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21. Achilles ambushed Troilos

Description: Pottery: black-figured hydria. Designs in black on red panels, with borders of ivy down the sides and palmettes along the bottom; accessories of white and purple. 1. On the shoulder: Troilos and Polyxena surprised by Achilles: On the right is a fountain represented by a Doric column with white abacus, and a panther's head seen from the front, from which water is pouring over Polyxena's hydria. On the right behind the column is Achilles crouching down to left, with tall visored helmet, short chiton, sword, spear, and Boeotian shield on which is a pellet. On the other side of the fountain is Polyxena to left, with long hair, fillet, long embroidered chiton, left hand raised; behind her are branches. On the left is Troilos approaching on horseback, beardless, with embroidered chlamys and two spears; a second horse by his side. Behind him is a nude youth to right, with a fillet and two spears, left hand raised. 2. On the body: Combat of warriors: In the centre two warriors thrusting at each other with spears; they are bearded and fully armed, with embroidered chitons, but the one on the left has no cuirass; the other has a bird flying to left as device on his shield. Between them is a fallen warrior to left, with eyes closed; he is fully armed and has long tresses; on shield device of an ivy-wreath. Behind each of the two centre combatants is a fully armed warrior, with long tresses, also thrusting with spear; the one on the left has two pellets on shield, the other, an uncertain device; the latter also has parameridia. --The British Museum, Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J; Smith, C H, Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum, I-IV, London, BMP, 1893; A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, William Nicol, 1851; Walters, H B; Forsdyke, E J, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Great Britain 7, British Museum 5, London, BMP, 1930

22. Thrasos and Arete

Description: Photograph from the personal collection of Dr. Steven Lowenstam (1945-2003), Department of Classics, University of Oregon.

23. Achilles and Ajax

Description: Scenes from the mythological Trojan War decorate this Athenian black-figure neck-amphora. On the front, Achilles and Ajax, two great heroes of the Greeks, sit playing a board game. The goddess Athena stands in front of the board and gestures. The warriors have their armor and weapons ready, as if just pausing during a break in the conflict. This scene of Ajax and Achilles gaming was very popular in Athenian vase-painting of the late 500s B.C. and was a favorite of the painters in the Leagros Group. Many scholars believe that this mythological scene also served as a contemporary political parable on the value of staying alert, since the tyrant Peisistratos had been able to take control of the city of Athens while the army was distracted. The back of the vase depicts three hoplites, or warriors, in a line. Such files of hoplites are rather unusual in vase-painting, and this depiction may have been meant to relate to the scene on the front of the vase. These hoplites may be Greeks on the march to counter a Trojan attack, while Ajax and Achilles are notified by Athena. Such an interpretation would explain Athena's unusually prominent position on this rendition of the scene. --J. Paul Getty Museum; Bareiss Loan: S.80.AE.292, May, Helmut, ed. Weltkunst aus Privatbesitz, exh. cat. (Cologne: Kunsthalle Köln, 1968), cat. no. A 24.; Bothmer, Dietrich von, and J. Bean. Greek Vases and Modern Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bareiss. Exh. checklist, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: 1969. p. 2, no. 19.; Brommer, Frank. Vasenlisten zur griechischen Heldensage. 3rd ed. (Marburg: 1973) p. 335, no. 23.; Woodford, Susan.