Monster in der frühgriechischen Kunst

the long version

The focus of this work is on the monsters (hybrid creatures) that appear in animal friezes in Greek vase painting in general and on Corinthian pottery in particular. Although these monsters are sometimes called "demons" in scholarship, they are neither contemporary demons nor Homer's daimones, but are instead figures associated with areas outside civilization: the wilderness, the depths of the sea or the earth, or the mythic lands at the borders of the known world. An analysis of animal friezes on Corinthian vases revealed a system that integrates monsters into an order that includes animals, and establishes a hierarchical structuring principle. Thus, Corinthian animal friezes can be seen as imposing a kind of order over a chaotic world of creatures characterized by their impossible, incomprehensible nature.