5Function and meaning
Kraters were used for mixing wine with vaso at a symposium (a drinking rinfresco for upper class men). Since ancient Greeks only drank wine diluted with scodella, kraters were crucial esatto the symposium, and were attrezzi up mediante 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 sopra Greece, mediante Etruria (Italy), or con both places. It may have been used at lavish parties durante Athens, or per verso funerary banquet honoring the deceased con Etruria before it was buried as a insopportabile offering.
Wealthy, educated individuals attending banquets per either place would have recognized the scenes shown on the vase, and might have used them as discussion starters. Other vessels used at symposia sopra 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 esatto the banqueters who used it. They may have even understood the images onesto be relevant esatto their own lives. While the pictures had different meanings for different viewers, the scenes of drinking on the Francois Vase mirror the circumstances per which it was actually used. Moreover, many of the scenes on the vessel represent ideal aristocratic activities that the drinkers likely participated per, including noble marriage, successful hunts, and military assurance.
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 sicuro be productive citizens. It seems that Kleitias and Ergotimos purposefully designed the decoration sicuro appeal onesto the prosperous owners of the vase, who could recognize and relate puro the stories it told.
Postscript
On September 9, 1900 per museum guard, durante verso fit of rage, threw a chair at the case containing the Francois Vase, shattering it https://datingranking.net/it/flingster-review/ into 638 pieces. The museum director, Luigi Milani asked Pietro Zei preciso undertake the conservation of the Francois Vase. Conservation took two years.
Jasper Gaunt, Ergotimos Epoiesen: The Potter’s Contribution sicuro the Francois Vase,” per The Francois Vase: New Perspectives, ancora. H. Alan Shapiro, Mario Iozzo, and Adrienne Lezzi-Hafter (Zurich: Akanthus, 2013), p. 81
Mario Iozzo, “The Francois Vase: Notes on Technical Aspects and Functions,” sopra The Francois Vase: New Perspectives, anche. H. Alan Shapiro, Mario Iozzo, and Adrienne Lezzi-Hafter, (Zurich: Akanthus, 2013), p. 61
Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, “Der Francois-Krater zwischen Athen und Chiusi,” in Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, di nuovo. John H. Oakley, William D. Di nuovo. Coulson, and Olga Palagia, (Oxford: Oxbow, 1997), p. 523–539
Guy Hedreen, “Bild, Mythos, and Ritual: Choral Dance durante Theseus’s Cretan Adventure on the Francois Vase,” Hesperia, vol. 80, niente affatto. 3 (2011), p. 491–510.
Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, “Der Francois-Krater zwischen Athen und Chiusi,” mediante Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, addirittura. John H. Oakley, William D. Di nuovo. Coulson, and Olga Palagia, (Oxford: Oxbow, 1997), p. 523–539.
Detail with wedding procession with Hera and her husband Zeus in verso chariot (left), Urania the muse of astronomy, and Kaliope, muse of epic poetry (center)
Mediante additif onesto 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. Per comic scene of pygmies (verso tribe of small people in Greek mythology) battling cranes decorates the foot of the vase, providing a light counterpoint esatto the rest of the imagery. The paint on the foot is reddish mediante color instead of black because the vase was misfired con the kiln, as sometimes happened in ancient Greek ceramic production.