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The Trojan Horse in Classical Art1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

B. A. Sparkes
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Extract

The Trojan War has been perennially interesting, whether study centres on works of imaginative literature such as the epic poems of Homer and Virgil, the historical situation which provided the subject for those poems, the Bronze Age world of Troy and Mycenae which formed a background to the war, or the post-classical reworking of the material in the medieval Troy romances, Shakespeare, or Giraudoux. As well as supplying writers with incidents and episodes, the story of the war has given to artists a seemingly inexhaustible supply of themes on which their fancy feeds. A great proportion of Greek and Roman art can be connected with legends that stem from the Trojan War, and the whole complex of myths and history has proved a potent source for later artists. The theme chosen here is that of the Trojan Horse, and we shall look at some ways in which artists in antiquity viewed the incident.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , April 1971 , pp. 54 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1971

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References

page 54 note 2 Interest in the Trojan Horse has been stimulated over the past ten years by the work of Professor R. G. Austin, who lectured at the Triennial Meeting at Cambridge in 1958 on ‘Vergil and the Wooden Horse’, published the following year in JRS xlix (1959), 16–25.Google Scholar Since then, Professor Austin has published his edition of Virgil, , Aeneid ii (Oxford, 1964)Google Scholar, enlivened by three choice pictures. The other major stimulus has been the discovery in 1961 of a seventh-century representation of the Wooden Horse (see p. 56, n. 4).

page 55 note 1 Opinions have been numerous, but have mainly centred on a (misunderstood) oriental siege engine (such as are found on Assyrian reliefs) or a ship, both ideas current in antiquity. Magic also has its advocates.

page 55 note 2 London BM 3205, from Thebes (?): Hampe, R., Frühe griechische Sagenbilder in Böotien (Athens, 1936), pls. 2–3Google Scholar; Schefold, K., Myth and Legend in Early Greek Art (London, 1966), pl. 6a.Google Scholar

page 56 note 1 For the Tenedos troops see Johansen, F., The Iliad in Early Greek Art (Copenhagen, 1967), 28–30Google Scholar, where he suggests the same explanation for the upper frieze of the Mykonos Horse (p. 56 n. 4).

page 56 note 2 Homer, , Odyssey iv. 271–89Google Scholar, viii. 492–5, 511–15, xi. 523–32, and cf. Iliad xv. 71.

page 56 note 3 For the ancient evidence for the content and authorship of these two epics see Allen, T. W.'s Oxford text of Homer, vol. v, pp. 106–8Google Scholar (Proclus' summary) and 127–40. See also Huxley, G., Greek Epic Poetry (London, 1969), ch. xi.Google Scholar

page 56 note 4 Mykonos, from Mykonos: Ervin, M., AD xviii (1963), 37 ff.Google Scholar, pls. 17–28; Boardman, J., Greek Art (London, 1964), 58Google Scholar, fig. 47; Schefold, Myth and Legend, pl. 34–5; Johansen, The Iliad in Early Greek Art, 27, fig. 1 and 29, fig. 2. I would like to thank Mrs. Miriam Ervin Caskey for permission to publish this pithos.

For a fragment of a contemporary pithos also showing the Trojan Horse, see Tenos 186: PAA, 1949, 131, fig. 15; Schäfer, J., Studien zu den griechischen Reliefpithoi des 8–6 Jahrhunderts v. Chr. aus Kreta, Rhodes, Tenos und Boiotien (Kallmünz, 1957), 72, T 15 and 84.Google Scholar

page 57 note 1 Names and numbers varied with different authors. Homer names a modest five (Od. iv. 271–89: Menelaos, Odysseus, Diomedes, Antiklos, and xi. 505–32: Neoptolemos), though he admits without naming ‘all the best’ (Od. iv. 272–3 = viii. 512–13). On numbers see Austin's article and edition mentioned on p. 54 n. 2.

page 57 note 2 On the lyric poets and this theme see Bowra, C. M., Greek Lyric Poetry (Oxford, 1961), 102–6Google Scholar (Stesichoros' Sack of Troy), 242, 244, 253 (Ibykos' Sack of Troy). For the fragments of Stesichoros relating to the Sack see Page, D. L., Poetae Melici Graeci (Oxford, 1962), nos. 196–205Google Scholar and P. Oxy. 2619. No certain fragment of Ibykos' Sack is known, but he has many references to Trojan incidents which might be connected; for the fragments of Ibykos see Page, PMG, nos. 282–345. On Sacadas see Athenaeus xiii. 610 c, Plutarch de musica 9 (1134 b), Pausanias ix. 30. 2, x. 7. 4.

