Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/601

 NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. 1:2 i previous to the an-ivul of Csesar, should render hopeless the recovery of liny knowledge of the habits and costume of the ancient Greeks from their [)ottery. Within the last thirty years, however, notwithstanding the improbability of such a discovery, excavations in Italy, on various sites occupied by early colonists from Greece Proper, have brought to light, from their tombs, or rather from their scjnilehral cliainhers [viroyaia], often of vast extent, and having entrance doors like those of dwelling-houses, considerable numbers of painted Greek vases. The quantity, tlie large size, the beauty of form, the exquisite state of preservation, and, above all, the fine style of art, combined with the infinite variety of mythical (and in some rare instances, even historical) representa- tions found on these vases, have deservedly attracted the attention of the learned of Europe ; while the Museums of London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Munich, and others, besides many private collections, have been perma- nently enriched by these treasures of ancient art. Setting aside the learned and valuable archaeological explanations and dissertations on these objects, as not adapted for general appreciation, we may place among the more popular and attractive uses, to which the discovery of these fictile vases has led, the classical work before us, of M. Panofka. In it we shall find, that the illustration of Grecian manners and customs, afiorded by the paintings observable on these remarkable specimens of the perfection to which the Greeks earned the art of pottery, has been most dexterously turned to account by the author, as well as by the translator. Among the difficulties against which both have had to contend, was the fact that the materials were not positively or directly adapted for the elucidation of their main object. It is evident that the ancient painters of vases never intended to present us with pictures of Grecian society, any more than that the fair and royal personage, who is said to have been the means of sending down to us the Bayeux tapestry, had any thought of delighting us with the details of Norman manners and costume ; or the painter of a picture of the siege of Troy, in an illuminated manuscript of the twelfth or thirteenth century, intended to give us a notion of the architecture, arms, or armour, of his period. M. Panoflva truly states in his opening pages, that the artists of antiquity, in the selection of their subjects, seem never to have descended to repre- sentations of real life on vases. Art was almost exclusively devoted to the illustration of their mythology and religious traditions. The feeling which thus influenced their works, gave necessarily an individuality even to each single figure. This- is illustrated by the frontispiece of the work before us, which represents a group of five persons, two of whom are playing the game of astragali. The individuality of each of these five females has been fully pointed out, by the artist having inscribed the name of each near her. In like manner, if we perceive the picture of a warrior on a vase, it will prove to be Achilles, Hector, or some other traditional hero. Do we see an infant represented ? We shall discover it to be Bacchus or Hercules, by some symbol or accessory object. But althougli we must thus seek '• the materials for a sketch of Greek society," " in the sphere of Gods and heroes,"' no doubt can exist as to the