Ramayana in Archaic Greek and Etruscan Art at Caere, Part I

Description (Main Presentation, Part I):

As part of a series of presentations about the origins of Roman foundation myth, this presentation focuses on terracotta artifacts depicting the Asian Indian myth of Rama that were made by Ionian immigrant artists who had settled in Etruria. We analyze the deer hunt and abduction scenes on a particular Caeretan hydria produced around 525 BCE, connecting them to the golden deer episode of the Valmiki Ramayana. 

The front side of the hydria depicts the hunt of one rapidly moving deer by two young men, Rama and Laksmana. In one pose, the male deer or stag contorts itself to view the accuracy of the aim of the hunters with their bow and arrows. In a similar scene on another Caeretan hydria, the singular demon Tityos contorts his body to look back at Apollo and Artemis, the two heroic figures trying to kill him with their bow and arrows. The demon Maricha, magically disguised as the golden deer (Indian demons had the power to assume animal forms) to decoy Rama and Laksmana away from Sita, is thus identified as the singular deer moving away from the hunters on the Caeretan hydria.

The reverse side of the hydria contains two scenes, which represent the moments during or before abduction and the situation after abduction. Before the abduction is completely successful, Ravana is shown grasping Sita's arm and shoulder; after the abduction, Ravana's face becomes enlarged and his body appears more monstrous as he carries Sita forcefully away from her home. The two scenes together thus form a continuous, dynamic narrative when observed from right to left. Finally, we will notice the contrast between rescue and abduction when comparing one of the Campana plaques to the scene after abduction on the Caeretan hydria. In the former artwork, Rama is depicted as a hero rescuing his wife Sita while gently cradling her in his arms. In the latter artwork, Ravana is depicted as a villain abducting Sita while keeping his right arm firmly around her waist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l26xjcz33Q0&t=378s

 

Transcript (Main Presentation, Part I):

So this presentation is part of a series on the topic of the origins of Roman foundation myth. And in this specific presentation I’m going to be talking about Etruscan art from ancient Caere, a city that has been all but forgotten, but is very closely situated near Rome. And to this day it still exists as the modern city of Cerveteri. In Etruscan art from Caere we have Eastern mythological stories that were known to Ionian immigrants in that region in the 6th century BC. And these are attested in terracotta artifacts from that time. So the 6th century BC is the time period that we’re going to focus on, and the region will be southern Etruria, that is the ancient city of Caere, known today as Cerveteri. The photos below are a brief preview of the characters and stories that we have preserved for us from Caere that are both from the Indian Ramayana. The first photo shows Rama and Sita and Laksmana from right to left, and the photo on the right is of the raksasa demon Ravana and so we’ll be going through this in more detail in the next few slides.

So the specific work of art that I’ll be analyzing today is the Caeretan hydria at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which dates to around, circa 530-520 BCE, which is in the latter half of the 6th century BC. The problem that scholars have had is identifying this scene, mainly because they don’t realize that it’s an Ionian representation of an Oriental myth, and more specifically an Indian myth from the Valmiki Ramayana. And if you care to actually look at the artwork (the artifact), you can see it at this link down below here at collections.mfa.org. And you’ll see pictures, if you scroll down, of each side of the hydria, which is what you would call a water jar. So, it’s a painted water jar and called a hydria, and we’ll be really looking at it carefully right away.

So this particular example that you can see on the right side here has two painted sides. On the front side you see two young men hunting either one deer or multiple deer. And on the back side B you see two pairs of one satyr and one maenad. In one of the scenes you see a satyr grabbing a hold of the maenad and in the other one you see the satyr carrying a maenad off. And the question then arises that the scholars struggle to answer definitively is, when we look at the top scene (front scene): Is the artist depicting three different animals, a deer or multiple deer, or is it just one stag which is moving quickly in three separate phases. Another question is: Are these two maenads and these two satyrs, are they distinct characters or are they the same personalities? And finally, what is the connection between the deer hunt above on the front side, which is what you would call the obverse side, and the abduction of the woman on the reverse side? Is it just symbolic or part of a known mythical narrative? 

Another point I want to add is that this Caeretan hydria is not black and white colored as this photo would indicate. But in reality the Caeretan hydria which dates from the late 6th century BC is part of the black-figure pottery technique. And black-figure means that the figures are dark or black painted and the background is reddish-brown orange colored, or clay colored. And so we can’t really see that because this is not a color photo and they have not released that, but the reality is that, yeah, that’s the technique that was used in Greece and in Etruria at that time. And also another point would be that the female characters tend to be painted a little bit lighter colored than the male characters but other than that, it’s definitely the black-figure technique.

So, the first question that I posed about whether there are multiple deer or just one deer has never really been answered convincingly in the community of scholars. The researchers tend to believe that the answer to the first question is multiple deer or three deer, and so they kind of take it literally rather than figuratively. They just see that there are three deer depicted so there must be three different deer being hunted. But they do not explain why each animal is positioned in a different stance, which from right to left seems to indicate the movement of one deer away from the two young men. 

