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The Trojan War
Introduction
There were two periods of civilisation in Greece in the Ancient World. The first started round
about 2500 BC in Crete, the Cycladic Islands and around Mycenae. It lasted for well over a
thousand years and was followed by a period of a couple of hundred years known as the Greek
Dark Ages. One of the most momentous events, if it actually happened, towards the end of this
earlier period of civilisation (roughly 1250 BC) was the Trojan War. It became one of the most
important sources for stories used in the second great period of Greek civilisation (from about
800 BC to 30 BC) and appears again and again in surviving literature and art. Even today
Helen of Troy and Achilles are famous names and we still talk about a Trojan horse, beware of
Greeks bearing gifts, having an Achilles’ heel, working like a Trojan and making an Odyssey
among other illusions to the war. In this tour we shall look at some of the depictions of the war
in Greek art and I shall also give a brief outline of the events of the war as we go round.
A.
Room 12 Case 7
For centuries historians argued over whether the stories of the Trojan War were mere myths or
whether there was any basis in actual events. In the Nineteenth Century archaeologists tried to
prove the events might have taken place by excavating in some of the places mentioned in the
stories. Chief among these were the German archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, who
excavated Troy and Ancient Mycenae. Although historians now think the objects Schliemann
identified as coming from the period of the war are probably too early, his excavations proved
that the sites were real enough and subsequent excavations have proved there was a society in
Mycenae round about 1250 BC that would have been wealthy enough and sophisticated
enough to organise an invasion of Asia Minor. Some of the objects in this case date from the
period when it is thought the war took place. A considerable number of them are weapons of
the type that would have been used in the battles. There are a number of arrow heads which
remind us of the many stories of great archers such as Paris who shot and killed the great hero
Achilles with his arrows; hitting him in his one vulnerable spot, his heel. One of the most
splendid of the bronze daggers comes from Ithaca, the home of one of the most famous of the
Greek Heroes, Odysseus. He was the brains behind the wooden horse ruse that ended the
war and thanks to Homer he became famous for not reaching his home for nine years after the
war was over, having lost all his troops and followers in the process. One can imagine him
using this fine dagger in his struggles. It is a particularly strong weapon as the hilt in integral to
the blade and not added in another material as was more common.
B.
Room 13 Case 9 Sophilos Dinos
Sophilos is the earliest potter and painter from Ancient Greece whose name has survived. You
can see it written between the two pillars of the house: “Sophilos Megraphsen” – “Sophilos
made me” or “Sophilos painted me”. He was active in Athens round about 580 BC using a
mixture of styles, the Corinthian procession of mythical beasts on the lower part of the Dinos
and the stand, and the new Athenian narrative style at the top. A Dinos was a mixing bowl for
water and wine and was particularly associated with wedding celebrations which is probably
why Sophilos has used the story of the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis here.
Thetis was a goddess, one of the Nereids, the daughters of King Nereus, a very ancient sea
god. She was very beautiful and both Zeus, the king of the gods, and his brother Poseidon, the
current sea god took a fancy to her. However, they heard a prophecy that her son would be
greater than his father and as neither of them wanted a son who would be greater than they
were they backed off pretty rapidly and insisted she married a mortal. The lucky (or unlucky)
man was Peleus. He had to fight hard to win Thetis over as she kept changing into different
things to try and escape, such as a sea monster, fire or wild beasts. You can see some of
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these depicted on pots in other parts of the museum. At their wedding occurred the incident
called the Judgement of Paris which set in motion the events which led to the Trojan War.
C.
Room 13 Case 8 Judgement of Paris Vase by Lydos
Thetis’ mother, Doris, when drawing up the guest list deliberately left out Eris, the goddess of
discord, as you would. Unfortunately, Eris took umbrage and sent a wedding gift, a golden
apple inscribed “for the fairest”. Anyone with any tact would have interpreted this as being for
the bride but three of the divine guests, Hera, the queen of the gods, Aphrodite, the goddess of
love and Athene, who should have known better, being the goddess of wisdom, were not
renowned for their tact and each claimed the apple for herself. They asked Hermes to judge
them but he was far too bright to make enemies of the two losers so asked the unsuspecting
Paris to make the decision. He too found it hard until each of the contestants in the heavenly
beauty contest offered him a bribe: Athene, wisdom, Hera, power, Aphrodite, the most beautiful
woman in the world. Being a typical man, Paris went for the beautiful woman and chose
Aphrodite for the prize. Unfortunately, Helen (the most beautiful woman in the world) was
already married and her husband, Menelaus, did not take kindly to Paris taking her back to Troy
with him. He persuaded his brother, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead an expedition of all
the great Greek warriors to Troy to win her back. Troy’s defences were so great that it took
them 10 years to succeed, and this was the Trojan War.
D.
Room 13 Case Exekias Vase
Exekias lived a generation later than Sophilos and was one of the finest of the so called black
figure potters. As you can see, most of the figures on the pots in this case are in black on a red
terracotta background. Remarkably, there is no pigment in the black; it is exactly the same clay
as the terracotta which has been used like a paint in a liquid form. This particular clay found
near Athens has the remarkable quality that if it is used as a slip and the amount of oxygen is
varied during the firing and the temperature is controlled up and down in a very precise way the
solid pot turns red but the liquid clay oxidizes and turns black.
