Early Greek Painting: the Metopes from Thermon

While vases are our chief source for early painting in Greece, there are some survivals in other media. Among these are painted terracotta slabs that once decorated old wooden temples, in particular those from Temple C at Thermon in Aetolia, near the western end of the Gulf of Corinth. The style of the painting, which shows Corinthian influence, points to a date of ca. 630-620 BC.

The drawing shows how these slabs were set as metopes between cross-beams capped by triglyphs. They are slightly more than two and a half feet square.

The background is a cream-colored clay slip. The skin of male figures is generally brown outlined in black; that of female ones is white outlined in red.

Some of these painted terracotta panels have subjects drawn from myth, including Perseus fleeing with Medusa’s head tucked into a sack, a hunter (perhaps Orion) carrying his quarry on a pole, two half-naked women who may be the daughters of Proetus, and, illustrated above, the sisters Aedon and Chelidon (better known as Procne and Philomela) with the dead child Itylus (or Itys). The identification of the last subject would be difficult were it not for the retrograde inscription labeling the figure to the right: CHELID(W)ON. (The W, written like our letter F, is a digamma, which later dropped out of the alphabet).

The story is rather a gruesome one, best known in its Attic version, where the sisters are Procne (Aedon) and Philomela (Chelidon). Procne marries Tereus and goes to live with him in distant Thrace. Lonely Procne/Aedon longs for her sister. Tereus fetches Philomela/Chelidon but rapes her on the way, cutting out her tongue to prevent her from telling. But Philomela/Chelidon weaves the rape into a cloth, and after Procne/Aedon sees it, the sisters unite to avenge themselves on Tereus. This they do by murdering Itys/Itylus, the son of Tereus by Procne, and serving him to his father for dinner. When Tereus discovers the truth about his meal, he chases the women, whereupon they all are turned into birds: Procne/Aedon becomes a nightingale, Philomela/Chelidon a swallow, and Tereus a hoopoe.

The composition of the metope is simple. Aedon and Chelidon face each other over a table on which the dead Itylus lies. The boy’s head is faintly discernible in the crook of Chelidon’s arms (cf. the drawing above). Are they mourning the boy? It is more likely that they are butchering him. After all, at this point in the story, they were out for vengeance.

Payne, H. G. G. “On the Thermon Metopes.” The Annual of the British School at Athens 27 (1925/1926) 124-132.

Schefold, Karl. Götter- und Heldensagen der Griechen in der Früh- und Hocharchaischen Kunst (1993).

Topper, Kathryn, R., “Coming of Age at Thermon.” Center for Hellenic Studies Open House 3/1/2018 (YouTube).