Tag Archives: Getty Museum

The Iliad

Ancient World Now….six days…..

Podcast launch date: Monday, June 14, 2010.

First episode: The Iliad 20-30 minute podcast.

Of course Aphrodite was deemed “the fairest”! And here she is with the golden apple.

Aphrodite
Greek, 200-150 BC
Bronze

Inventory # 96.AB.149

Here Aphrodite wears the fashion of the Hellenistic period (323-31 BC): platform sandals and a sheer cloak that reveals her undergarments and the contours of her body. In her outstretched hand she holds the apple that Paris, a Trojan prince, awarded her as a prize in a beauty contest with Hera and Athena. This contest eventually led to the most famed conflict in antiquity, the Trojan War.

Text from the Getty Villa museum label.

The Iliad

Ancient World Now….nine days…..

Podcast launch date: Monday, June 14, 2010.

First episode: The Iliad 20-30 minute podcast.

This marble relief is from the Getty collection. Achilles and his mother are in a chariot and approach a group of worshippers along a road. The three rams are for sacrifice to Achilles. This piece is thought to be from Thessaly, where Achilles was born. Scholars believe he was worshipped there. Because Achilles was born of a mortal man and an immortal goddess, he was destined to die. However, Thetis did everything she could to keep him from harm. We refer to a person’s weakness of strength or character as their “Achilles’ heel”. Find out why in the first episode of Ancient World Now.