Function and meaning
Kraters were used for mixing wine with tazza at verso symposium (per drinking party for upper class men). Since ancient Greeks only drank wine diluted with vaso, kraters were crucial esatto the symposium, and were servizio up in the middle of the room where partygoers drank. The interior of the Francois Vase has scratches which may have been made by per utensil mixage the wine, but it is unclear whether the vase was used at symposia sopra Greece, in Etruria (Italy), or per both places. It may have been used at lavish parties sopra Athens, or con per funerary banquet honoring the deceased mediante Etruria before it was buried as a insopportabile offering.
Wealthy, educated individuals attending banquets durante either place would have recognized the scenes shown on the vase, and might have used them as conciliabule starters. Other vessels used at symposia mediante the Archaic period were also commonly painted with mythological scenes and could have served verso similar purpose, but the sheer number of scenes on the Francois Vase may have made it particularly intriguing preciso the banqueters who used it. They may have even understood the images puro be relevant esatto their own lives. While the pictures had different meanings for different viewers, the scenes of drinking on the Francois Vase mirror the circumstances durante which it was actually used. Moreover, many of older women dating sito di incontri the scenes on the vessel represent ideal aristocratic activities that the drinkers likely participated in, including noble marriage, successful hunts, and military promesse.
Most Greek men spent some of their lives serving their cities at war, defeating enemies much like the heroes painted on this vase. Like Peleus, Greek men were expected sicuro marry and raise their children preciso be productive citizens. It seems that Kleitias and Ergotimos purposefully designed the decoration puro appeal onesto the prosperous owners of the vase, who could recognize and relate to the stories it told.
Postscript
On September 9, 1900 per museum guard, durante a fit of rage, threw a chair at the case containing the Francois Vase, shattering it into 638 pieces. The museum director, Luigi Milani asked Pietro Zei onesto undertake the conservation of the Francois Vase. Conservation took two years.
Jasper Gaunt, Ergotimos Epoiesen: The Potter’s Contribution preciso the Francois Vase,” mediante The Francois Vase: New Perspectives, ancora. H. Alan Shapiro, Mario Iozzo, and Adrienne Lezzi-Hafter (Zurich: Akanthus, 2013), p. 81
Mario Iozzo, “The Francois Vase: Notes on Technical Aspects and Functions,” per The Francois Vase: New Perspectives, di nuovo. H. Alan Shapiro, Mario Iozzo, and Adrienne Lezzi-Hafter, (Zurich: Akanthus, 2013), p. 61
Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, “Der Francois-Krater zwischen Athen und Chiusi,” per Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, di nuovo. John H. Oakley, William D. Addirittura. Coulson, and Olga Palagia, (Oxford: Oxbow, 1997), p. 523–539
Guy Hedreen, “Bild, Mythos, and Ritual: Choral Dance mediante Theseus’s Cretan Adventure on the Francois Vase,” Hesperia, vol. 80, no. 3 (2011), p. 491–510.
Cornelia Isler-Kerenyi, “Der Francois-Krater zwischen Athen und Chiusi,” sopra Athenian Potters and Painters: The Conference Proceedings, e. John H. Oakley, William D. Ed. Coulson, and Olga Palagia, (Oxford: Oxbow, 1997), p. 523–539.
Detail with wedding procession with Hera and her husband Zeus sopra per chariot (left), Urania the muse of astronomy, and Kaliope, muse of epic poetry (center)
Per adjonction to these narrative scenes, another register at the bottom of the vase shows animals fighting. These images may relate to the ferocity of the heroes shown on the vase, who are described metaphorically as predatory animals by Homer. A comic scene of pygmies (a tribe of small people mediante Greek mythology) battling cranes decorates the foot of the vase, providing a light counterpoint puro the rest of the imagery. The paint on the foot is reddish in color instead of black because the vase was misfired mediante the kiln, as sometimes happened sopra ancient Greek ceramic production.