Indeed, the Italian author Bonaudo notes below and seems to hint at this when she writes, “The hydria on which two young hunters with unshaven hair, naked and armed with bows, are about to shoot three fleeing deer, one of which turns back to look at the pursuers with a splendid torsion of the body, is the only case on the Caeretan hydria in which the hunters are naked and armed with bows.” And this is an excerpt from the book La Culla di Hermes. And it’s a translation in English of the Italian work. And you can see this on pages 215-216. What she notes that is very interesting is that this is the only case where you have naked hunters armed with bows hunting deer in any of the Caeretan hydria. So that already alerts you that this is a unique scene that may not be in the purview of Greek myth. And another thing she notes is that one of the deer has a particular twisting of the head to look back at the pursuers, or at the assailants. And what we will see is that this is part of a sequence in which the deer is moving away, much like in the Valmiki Ramayana’s scene of the golden deer.

So my answer to the question, the first question of how many deer are there, is unequivocally one deer in disguise, which is being hunted by the two young brothers Rama and Laksmana from the Valmiki Ramayana. It is the demon Maricha in the famous golden deer episode of the Ramayana who disguises himself as a golden deer in order to distract the two young brothers Rama and Laksmana away from their hermitage in order to allow Ravana, the other demon, to abduct Sita, who is the wife of Rama. Therefore, what we see in the reverse side is actually the abduction of Sita by Ravana, who is being depicted as a satyr, because that was the frame of reference that the Greek artists had for figuring out how to depict Ravana, who was what you what call a raksasa (demon or nightstalker) in the Indian myth. So there are many different types of monstrous creatures in the Greek myth like centaurs and satyrs and Sileni (associates of Dionysus), and these were the models that they used in order to figure out how to depict a demon like Ravana. 

But for this front side it’s pretty straightforward. You have a deer that’s panting and then starting to look back, and then finally it’s galloping away with full speed at the very end. So it’s not very difficult to see that this is actually a depiction of a dynamic scene, not a static scene where you have just one thing or one event being depicted. Instead they’re showing a deer hunt in which the deer is moving away over a period of time very quickly, very rapidly. 

Lastly, for comparison, we can look at the hydria on the right side here where it shows Artemis and Apollo hunting the demon Tityos with their bow and arrows as well. And you can see how Tityos contorts his body to look back at his assailants as well, just like Maricha in the golden deer form or the golden stag, you could stay. So by comparison to other hydriae we can match a singular antagonist (not multiple but a singular antagonist) such as Tityos or Alcyoneus in another example, to Maricha, who is the singular deer moving on side A, and not multiple antagonists. So just to reiterate, Artemis and Apollo are basically analogous to Rama and Laksmana, and they’re hunting the demon Tityos, just like Rama and Laksmana are hunting the golden deer, which is Maricha in disguise.

Let us recap our observations about this particular hydria in Boston, which is also called the number two hydria as it is one of the earliest Caeretan hydriae. And that’s the way it has been classified as number two among the forty or so vases that have been discovered. The first point that I want to make about it is that we see dynamic motion on both sides of the hydria. On the back side, we see Ravana and Sita moving from right to left, meaning that first we have Ravana taking control over Sita and then he’s carrying her off in the next scene. So, there’s a dynamic movement or change from right to left. And then on the front side we have the hunted deer moving from right to left with the hunters Rama and Laksmana facing and walking towards the deer.

The next point I want to make that we have been observing is that both sides depict a sequence of actions rather than a single snapshot at a certain time and place. And then the next point I want to make that we’ve touched upon is that there was always a need for a frame of reference from Greek myth such as Apollo and Artemis hunting Tityos or Heracles attacking the demon centaur Nessos or Heracles attacking Alcyoneus, which is another demon giant. So all of these characters from Greek myth were the artist’s model for understanding how to depict Rama, the hero, as well as the villain Ravana, and all the other characters, including Sita as well. 

And to kind of bring this point home about the frame of reference, there is a quote from a German author commenting on the Caeretan hydriae, and he tells us that centaurs, which are half-man and half-horse, “like their conspecifics on other Caeretan hydriae have horse hooves on their otherwise human-shaped forelegs. And the same applies, as the Boston hydria shows, to the Silene on Caeretan hydriae.” So in essence what he’s telling us is that Ravana is comparable to the Silene, who are the companions of Dionysus, as well as the centaurs and many other demoniac type monstrous beings.

Now to get a little bit more in detail about that, Hemelrijk, the Dutch author, writes: “There are six mythological monsters or giants, including Alcyoneus of the number 21 hydria. He’s closely related to the Caeretan satyrs, except for his feet, ears, and the absence of a tail,” which we’ll get back to later. The absence of a tail is a very important characteristic to note. And then another thing he notes is that “even more like a gigantic satyr (with satyr ears, red eyeballs, human feet, and no tail is his counterpart Tityos of number 12.” (pg. 121, Caeretan Hydriae). So the number 12 hydria which shows Artemis and Apollo hunting Tityos as well as the number 21 hydria which shows Heracles attacking Alcyoneus; they’re both comparable to this number 2 Boston hydria where you have Rama and Laksmana attacking Maricha in the golden deer form and Ravana the satyr abducting Sita.

