Abstract

The Panoply Vase Animation Project has created a new animation from the decoration on an ancient Greek hydria. The vase depicts the poet Sappho with a lyre. The animation enables her to move, touch the strings, and play the instrument. It also features the words from Fragment 44 of her poetry and geometric figures acting out the poem. The music accompanying the animation was scored from the original poem and therefore offers the melody that the poem would have been sung to. This article discusses the decision-making process that informed the creation of the animation and suggests ways in which the animation and its vase can be used in the classroom or lecture-hall as a flexible learning resource.