Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Vase Interpretation?

Based upon Dr. Castellani's presentation and your notes, evaluate this black/red figure vase image.  Please decode through commentary.  Think about direction, borders, placement, and symbols or manifestations.  This blog response is a quiz and should be completed during class today.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

The image depicts the birth of Athena who sprouted from the head of Zeus. They are surrounded by gods because they are there for the birth and all are either on the immortal side or looking upon it. Athena also is defying the normal borders which is very common for her in art.

Anonymous said...

There are many figures on this vase, such as what seems to be Athena bleeding through the border as she frequently does in the Greek Vase Art. The only odd thing I notice about this vase is the creature that Zeus is sitting on, looking a lot like a sphinx from ancient Egypt. But overall it seems like the gods are all having a meeting, showing and speaking with each other as there is an issue with the humans, or possibly another god is causing them trouble. I only wish I knew the name of the piece, as it would be beneficial with uncovering what the true story is behind making this vase.

Anonymous said...

In the center of the image, you can see Zeus holding his lightning bolts,facing the right, which is the more divine side of the images. Out of Zeus's head, Athena is jumping out, and she is jumping and clashing with the border, as I learned on Tuesday, she often breaks borders in mythology, and is represented here. To the left of Zeus your can see Hermes with his winged boots, and Apollo with his lyre. To the right of Zeus, I believe is Hera and Athena, Athena holding her shield and wearing her helm.

Anonymous said...

On this black/red vase image, there are 6 greek Gods, 4 facing to the right and 2 facing to the left. This represents immorality versus morality. The characters that are right in the center of the vase seem to be Zeus and Athena because in Dr.Castellani's presentation he mentioned Athena being born from Zeus's head fully armored. Also, the only area where borders are not clear is where Athena is coming out of Zeus's head, which Dr.Castellani mentioned is frequent in black/red vases.

Anonymous said...

The vase shows a meeting of the gods. Zeus is sitting on a throne-like seat, he holds his famous lighting bolts, He talks to his family. He faces his wife. The lord of the sky also what appears to be Hermes and Apollo behind him with their lyre. And an armed woman is in his head. The shows the birth of Athena out of Zeus's head. Behind Athena is an armored soldier, possible areas the god of war. The border of the vase is that of a chain which describes the immortality of the gods. This vase seems to depict the gods of Olympus in council.

Anonymous said...

This is when Athena come from Zeus’s head, Zeus is in the middle represented with his thunderbolts and the tiny Athena coming from his head. Athena is breaking the top boundary as normal and no one else is. They both face the divine side or the right side as representing they are divine gods.

Anonymous said...

The image shows Athena being birthed from the head of Zeus. All the gods around appear to be holding weapons and shields possibly preparing to give these to Athena as gifts. Or maybe they could be holding weapons to prepare for a battle if Athena were to attack them due to her natural instinct of war. Athena is also the only person who is breaking the boundary of the pot showing she rebels.

Anonymous said...

The first god I noticed in this picture was Athena, she is jumping from Zeus's head because that's how she was born. I know the person in the middle is Zeus because the girl in the background is athena. Everyone is surrounding Zeus because he is the king of the gods. As for Athena it's showing her going past the boundaries because that's what she does, Athena has no boundaries. As you can see, Poseidon is on the right because he's holding his trident. Prometheus is the one holding the axe on the left.

Anonymous said...

Obviously the main purpose of the picture is to symbolize the birth of Athena when she sprouts out of Zeus's head. The characters around them seem to be other gods who are observing the birth. This image has many human like figures, even though none of their faces look like people we see today. They seem to care a lot about war because of the shield. spears, and helmets present with nearly every character. The vase seems pretty symmetrical with 2 people on each side of the one in the middle and the top section seems to be vaguely familiar.They don't seem to be wearing modern day clothing but instead seem to have one piece clothing on with large spaces on their sides. Zeus definitely portrays a god with him being sat on a extremely nice chair with people surrounding him while he seems to be ordering for someone to do something.

Anonymous said...

This image shows the birth of Athena. It seems like the other gods are surrounding witnessing her birth from the head of Zeus. The figure behind Zeus is kind of a mystery to me, it looks like it could be a bird perched on a shoe of some sort. As well as the seat Zeus is sitting on. I also took notice to two other gods, Poseidon, holding his trident on the right, and Prometheus holding his axe is on the left.

Anonymous said...

IT looks like a celebration between the Gods. Zeus is in the center because he is holding the lightning bolt. The reason why i think it is a celebration is because of the banner at the top of the vase. They also made Athena popping out of Zeus head which correlates to what Dr. Castilani was talking about.

Anonymous said...

This black/red vase depicts the birth of Athena. In the middle it shows Zeus with Athena coming out of his head. We know its Zeus in the middle because he is Athena's father. He birthed her out of his head. We also know its Athena because she is coming out of Zeus's head and is carrying her weapon, the spear, and a shield. While Zeus is giving birth to Athena there are multiple gods surrounding him. We can assume the first god to his right is his wife Hera. But the other 3 are a bit difficult to tell as they have defining drawings on them. For examples if it was Hermes he would have his sandals. But the gods to the right are more divine then the ones to left are more of mortals due to their positioning on the vase. It looks as if the god to Zeus's left is carrying a gift of some sort to give to him. Overall the vase depicts the birth of Zeus's daughter Athena.

