ArtofACOdyssey 1: Temple of Zeus at Sami

 

 

Kassandra in front of a wooden temple, with brightly painted wall panels. Screenshot from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (Ubisoft 2018)

First up in #ArtofACOdyssey, we have this lovely painting on the Temple of Zeus in Sami. We’ll leave aside Bellerophon with his tricked-out Pegasus for now and focus on the central figure. If you recognize it, good job! The original is on an Attic kylix (480-470BCE) attributed to Douris, an Attic painter who worked during the early 5th c. BCE (Gregorian Etruscan Museum, Vatican Museums). 

Colchian Dragon disgorging Jason

This is one of my favorite pieces. It shows an alternate version of the Argonautica, wherein Jason gets devoured by the Colchian dragon and has to be saved by Athena. I like to think of her as saying something like “It’s a good thing you’re cute, Jason.”

There were a LOT of different versions of Jason’s story, some of which survive; Valerius Flaccus, Hyginus, and of course Apollonius of Rhodes. Narrative art was just as important for transmitting stories, however, and this piece is one of many that give us a glimpse at them.

You’ll notice a few differences. The tree with the fleece has been moved in front and the dragon’s body extended, making the composition more linear and suited to the temple panels rather than the circular kylix composition. Athena probably has more important things to do.

 

Originally posted on Twitter Oct 6, 2018

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