page 57 note 3 Paris, Cab. Méd. 186 (de Ridder), from Caere: Fröhner, W., JDAI vii (1892), pl. 2 and pp. 28–31Google Scholar; CVA i (7), pl. 18 (302) 1–7 and text p. 15, fig. 2; Payne, H. G. G., Necrocorinthia (Oxford, 1931)Google Scholar, no. 1281; Schefold, Myth and Legend, 92, fig. 39.

page 58 note 1 Berlin F 1723, from Orbetello: Zschietzschmann, W., JDAI xlvi (1931), 51Google Scholar, fig. 5; Beazley, J. D., Attic Black-figure Vase-painters (Oxford, 1956), pp. 314, 695Google Scholar; Walter, H., MDAI (A) Ixxvii (1962), Beil. 54, 1.Google Scholar

page 59 note 1 New York, Metr. Mus. 32. 11. 7 (Fletcher Fund), said to be from Populonia: Richter, G. M. A., Catalogue of Engraved Gems, Greek, Etruscan and Roman, in the Metr. Mus. of Art (Rome, 1956), 43Google Scholar, no. 164, pl. 27; Scherer, M., The Legends of Troy in Art and Literature (London, 1963), 253Google Scholar; Richter, G. M. A., The Engraved Gems of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans i (London, 1968)Google Scholar, no. 808. Richter (Cat. 43) mentions other gems which carry the subject of the Trojan Horse.

page 59 note 2 See Lesches' Little Iliad (Homer, , OCT v, p. 132 XII).Google Scholar

page 59 note 3 There are of course many references in extant fifth-century tragedy to the Trojan Horse, e.g. Aeschylus, Agam. 821–8; Euripides, Tro. 511–76, Hec. 905–52.

page 59 note 4 Pausanias x. 26. 2 (Overbeck, J., Schriftquellen [Leipzig, 1868], no. 1050).Google Scholar See Robert, K., ‘Die Iliupersis des Polygnot’ in Siebzehntes Hallisches Winckelmanns programm (Halle, 1893)Google Scholar, and Robertson, , ABSA Ixii (1967), 6–10.Google Scholar

page 59 note 5 Pausanias i. 15. 2 (Overbeck, Schriftquellen, no. 1054).

page 60 note 1 Munich 2650, from Vulci: Kluge, K., JDAI xliv (1929), 25Google Scholar, fig. 15; Beazley, , Attic Red-figure Vase-painters (Oxford, 1963), p. 401Google Scholar, no. 2, the Foundry Painter. Beazley cautiously accepts the Trojan connection on account of the clothing.

page 60 note 2 Florence, Mus. Arch. V 57, from Chiusi: Yalouris, N., MH vii (1950), 49Google Scholar, fig. 8; Scherer, Legends, no, fig. 88; Beazley, ARV, p. 838, no. 30, the Sabouroff Painter. Scherer and Beazley accept the connection with the Trojan Horse. Is it possible that the painter has used Polygnotos' Horse's head on the Delphi picture to fit his design?

page 60 note 3 Berlin F 2415, from Capua: CVA (22), pl. 145 (1074) 1, with bibliography; Beazley, ARV, p. 776, 1 and 1669, The Group of Berlin 2415; Führer durch die Antikenabteilung, Gehrig, bearbeitet von U., Greifenhagen, A., Kunisch, N. (Berlin, 1968), pl. 83.Google Scholar

page 60 note 4 Pausanias i. 23.8; schol. on Aristophanes Av. 1128; Hesychius s.v. δο⋯ριος ἴппος; Overbeck, Schriftquellen, nos. 884–6, 888.

page 60 note 5 Overbeck, Schriftquellen, no. 887; Raubitschek, A. E., Dedications from the Athenian Acropolis (Cambridge, Mass., 1949)Google Scholar, no. 176. The pedestal originally consisted of six blocks of which four are now extant.

page 61 note 1 Pausanias x. 9. 12; Overbeck, Schriftquellen, no. 1006.

page 61 note 2 Würzburg H 4695: H. Bulle, AE 1937, 474, fig. i; Dinsmoor, W. B., Hesperia ix (1940), 48Google Scholar, fig. 18; MDAI (A) Ixxvii (1962), Beil. 54. 2.

