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Black-Figure Vases: Stories Drawn in Clay
In Archaic Greece, vase painters transformed terracotta vessels into narrative boards. By combining black slip silhouettes with fine incised details, craftsmen recorded complex mythological stories and scenes of daily life directly onto clay surfaces. Crafting Narratives on Archaic Clay Potters in Corinth developed the black-figure technique during the seventh century BC. Athenian craftsmen adopted this method by the end of the century, mastering the process to produce exported ceramic fineware. The artist sketched outlines with charcoal onto the reddish clay surface before painting the figures in silhouette using wet clay slip. To define interior details, the painter scraped through the dark slip with a sharp point or metal graver. This incised line exposed the pale red clay underneath, delineating facial features, muscle structures, and drapery folds against dark silhouettes. Painters frequently applied purplish-red and white pigments over dark silhouettes prior to firing vessels in a kiln. White paint traditionally indicated female flesh, whereas purplish-red marked garments, hair, and armour. These decorated vessels fulfilled clear practical functions in Greek society. Citizens used large mixing bowls named kraters for wine during male drinking parties termed symposia, stored oil in narrow lekythoi, and poured water from three-handled hydriai. The placement of painted pictures responded directly to vessel shapes. Two-handled amphorae typically carried two separate scenes, while handleless dinoi allowed continuous friezes around their round bodies. Early Masters and Multi-Tiered Friezes During the early sixth century BC, Attic artists studied Corinthian models to organise decorated surfaces. The Gorgon Painter decorated a dinos on a stand between 600 BC and 590 BC, dividing the vessel into five distinct horizontal zones. The lower three bands feature repeating rows of animals and floral patterns. The uppermost band depicts a myth where winged Gorgons pursue Perseus across the vessel wall while their decapitated sister Medusa falls to the ground. Anatomy became regularised in this period, with legs and heads drawn in profile, while Gorgons retained broad frontal faces. Between 580 BC and 570 BC, Sophilos painted and signed a dinos now preserved in London. Sophilos added written labels beside his drawn figures, using letters to identify gods and title scenes. While he painted animal rows on lower friezes with conventional repetition, he concentrated his effort on the top frieze showing the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. The divine procession extends around the vessel rim, depicting Peleus standing outside his house offering a kantharos of wine to Iris, Dionysus, Hebe, and Cheiron. White paint applied over black slip clearly marked the bodies of attending goddesses. Greek - Black-figure Amphora - Walters 48224 - Side A glare reduced white bg. CC BY-SA 3.0; source: Wikimedia Commons. Detailed Storytelling on the François Vase Around 570 BC, the painter Kleitias and potter Ergotimos created a large volute krater known as the François vase. Kleitias divided the vessel surface into seven narrow friezes, devoting five bands entirely to mythological narratives. The lip features the hunt of the Calydonian boar, the neck shows chariot races from Patroklos's funeral games, and the shoulder depicts the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Below these scenes, Kleitias painted pygmies battling cranes alongside animal bands. Inscriptions identify over two hundred individual figures and inanimate objects across the vessel. Kleitias demonstrated narrative precision in depicting Achilles pursuing the Trojan prince Troilos. On one side of the frieze, a youth fills a hydria at a fountain-house while goddesses watch the scene. In the centre, Achilles leaps forward toward Troilos, who rides two galloping horses while his dropped water jar rests beneath the hooves. The pursuit moves toward King Priam sitting near the city gates as Trojan warriors emerge to intervene. On the vessel handle, Kleitias painted a compact rectangular panel showing Ajax carrying the lifeless body of Achilles out of battle, establishing an upright composition. Scale and Space from Drinking Cups to Amphorae By the middle of the sixth century BC, miniaturist painters