Combat scenes in classical Greek art as "beautiful objects" : the expressive power of visual omission

Abstract

Two explanations are proposed for the fact that classical scenes depicting a combat between a Greek warrior and an opponent are composed in a restrained way, in that the actual violence of maiming and killing is not explicitly represented. The first explanation is speculative as a visual parallel with the treatment of violence in classical tragedy, while the second is based on a formal, art historical explanation of a motif derived from Egyptian art. In a concluding section it is pointed out that in Hellenistic art violence becomes explicit in the depictions of war and combat.