page 61 note 3 Walter, H., MDAI (A) Ixxvii (1962), 193–6.Google Scholar

page 61 note 4 The connection between lost illustrated manuscripts and the extant representations in other media has been a constant subject for study, and there is still much disagreement about it. The main argument concerns the likelihood of small illustrations on papyri having much influence on works of larger scale. See Jahn, O. and Michaelis, A., Griechische Bilderchroniken (Bonn, 1873)Google Scholar, Robert, K., ‘Homerische Becher’ in Fünfzigstes Programm zum Winckelmannsfeste der archäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin (Berlin, 1890)Google Scholar, Weitzmann, K., Illustrations in Roll and Codex (Princeton, 1947)Google Scholar and Ancient Book Illumination (Cambridge, Mass., 1959).

page 62 note 1 The most recent full treatment of ‘Homeric’ bowls is in Hausmann, U., Hellenistische Reliefbecher (Stuttgart, 1959).Google Scholar

page 62 note 2 Berlin 3161 k, from Tanagra: Robert, ‘Becher’, 69–73, IX and 69, fig. a; Brüning, A., JDAI ix (1894), 161Google Scholar, fig. 34; Courby, F., Les Vases grecs à reliefs (Paris, 1922), 307Google Scholar, no. 34 and 308, fig. 59; Hausmann, HR, pl. 41, 1 and p. 56, HB 32; Weitzmann, ABI, pl. 25, fig. 57.

page 62 note 3 Volos, from Phthiotic Thebes: Arvanitopoulos, A., AE 1910Google Scholar, pl. 2, figs. 6, 11, 12, 13, 14; Courby, 287, no. 11; Hausmann, HR, p. 57 HB 45. This vase was made in a different mould from the complete bowl and on it there are remains of a front hoof, a wheel, and part of a ladder; also Athena is named.

page 63 note 1 Winter, F., Die Skulpturen mit Ausnahme der Altarreliefs (Berlin, 1908)Google Scholar, no. 357 in Altertümer von Pergamon vii. Another representation of the making of the Horse appears on a fourth-century Etruscan mirror, Paris. Cab. Méd.: Overbeck, Die Bildwerke zum Thebischen und Troischen Heldenkreis (1857), 609Google Scholar no. 84, pl. 25, 4; Gerhard, E., Körte, G., and Klugman, A., Etruskische Spiegel ii (Berlin, 1845), pl. 235, 2.Google Scholar

page 63 note 2 The Tabulae Iliacae have been recently restudied by Sadurska, A., Les Tables iliaques (Warsaw, 1964)Google Scholar with full bibliography.

page 64 note 1 Rome, Museo Capitolino, Sala delle Columbe 83, from Bovillae on the Appian Way (?): Jahn, O. and Michaelis, A., Griechische Bilderchroniken (Bonn, 1873), pl. 1Google Scholar; A Catalogue of the Ancient Sculptures preserved in the Municipal Collections of Rome, the Sculptures of the Museo Capitolino (ed. Stuart-Jones, H., Oxford, 1912), pl. 41Google Scholar; Weitzmann, ABI, pl. 24, fig. 56; Scherer, Legends, p. xi, fig. 1; Sadurska, TI, pl. 1.

page 64 note 2 On the connection between Stesichoros and the Tabula Capitolina see Bowra, Greek Lyric Poetry (1961), 104–6; contra see Page, PMG, no. 205. The episode of the escape of Aeneas and his family from Troy is a subject for art as early as the late sixth century in Athens and is popular in Etruria; Schauenburg, K., Gymnasium Ixvii (1960), 176–91Google Scholar, and now Galinsky, G. K., Aeneas, Sicily and Rome (London, 1969).Google Scholar

page 66 note 1 Naples inv. 9040 (from Pompeii ix 7 16): Dawson, C., ‘Romano-Campanian Mythological Landscape Painting’, YCS ix (1944), 85, no. 12 and pl. 4.Google Scholar

page 66 note 2 Naples inv. 9010: Dawson, 86, no. 13 and pl. 5; Maiuri, A., Roman Painting (Geneva, 1953), 75Google Scholar;, Rumpf, A., Malerei und Zeichnung (Munich, 1953), pl. 63Google Scholar, 4; Scherer, Legends, 115, fig. 93; Wheeler, R. E. Mortimer, Roman Art and Architecture (London, 1964), 195, fig. 180.Google Scholar

page 66 note 3 For the sacred column and tree see Dawson, 129, and Haynes, D. E. L., JHS Ixxxviii (1968), 58–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 67 note 1 Pompeii 1 10 4 (Menander's House): Maiuri, A., La casa del Menandro, e il suo tesoro di argenteria (Rome, 1932), 45Google Scholar, fig. 18 and pl. 5; Dawson, 113, no. 72.