So now getting back to the reverse side of the Caeretan hydria in Boston we see that there are two sides. On the right side we have the scene before abduction and on the left side we have the scene after abduction. Now in this scene before abduction, Ravana’s head is smaller and his penis is not erect. And the author Jaap Hemelrijk in his book Caeretan Hydriae notes this. He brings our attention to the peculiar and unique satyr in the Boston deer hunt scene. He says, “Note, however, the satyr’s left hand. He seems to try to pull the girl’s himation off her shoulder. This seems to be a unique motif. And besides, he is tail-less and not ithyphallic, meaning he has no erect penis yet. The girl looks round, her left hand raised and clenched as if she wants to land him a punch on the nose.” (pg. 177, Caeretan Hydriae)

So this is really exactly as described in the Valmiki Ramayana where Sita tries to resist Ravana’s advances and that is represented here with her left hand raised and clenched, ready to punch him if she could, but she’s not strong enough to stop him. And finally, the fact that he is without a tail is a clear indication that he’s not truly a satyr in the Greek sense of the word, but really a demon from Indian myth. Also note that the girl, the maenad here which is Sita, she looks round much like the deer in the front scene which looks back at the hunters. So in essence the painter is telling us that metaphorically the deer hunt is a lot like the hunt of the lady here by the demon Ravana.

Now in this scene to the left of the previous scene we see Ravana after abducting Sita. He has an enlarged face noticeably, as well as a very clearly erect penis. And what this signifies is that in the previous scene before abduction his disguise of a mendicant was no longer needed now that he has taken control of Sita. And so he confidently gallops like a centaur to his kingdom of Lanka and has fully transformed into his raksasa, monstrous form. And Ravana carries Sita forcefully with his right arm around her waist. 

And we will compare that to Rama in the next slide carrying Sita as well, without this violent force, like a child. So we’ll see that in the next slide where in one of the Campana plaques (from Caere as well), Rama does the same thing. He carries Sita in his arms but much less forcefully, and instead more like a child. So the author Hemelrijk, his quote below is accurate except for the fact that cradling her in his arms like a baby is more applicable to the Campana slab which we will see in the next slide. Hemelrijk writes, “The satyr is making off with his victim with great gusto and speed,” which is very, very accurate, but he gets it wrong when he says that he’s “cradling her in his arms like a baby.” (Pg. 177). Because clearly, if we look here on the right, in this photo right here, we can see that his right arm is very tightly held around her waist to make sure that she’s not able to get away. That’s hardly cradling someone like a baby.

So here I’m going to be discussing another work of art which dates to the same time period and is also from the same region in Caere. It’s called a Campana plaque or one of the painted terracotta panels that was discovered in a tomb in Caere, and it dates to 550 to 525 BC, or the second half of the 6th century BC. And in my opinion this plaque here that you see on the right is a depiction of Rama carrying his wife back to Ayodhya. His winged boots and wings on his back - they signify the flying chariot that is very famously known as the ‘Pushpaka Vimana’ from the Valmiki Ramayana. And this is the chariot or the flying chariot that Rama famously used to return home after he rescued Sita and killed the demon Ravana. 

Now what I’m trying to tell you is that both figures, both male figures here, are the same person. The left-hand male figure is also Rama with the signature bow and arrows before his retrieval of Sita from Lanka. And his right hand is raised, as you can see, in a gesture that is similar to Persian Achaemenid kings like Darius and indicates that he is a great hero and a king as well. Now if you look at the right-hand male figure, he’s also Rama and he’s carrying Sita, and her body, including her arms, is covered to indicate that she is in the safe hands of her husband, who is now clean-shaven, as he returns triumphantly home to his kingdom of Ayodhya. Now European scholars tend to just speculate about this scene and they are very unsure, but they do tend to realize that there is a rescue that is going on here. And they speculate that it might be Artemis, a female character, rescuing Iphigenia. But if we look at this scene, it’s quite obvious that this is a male figure, not a female figure. And it just seems very silly to look at this as Artemis.

I also want to add that if you look at the way Rama’s hands and arms are holding Sita, it’s clear that he’s cradling her gently like a baby or a child in his arms. And it’s in a very sharp contrast to the previous scene that we looked at in the Caeretan hydria where Ravana is forcefully holding Sita around the waist. So we can see the contrast and we can see that one is the hero, and the other is the villain. Not only this scene represents the fact that Sita is in the safe hands of her husband, but the saffron cloth around her body covering it indicates her purity and chastity, and indicates that she was never violated by the demon Ravana until Rama finally rescued her. So if we take a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, we have that line of “your chaste treasure open” (from Act I, Scene 3). It’s a lot like that, where her chaste treasure is closed, instead.