History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Volume 2 (of 2) by Walters et al.

tomb of Patroklos. B.M. B 543 and _Forman Sale Cat._ 306 = Reinach, ii. 100 (now in B.M.)[1397]; Berlin 1867 = Reinach, ii. 99; Naples 2746. 141 ff. Achilles offering his hair to the river Spercheios. B.M. E 555 (?). 448 ff. Priam begging Achilles for the body of Hector; the Achaean princes deliberating over the ransom. Munich 404 (= Overbeck, _Her. Bildw._ pl. 20, 3), and 890 (= Reinach, ii. 99); Petersburg 422 = Reinach, i. 138 = Baumeister, i. p. 739, fig. 792; Reinach, i. 172 = Vienna 328; Athens 889 = _Ath. Mitth._ 1898, pl. 4 (B.F., but poor). 580 ff. Hector’s body carried out to prepare for burial. Petersburg 422 (as above). Among the events of the war between the death of Hector and the final fall of Troy, those which relate to the final exploits of Achilles are most prominent, and especially the encounters with Memnon, and with Penthesileia, his death and the events arising out of it. The story of Achilles’ fight with Penthesileia, and the death of the Amazon queen, is less frequently depicted, but there are some very fine examples remaining.[1398] Other representations of Amazons arming, setting out, or in combat may be placed here, but except where Penthesileia is specially indicated it is better to regard them as having no definite reference to the Trojan story.[1399] A remarkable painting on an Apulian amphora depicts the slaying of Thersites by Achilles in the presence of Phoinix and Diomedes. Thersites had insulted Achilles after his slaying of Penthesileia.[1400] The story of Memnon is related on the vases in several scenes, beginning with his equipment and departure for the fray.[1401] Next we see the great fight of Achilles and Memnon over the body of Antilochos,[1402] at which the respective mothers of the heroes, Thetis and Eos, are usually present as spectators.[1403] The result of the fight was fatal to Memnon, whose body we see carried off by Thanatos and Hypnos,[1404] or by Eos herself,[1405] for burial in his native land. Eos is also represented mourning over him.[1406] The Psychostasia, or weighing of souls by Zeus (see p. 130), has also been referred to this event. The body of Antilochos is finally rescued and carried off by Nestor.[1407] Lastly, we find a few possible representations of the death of Achilles,[1408] and others, more certainly to be identified, of the battle raging round his body, in which Diomedes is wounded[1409]; also of Ajax carrying the body off out of the battle,[1410] and the subsequent mourning of the Nereids over it.[1411] A representation of the ghost of a warrior, winged and fully armed, flying over a ship,[1412] is to be regarded as that of Achilles, though to what event it alludes is not clear. The dispute over the hero’s armour and the suicide of the disappointed Ajax are introduced by a scene representing the fetching of Neoptolemos, his son, from Skyros, where he bids farewell to Lykomedes and Deidameia[1413]; of the quarrel between Ajax and Odysseus there are also several representations.[1414] It was decided finally by Athena, who is represented presiding over the Greek chiefs as they vote[1415]; or, according to another version, they cast lots before her statue.[1416] The armour is then awarded to Neoptolemos,[1417] who, according to an oracle, was indispensable for the capture of Troy. Ajax goes mad with disappointment, and finally commits suicide by falling on his sword[1418]; the episode of his slaying the sheep is not, however, represented. The Ἰλίου Πέρσις, or =sack of Troy=, which is so vividly represented on many of the vases of advanced and late style, may be said to begin with the episode of the seizure of the Palladion by Odysseus and Diomede.[1419] It is rapidly followed by the construction of the wooden horse and its entry into the city.[1420] There is, however, only one certain representation of the death of Laokoön to be traced,[1421] and none of the traitorous Sinon. Several vases, especially of the later epoch, collect the chief episodes in a frieze or in a series of groups, including the rape of Kassandra by Ajax, son of Oileus, the death of Priam and Astyanax, the recapture of Helen by Menelaos, and the flight of Aeneas; other scenes represented are the leading back of Aithra by Akamas and Demophon, and the sacrifice of Polyxena and subsequent blinding of Polymestor by Hecuba. I. General. Berlin 1685 (= Overbeck, _Her. Bildw._ pl. 26, 1) and 2281; Plate LIV. = Furtwaengler and Reichhold, pl. 25 (Brygos in Louvre); Naples 2422 = Furtwaengler and Reichhold, pl. 34 = Baumeister, i. pl. 14, fig. 795; B.M. F 160, F 278. II. (_a_) Ajax seizing Kassandra at the altar of Athena. B.F. B.M. B 242, 379; Berlin 1698; Roscher, ii. p. 979. R.F. B.M. E 336, E 470; Reinach, i. 221, 338 = Roscher, ii. pp. 985, 981; _Bourguignon Sale Cat._ 33. Late. B.M. F 209; Roscher, ii. p. 983. (_b_) Death of Priam and Astyanax.[1422] (1) Priam only. B.M. B 241; _Röm. Mitth._ iii. (1888), pp. 108–9; Reinach, ii. 109; Berlin 3996. [Priam dead in all except second.] (2) Priam usually seated on altar; Neoptolemos swings body or head of Astyanax. B.M. B 205; Berlin 2175, 3988; Reinach, i. 221, ii. 109; _J.H.S._ xiv. pl. 9. [See also under I.] (3) Andromache or Hecuba with body of Astyanax. Millin-Reinach, ii. 37 (Lasimos in Louvre; also identified as Archemoros: see p. 118). (_c_) Menelaos and Helen. B.M. E 161, 263; Reinach, i. 437, 3 (Hieron), ii. 34; Helbig, 43 (= _Mus. Greg._ ii. 49, 2), and ii. p. 325 (= Baumeister, i. p. 746, fig. 798); Millingen, _Anc. Uned. Mon._ pl. 32; Louvre G 3 (Pamphaios); Reinach, i. 222 = _Wiener Vorl._ D. 8, 1; Noel des Vergers, _Étrurie_, iii. pl. 39. (_d_) Akamas and Demophon with Aithra. B.M. B 244 (?), E 458; Overbeck, _Her. Bildw._ pl. 26, 13. (_e_) Flight of Aeneas with family. B.M. B 173, B 280; Reinach, ii. 110 (= Munich 903), 116, 273; Baumeister, i. p. 31, fig. 32; Helbig, 201 = _Mus. Greg._ ii. 85, 2; Naples 2481; Bibl. Nat. 261; Louvre F 122 = _Wiener Vorl._ 1890–91, pl. 5, 1. (_f_) Sacrifice of Polyxena. Plate XXIII. = _J.H.S._ xviii. pl. 15 (B.M.); Overbeck, _Her. Bildw._ pl. 27, 19. (_g_) Polymestor blinded. Reinach, i. 91 = Hill, _Illustrations of School Classics_, p. 170 (now in B.M.). (_h_) Ajax stabbing a captive (?). Reinach, i. 88. ------------------------------------------------------ PLATE LIV [Illustration: From _Furtwaengler and Reichhold_. THE SACK OF TROY; KYLIX BY BRYGOS IN LOUVRE. ] ------------------------------------------------------ Among the various adventures described by the Cyclic poets in the Νοστοί, few seem to have found their way into the vase-paintings except the fate of Agamemnon, the interview of Menelaos with Proteus (told in the _Odyssey_), and, of course, the adventures of Odysseus. The house of Atreus and its story will be dealt with later under the heading of the Oresteia: we turn now to the =Odyssey=, scenes from which are surprisingly few in Greek art, and appear to have attracted the painter less than the more stirring events of the _Iliad_. The following, however, have been identified: