Note 281 — Chapter V · EURIPIDES AND VASE PAINTING (continued 2)

Supposing the word to be a pure invention of the painter, there are still in Euripides suggestions of the name if one were seeking such for the figure. In v. 404, Medeia declares she ‘will not be a laughing-stock to the race of Sisyphos and Jason’s new alliances’; and in v. 1381, γη δε τηδε Σισύφου, the former queens would be suggested with the name Merope. It is but natural that the vase painter took the name thus suggested by Euripides.