Not Twins at All: The Agora Oinochoe Reinterpreted

by Murray K. Dahm

Hesperia, Volume 76, Issue 4
Page(s): 717-730
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25068040
Year: 2007
VIEW ONLINE

ABSTRACT:

A unique double figure on a Late Geometric vessel known as the Agora oinochoe (P 4885) has been interpreted in a variety of ways. In this article the author explores problems with previous interpretations and offers new readings of the figure, the scene, and the frieze. The figure should not be interpreted as the conjoined Molione-Aktorione twins or, indeed, as conjoined at all, in which case there is little to connect the scene with Homeric epic. The scene can be viewed more convincingly as an experiment in narrative, simultaneously showing two moments in time. The frieze in its entirety might even be regarded as an ingenious optical trick.