concentrated on smaller drinking cups called kylikes. Lip cups featured small figures set against bare light clay in the upper lip centre, such as the BMN Painter's rendering of Theseus fighting the Minotaur. In contrast, band cups were painted black except for a thin horizontal band between the handles. On one band cup, an artist depicted Dionysus and Ariadne flanked by alternating satyrs and maenads. The repeating dancing poses balanced the composition across the narrow space. Other craftsmen preferred decorating large surfaces with fewer figures. Between 550 BC and 530 BC, the Amasis Painter decorated a neck amphora using three large figures that occupied the central rectangular panel. He depicted Dionysus holding a kantharos to receive two approaching maenads who hold wild animals and ivy branches. Unusually, the painter omitted white pigment for female skin, leaving the maenads' flesh outlined directly against the natural orange clay. Repeated incised patterns marked the drapery folds and hair locks to balance the spacious layout. Exekias and the Height of Black-Figure Artistry Exekias painted a one-piece amphora between 540 BC and 530 BC that demonstrated precise alignment between painted forms and ceramic shape. Within a single dark panel, he painted the heroes Achilles and Ajax seated opposite one another at a gaming board. Their hunched shoulders echo the curved contours of the amphora body, while their leaning spears align with the handle joins. Exekias incised geometric patterns into their woven cloaks. Written labels record their calls, with Achilles shouting 'four' and Ajax calling 'three'. Exekias also painted the interior tondo of a drinking cup portraying Dionysus sailing on a red ground. The composition illustrates a story where pirates abducted the god, only for vines to wrap around the ship mast and drive the captors into the sea. Exekias painted Dionysus reclining in a boat beneath a central vine bearing seven grape clusters. Seven dolphins swim through the red field surrounding the vessel. As the drinker tilted the cup to finish their wine, the painted ship appeared to float out from the liquid. Ritual Retention and the Red-Figure Transition Around 530 BC, painters working with the potter Andokides introduced the red-figure technique. By covering the background in black slip and leaving figures in reserved terracotta clay, artists could paint interior details using fine brushes instead of incising lines with metal tools. This technique permitted fluid brush strokes and subtle variations in glaze dilution. Red-figure gradually superseded black-figure as the dominant style for fine Athenian ceramics over the following decades. Black-figure remained in continuous use for Panathenaic amphorae throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Athens awarded these distinct narrow-necked vessels filled with sacred olive oil to winners of the quadrennial Panathenaic games. Religious custom required painters to maintain the traditional black-figure style on these official prize jars. Artists painted Athena armed with shield and spear on the front of the vessel, while depicting specific athletic events such as sprinting and javelin throwing on the reverse side.
Kukulkan and the Wooden People
Tepeu and Gucumatz raise land from the still sea, then set mountains, waterways, plants, and animals in their appointed places. When animals cannot speak or praise their makers, the creators seek beings with understanding, first shaping unsuccessful people from clay and wood. The Feathered Serpent Joins the Creation The creators spoke while the world was an empty sky above a still sea. There was no light, sound, land, animal, or plant. Gucumatz, the Great Feathered Serpent, lived in the sea among the blue-green feathers of the quetzal. Tepeu joined him. They decided to form the earth. Tepeu is also called Heart of Sky. Gucumatz is called Heart of Earth. ‘Let there be earth,’ they said. The sea withdrew, and the earth’s platform appeared. Land came forth where there had been only water. Mountains rose, and the earth took the shape of a mountain-plain. Water channels separated from the land and wound among the mountains. The sky was set apart from the earth, which lay among the waters. The creators spoke what they imagined into being. Trees appeared, and vegetation covered the land. They made animals for the forest, coast, and open land, then