------------------------------------------------------
SCENES FROM FUNERAL LEKYTHI (BRITISH MUSEUM). 1, PROTHESIS; 2, CULT OF TOMB. ]
------------------------------------------------------
Apart from the under-world scenes already described,[1600] the future life is not illustrated by the vases, except in a curious scene on a B.F. Cyrenaic cup, representing a banquet of the blessed, attended by Sirens.[1601] There is also one single representation of the subject so common on later Greek reliefs—the sepulchral banquet.[1602]
The relation of vase-paintings to the drama has already been discussed in Chapter XI., in which it has been shown how the tragedies of Euripides and the farces of Rhinthon influenced the artists of Southern Italy. It may, however, be worth while to recapitulate here the actual representations of actors or of scenes taking place on a stage, together with some account of the numerous burlesques of mythical subjects.
On one curious B.F. vase (probably late and imitative) we see a rude representation of a tragic and a comic chorus,[1603] and occasionally on vases of this period we find figures of actors dressed up as birds, or otherwise in comic fashion.[1604] More important in this connection are the fifth-century vases found on the site of the Cabeiric temple at Thebes, several of which have parodies of well-known subjects, such as Odysseus and Kirke, or Peleus bringing the young Achilles to Cheiron.[1605] It seems probable that these scenes are actual reproductions of burlesque performances connected with the worship of the Kabeiri.
We look in vain for representations of scenes from Aristophanes and the Old Comedy, though there are one or two vases which recall (if nothing more) episodes in the _Acharnians_[1606] and _Frogs_.[1607] But for the rest, these comic scenes are almost confined to the vases of Southern Italy, especially those made at Paestum, with their presentations of the φλύακες or fourth-century farces. A fairly exhaustive list of these was made some years ago by Heydemann,[1608] and probably requires little emendation as yet; we repeat below a number of the more interesting subjects, and others may be collected from the foregoing pages in which myths are burlesqued (the Judgment of Paris, the apotheosis of Herakles, Oedipus and the Sphinx, etc.).[1609]