Comparison between attic eye cup and odyssey

Comparison between attic eye cup and odyssey

Mythical beings were common in ancient Greek history. People in Greece revered these ancient mythical beings, even though most of them were fictional. The mystical beings provided various meanings and implications to the Greek society since they were part of the Greek system. Many were regarded as great warriors who were used to protect the Greek society. The study will analyze some of these Greek mythical beings to unravel their definition, paintings and further conduct a comparison with other paintings from other Greek mythical beings. Specifically, the study will conduct an assessment on attic eye cup by Amasis painter and later compare it with the Odyssey vase painting.

Attic eye-cup vase painting

The Attic eye-cup is one of the most famous vase paintings in Greek history. The art is credited to the Amasis painter, who is known for iconic and humorous paintings. The paintings by the artists focused primarily on a black stylistic nature but the painting, which forms as the focus of this study, mainly followed a borderline case. The painting is believed to have been made anywhere between 550 to 510 B.C. The time of the creation of this painting coincided with the creation of a red-figure pottery style that was popular at the time. The Amasis painter has been credited by many as one of the founders of the red-figure style of painting. Despite the fact that the history of the painter is not known to many, there are some indications that he may have traced his origin to Egypt and was working in Greece at the time of the creation of this painting (Harrison, and MacColl).

The painting is perceived to be an amalgamation of Odysseus and the sirens or may also have been linked to the Egyptian culture where the painter traced his origins. The vase was depicted as a shallow cup with handles on both sides of the vase and an elevated foot. The handles and the foot are covered in a black slip, while the rest of the parts of the vase including the body vessel, background and background are all covered in a red slip (Harrison).

At the center of the vase, where the entire base of the cup is filled is the picture of a siren. Similar to other siren drawings, there is the depiction of the head of a woman and the body of a bird. The drawing was meticulous and encapsulated a fine depiction of each feature including the hair, feathers and face. It seems like the painter was experimenting with the black-figure style. The style is depicted in the arms where the left arm reaches out to the right arm and reaches the bottom of the feathered bird. Also, it was also depicted in the face. The painter also adjusted the black figure and rather incorporated the use of facial attributes. The artists did not, however, showcase the face with entirely black color and thinned the face as a way of enabling the viewer to see the mouth, ears and eyes of the siren. The hair was black in color as well as the wings, which extended on both sides of the painting. The painter displayed the hairstyle in an archaic nature, by painting curls that transcended downwards and were held by a hairband at the back (Harrison, and MacColl).

The body of the bird, on the other hand, revealed the sense of humor, which Amasis is famously known for.   In the place of the eye-cups, the painter painted an eye-siren. The above was made possible through the use of the body to fill the room between the vase handles. Also, the eyes were placed on the chest as ornaments (Harrison).

The Odyssey

There are some similarities as well between the Attic eye-cup and the odyssey. The odyssey painting depicts two people, a man and a woman. The man is seated while the woman is standing, and it seems like the woman is handing a gift to the man. There seems like there is another person behind the woman who is holding a spear, so it seems like the man was a king and there was, therefore, a group of soldiers who were standing in front of him to protect him. It seems like the king is holding a sword, but it does not seem like he wants to harm anyone. The woman seems like she is known to the king, presumably his wife, who is the queen or one of his daughters. The mixture of colors aligns on a large part, but there are some differences as will be unravelled below. The odyssey does not have an inclusion of gorgonian like the Attic painting. The artist of the odyssey painting focused primarily on drawings at the edge of the auspices. Homer, who is the author of this patenting, described it as depicting of decorations of pure gold that were tightly fixed to each other. One of the most notable areas of focus or characteristic of this painting was on the brush techniques that are revealed through the paintings’ geometry and meticulousness of the colors. The artist was, however restricted in the use of colors since he only used two colors, which were the yellow color and the black color. The yellow color was used on the individuals while the background color was black (Harrison, and MacColl).

In conclusion, the study affirms that there are similarities as well as differences between the attic eye cup and the odyssey. The two are some of the most popular Greek paintings and were drawn at the onset of the 20^th century. It is clear that the attic eye cup was the first paintings to be developed, and may, therefore, have influenced the creation of the odyssey vase paintings. Artists of both paintings used an assortment of colors to display these mystical figures whose influence in Greek society is has spanned for decades. It is palpable that the study has revealed the use and essence of vase paintings in Greek history.