Winged Beings in Ancient Greek Art
Winged creatures, deities, monsters, messengers, and hybrid humans can be seen in an exhibit of 31 objects of ancient Greek art including bronze, clay, and marble statuettes, vases, and gems.
![The Gorgon Medusa, Suzanne Hill [in the Greek Archaeological Museum]](http://images.suite101.com/134568_gorgonfromarchaeologicalmuseum72.jpg "The Gorgon Medusa, Suzanne Hill [in the Greek Archaeological Museum]")
The Walters Art Museum assembles ancient Greek winged beings both charming and menacing.
In ancient Greek lore, wings give both gods and monsters the ability, like birds, to cover great distances and to escape danger. Wings also allow creatures to look ominous and chase enemies. Prized Greek qualities of swiftness and competition are symbolized by winged creatures. Often winged creatures appear simply magical. The gods and hybrid creatures might have huge feathered wings coming from their backs or small ones from their heads. For instance, the messenger god, Hermes, has small wings on his sandals and on his broad-rimmed hat.
Abstract Concepts
Many abstract concepts are portrayed in winged human form in ancient Greek art. For example, Nike represents victory and triumph in athletic or musical competitions. One of the objects featured in the exhibit is a small clay krater – used to mix wine and water – painted with a red-figured Nike.
Other winged forms include Eris the goddess of discord and chaos and Eros the god responsible for love, lust, and sex. There’s Hypnos who stands for sleep and is portrayed as a naked young man with wings attached to his head; his twin brother Thanatos is the personification of death often depicted as a winged boy; and their mother is the goddess Nyx (Night); they live in a palace constructed of a dark cave where the sun never shines. Himeros personifies longing and Pothos stands for desire.
Celestial Forces
Celestial forces have wings. Iris, the personification of the Rainbow, acts as intermediary between earth-bound humans and the gods on Mount Olympia. Iris is also the personal errand-running messenger of Hera, queen of the gods. Eos is the beautiful goddess of the Dawn who opens the gates of heaven every day and is portrayed with large white-feathered wings of a bird. Boreas is the north wind usually portrayed as a winged old man with wild hair and a beard. Zephyrus is the embodiment of the gentle and lukewarm west wind and early summer breezes.
Monsters
Monsters have wings. Gorgons are horrifying female monsters; the most famous is Medusa whose gaze turns men to stone. Griffins, with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, are powerful and majestic creatures. The sphinx, a demoness of destruction and bad luck, has the body of a lion and the head of a human; she strangles anyone who cannot answer her riddle. Sirens are sea nymphs who enchant sailors with singing and harp-playing, enticing the men into the sea to be drowned. They are usually depicted as birds because of their beautiful voices. Pegasus is a winged horse, sometimes seen carrying thunderbolts for Zeus, kind of the gods.
One vessel in the exhibit – an alabastron used for perfumed oils – shows Artemis in her early role as Potnia Theron or mistress of the beasts or patron of wild animals. The clay vase, six inches high, shows the goddess in a stiff yet elegant stance reminiscent of Egyptian art, painted in black and red. Her outline is scraped away in thin lines revealing the beige ceramic beneath. She is holding in each hand a swan: an appropriate symbol for her association with fresh water since she was born on the floating island of Delos surrounded by swans.
Icarus, the man who falls to earth when his waxed wings melt, is memorialized in a tiny bronze figurine. Bands on his arms show how his wings were once attached. Eros appears in the exhibit on a “pyxis,” or clay cosmetics box, holding a mirror and headband for a woman preparing herself for her wedding. With his pale pink skin, chubby thighs, and golden curls, he resembles archetypical Italian putti.
Sleep and Death
Love, sleep, and death obviously affect the daily lives of both gods and humans. Most winged deities and monsters, according to museum literature, are associated with death and the afterlife. Sphinxes carry away the bodies of fallen warriors and are common funerary decorations. Messenger gods help the recently deceased find their way to the underworld. Souls, depicted as small winged human figures [“eidola”] are released at the end of a funeral along with Eos, the winged goddess of the dawn.
The messenger deities, like Iris and Hermes, have the unique role of serving as mediators between the gods and the humans. Their wings allow them the ability to move swiftly and go about as they please. In medieval days, they become angels and serve as intermediaries between God and people. The exhibit includes a small detailed bronze medieval angel with feathers sharply incised into its wings, about five inches high, made in the twelfth century in Verona in Northern Italy.
The entire exhibit might be easy to walk by because of its rather unassuming objects and their diminutive size. But the little winged forms in red clay and bronze invite a closer look. Their charm becomes palpable on close inspection. The most enchanting piece is the one pictured on the museum literature – a red clay vase made in Rhodes, Greece in 550 B.C. – an unforgettable siren in repose, feet tucked under her, complete with her enigmatic Archaic smile and her hair tied into tidy cords and splayed across her wings.
Source:
Winged Things Exhibit at The Walters Art Museum.