placed each in a suitable home. Deer went to clearings and riverbanks. Birds were given their own surroundings. The makers ordered the animals to praise them and name them as their creators. The animals could make sounds, but they could not speak as the gods wished. They could not offer the required praise or recognition. The creators therefore placed them in the wild, where they would be hunted. They then planned to make beings able to understand and praise them. Their first attempt used clay, but the form fell apart when it became wet. They tried again with wood. These beings stayed whole, walked, talked, and reproduced, but they were too inflexible for the creators’ purpose. Source note: Primary text: the ancient sources. Corpus check: Mayan Mythology; Creation Myths of the World: Parts I-II. The Destruction of the Wooden People The creators made the earth, mountains, trees, sky, and animals through thought and speech. When the animals could not speak their creators’ names or praise them, the creators gave them bodies and homes but removed their rule over the earth. They then shaped a human form from clay. It fell apart when it became wet, so they tried again with wood. The wooden people remained whole. They walked, talked, and multiplied. Yet they were incomplete. They had no souls, and they could not remember or honour the beings who had made them. They also mistreated their dogs by beating and starving them. The cooking pots and grinding stones suffered their use as well. The wooden people therefore failed to become the responsive beings the creators intended. Gucumatz and the other creator gods allowed their destruction. A great flood covered the world. In one account, the Heart of Sky sent it, and rain of resin fell from above. The wooden people sought shelter, but the punishment followed them. Jaguars tore open their bodies and crushed their bones. Vultures pecked out their eyes. Camazotz, the vampire bat, tore off their heads. Other accounts name Sudden Bloodletter, Crunching Jaguar, Tearing Jaguar, and Gouger of Faces among their attackers. The wooden people’s dogs turned against them and crushed their faces in revenge for the abuse they had suffered. The cooking pots threw heated rocks at them. The grinding stones crushed them into pieces. The flood and the attackers destroyed the woodcarvings, leaving them unable to continue as the intended human beings. The creators punished them because they could not recognise, praise, or properly thank their makers. The Destruction of the Wooden People. Original MythSource illustration created for this story; not a historical artwork. Source note: Primary text: the ancient sources. Corpus check: Mayan Mythology; Popol vuh : the Mayan book of the dawn of life. The Creation of the Mud People Gucumatz, also called Gugumatz or Heart of Earth, and Tepew caused land to appear where there had been only sea. They shaped the earth’s platform, then raised hills, valleys, and mountains. They made trees and animals, giving the birds wings and nests in the trees, while jaguars roamed the forest floor as predators. The animals received dominion over the earth, but this arrangement failed when the Makers demanded praise. The animals could not speak the names of their creators. They squawked, chattered, and howled. Gucumatz and Tepew therefore decided to make beings with greater awareness of creation and its makers. They wished to be recognised and praised. The animals kept their bodies and homes, but lost their right to govern the earth. The Makers told them that their flesh would be consumed and eaten. They then formed people from mud or clay. The figures had human shapes, but water made them melt. Their bodies could not hold together. They also lacked proper speech and could not name or worship their creators. The Makers destroyed them and tried again with wood. The wooden people walked, talked, multiplied, and had daughters and sons. Yet some accounts say they had no souls and acted like animals. They had nothing in their hearts and did not understand their makers. The gods therefore sent destruction, and most of the wooden people drowned. Those who survived became monkeys, which resembled people but had no human speech, soul, or understanding. Later attempts used corn for the human body, with corn meal forming the arms and legs. Source note: Primary text: the ancient sources. Corpus check: Mayan Mythology.
