CHAPTER XII

_INTRODUCTORY—THE OLYMPIAN DEITIES_

Figured vases in ancient literature—Mythology and art—Relation of subjects on vases to literature—Homeric and dramatic themes and their treatment—Interpretation and classification of subjects—The Olympian deities—The Gigantomachia—The birth of Athena and other Olympian subjects—Zeus and kindred subjects—Hera—Poseidon and marine deities—The Eleusinian deities—Apollo and Artemis—Hephaistos, Athena, and Ares—Aphrodite and Eros—Hermes and Hestia.

The representation of subjects from Greek mythology or daily life on vases was not, of course, confined to fictile products. We know that the artistic instincts of the Greeks led them to decorate almost every household implement or utensil with ornamental designs of some kind, as well as those specially made for votive or other non-utilitarian purposes. But the fictile vases, from the enormous numbers which have been preserved, the extraordinary variety of their subjects, and the fact that they cover such a wide period, have always formed our chief artistic source of information on the subject of Greek mythology and antiquities.

Although (as has been pointed out in