The prophecy that Peleus and Thetis would have a son greater than his father came true in the
form of Achilles, probably the greatest of all Greek heroes. Being the son of a goddess he had
great strength and courage but Thetis had also made him almost invulnerable by dipping him
into the river Styx as a baby. His only vulnerable point was the heel that she held him by to
stop him being carried away by the current. This is where we get the term Achilles heel from
and it has entered medical dictionaries as the Achilles tendon, a particularly vulnerable spot for
athletic injuries. The earliest surviving stories about the Trojan War are the great epic poems
by Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, probably written in the 8th century BC. The Iliad ends
after Achilles has killed the greatest of the Trojan heroes, Hector and has eventually been
persuaded to return his body to his father, King Priam, for burial. In one of the earliest surviving
manuscripts the last words are “And next there came an Amazon.” This was thought to be an
indication to reciters to continue the story with the next episode in the war when Penthesilea,
queen of the Amazons, the mythical race of warrior women, entered the war on the side of the
Trojans. The earliest surviving texts for this part of the story come from around 400 AD so
depictions such as this from 560 BC are a much earlier confirmation that they were part of the
original story. Some scholars have suggested that the later story that at the point of death their
eyes met and they fell in love can already be seen in versions such as Exekias’.
E.
Room 15 Case 3 Berlin Painter
In the 5th century the Athenians discovered that by reversing the black figure technique and
leaving the figures red and the background black they could make the people more realistic and
put greater detail in them. This is known as the Red Figure technique and one fine exponent of
this was the Berlin Painter. He (or she) did not sign any of his paintings but his style was
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recognised in the Berlin museum and the British Museum has some fine examples including
this large crater with two battles involving Achilles. On this side he has just defeated the great
Trojan Prince, Hector, as described in the Iliad. Both heroes have the backing of a particular
god or goddess. Athene herself spurs Achilles on but Apollo, who had been supporting Hector,
realises that his hero is beaten and turns tail and abandons him to his fate. On the other side is
another tale of single combat between Achilles and a Trojan ally. Like the Penthesilea story
this does not appear in Homer but survives from other authors. Achilles’ opponent is Memnon
who was one of King Priam’s allies who brought his troops into the war but like Penthesilea he
was killed in single combat with Achilles. Like Achilles, his mother was also a goddess, Eos,
the goddess of the Dawn, and she is helping him just as Thetis is helping Achilles.
F. Room 14 Six Technique Lekythos
This small pot shows Odysseus escaping from Polyphemus as described by Homer in the
Odyssey. The technique is named after Jan Six who first described it. The whole pot is
covered in black slip and then the figures were added in white or red slip with other colours
added. Homer described the epic voyage made by Odysseus at the end of the Trojan War in
the Odyssey. It had been Odysseus who came up with the idea of hiding in the gigantic
wooden horse apparently left for the Trojans after the Greeks had set sail and then opening the
gates to their companions who were not far away, after the horse had been dragged into the
city. Odysseus made many enemies, not least the god Poseidon who did all he could to
hamper Odysseus’ return to Ithaca. At one point he was captured by Poseidon’s son, the giant
Polyphemus who killed and ate one of his companions each night. Odysseus blinded
Polyphemus and then he and his surviving companions escaped by clinging underneath
Polyphemus’ sheep who he had to let out of his cave during the day to feed.
Conclusion
Odysseus had many other adventures and these are depicted on other pots and paintings in
the Museum as are the tales of other Greeks who survived the war such as Agamemnon.
There are busts of some of the writers whose stories have kept the whole myth alive such as
Homer and Sophocles in the Hellenistic Room (22). If you are interested in finding out more
about the Trojan War there are four cases in the Greek and Roman Life Gallery (69) with
further objects depicting scenes from the war. Also upstairs there are some pots in the Greeks
in Italy Gallery (73), such as the blinding of Polyphemus; the wonderful Boccanera tiles showing
the Judgement of Paris, as well as some mirrors with scenes from the story, in the Etruscan
Gallery (71) and some of the objects in the Roman Empire Gallery (70) have scenes from the
war such as the Portland Vase (which may show the courting of Peleus and Thetis) and the
Pompeii murals (one of which shows Odysseus and the Sirens) as well as depictions of one of
the few Trojans to escape, Aeneas, who traditionally was one of the ancestors of the Romans.
From a later period and further afield, in the Hotung Gallery (33) there is a C3 rd AD depiction of
the Trojan Horse (one of the few in the museum) from Gandhara (modern Pakistan) showing
the influence of the Hellenistic kingdom of Bactria (in modern Afghanistan). In the European
galleries, there are a number of Renaissance representations of the myths in the Waddesdon
Bequest (Room 45) including another tiny Trojan Horse, and in the Nineteenth Century Room
(47) there are two Wedgwood copies of the Portland Vase and other classical scenes such as
the Apotheosis of Homer showing how much influence these myths have had on every
generation over the past 3,000 years.
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