The myth of Iphigenia in fourth-century funerary vases of southern Italy

Abstract

Painted vases featuring theatrical themes are common among the objects found in tombs of ancient Apulia in southern Italy. One of the recurring themes selected for the decoration of this corpus is the myth of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon whose sacri fi ce was required by Artemis in order to enable the Trojan expedition. This subject appears often in a variety of media such as wall painting and sculpture, but it features with particular frequency in painted vases produced in the fourth century BCE in Magna Graecia. This essay considers a series of fourth-century south Italian vases that depict the story of Iphigenia, revealing connections between the myth, its various dramatic iterations, and their pictorial representations on funerary ceramics. I argue that the version of the myth introduced by Euripides in his play Iphigenia among the Taurians was particularly suitable for the decoration of funerary vessels since it served as a metaphor for averting death. Because of the role Iphigenia played in rituals associated with the life cycles of women in the ancient Greek world, I also suggest that vases depicting her story might have been produced speci fi cally for female burials. This argument is founded on an in-depth iconographic analysis of six vessels from Apulia, Campania, and Basilicata, in conjunction with an examination of textual and archaeological evidence connected to the myth and cult of Iphigenia/Artemis. I conclude by contextualizing the vases ’ imagery and usage within Greek funerary traditions both in mainland Greece and in the Greek West. Studying these vessels as a group for the fi rst time, with a combined focus on their iconography and functions, reveals new aspects of their making and meanings, and allows us to better understand the popularity of the myth of Iphigenia in the funerary record of Magna Graecia. South Italian wares: Interactions between