Ethan H

Anonymous said...

Zeus is in the middle of the whole vase, and he is sitting down while the others are standing, and that means that the Greeks saw that he was the most superior being. Athena is in the background and smaller than the others, but her helmet goes above the boarders, and that means that she is defying boundaries, and going past what people expect of her. I nothiced that the gods that favor the mortals are more to the left and the gods that don't are more to the right. I also noticed that the gods have factors that show you who they are, like Hermes has his hat, Zeus has his lighting bolt and Ares has his helmet.

Anonymous said...

On this vase many gods are gathered around Zeus as he births Athena out of his forehead after he swallowed her mother, you can tell that it Athena because she was born with her spear and her sheild in hand

Anonymous said...

On this vase i noticed the god in the middle. This God might be Zeus because Athena is coming forth from his head. The Myth of Athena says that she was born from the head of Zeus. Also he Helmet goes over the decorative border as a symbol of what she can and was mean't to do. Next i see what Zeus is holding because Zeus is holding it, it must be very important.

Anonymous said...

In this image, you first see the people. The Guy in the center is holding what looks like energy or lightning bolts. I believe this guy is Zeus. Out of his head is a woman with a spear and shield, clashing into the upper border of the image This is Athena, who was born from Zeus's head with a shield and spear, often said to be breaking through borders. In front of Zeus is possibly Hera, and another God. The other God may be Ares, but it is hard to tell. Ares isn't Mentioned much and is, in this case, wearing a full set of Armor. I think its Ares because all the others on the vase are Gods. The two behind Zeus are probably also Gods. The one closest to Zeus is Apollo, holding what I think is a Lyre. Behind him may be Hermes, judging by what was said, and what he is usually wearing.

Anonymous said...

In the center of the vase is Zeus sitting down and he is giving birth to Athena. Athena was born from his head. She was born with both her spear and shield in hand. There are also other gods watching this happen. There is also the thought of Athena moving toward the like that is more god like although she should not be. Athena is also shown as a smaller figure most likely to distinguish that she is being born. Zeus also has lightning bolts in his hand which is a typical symbol that is used to represent him.

Anonymous said...

This vase is all about the birth of Athena. She is being birthed out of Zeus's head. Other than that is is a celebration of a sort, detected by the banner at the top. To me it seems that the people around Zeus are honoring or celebrating him in a whole or valuable actions. Im guessing this because first zeus is in the middle sitting on a seat, while everyone else is standing, he is also holding his lighting bolt and looks as though he is commanding others.Everyone else almost just normal/mortal looking. Not a superior then Zeus.

Anonymous said...

The vase is about the birth of Athena being birthed out of Zeus' head fully armed. Zeus is in the center because he is the top god. Hera seems to be by Zeus on our right since she is the wife of Zeus. Athena is crossing the normal borders which symbolizes her independence. There seem to be other gods there with them but Apollo is the only one I could figure out since it looks like he's holding a lyre. Zeus and Hera look like their fighting which makes sense because he isn't very loyal to him so she might have thought he had another affair. Also, Zeus is holding what looks to be his lighting bolts which also symbolizes that it's him in the vase.

Anonymous said...

This vase looks like Athena is being born and she is coming out of the top of Zeus head. It looks like people are like honoring Zeus because he is sitting and everyone else is standing and there like celebrating Athena being born.

Anonymous said...

The borders of the vase are uninterrupted, meaning that the characters of the story haven't gone outside of their jurisdiction in this scene. Athena is also using her primary manifestation as a goddess, complete with helmet and spear as she has no need to be in any other form in order to aid.

Anonymous said...

The image on the vase depicts/ shows Athena growing out of the top of Zeus head. I think it might be representing how Athena was born from Zeus. I believe there are four god/goddesses depicted on the vase, Hera, Zeus, Athena, and another god, but I'm not sure who it is.

Anonymous said...

This image symbolizes the birth of Athena. Athena is pictured above zeus’ head. The greek gods appear to be celebrated all gathered together. Athena’s placement above Zeus’ head supports the myth of her being born from his head.The size of Athena compared to the other gods suggest that she is possibly younger or seen as less superior than the rest of the gods.
Based on the amount of helmets, shields and spears. I'm assuming their meeting has to do with Zeus because he is the only one sitting,sitting on a sort of throne.

Anonymous said...

On the vase there is a painting of Zeus giving birth to Athena.She is coming out of his head while other gods watch.Almost like a celebration.He's sitting on his throne so you know he's the main attraction.

Anonymous said...

On the black/red figure vase, there’s six figures. One figure is in the distance towards the back of the vase and the other five are up close towards the front of the vase. The vase is painted in a yellow background and the figures are red and black. It’s easy to tell that one of the figures is a woman while the other figures are men. The figure that is in the distant is Athena being born out of Zeus’s head. The other gods seem to be worshiping Zeus who is on one knee and has a figure coming out of his head. It’s easy to tell that the figure in the background is Athena because of her spear and shield.