page 67 note 2 A fourth painting is very fragmentary, but seems to go with the two similar versions (p. 66, nn. 1 and 2), Naples inv. 9893: Dawson, 86, no. 14.

page 67 note 3 See Robert, K., Rodenwaldt, G., and Rumpf, A., Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs (Berlin, 1890–)Google Scholar; Strong, D. E., Roman Imperial Sculpture (London, 1961), 46 ff.Google Scholar

page 67 note 4 Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Michaelis 111: Heydemann, H., Iliupersis (Berlin, 1866), pl. 2, 3Google Scholar; Robert, K., etc., Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs ii. 73–5, pl. 26, 64Google Scholar; Weitzmann, ABI, pl. 23, 54.

page 68 note 1 For the mixed art of the North-West Province of India see Buchthal, H., PBA xxxi (1945), 151–76Google Scholar, Wheeler, , Antiquity xxiii (1949), 4–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Soper, A. C., AJA Iv (1951), 301–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Rowland, B., The Art and Architecture of India (London, 1953), 75–122Google Scholar, Wheeler, , Rome beyond the Imperial Frontiers (London, 1954), 154–71Google Scholar, Rayonnement des civilisations grecque et romaine sur les cultures périphériques (Paris, 1965), 555–65.Google Scholar

page 68 note 2 Wylie Collection (from Charsada?): Allen, J., JHS Ixvi (1946), 21–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar and fig. 1; Wheeler, , Rome beyond the Imperial Frontiers, pl. 34Google Scholar; Weitzmann, , ABI, pl. 23Google Scholar, fig. 55; Austin, Virgil, , Aeneid ii, pl. 1Google Scholar (facing p. 48); Wheeler, , Roman Art and Architecture, 228Google Scholar, fig. 212.

page 68 note 3 For the Dura excavations see Cumont, F., Fouilles de Dura-Europos 1922–23 (Paris, 1926)Google Scholar, Excavations at Dura-Europos (Preliminary and Final Reports), ed. Baur, P. V. C., Rostovtzeff, M. I., Welles, C. B., and others (New Haven, 1929–)Google Scholar, Rostovtzeff, , Caravan Cities (Oxford, 1932)Google Scholar, Dura-Europos and its Art (Oxford, 1938)Google Scholar, Colledge, M. A. R., The Parthians (London, 1967).Google Scholar

page 68 note 4 New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery 1933. 480: AJA xxxix (1935), 297Google Scholar, fig. 4; Excavations at Dura-Europos 7th and 8th Seasons, 1933–34, 1934–35, ed. Rostovtzeff, M. I., Brown, F. E., and Welles, C. B. (New Haven, 1939), pls. 41–2 and pp. 326–49.Google Scholar

page 69 note 1 Déchelette, J., Les Vases céramiques ornés de la Gaule romaine ii (Paris, 1904), 349Google Scholar, no. 158, found in the vicinity of Vienne.

page 69 note 2 Vatican, cod. lat. 3225 (Vaticanus), fol. 19 recto: Fragmenta et picturae Vergiliana Codicis Vaticani Latini 3225 (3rd edn., Vatican, 1945), pl. 19Google Scholar, no. 14; de Wit, J., Die Miniaturen des Vergilius Vaticanus (Amsterdam, 1959), p. 53Google Scholar, pl. 8, fig. 2 and pl. 30, fig. 1, no. 14; Weitzmann, ABI, pl. 31, fig. 68. Lowe, E. A., Codices Latini Antiquiores i (Oxford, 1934), p. 5Google Scholar, gives the place of origin as Rome.

page 69 note 3 Vaticanus, cod. lat. 3867 (Romanus), fol. 101 recto: [Ehrle, F.], Picturae ornamenta complura scripturae specimina codicis Vaticani 3867 qui Codex Vergilii Romanus audit (Rome, 1902)Google Scholar, no. 14; Weitzmann, ABI, pl. 31, fig. 69; Austin Virgil, Aeneid ii, frontispiece; Lowe, op. cit. p. 7, says that the origin of this manuscript is uncertain.

page 70 note 1 Florence, codex Riccardianus 881, fol. 59 recto: Austin, Virgil, Aeneid ii, pl. 2 (facing p. 110). The date might be as late as the late thirteenth century.

page 70 note 2 Brussels 3897–919. Information on this twelfth-century manuscript was kindly supplied by A. Keith Bate of Reading University, who is making a study of the Troy legends in later times.

page 70 note 3 The theme of the Trojan Horse is popular in all periods of later art. On these later periods see Scherer, Legends, Appendix B 238–53, with figs. 89, 94, and 95.