Tag Archives: Getty Villa

The Iliad, The Odyssey

Ancient World Now:Son of Bride of Odysseus in the Underworld

Click here for direct link to audio Episode #26.

Click here for previous episodes.

Where is the justice for Ajax??? These images tell the story. To the right Odysseus and Ajax quarrel over the arms of Achilles, and to the left, on the vase, they get physical with each other. After Achilles’s death, his arms were to be awarded to “the best of the best”, but as you remember, Athena fixed the voting & Odysseus got  the goods. Ajax was  driven to suicide, as shown on this British Museum vase.

Here, finally, is Tecmessa, daughter of the Phrygian king Teuthras, covering the body of her beloved Ajax. This drinking cup is at the Getty Villa. Tears me apart just to look at it…..

And after all this, Odysseus thinks he can just stroll into Hades  and everything will be right between them. I don’t think so!

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.