In the next essay, Thomas Mannack provides a detailed description of both the vase and the Pronomos Painter, who was recognized by Sir John Beazley and named after the aulos-player who is depicted on this work. Here, in the introduction, Taplin and Wyles establish the vase’s importance for the study of ancient Greek theatre, and they emphasize the collegial dialogue that develops among the volume’s contributors. The first group successfully presents the vase to the reader. The book’s essays are organized thematically. Their volume is the result of a conference sponsored by the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at Oxford, and it is a valuable addition to the informative publications that APGRD has produced. And so it is fitting that, in this book, editors Oliver Taplin and Rosie Wyles assemble an interdisciplinary team of scholars who approach the vase from different perspectives. The vase’s findspot in South Italy is noteworthy, too, and it prompts many questions: To what extent did South Italian viewers appreciate images of Greek theatre? Was the vase made for South Italian consumers? Or was it designed for Athenians and later brought to Italy as part of a second-hand trade? Because of its iconography and contexts, then, the vase serves as a useful focal point for a variety of theatrical, historical, and representational issues. Since its discovery, scholars have scrutinized the vase’s illustrations of Greek theatrical costumes and masks, and they have sought to understand what the two “sides” of the frieze represent and mean. Tripods mark the transitions between these scenes. Side B, moreover, depicts a rural scene with Dionysos and Ariadne, satyrs, and maenads.
Most of the costumed actors and chorus members hold their masks and bear names that can refer to real people. Side A carries representations of the aulos-player Pronomos, Dionysos and his companion Ariadne, a female attendant, the playwright Demetrios, a costumed cast, a chorus of a satyr play, and, perhaps, a choregos named Charinos. Indeed, the crowd of 31 labeled theatrical and Dionysian figures on the vase’s frieze is striking. It continues to fascinate scholars owing to both its Athenian theatrical imagery and its South Italian provenance. 400 BCE, discovered in a tomb at Ruvo di Puglia in 1835, and taken off display after the Irpinia earthquake in 1980, this red-figure volute krater now resides in the storerooms of the Museo Nazionale in Naples. The Pronomos Vase is arguably the most celebrated artwork that is associated with the ancient Greek theatre.
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