To understand the complexity of the oral and pictorial story-cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, we need new ways to think about mythology. The traditional, philological study of myth has tended to sideline pictorial representations (sculpture, vases, mosaics and wall paintings). Only when an image could help ‘complete’ a literary account preserved solely in fragmentary form were images of myths considered valuable. J. breaks new ground as he turns away from time-worn notions of the sanctity of textual versions of myths. The well-known stories from the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey (the shipwreck of Odysseus, Odysseus and the Cyclops, the deaths of Sarpedon and Hector, or Achilles' encounter with King Priam) emerge with whole new meanings in the pictorial record, but we must allow ourselves to view them in their own right.
‘Homer’ was not the only possible conduit for the telling of these famous episodes. We should accept that the tales of Troy, along with hundreds of other myths, resided in a common mythic property belonging to all ancient Greeks and Romans across many centuries. The power of the texts then diminishes considerably. It was the job of any storyteller (poet, painter, actor, or sculptor) to please the audience and, in the case of artists, to attract customers to objects they decorated with myths. We need to be mindful of the fact that vase and wall painters, sculptors and theatrical performers may have known poetic versions of these stories other than the ones in the Homeric epics or in other standard texts, and they may even have sometimes created their own versions.
The original German edition, Griechische Mythenbilder. Eine Einführung in ihre Interpretation, showed that J. was joining a growing number of scholars treating pictorial versions of myths in their own contexts. J.'s main aim is to make images of Greek and Roman myths comprehensible on their own terms, apart from any textual versions that exist. He acknowledges that frequently no textual version exists to compare with certain mythic images (fig. 1, Achilles tending the wounded Patroclus on an Attic red-figure cup, the main topic of the first chapter). J. argues that ancient artists were well aware of the potential and the limitations of these ‘silent’ images and of the strategies that made them ‘speak’ to their audience or viewers in antiquity.
The book contains six chapters that build upon each other and include cross-references. Chapter 1, ‘Achilles and Patroclus in the Trojan War: an Introductory Case Study’, provides a careful discussion of how to interpret specific details of Achilles and Patroclus on the interior of the large terracotta drinking-cup painted by Sosias (c. 500 b.c.). J. shows how the contemporary historical situation in fifth-century Athens directly plays into the mythic imagery on the cup: two idealised and wealthy aristocrats well trained and admirably equipped to defend their cause (p. 5). By showing Achilles helping Patroclus recover from his arrow wound, the painter recalls the later fate of both men to the viewer, and we are asked to confront the harsh fact that true rescue for these two noble characters is impossible. Death is inescapable, and the brutality of war all too inevitable. J. makes intriguing connections between the inside and the outside images on the cup (fig. 2, Heracles taking his place among the gods on Mount Olympus, p. 4). J. suggests that one way to achieve immortality might be to become an extraordinary soldier for your city-state, so that the two myths on the interior and exterior of the cup intersect over a powerful message of male heroism.
In Chapter 2, ‘Definitions: Myth and Mythological Images’, J. elaborates on the definition of ‘myth’ by Walter Burkert, ‘a traditional tale with secondary, partial reference to something of collective importance’ (p. 19). J. returns both to the Homeric epics and to the visual repertoire (fig. 8, Oedipus and the Sphinx, p. 23) to demonstrate how myths often strive to widen the limited field of human experience and conflict by engaging new characters and contexts in a world we can only imagine. This chapter also deals with the changeability of myths (pp. 30–3) and the differences between myths in language and image (pp. 33–8). Chapter 3, ‘The Production of Myths and of Mythological Images’ presents the stages through which pictorial representations of myths evolved. The discussion begins with the Homeric textual versions of several myths and then turns to painted versions of the same myths (Geometric to later periods, including the stories of Odysseus and the Cyclops and Perseus and Medusa on the Proto-Attic amphora from Eleusis, c. 670 b.c.) to examine the developmental process behind the creation of various representations of ‘standard’ Homeric versions and how artists learned to maximise images within these popular narrative cycles (p. 81). The sculptural decoration of the Temple of Artemis on Corfu and Temple of Zeus at Olympia also play an important role here.
‘Types of Monument and Fields of Function’, Chapter 4, explores the diversity of archaeological monuments and materials on which mythic representations can be found. J. covers vase painting, architectural and standing sculpture, wall paintings and mosaics in Roman houses, and Roman sarcophagi.
Chapter 5, ‘Methods’, covers the theory of mythic interpretation, basic characteristics and limitations of the hermeneutic approach and the pioneers of contextual research, along with a detailed analysis of the Athena-Marsyas group, originally by Myron (fig. 37, reconstruction of the group preserved in a Roman copy). J. postulates that this myth shows us how aulos-playing was transmitted to mankind. His caveat that any view developed today on the meaning of a mythological image will be largely dependent on the interpreter's own horizons of knowledge and experience concludes the chapter.
In Chapter 6, ‘Content and Intention’, J. points out the almost infinite subject matter referenced in myths, which makes it impossible to reduce them to any common denominator. He nevertheless argues that as each epoch has its spectrum of pressing questions, mythology offers something to reflect upon them (p. 159). In his section on Greek myths on Roman sarcophagi, J. selects three very different myths, Medea in Corinth (fig. 13, c. a.d. 150), Adonis killed by a wild boar (fig. 44, c. a.d. 220) and Dionysus finding Ariadne after she is abandoned by Theseus, to consider how this set of mythic episodes may represent models for comfort, visions of bliss or perhaps a reassurance of giving visual shape to Roman values and norms (p. 169). We can imagine Roman clients choosing a myth most meaningful to them for their final resting place.
There is a ‘Guide to Further Reading’ arranged topically. While impressively up to date (including J.M. Hurwit, AJA 115 [2011], 1–18), S. Lowenstam, As Witnessed by Images: the Trojan War Tradition in Greek and Etruscan Art (2008) is conspicuously missing, although shorter works by Lowenstam are there.
The translation is generally readable, though some of the fluidity of J.'s original is lost, and some cumbersome sentences could have been tightened. J. makes a major claim that he is the first to focus solely on the contextual meaning of images of Greek myths. He sets out the basic means for the interpretation of mythic images, and, at the same time, defends his research convincingly. He alternates between theoretical chapters and his mythological case studies. The book is well illustrated, which will be a plus for both undergraduate and graduate classes in classical mythology and art.
