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The fight between Heracles and Triton on Athenian black-figure vases

• Δάναλη-Γκιολέ, Αικατερίνη

The article attempts to interpret the replacement of Nereus by Triton in the scenes of the fight with Heracles on Athenian black-figure vases, a matter on which literary tradition is silent.The fight between Heracles and Triton was first depicted in 560 BC by the Heidelberg Painter. After 530, however, Triton rather than Nereus is predominant.The following observations were made:1. In the representations of Heracles and Triton, Nereids are used as a filling element, either departing, dancing or gesturing vigorously. One of them has the name Galene, like the maenad on the psykter by Euphronios, which points towards Dionysos and Boeotia. 2. From Boeotia, however, in 590 BC (at the time when in Attica Nereus was being depicted) we have a representation of the fight with Triton. 3. Triton appears for the first time on the Athenian black-figure vases painted by the Heidelberg Painter, who was a) the first Attic painter to depict Dionysos with all his attributes, and b) in a representation of the apotheosis of Heracles, he depicts Dionysos in the place of Heracles. 4. The first inscription of the name Triton on a vase comes from Exekias, the painter who chiefly served the political ends of Peisistratos. 5. The common iconographie elements of Heracles and Dionysos are emphasized on the Athenian black-figure vases during the second half of the 6th c. BC. 6. There is a Boeotian tradition connecting Heracles and Dionysos, which in fact mentions that Dionysos defeated Triton in a fight. 7. The cult of Dionysos was brought from Boeotia to Athens by Peisistratos.Considering the above observations we come to the conclusion that the replacement of Nereus by Triton in the scenes of the fight with Heracles on the Athenian black-figure vases, possibly is due to the Heidelberg Painter, who knewing the Boetian tradition that came to Athens with the worship of the new god Dionysos. After that the next vase painter adopted the new iconographical type, which is predominant until the end of the 6th c. BC on the Athenian black-figure vases.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Decorative arts
• Pottery, Greek

Η υπογράφουσα ευχαριστεί θερμά τον καθηγητή του Πανεπιστημίου της Οξφόρδης Sir J. Boardman, που είχε την καλοσύνη να διαβάσει το κείμενο αυτό και βρήκε ενδιαφέρουσα την άποψη που διαπραγματεύεται, καθώς και την Έφορο Αρχαιοτήτων κ. Ηώ Ζερβουδάκη για τις παρατηρήσεις της., Πίνακες 81-84 βλέπε τέλος τεύχους, Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες