34.
Greek pediments or frieze (serially built):*
The most famous example of a Greek frieze is at the Parthenon, depicting the Greater Panathenaic procession. We see the single foreground plane, a ground line depicting a single, unified theme. An example of a contrapuntal work of art is Pieter Brueghel’s The Fall of Icarus, which employs strong foreground, deep atmospheric background, various actions in the foreground & middle ground (ploughing, a ship sweeping in from the right, a variety of maritime events & in the middle distance, Icarus hits the water falling from the clouds). In the Greek art the viewer has a single perspective & story; in the Faustian art the viewer is given multiple subjects, multiple perspectives & story lines, strong foregrounds & atmospheric background
The overall theme of the procession is civic & religious veneration of Athena, goddess of the polis of Athens (admittedly we do not know the full nature of the art). In Bruegel’s work there are 2 thematic interpretations. The obvious theme (obvious only because of the title) is the Greek mythological tale of Icarus, who flies too closed to the Sun & falls to his death. A second theme is taken from a Flemish proverb (Bruegel employed these in other works as well) pointing to people’s indifference to their fellow men's suffering, reflected by the ordinary events which continue to occur, despite the unobserved death of Icarus.
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Below a sketch book of the frieze of the Parthenon clearly showing its sequential (serial) nature:
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Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, oil painting, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1558 reflecting a visual model of contrasting space and action.
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35.
House of Atreus (the curse): *
The progenitor, Tantalus, a son of Zeus, is friendly with the gods; to test of their omniscience he slays his son Pelops which he then secretly fed to the gods at a dinner. Most of the gods discern the trick, are appalled & do not partake. But Demeter, distracted by the abduction of Persephone by Hades, eats the shoulder of Pelops. The gods punish Tantalus, condeming him to the Underworld.
The gods brought Pelops back to life, replacing the bone in his shoulder with the help of Hephaestus. Pelops married Hippodamia after winning a chariot race against her father, King Oenomaus, by sabotaging his chariot (resulting in his death). Myrtilus, a servant of the king, had helped Pelops sabotage the chariot. Pelops kills him but as Myrtilus dies, he curses Pelops & his house.
Pelops and Hippodamia had 2 sons, Atreus & Thyestes. Hippodamia & her 2 sons murdered Chrysippus (their half-brother). The 3 are banished to Mycenae. Hippodamia hung herself. Atreus vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to Artemis. Upon searching his flock, however, he discovered a golden lamb which he did not wish to sacrifice, instead he it gave to his wife, Aerope, hiding it from the goddess. She then gave it to Thyestes (her lover), who then convinced Atreus to agree that whoever had the lamb should be king. Thyestes produced the lamb & claimed the throne. Hermes advised Atreus on how to regain he throne; Thyestes agreed to return the crown when the sun moved backwards in the sky, a feat that Zeus accomplished. Atreus now king, banished Thyestes. Learning of Aerope's adultery he cooked Thyestes' sons, feeding it to his brother at a dinner, later taunting him with their hands and feet. Thyestes is exiled for eating the flesh of a human. He asks an oracle what to do & is advised to have a son with his daughter, Pelopia, who would then kill Atreus. This son. Aegisthus, abandoned by his mother (ashamed of the incestuous act), was found by a shepherd & is given to Atreus & raised as his son. As an adult Thyestes reveals the truth to Aegisthus, that he is both father and grandfather to the boy.
Aegisthus then kills Atreus, but not before Atreus and Aerope have Agamemnon and Menelaus. Agamemnon married Clytemnestra, Menelaus married Helen, her sister. Helen is abducted by Paris, an act which triggers the Trojan War. Menelaus then called on the chieftains to help him take back Helen. Prior to sailing off to war, Agamemnon angered Artemis (he had killed a sacred deer in her sacred grove & boasted he was a better hunter than the goddess). She stilled the winds so that Agamemnon's fleet could not sail. Calchas, a prophet, told him that in order to appease Artemis, Agamemnon needed to sacrifice the most precious thing, his daughter. He sent word home for her to come to him and marry Achilles; Iphigenia accepted her father's choice, honoured to be a part of the war. After doing the deed, Agamemnon's fleet was able to get under way. Clytemnestra enraged by the murder of Iphigenia, began an affair with Aegisthus. When Agamemnon returned home he brought with him a new concubine, the doomed prophetess, Cassandra. Upon his arrival Clytemnestra tricks him & stabs him to death. She aso kills Cassandra for good measure.
Agamemnon's only son, Orestes, young when his father died, is sent into exile. Orestes swears revenge, his duty, but saw also that in doing so he would have to kill his mother. He is thus torn between filial duty and love for his mother. He prays to Apollo who advises him to kill his mother. After Orestes murdered Clytemnestra & Aegisthus, he wanders the land with guilt in his heart. After many years, with Apollo by his side, he pleads to Athena for release. She agrees to end the curse.
