Vase Catalog Number: London E 258

Decoration:

Side A: Achilles stands, facing right. He holds a spear in his right hand and his shield is slung over his left arm so that the inside is turned toward the viewer. He is dressed for battle; he wears scale patterned armor on his torso, a leather skirt under which is a short chiton, greaves and a crested helmet (it is impossible to tell if it is a Corinthian helmet, because the front part is lost).

Side B: Briseis stands facing right. She holds a flower to her nose with her left hand, and her right rests on her waist. She is dressed in an ornate chiton of crinkly fabric and an overmantle. This last is decorated with swastikas and dots, and has a meander border. She wears earrings and a diadem.

Briseis was the prize of Achilles, and was taken from him by Agamemnon. Because of this slight to his honor, Achilles refused to continue fighting in the Trojan War. Homer describes the parting of Achilles and Briseis in the Iliad:

". . . and Patroclus gave ear to his dear comrade, and led forth from the hut the fair-cheeked Briseïs, and gave her to them to lead away. So the twain went back beside the ships of the Achaeans, and with them, all unwilling, went the woman. But Achilles forthwith burst into tears, and withdrew apart from his comrades, and sate him down on the shore of the grey sea, looking forth over the wine-dark deep ... (Hom. Il. 1.345-350)

Condition:

Broken and repaired; some pieces are missing.

Shape Description:

Belly amphora Type C

Sources Used:

Boardman 1975, 56, 57, fig. 57.1,2; Schefold 1978, figs. 275-276

Other Bibliography:

LIMC, III, pl. 139, Briseis

(Anne Leinster)