Pottery: red-figured neck-amphora. (a) Paris and Hermes on Mount Ida. Mount Ida is indicated on left by a series of wavy lines; Paris is seated on the top, a wreathed youth with wavy hair falling to his neck, and a mantle about his lower limbs and left arm, playing upon the chelys with a plectrum. On the right Hermes stands en face, but looking towards Paris; he is bearded, and has a short chiton, a chlamys fastened on the right shoulder, and a petasos hanging at his back; his left arm is concealed by his mantle; in his right hand, which hangs at his side, is a caduceus. (b) Draped ephebos resting right on staff, standing en face, looking to left. Fine style. Purple ground-lines, cord of petasos, pegs of lyre, and wreath; brown inner markings. Ends of hair in thinned black. Eye in developed profile type. Below a, sets of three maeanders alternately to right and left, separated by dotted cross squares; below b, a strip of key pattern. --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
Achilles and Ajax, two great heroes of the Trojan War, play a board game on this Athenian black-figure amphora. Behind the table stands the goddess Athena. The scene of the warriors at leisure but with their armor at the ready might have taken place during a break in fighting the Trojan War. This depiction of Ajax and Achilles gaming was especially popular in Athenian art in the late 500s B.C.; over 150 surviving vases show the scene. Why was this image so popular? Some scholars have argued that it was politically motivated. They interpret this scene as a mythical parallel for the tyrant Peisistratos's return from exile, when he was able to regain power because the Athenian army was unprepared for battle. If so, then these vases would be anti-Peisistratid propaganda, alerting Athenians to the importance of vigilance by reminding them of the consequences of their recent failure. The back of the vase shows a warrior departing for battle, standing between two old men. This was a common scene on vases and, in this case, a subject loosely connected with the scene on the front of the vase. --J. Paul Getty Museum, Green, Christopher, and Jens M. Daehner. Modern Antiquity: Picasso, de Chirico, Leger, and Picabia (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011) 45, 152, no. 5; pl. 3
Achilles and Ajax, two great heroes of the Trojan War, play a board game on this Athenian black-figure amphora. Behind the table stands the goddess Athena. The scene of the warriors at leisure but with their armor at the ready might have taken place during a break in fighting the Trojan War. This depiction of Ajax and Achilles gaming was especially popular in Athenian art in the late 500s B.C.; over 150 surviving vases show the scene. Why was this image so popular? Some scholars have argued that it was politically motivated. They interpret this scene as a mythical parallel for the tyrant Peisistratos's return from exile, when he was able to regain power because the Athenian army was unprepared for battle. If so, then these vases would be anti-Peisistratid propaganda, alerting Athenians to the importance of vigilance by reminding them of the consequences of their recent failure. The back of the vase shows a warrior departing for battle, standing between two old men. This was a common scene on vases and, in this case, a subject loosely connected with the scene on the front of the vase. --J. Paul Getty Museum, Green, Christopher, and Jens M. Daehner. Modern Antiquity: Picasso, de Chirico, Leger, and Picabia (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011) 45, 152, no. 5; pl. 3
Achilles and Ajax, two great heroes of the Trojan War, play a board game on this Athenian black-figure amphora. Behind the table stands the goddess Athena. The scene of the warriors at leisure but with their armor at the ready might have taken place during a break in fighting the Trojan War. This depiction of Ajax and Achilles gaming was especially popular in Athenian art in the late 500s B.C.; over 150 surviving vases show the scene. Why was this image so popular? Some scholars have argued that it was politically motivated. They interpret this scene as a mythical parallel for the tyrant Peisistratos's return from exile, when he was able to regain power because the Athenian army was unprepared for battle. If so, then these vases would be anti-Peisistratid propaganda, alerting Athenians to the importance of vigilance by reminding them of the consequences of their recent failure. The back of the vase shows a warrior departing for battle, standing between two old men. This was a common scene on vases and, in this case, a subject loosely connected with the scene on the front of the vase. --J. Paul Getty Museum, Green, Christopher, and Jens M. Daehner. Modern Antiquity: Picasso, de Chirico, Leger, and Picabia (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011) 45, 152, no. 5; pl. 3