposed prices of the vessels to this question; but for the social and historical problems that are posed in this study the individual value of any vase is virtually insignificant. If the term „Luxuskeramik“ is continually applied, it is because of the emulative spur that emanates from the paintings on the pots. Other than silver and gold vessels – which an average citizen did not encounter during his symposia – the omnipresent decorated ceramics stimulated the imitation of the rich and thus the spending of one’s small savings for a little luxury, in this way diminishing any chance to move up socially. So much to the power of images. The figured pottery of Athens became a far more effective luxury good than the rare silver plate because it maintained the social inequality by keeping the imbalance of poor and rich among the Athenian citizenry intact. Ironically, this imbalance may correspond roughly with the numerical relation between the first group of images examined here, the very scant depictions of the working class (ch. IV), and the main themes of Athenian vase painting: the life of the super-rich, horse breeders, professional athletes and exuberant revelers. By combining those three central topics of Athenian vase painting, good deal of single observations concerning the elitist discourse has been Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 584 English Summary gained. Of some importance to the scholar may also be the history of production of the related themes (ch. X, Taf. IX), on the base of which our very fragmentary knowledge of the history of events could be questioned if not hypothetically revised. A short summary like this one does of course not permit to go into the details of singular iconographic findings. This is why I will concentrate on some major results, which can be linked more or less immediately to what we know – or think to know – about the history of events (ch. VIII). The omnipresent characteristic of the images of symposia are their close relations to the ideal (if not ideology) of oriental and barbarian (in the first instance Persian, Lydian, Scythian, Thracian) luxury. Beginning with the introduction of the reveler’s couch the symposion is the central space of oriental indulgence: different types of headdresses, drinking vessels, the habit of banqueting on the ground, even the actual provenance of many known courtesans, can be traced to the east (although, admittedly, this is a quite simplistic stance, as there never was the east). This is no new and no surprising statement, since the elitist technique of the symposion came itself from the Orient to the Greek mainland in the 7th century. What does surprise however, is the systematic incorporation of new oriental luxury goods and their combination with Greek commodities long after the first appearance of the symposion on Athenian vases and the fact that this steady stream of eastern commodities into Athenian andrônes reached its peak during and after the great wars against Persia. Alongside this phenomenon stands the motive of the „lonely reveler“, images that show a single dining man surrounded by several servants. These images seem to have their roots in depictions of eastern kings like the garden party relief and it may be no coincidence that it was introduced into the Athenian imagery during the tyranny. Supporting this connection is the fact that while the number of images of horse ownership and athletics grows steadily during the tyranny, depictions of symposia (in the true sense of the word) virtually explode after the fall of the Peisistratids (see Taf. IX). This rise in popularity coincides with the return of the elite from exile, i. e. with the unleashing of the economic emulation that had been laid in chains by the tyranny. We now observe how the banquet scenes become continuously more diversified. The propensity for social distinction is omnipresent around 500 BC and urges to conclude that the elite longed more than ever before for a visible contrast within itself and with the rest. At the root of this development must lie the increase of the elite’s wealth who now profited from the general economic boom during the tyranny (ch. III.6). A democratization of the feasting rooms and of the revelers is not detectable in the images: neither in the singular examples that are often produced in order to illustrate this thesis as advocated particularly by Ger- Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 English Summary 585 man scholars and which has long become an opinio comunis, nor in the great quantity of the output (chs. V.3–5). In fact, the supposed bourgeois modesty in the former „aristocratic“ banquet halls fits extremely badly with those images that play the role of chief witnesses – figuring the feasting bánausos Smikros surrounded by the most delicate furnishings and servants. During the proto-democratic epoch, roughly between 510–490, half of the images of symposia have been produced (Taf. IX). The production carries on in broad variety until midcentury. The great battles against the Persian army have clearly not led to a rejection of Achaemenid opulence; instead, the images reflect the burning desire for the oriental life style. During the decades around 500 one is confronted with striking depictions of extremely luxurious feasts. Obviously after the downfall of the Peisistratids the men of the elite ardently desired social distinction by showing off their material wealth, a phenomenon which was at its height during ca. 480–460 – if we take what is depicted on the banquet vessels seriously. During the epoch of Ephialtes and Pericles the ostentation of luxury was all but outdated. A large number of images dating between 460 and 430 (chs. V.4.11 and V.5) show the utmost luxury. It is perhaps not surprising that a policy which did not concentrate on the behavior of the elite in the private sphere, but instead tried to define the role and appearance of rich men in public life, is not visible in the case of the banquet scenes. On the other hand, the quantity of depictions decreases steadily after ca. 470/60 and shortly after midcentury they even fall below the production of athletic scenes. Still during the last thirty years of the 5th century vase painters tried to lend their images attraction by varying compositional details, and particularly by rendering clothes and furnishings with great effort – until the end the depiction of luxurious materiality is what the image of a symposion is made for. However, the relative unpopularity of the theme towards 400 BC hints to a fundamental change of mentality. A general critique of luxury dates only to the end of the 5th century and afterwards, surely resulting from the catastrophic events during the final years of the war – ruinous also in a very immediate sense for the land property of the leisure class – and the bad experience with Alcibiades, whose outraging conspicuous consumption seems to have been linked closely to the fall of the polis. One is tempted to speculate if the loss of property may be in part responsible for the decrease of the images. Images with athletic scenes tell a rather simple story in terms of iconography and history of production (Taf. IX). Nothing indicates an echo of the tyranny in the corpus of sport scenes, which steadily increased from ca. 560 until the end of the 6th century. Nonetheless, around the year 510 there is a notable rise in the production, which may have been caused also by the release of the elite culture as noted above. After the great wars Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 586 English Summary against Persia the output at first receded, but then remained steady until ca. 430. Of course this cut-back is partly due to the collapse of the Etruscan market; yet, the images of athletes differ from those of equestrian scenes and symposia in this relative stability during the 5th century. A reason for the continuous popularity of sport scenes may be found in the fact that unlike hippic images they were not affected by the social and political changes. Athletics were certainly always a domain of the leisure class. There is simply no evidence to suggest an „embourgeoisement“ behind any type of image. On the contrary, the vase painters concentrated increasingly on different forms of luxury: while in the beginning we see explicit depictions of the athletic activities during training and contest, in a first shift of interest the painters focused on the paraphernalia of the sport culture, i.e. particularly the depiction of servants, architecture and objects (ch. VI.4.2). At the same time, however, images emerge which put the ideal of the body of the sportsman and the closely connected homosexual atmosphere of the palaestra into the centre of attention (chs. VI.3.7, 4.10–11 and especially 5.2). This last theme seems to have been very successful during the second half of the 5th century. It is daring to explain the greater vogue of the athletic images compared to those of the symposion with this change of focus. While the depiction of the reveler always remained bound to the description of material abundance, these images of beautiful, idle athletes were suited for representing seemingly higher ideals of the elite. In the eyes of a rich Athenian, such depictions symbolized his natural superiority, which was not obtained by training, but rather simply by – being. That singular topics could very well be affected by changes of the institutional framework is attested by the images of the hoplitodrómos. According to the rare literary sources, the discipline became an event open to the entire demos during the middle of the 5th century and consequently despised by leisure class sportsmen. Here for once the images give a similar impression. While the older ones praised the vigor of the rich men who ran in arms at Marathon, the later images allude to the institutionalization of the discipline, which was exercised by the very diverse corps of the ephebes at the Panathenaea. No wonder that the elite soon turned its back on the hoplitodrómos, which ceases to appear on the drinking vessels as well. The most complex evidence is given by the huge corpus of images of horse keeping. From the beginning, the images of horses functioned as the utmost symbol of wealth and status and there are several very elaborate scenes treating the world of horse keeping, especially those depicting horse races and quadriga scenes. Yet, the development of the different themes of horse keeping and the connected iconographies is a rather slow one, which may be due to the fact that there were still few horse breeders among the elite – we only know about two Athenians who participated in Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 English Summary 587 the téthrippon in Olympia between 600 and 567. By far the greatest amount of the images has been produced during the tyranny (Taf. IX). While war is the quantitatively and qualitatively eminent theme in the second half of the 6th century BC, scenes showing hippic sports (notably the téthrippon) are normally confined to simple images on average cups (ch. VII.3.8). However, combat scenes become very rare with the end of the regime. A reading of this situation on the grounds of what we know about the role of the cavalry under the tyranny and after it is proposed. Surely, one would not expect a growing number of hippotróphoi under Peisistratos and his sons. It is even questionable