Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Österreich, Beiheft 2

Even archaeological matters are subjected to prevailing trends and sociopolitical phenomena. In our time, when the relationship of individuals to their environment is increasingly a subject of discussion, it is amazing that it has not already been extensively examined in regard to the antique humans. Plants and animals are often chosen motives on Greek pottery. Animals are depicted in a realistic environment, as pets, as hounds or prey animals, plants characterize a location or act as ornamentation. Both, plants and animals, are shown in scenes of everyday life and in mythological sequences, both may also bare a symbolic meaning or serve in an ornamental frieze. In this way, the depictions of plants and animals represent a main subject or serve as attributes or ornamental enrichments. For the first time, this volume is covering these often neglected elements on Greek vases of the Geometric to the early Hellenistic period.