Papers by Sophia Taborski
With the exception of extispicy scenes catalogued by Francois Lissarrague and snake-eagle
omens d... more With the exception of extispicy scenes catalogued by Francois Lissarrague and snake-eagle
omens discussed by Diana Rodríguez Pérez, divination has been ignored by vase-painting
scholars and of ancient religion scholars, only Michael Flower has touched on visual sources.
Despite this lack of attention by current scholars, acts of divination and birds that I argue ought
to be interpreted as omens appeared on hundreds of black figure Attic vases in the sixth century.
Most of these bird omens were painted behind men on horseback. Henri Metzger examined a
subset of this group, the funerary Rider Amphorae, and concluded that the riders were cavalry
and the eagle an attribute of Zeus, the patron god of the cavalry. The riders’ armor suggests that
horsemen were hoplites and because of the prominence of augury in everyday life, the birds are
best identified as ambiguous omens. These bird omens add a future temporal dimension and
emphasize the uncertainties of battle. By doing so, the Rider Amphorae highlighted the virtues
of the horsemen and eulogized them at the tomb. Other vases with men on horseback were used
in the symposium where the moment of the journey provided a common experience which
fostered bonding among the symposiasts. The moment of a man embarking journey joined by a
bird omen corresponds to Babylonian omens, the British Museum tablet 108874 and the Summa
Alu, and may be explained as an example of a wider Mediterranean understanding of divination.
Examining augury and bird portents in Attic vases provides insight into both the layman
understanding of augury and the vase painter construction of narrative.
Along with traditional theatrical reinterpretations, recent adaptations of Classical subjects in ... more Along with traditional theatrical reinterpretations, recent adaptations of Classical subjects in television and film have continued to make ancient Greek and Roman culture accessible to today's audiences, and scholarly interest in these representations of the ancient Greek and Roman world has grown considerably over the last decade. To build upon this dialogue on the reception of the Classical world in performance contexts, we are inviting graduate and undergraduate students to put Classics 'in the spotlight' along with experts from across the Humanities and Social Sciences.
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Papers by Sophia Taborski
omens discussed by Diana Rodríguez Pérez, divination has been ignored by vase-painting
scholars and of ancient religion scholars, only Michael Flower has touched on visual sources.
Despite this lack of attention by current scholars, acts of divination and birds that I argue ought
to be interpreted as omens appeared on hundreds of black figure Attic vases in the sixth century.
Most of these bird omens were painted behind men on horseback. Henri Metzger examined a
subset of this group, the funerary Rider Amphorae, and concluded that the riders were cavalry
and the eagle an attribute of Zeus, the patron god of the cavalry. The riders’ armor suggests that
horsemen were hoplites and because of the prominence of augury in everyday life, the birds are
best identified as ambiguous omens. These bird omens add a future temporal dimension and
emphasize the uncertainties of battle. By doing so, the Rider Amphorae highlighted the virtues
of the horsemen and eulogized them at the tomb. Other vases with men on horseback were used
in the symposium where the moment of the journey provided a common experience which
fostered bonding among the symposiasts. The moment of a man embarking journey joined by a
bird omen corresponds to Babylonian omens, the British Museum tablet 108874 and the Summa
Alu, and may be explained as an example of a wider Mediterranean understanding of divination.
Examining augury and bird portents in Attic vases provides insight into both the layman
understanding of augury and the vase painter construction of narrative.
omens discussed by Diana Rodríguez Pérez, divination has been ignored by vase-painting
scholars and of ancient religion scholars, only Michael Flower has touched on visual sources.
Despite this lack of attention by current scholars, acts of divination and birds that I argue ought
to be interpreted as omens appeared on hundreds of black figure Attic vases in the sixth century.
Most of these bird omens were painted behind men on horseback. Henri Metzger examined a
subset of this group, the funerary Rider Amphorae, and concluded that the riders were cavalry
and the eagle an attribute of Zeus, the patron god of the cavalry. The riders’ armor suggests that
horsemen were hoplites and because of the prominence of augury in everyday life, the birds are
best identified as ambiguous omens. These bird omens add a future temporal dimension and
emphasize the uncertainties of battle. By doing so, the Rider Amphorae highlighted the virtues
of the horsemen and eulogized them at the tomb. Other vases with men on horseback were used
in the symposium where the moment of the journey provided a common experience which
fostered bonding among the symposiasts. The moment of a man embarking journey joined by a
bird omen corresponds to Babylonian omens, the British Museum tablet 108874 and the Summa
Alu, and may be explained as an example of a wider Mediterranean understanding of divination.
Examining augury and bird portents in Attic vases provides insight into both the layman
understanding of augury and the vase painter construction of narrative.