Note 269 — Chapter V · EURIPIDES AND VASE PAINTING

Robert in Die antiken Sarkophag-Reliefs, ii. p. 205–217, gives all the literature; cf. also pl. 62–65. Vid. Arch. Ztg. 1866, p. 234 ff.; Annali d. Inst. 1869, p. 5 ff.; Urlichs’ Würzburger Programm, ein Medea-Sarkophag, 1888. (This fine sarcophagus is now in the Berlin museum.) Robert and Urlichs have, to my mind, shown conclusively that these reliefs go back to Euripides’ Medeia for their literary source. Notwithstanding that they all date from about the second century A.D., and could thus be based on various Roman plays, the arrangement of the events on the reliefs bears a remarkable similarity to the scenes in Euripides. The reliefs on the long sides are taken up with exactly the scenes of the Greek poet. Those on the ends are but indifferently worked out, and often do not represent any events in the Medeia-Jason adventures.