Images of Orality and Literacy in Greek Iconography of the Fifth, Fourth and Third Centuries BCE

Assembled by Andrew Wiesner

The following is a growing collection of images (with some explanatory text) that may be used in studying how the Greeks conceived of their invention and assimilation of their technologies of writing. Also see a collection of images of the technology of the word in the Middle Ages compiled by James O'Donnell.

Zweierlein-Diehl (1969), Tafeln 63.345: Oracular Head of Orpheus and Scribe. Engraved gemstone. Early third century bce.
New York, Metropolitan Museum 17.230.10: Scenes From the School. Red-figure stemless cup by the Painter of Münich 2660. ARV(2) 784.25. About 460 bce.
Berlin F 2285: Scenes From the School. Red-figure kylix by Douris. ARV(2) 431.48 and 1653. 490-480 bce.
Athens, National Museusm 1241: Apollo and Eight Muses. Red-figure pyxis. Not listed in ARV(2), see Immerwahr (1964) p.29. About 430 bce.
University of Pennsylvania Museum, MS 4842: Boy Seated Writing. Red-figure kylix by the Eucharides Painter. ARV(2) 231.82. 500-480 bce.
Leningrad Ermitage #?: Farmer, Scribe, Seated Woman with Writing Tablet. Red-figure south-Italian krater perhaps by Asteas. Not listed in ARV(2); see Bieber, History, (1939) p. 284 fig. 383 or Pfuhl, Zeichnung und Malerei, II, p.718 and III, p. 361 fig. 804. First half of the fourth c. bce.
Paris, Louvre G 457: Linos and Musaios. Red-figure cup by the Eretria painter. ARV(2) 1254.80. About 430 bce.
Amsterdam, 6: Woman seated with book, boy and woman. Red-figure cup by the Sabouroff Painter. ARV(2) 838.27. About 460 bce.
Oxford G 138,3: Man Dictating to Seated Youth. Frg. of a red-figure cup by Onesimos. ARV(2) 326.93. About 480 bce.
Berlin 2322: Youth Reading and Youths Listening. Red-figure kyathos by the Panaitios Painter. ARV(2) 329.134. 500-490 bce.
Dunedin E 48.266: Apollo, Oracular Head of Orpheus and Scribe. Red-figure hydria by the Painter of the Head of Orpheus ARV(2) 1174.1. Mid fifth c. bce.
Paris, Seyrig: Boy Seated With Open Scroll. Red-figure lekythos by the Cartellino Painter. ARV(2) 452. About 470 bce.
Washington, Smithsonian 136373: A Scene From the School. Red-figure cup by the Akestorides Painter. ARV(2) 781.4. Around 460 bce.
Athens 1260: Sappho. Red-figure hydria by the group of Polygnotos. ARV(2) 1020.125. About 440-430 bce.
Paris, Louvre G 516: Apollo and Marsyas. Red-figure bell krater by the Pothos Painter. ARV(2) 1189.20. 420-410 bce.
Paris, Louvre G 490: Apollo and Marsyas. Red-figure bell krater by the Pothos Painter. ARV(2) 1190.21. 420-410 bce.
London, British Museum E 525: Boy Seated With Scroll and Boy With Lyre. Red-figure oinochoe by the Shuvalov Painter. ARV(2) 1208.38. 430-420 bce.

Related Images From Later Periods

The Delphic Sibyl, from the Vatican archive of Sistine Chapel images
At the Roman mosaic of Vichten, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg view an image of Homer with his Muse and his books.

List of Sources

Beazley J. D. Paralipomena, Additions to Attic Black-Figure Vase-Painters and to Attic Red-Figure Vase Painters. Second edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.

Beazley, J.D. 1963. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. 2d ed. Oxford.

Beazley, J. D. Hymm to Hermes. AJA 52 (1948) 336-343.

Beck Frederich A. G. Album of Greek Education. Sydney: Cheiron Press, 1975.

Bieber M. The History of the Greek and Roman Theater. Princeton: PUP, 1939; Second edition 1964. Boardman John, et al., eds. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Zurich: Atemis Verlag, 1981-.

Birt, Theodor. 1907. Die Buchrolle in der Kunst. Leipzig.

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Various fascicules.

Edmonds, J. M. "Sappho's Book as depicted on an Attic Vase." CQ 16 (1922) pp. 1-14.

Furtwaengler, Adolf. 1900. Die Antike Gemmen. Leipzig.

---. 1904. Griechischen Vasenmalerei. Muenchen.

Gantz, Timothy. 1993. Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources. Baltimore and London.

Havelock, E. A. 1982. The Literate Revolution in Greece and Its Cultural Consequences. Princeton.

Immerwahr, Henry. 1964. Book Rolls on Attic Vases. In Classical, Mediaeval and Rennaissance Studies in Honor of Berthold Louis Ullman. Roma.

Immerwahr, H. "More Book Rolls on Attic Vases," ANTIKE KUNST 16 (1973) 143-147.

Lullies, R. "Die lesende Sphinx" pp. 140-146 in Neue Beitrage zur classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Festschrift zum sechzigsten Geburtstag von Bernhard Schweitzer. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1954.

Pfuhl Ernst. Malerei und Zeichnung der Griechen. Munich: F. Bruckmann, 1923.

Richter, Gisela. 1936. Red-Figured Athenian Vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New Haven.

Trendall, A. D. Phlyax vases. Second edition. London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1967.

Turner, E.G. 1954. Athenian Books in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries B.C. London.

Zwierlein-Diehl, Erika, bearbeiter. 1969. Antike Gemmen in Deutschen Sammlungen. München.