Aias and Kassandra

Title: Aias and Kassandra
Repository: British Museum
Alternative: Hydria Old Catalogue 1383 Vase F209
Creator: Groupe des Danaïdes
Photographer: Lowenstam, Steven
Creator Display: attributed to Danaid Group (Greek vase painters, active 4th century BCE in Campania)
Description: A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, William Nicol, 1851; Trendall, A D, The Red-Figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and Sicily, Clarendon Press, 1967; Smith, A H; Pryce, F N, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 2, British Museum 2, London, BMP, 1926; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893 Pottery: red-figured hydria. Depicted on this hydria is the rape of Kassandra by the lesser Ajax, son of Oileus, in Athena's temple at Troy. In the centre, the Trojan princess Kassandra kneels on the base of the statue of Athena, the Palladion. Her hair is loose and her drapery hangs from her left shoulder, leaving her upper body bare. She embraces the statue with both arms. An oinochoe lies below her on the base. Pallas Athena is portrayed wearing a peplos and carrying a shield on her left arm and a spear in her raised right hand. She wears an elaborate helmet to which feathers are attached. At the left, the Greek warrior Ajax seizes Kassandra by her hair. Ajax is nude except for a chlamys tied in front with a bulky, round brooch. On his head is a crested Corinthian helmet with added large feathers. His left foot is on the base of Athena's statue, and he raises a sword in his right hand. A phiale hangs above his head, part of the temple's ritual equipment. Two other phialai appear in the field to the right and left above the subordinate figures. To the right of the central group, the old priestess of Athena, Theano, with short white hair, runs away but looks back at the sacrilege about to occur. She still clutches the temple key in her left hand. Above her head, an owl, the sacred bird of Athena, flies carrying a wreath. At the far right a young girl in a peplos looks back as she turns to flee. At the left, above Ajax, a goddess is seated with a scepter in her left hand and a small round object in her extended right hand. It has been suggested that this is Aphrodite with the Apple of Discord, a reference to the origins of the Trojan War. Behind Ajax and much smaller in scale is another Greek warrior. He too wears a chlamys tied in front and an elaborate helmet, and he carries a shield and spear. This scene occupies the front of the hydria. Other parts are decorated with palmettes, volutes and stylized floral ornaments. An olive wreath with central rosette decorates the neck. The rim is decorated with a band of ovolo pattern, the shoulder with tongues. A band of wave-pattern runs under the central scene around the entire vase. --The British Museum
View: Front
Coverage: Campania, Italy (creation) Nola, Campania, Italy (discovery)
Temporal: 340-320 BCE
Subject: Myth between Iliad and Odyssey Sack of Troy
Style Period: Red-figure Campanian (pottery style)
Work Type: hydriae
Date: -0340/-0320
Identifier: Lowenstam_VRC_01802
Item Locator: Box 4, Section 23
Rights: In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder: University of Oregon, Department of Classics
Local Collection Name: Steven Lowenstam Collection
Type: Image
Format: image/tiff
Measurements: Height: 33.9 cm
Material: pottery | painted
Set: Lowenstam Collection of Ancient Western Art and Archaeology
Primary Set: Lowenstam Collection of Ancient Western Art and Archaeology
Institution: University of Oregon
Cultural Context: Campanian (culture or style)
Id Current Repository: 1824,0501.35