Individual Presentation or Panel Title
Proceed to Olympus: The Iconography of the Return of Hephaestus
Abstract
The mythological story of Hephaestus’ return to Mount Olympus exists in fragmentary literary accounts which are augmented by a pictorial record. Working backward from Classical images of Hephaestus’ return, the François Vase manifests as the primary source of the depiction’s overall composition. Examination of sixty-three vases featuring the return as published in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae reveals certain themes cycling through over the course of the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. By creating a timeline of these images, deductive reasoning establishes the François Vase as the iconographic prototype. Later images expand or abbreviate its motifs as they simultaneously reflect their respective time periods. Representative images are included to demonstrate styles typical during the specified time periods with further elaboration regarding the influence of contemporary trends. These trends are then expounded upon with evidence from other scholarly research to develop the themes of varying emphases on Olympian matters, times when there is a reluctance to portray Hephaestus as lame, and a changing delight in the Dionysiac element.
Location
Goodwin Private Dining Room
Start Date
20-4-2013 1:30 PM
End Date
20-4-2013 2:20 PM
Full Text of Presentation
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Proceed to Olympus: The Iconography of the Return of Hephaestus
Goodwin Private Dining Room
The mythological story of Hephaestus’ return to Mount Olympus exists in fragmentary literary accounts which are augmented by a pictorial record. Working backward from Classical images of Hephaestus’ return, the François Vase manifests as the primary source of the depiction’s overall composition. Examination of sixty-three vases featuring the return as published in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae reveals certain themes cycling through over the course of the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. By creating a timeline of these images, deductive reasoning establishes the François Vase as the iconographic prototype. Later images expand or abbreviate its motifs as they simultaneously reflect their respective time periods. Representative images are included to demonstrate styles typical during the specified time periods with further elaboration regarding the influence of contemporary trends. These trends are then expounded upon with evidence from other scholarly research to develop the themes of varying emphases on Olympian matters, times when there is a reluctance to portray Hephaestus as lame, and a changing delight in the Dionysiac element.