»Den Vögeln zum Frass«. Ein Motiv der nordhispanischen, keltischen, etruskischen und griechischen Vasenmalerei und Reliefkunst

Abstract

The above interpretations are based on an original ancient oriental motif, which was known for several centuries in the Mediterranean region stretching from Greece through Etruria and the Rhine Valley in Germany to Hispania, especially Numantia, from the late 8th to the middle 1st century BC and depicted on vases, coins and gems. Its particular allure may have been due to its cruelty, the cruel stripping of the meat from fallen warriors on the battlefield by birds of prey, which, although geographically and mentally a marginal phenomenon, is without precedent in the figurative images of these artistic styles, especially the Greek ones. The long pictorial tradition corresponds to an even longer literary tradition. Here, we are dealing with a topos; the corresponding pictorial illustrations can be called »iconographic topoi«, a term that is reintroduced here and has to be placed side by side with the well-known concepts of biography and legend (›Lebensbilder, Sagenbilder‹).
In the course of the urbanisation of the Mesetas, which already began in the second century BC under strong Roman influence, a new monument genre emerged with the numantine vase painting, in which the colour scheme is as striking as the motifs used, among which the figurative is rare but so all the more interesting. The local vase painters make use of a pool of eastern Mediterranean, especially Greek motifs, which is probably known through Iberian vase paintings even though the agents in the transfer process remain unknown. Some original Greek vases may also be part of it. Obviously, the questionable »a prey to vultures« motif is initially adopted from there in numantine vase painting. The adoption process not only concerns the motif, but the whole package of motif, form and image carrier. A second step then is its inclusion in greater narrative contexts of battle and death on Celtiberian tombstones which are accompanied by an enlargement of the format of representation. At this point, another Greek example in the form of the eastern Greek tombstones is added, from which the medium of the stone image carrier is adopted along with the compositional elements, among which the circular or ring composition stands out. In summary, this motif allows the complex process of the creation of its own monument genre, such as vase painting at first and subsequently tombstones in particular, to be followed and observed. The role of the native vase painters and sculptors is obviously limited to the selective selection of motifs from a pool, which are regrouped on the tombstones in such a way that a narrative flow is guaranteed.