Title

Attic Black-Figure Neck Amphora, about 510 BC. Creator: Leagros Group.

Caption

Attic Black-Figure Neck Amphora, about 510 BC. Storage Jar with Achilles and Ajax Gaming. Additional Info: Two warriors sit playing a board game, while 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. Based on similar scenes with inscriptions, the two warriors can be identified as Ajax and Achilles, the leading men in the Greek army. This scene was very popular in Athenian vase-painting of the late 500s BC and was a favorite of the painters in the Leagros Group. Some 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.

Credit line

Photo12/Heritage Images/Heritage Art

Reference

HRM25A01_026

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

License type

Droits gérés

Available size

179,4Mo (6,6Mo) / 59,9cm x 75,1cm / 7074 x 8865 (300dpi)

Keywords

Europe leisure religious arts country playing religion game art color painted archaeology ancient Greek Greece Athena Athens war warrior warriors terracotta ceramic location ceramics century jar archaeological vessel prepared HANDLE handles pottery ready concept gaming vase mythology archeology pastime board game goddess readiness attic terra cotta Homeware Colour Athenian Greek mythology Athene 6th century BC Achilles Ajax amphora black figure Pallas Athene TGN Trojan Wars object container vase painting Pallas Athena Terracotta Leagros Group Group Leagros amphorae Heritage Art amphoras vessel Amphora