Herakles and the Gorgon in Athenian Black-Figure Vase-Painting: Burlesque or Civic Theology?

Abstract

The article revisits some Athenian Black-Figure vases that depict Herakles and a monster. While it is indebted to previous iconographic analyses, it adopts a broader, contextual methodology, firmly situating them within the socio-religious setting of Archaic Athens. Adducing relevant data, it opens new lines of investigation. The implications of visual humour for civic theology are explored in light of recent studies, rejecting a postulated derivation of these scenes from theatrical plays. Rather, it is proposed that the vases had a cultic function, with their imagery deployed as an allusion to the rites of the Panathenaia, referencing the aetiological myth of the festival.