Note 200 — Chapter V · EURIPIDES AND VASE PAINTING

The same group of divinities, with the exception of Apollo, occurs on the Naples amphora, no. 3256, pub. Mon. d. Inst. ii. 30, and Robert, Die Marathonschlacht, p. 37; Robert calls attention to the fact that this is an essentially Athenian assembly. Poseidon, Athena, and Pan were inseparably associated with the Acropolis, the latter, of course, after the battle of Marathon. The Naples vase represents a battle between Greeks and barbarians, and according to Robert’s theory is dependent upon Polygnotos’ painting in the Stoa Poikile. As participants and spectators the gods occur in the upper section. Athena, indeed, whirls into line on her chariot. If this ingenious theory has hit the gist of the matter regarding the Naples painting, then we may also claim the group of gods on the Hippolytos vase as peculiarly Athenian. And such would be very appropriate for a picture that represented an Attic tragedy, whose hero had a cult under the shadow of the Acropolis.