Atalanta as Model: The Hunter and the Hunted - Robert Bedrosian's ...

BARRINGER: Atalanta as Model 67
Ibycus frag. 282A (viii) fr. 11 (5176) lines 11-14; Apollodorus 3. 9. 2; Hyginus,
Fabulae 273; and by the twelfth-century A.D. Tzetzes, Chiliades 12.937.93 In each
case, her presence is mentioned only in passing and no details are given. In spite
of the dearth of literary evidence for Atalanta's wrestling with Peleus, the theme
thrived in vase painting, a caveat to those who would try to match literary sources
to artistic depictions on a one-to-one basis. The images are almost entirely on
Attic black-figure vases of the second half of the sixth century B.C.94
The earliest of the vases are Attic black-figure dinos fragments of ca. 560 B.C.
from the north slope of the Athenian Akropolis (Athens, National Archaeological
Museum, Akropolis 590c; fig. 18).95 At the far left, Peleus holds Atalanta in a
wrestling hold, and spectators and judges watch from the right. The names of
the latter figures are inscribed, thus securing the identification of the scene. This
representation is extraordinary in that it shows Peleus immobilizing Atalanta in
a wrestling maneuver. More commonly, vase painters depict the figures struggling
face-to-face, often accompanied by spectators and sometimes with athletic prizes
(a dinos, tripods). For example, an Attic black-figure hydria of ca. 550, now
in a private collection in Adolphseck,9 and an Attic black-figure band cup of
ca. 540 B.C. in Munich (Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2241; fig. 19)97 bear
images of Peleus wrestling Atalanta, who wears a short chiton, while spectators
stand nearby. The couple struggles over the athletic prize, a dinos, that will
go to the victor. The depiction on an Attic black-figure skyphos attributed to
the Krokotos Group of ca. 500 B.C., now in London (British Museum 1925.12
17.10), shares the same basic composition of central struggling pair, only now
there are no spectators and Atalanta, on the left, wears a perizoma and is nude
from the waist up (fig. 20).9 Atalanta is attired in the same way on an Attic
black-figure neck amphora from Nola by the Diosphos Painter of the early fifth
93. For a brief discussion of the names of the participants in the funerary games, see Henrichs
(supra, n. 21) 252-53. This episode occurred in the course of the adventures of Jason and the
Argonauts, among whom Atalanta is numbered. See supra, n. 90.
94. Ley (supra, n. 61) 31-72 examines the Greek representations of this theme, and reckons
that fourteen vases of ca. 560-475 B.C. depict the wrestling match, along with a bronze relief of
the mid sixth century B.C. See also Boardman (supra, n. 10) 945-46 nos. 62-80. Pausanias 3.19.6,
5.17.5-5.19.10 says that funeral games for Pelias also decorated the throne of Apollo at Amyklai and
the Cypselos Chest, and that on the latter, Peleus appeared as a wrestler. See also Lynn E. Roller,
"Funeral Games in Greek Art," AJA 85 (1981) 107-19, who argues that the popularity of this theme
is due not only to the influence of a particular literary work, but also to the foundation of three
Panhellenic festivals (Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean) in the sixth century B.C.
95. Carl Roebuck, "Pottery from the North Slope of the Acropolis, 1937-1938," Hesperia 9
(1940) 146-47, fig. 1. Other fragments of this vase (Akropolis 590a) are ornamented with the javelin
throw contest at the funeral games for Pelias. See Roller (supra, n. 94) 110-11, pl. 20:4, who offers a
date of ca. 575 B.C. for the vase.
96. F. Brommer, CVA: Deutschland 11, Schloss Fasanerie (Adolphseck) 1 (Munich, 1956) 11,
pl. 10.
97. Boardman (supra, n. 10) 945 no. 66 (illustration).
98. A. D. Ure, JHS 75 (1955) 94, figs. 2-3. Ley (supra, n. 61) 46 says that in Attic vase painting,
the perizoma probably signifies the idea of "barbarian," not inappropriate for this female wrestler.
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