The Book of the Dead: Images for the Afterlife
The ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead was an illustrated collection of spells and prayers created during the New Kingdom. Placed inside tombs, these papyrus scrolls provided deceased individuals with the necessary knowledge and legal arguments to pass divine judgment, survive the underworld, and achieve eternal life alongside the gods. Origins and Evolution of Funerary Spells During the Old Kingdom, Egyptian funerary texts were carved directly onto royal tomb walls. The Pyramid Texts of King Unis, who ruled during the Fifth Dynasty around 2341 BCE, represent the earliest surviving examples of these resurrection incantations. Inscribed inside his pyramid at Saqqara, these early spells were designed specifically to assist the pharaoh in rising to join the celestial deities. Beliefs surrounding the afterlife expanded significantly during the Middle Kingdom. Non-royal elites began adopting royal burial prayers, which scribes adapted into inscriptions on wooden coffins known as the Coffin Texts. By the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom, these collected prayers were compiled into papyrus scrolls known today as the Book of the Dead. Over two hundred distinct spells were recorded across various surviving scrolls. The production of papyrus scrolls allowed a wider segment of Egyptian society to purchase funerary texts. Anyone with sufficient financial resources could commission a scroll from a scribal workshop. Relatives placed the completed papyrus scroll directly inside the coffin or wrapped it within the mummy bandaging itself to protect the deceased on their journey through the netherworld. Narrative Structure on Papyrus Scrolls Scribes recorded the Book of the Dead on long scrolls manufactured from papyrus reeds. The visual style derived directly from traditional Egyptian tomb wall painting, but artisans adapted the imagery to fit the continuous horizontal band of the papyrus surface. The visual scenes accompanied the written incantations to guide the soul through each underworld trial. The papyrus scrolls used a continuous narrative format. Scribes and painters depicted the central figure multiple times across successive scenes without using dividing architectural frames. Notable examples include the scroll commissioned for the royal scribe Hunefer around 1285 BCE and the Papyrus of Ani from the Eighteenth Dynasty, both preserved in the British Museum in London. In these scrolls, text and visual illustration worked together as a functional unit. The written incantations explained the precise spoken responses required of the deceased, while the illustrations provided clear visual representations of the deities and judgment halls. This combined format ensured that the deceased possessed both the recited knowledge and visual recognition needed for safe passage. Papyrus of Ani BM Sheet 12. Public domain; source: Wikimedia Commons. The Trial of the Soul and the Scale The central ritual depicted in these papyrus scrolls is the weighing of the heart. The jackal-headed god Anubis leads the ka, representing the active soul of the deceased, into the Hall of the Two Truths while holding an ankh, the symbol of life. The deceased person was required to swear to forty-two deities overhead that they had lived a righteous life in accordance with ma'at. At the balance scales, Anubis weighs the heart of the deceased, which is contained in a small jar, against the feather of truth representing Ma'at. The ibis-headed god Thoth, acting as the court scribe, stands nearby to record the judgment outcome on a tablet. The heart had to remain light enough not to outweigh the ostrich feather of Ma'at. Ammut, a monster composed of a crocodile head, lion forelegs, and hippopotamus hindquarters, stands watching the scales greedily. If a heart weighed more than the feather due to unjust living, Ammut devoured the soul, denying it an afterlife. If the deceased passed the test without evil deeds recorded against them, Ammut went hungry and the soul proceeded forward. Presentation Before Osiris Once declared true of voice, the deceased was escorted by the falcon-headed god Horus to face Osiris. To gain entry into paradise, the dead person recited memorised prayers, which were also written on scroll leaves or coffin lids. Osiris sits in a pavilion floating above a lake of natron, the salt compound used for preserving the physical body during embalming. Osiris holds the emblems of Egyptian kingship and wears a white mummiform shroud. His wife Isis, goddess of life, and her sister Nephthys stand behind his throne. Nephthys is recognised as the mother of Anubis and a protector of the dead, while Ma'at hovers overhead to confirm that the deceased lived in ethical harmony. In front of Osiris, the four miniature sons of Horus stand upon a white lotus blossom, which acts as a symbol of rebirth. These four gods represented the cardinal directions and protected the internal organs removed during the embalming process. Their placement on the lotus blossom confirmed that the deceased had achieved spiritual resurrection. Concepts of the Soul and Paradise Ancient Egyptian theology recognised multiple overlapping aspects of human identity after death. These included the Ba, depicted as a bird with a human head, and the Sha, an image-soul that duplicated the physical appearance of the deceased. The Ka represented the active personality surviving without the physical body, maintaining its presence near the burial place. Upon passing all judgment tests, the deceased received offerings and gained access to Sekhet-hetepu, known as the Field of Peace. Texts such as the Papyrus of Ani record that righteous souls were granted cakes and permission to dwell in the presence of Osiris, ensuring their ongoing survival alongside the followers of Horus. The ultimate objective of the Book of the Dead was to secure this celestial existence. By equipping the deceased with spells to satisfy the judges and pass every trial, the scrolls provided reassurance that a life lived in accordance with divine order would be rewarded with eternal life in paradise.