whether there was a proper Athenian cavalry. Instead, we should expect the existence of mounted troops made up of foreign mercenaries (ch. VII.3.1). Especially the numerous images of riders clad in Scythian and Thracian outfits lead to this assumption. These intensely debated images are in fact quite heterogeneous and one should be cautious not to give an overly one-sided interpretation. However, it is clearly the military aspect which unites these images. The cup in the British Museum (ch. VII.3.2) is an outstanding testimony as its break with the common iconography proves the intention of the vase painter to create a closer reference to reality. As in depictions of oriental kings, the whole frieze is directed versus the leader, who appears unarmed in the chariot box and surrounded by his bodyguards. While the iconography clearly derives from the scheme of the „departing warriors“ and the related harnessing scenes, the similarities are immediately suspended by these modifications which express an unmistakable hierarchy. Together with the numeric increase of the figures, this leads to a shift of categories: the men in the chariot are not shown as leaders only of a rich oikos, but of the entire polis. As to the absence of elaborate scenes of equestrian sports during the tyranny, this feature stands beside the absence of any known hippic victor from Peisistratos’ family. It is highly unlikely that this is a coincidence: there was undoubtedly enough money and time at disposal for his family to gain this kind of fame. Why then were Peisistratos and his sons not keen on horse breeding? Did they want to underscore the difference to the old elite – namely the most famous hippotróphoi, the Alkmeonids – by renouncing this utmost status symbol? Certainly, this remains hypothetical. However, it is a characteristic of tyrannies that they can do without conspicuous consumption as soon as the power basis is solidified (chs. III.4–5). In spite of the prominence of the newly founded Panathenaea, depictions of hippic games and victors do not play such a major role on the banquet ware any longer. The reason for this perhaps lies in the risks that one took when boasting about successes as a horse breeder under the tyrants. Cimon’s exile and later assassination by Hippias gives testament to the dangers that such boasting entailed (ch. VII.3.6). Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 588 English Summary Also in the case of the hippic scenes, it seems like the end of the tyranny left its footprints, albeit in a different way. Starting around the year 510 the concentration on military themes gives way in favor of depictions of beautifully clad upper-class horsemen riding out peacefully in the company of their hunting dogs (chs. VII.4.1 and 5.4). Certainly these images would fit very well as a reflex of the regained confidence of the leisure class after the expulsion of Hippias. In addition to this new main theme, which will remain popular for the entire 5th century, many subtopics begin to appear that are related to the extremely costly infrastructure of horse keeping, such as stable, groom and even breeding scenes. Despite this interesting diversification, the output continues to decrease, which is particularly true for military scenes. The paradox of the images of horse keeping is that during the tyranny, when there was no institutionalized cavalry, armed horsemen are quantitatively the main topic of vase painting. However, in the (proto-)democratic polis, when there was a steady force consisting of Athenian hippeîs, images of cavalry men are close to absent from the symposion ware. Probably, the answer lies precisely in the fact that armed horse riding became ever more controlled by the polis (chs. VII.1.2, 4.2 and 5.3.). While the (Solonian?) cavalry appears to have been quite loosely organized during the 6th century, the first scenes of dokimasia (dating to the end of the century) already show the polis’ intention to gain control over the public appearance of the horse(-men). The partial usurpation of the most effective status symbol by the polis must have led to great anger among the „real“ hippeîs. That this situation also led to a partial decline of the image of the horse in the eyes of the leisure class and thus on the banquet ware, can be grasped not only in the mere decrease of the output: Around the same time as the final reform of the cavalry comprising the introduction of katástasis and sîtos was conceived (between 445–438, ch. VII.1.2), a good part of horse images are deprived of their former noble appearance. During the epoch that knew the subsidized mount, the images of horses no longer dominate the scenes but fall behind (quite literally so) the figures that it appears with. The once so proud animals lose their beautiful manes and adornments, at times they even appear to be ironically depicted as slightly gaunt. Horses are mostly used in such images as mere signs of social categories like the training of the ephebes, dokimasia and cavalry service at home and abroad (chs. VII.5.1–3). However, these depictions, dating around the middle of the fifth century BC, do not seem to have been very successful. Obviously, the main target group, the leisure class, was not pleased with this understanding of their most precious belongings. In effect, the image of the Xenophontic parade horse still existed, if only so in diminishing numbers (chs. VII.5.4–5) and many of them belonging to the field of hippic agone. This complex constellation may well have been affected by the anti-elite Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 English Summary 589 policy of Pericles, who often is regarded as the initiator of the cavalry reforms. The