The gate of the year

Black-figure painting on an Apulian vase, dating to 400-375 B.C., now in the Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney, Australia. The image shows two bird-masked personages with the head surmounted by a cockscomb. In this case, too, it is not clear to which context the scene could be referred. It is possible that it could be associated to the Aristophanes’ comedy The Birds, which went on the stage for the first time in 414 B.C. In this comedy, the author retrieved the traditional motif which attributed to the birds a mediating function between the human world and the world of the gods. The birds were indeed regarded as messengers of the gods, and from their observation omens regarding the future could be obtained.

[Source: http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/081earlygkcom.htm]




Human-Animal Transformation

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Black-figure painting on an Apulian vase, dating to 400-375 B.C., now in the Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney, Australia. The image shows two bird-masked personages with the head surmounted by a cockscomb. In this case, too, it is not clear to which context the scene could be referred. It is possible that it could be associated to the Aristophanes’ comedy The Birds, which went on the stage for the first time in 414 B.C. In this comedy, the author retrieved the traditional motif which attributed to the birds a mediating function between the human world and the world of the gods. The birds were indeed regarded as messengers of the gods, and from their observation omens regarding the future could be obtained. [Source: http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/081earlygkcom.htm]