History and image: the Penelope Painter's Akropolis (Louvre G372 and 480/79 BC)

Why the Athenians of the classical era seem never to have set their own greatest historical moments into representational art has remained a major problem for historians and art historians alike. In attempting an answer, perhaps more attention should be given to one of the explanations by Aischines of why it would be wrong for the Demos to honor Demosthenes with a crown (iii 183-192). In brief, Aischines says that in the great days of the democracy, the days of unforgettable victories, it was undemocratic for a great man to be exalted in art when the achievement in truth belonged to the Demos. He adds pointedly that some great men of that era adhered to this patriotic ethic themselves, while others like Miltiades had their attempts at prominence in representational arts rebuffed or sharply diminished in scale.