accelerated regress of the production in the years around 450 further supports this point of view. The concurrency of such diverging image concepts of the horse during the Classical period should be regarded as a testimony to the importance of the theme in times when the hippeîs had to bow to the cavalry reforms and, at least partially, accept their role as an ideological instrument of democratic Athens. This did not work out very well, of course. In any case, there is no reason to think that horse keeping per se ever lost its attraction for the richest Athenians, naturally the possession of race horses and chariot teams always conferred maximum prestige. The vase painters were always stimulated by an elite that distinguishes itself looking down on the rest from horseback. Alcibiades’ seven quadriga teams are only the tip of the iceberg. However, the above-noted changes in the image of the horse on the vases appear to be caused by new control mechanisms of the polis. This is a crucial point: institutional reforms had an impact on the imagery of a medium which was firstly intended for elitist patterns of thought, which was confined to the (semi-)private sphere and thus basically out of the reach of direct political manipulation. Needless to say, the depictions of horsemen on the Parthenon frieze have another meaning – perhaps in some sense even a more one-sided one – than the contemporary images of horsemen on a crater. I hope this book has delivered relevant insights into the (varying) perceptions of potters, painters and their most important clients – the Athenian leisure class – on singular topics of vase painting. Furthermore, new conclusions regarding the Athenian elite in general have been provided. The deep break of the elite culture, which has become opinio comunis, and the „end of aristocracy“ initiated by Cleisthenes’ reorganization of the polis, is not detectable in the realm of the images. On socio-economic grounds there is no reason to expect this break, anyway. In terms of quantity as well as regarding the content, the subjects examined for this study are central themes of Athenian vase painting. None of these subjects causes to presume a general impact of democratic values behind their iconographic development or production history. Only the sub-themes of the hoplitodrómos and the negative response that the cavalry reforms and the ephebic corps seem to have had (also) in the medium of the images allow to suspect a non-elitist mentality at work, which in turn may be the reason why these vases were doomed to remain shelf-warmers. Certainly, these few depictions do not suffice to argue that a basic change of elitist values, which were always firmly connected with conspicuous consumption of commodities and time, took place. Such a change would have required a basic restructuring of the elite itself. Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16 590 English Summary A telling observation, which I would like to add at last, concerns the role of objects in the imagery system of vase painting. It seems like the painters consciously established a relation of objects and the persons outside the leisure class, which one encounters in all the topics treated here: servants, prostitutes, peasants and workmen. What unites these very different status groups is that they allow for the existence of the leisure class, some in a very conspicuous sense, some concealed by the curtains of social reality. The first group is omnipresent in vase painting. The second group – peasants and workmen – appears extremely rarely. In a very subtle way, that perfectly matches the Veblenian categories, the vase painters commented on the society they were living in. Cupbearers and musicians for instance often appear in a suspicious parallelism at the sides of distinguishing columns. Elsewhere the servants are overtly subjugated to the precious instruments of the banquet (see for example the scenes by Euphronios and Smikros). In these images, there is a very blunt hierarchy of persons and objects of leisure that puts at least some of the serving personnel on the lowest level: The rich reveler dominates his cup, his cup dominates his cupbearer. Already Exekias and after him the Antimenes Painter proceeded similarly with their depictions of grooms, whose bodies and faces are systematically hidden behind the most precious luxury object: the chariot. One is tempted to ask if the Aristotelian definition of the slave as émpsychon órganon can already be grasped in these images of faceless servants. They certainly are instruments, but of course instruments of pleasure and waste, without any productive usefulness. The vase painters were in fact well aware of their split position, painting to please the wealthy and those who were aspiring to become so some day – a clientele way beyond their own social aspirations. However, they did comment on their own position and their „submissive“ image production by introducing ambiguous – one might even say subversive – iconographies by means of the polysemous qualities of certain objects. This is why the knife in the hand of the reclining Achilles becomes the sword of the áristos, while in the hands of the butcher it is the sign of the basest profession. It is why in the hands of the athlete the pick refers to the wasting of time in the palaestra, while in the hands of the peasant it defines his status as someone who is forced to spend his days on the field in order to survive. Perhaps one could talk of the class-specific semantics of objects in Athenian vase painting, a topic yet to be studied and definitely more complex than I attempted to outline here. Angemeldet | wolfgang.filser@hu-berlin.de Heruntergeladen am | 31.08.18 20:16