The Return of Hephaistos, Dionysiac Processional Ritual and the Creation of a Visual Narrative

Abstract

The return of Hephaistos to Olympos, as a myth, concerns the establishment of a balance of power among the Olympian gods. Many visual representations of the myth in Archaic and Classical Greek art give visible form to the same theme, but they do so in a manner entirely distinct from the manner in which it is expressed in literary narratives of the tale. In this paper, I argue that vase-painters incorporated elements of Dionysiac processional ritual into representations of the return of Hephaistos in order to articulate visually the principal theme of the myth. The vasepainters structured the myth along the lines of epiphanic processions in which Dionysos was escorted into the city of Athens. Like Dionysiac epiphanic processions, the procession of Hephaistos, Dionysos and the wine-god's followers is distinguished visually by drunkenness, ostentatious display of the phallus and obscene or insulting behaviour. To judge from the aetiological myths associated with them, the epiphanic processions symbolized the triumph of Dionysos over, and his belated acceptance by, those who denied his status as a god. By structuring the visual representations of the return of Hephaistos along the lines of such Dionysiac processions, artists conveyed visually the idea that the myth also concerned the triumph of a god over those who rejected him, and his acceptance among the Olympians. It is not necessary to assume that the vase-painters relied on a detailed poetic account of the myth to create their representations of it, because they employed elements of religious spectacle, an inherently visual phenomenon, to convey the essence of the story.

Hephaestus on Foot in the Ceramicus

“…Even as Hephaestus's mount at the Wedding of Peleus and Thetis conforms to the civilized formality of the occasion, 37 Hephaestus nonetheless remains, as he was in the Return, a figure of diminished status: he is remotely positioned at the end of the procession (all but segregated beneath the handle of the vase), and indeed his mount, an animal of low social status, sets Hephaestus apart from the other guests (Hedreen 2004: 39) many of whom ride on horse drawn chariots. All other male riders on the vase (save the pygmies on the foot who ride goats in battle against the cranes) are horsemen variously engaged in the vigorous scenes of a hunt, a race, or a battle.…”

“…He embodies every ephebe's forbidden wish to sustain 5 Structurally, the mutually exclusive vase images of Hephaestus riding and walking, bearded and unbearded, may be read together as a coherent expression of fundamental cultural conflict (Lévi-Strauss 1963a passim). For a recent study that reads a collection of vases together as an expression of a single conflict, see Guy Hedreen 1996 passim. Commenting on multiple representations of Menelaus recapturing Helen on Attic red figure vases, Hedreen 1996 passim observes that on some Menelaus pursues Helen or leads her home at sword point, while on others the sword falls from Menelaus's hand.…”

“…For a recent study that reads a collection of vases together as an expression of a single conflict, see Guy Hedreen 1996 passim. Commenting on multiple representations of Menelaus recapturing Helen on Attic red figure vases, Hedreen 1996 passim observes that on some Menelaus pursues Helen or leads her home at sword point, while on others the sword falls from Menelaus's hand. Menelaus in anger seeks to punish his unfaithful wife, while, subsequently, or perhaps even at the same time, his love for her leads him to quite the opposite impulse.…”

A DITHYRAMB FOR AUGUSTUS: HORACE,ODES4.2

“…138 This processional tradition, itself triumphal in character, later embraced the epiphanic/Dionysiac city-arrivals of Hellenistic rulers, such as that of Demetrius Poliorcetes at Athens (Ath. 535f-536a), and ultimately of Alexander himself.…”

Presencia del héroe homérico en el Vaso François

“…Desde el punto de vista histórico, y a pesar de que una de las tablillas del palacio de Néstor en Pilos muestra que tenía categoría de dios ya en el siglo xiii a. C., en realidad por mucho tiempo se le consideró un semidios, hasta que, a finales del siglo vii, Periandro, tirano de Corinto, Clístenes, tirano de Sición, y Pisísrato, tirano de Atenas, decidieron aprobar su culto e instituir los festivales dionisiacos oficiales. 83 Esta aceptación histórico-social del culto a Dioniso en Atenas, al igual que la del culto a Hefesto, como ya vimos, puede justificar su aparición en el Vaso François (donde Dioniso aparece con su thiaos, común en representaciones del regreso de Hefesto, pero no en imágenes donde Dioniso aparece solo, lo que alude a una procesión ritual relativa a su culto y da fuerza a la presencia de este dios), 84 pero se aleja de la interpretación heroica aquí propuesta. Tratemos de verlo entonces a la luz del mito y de la plástica.…”