- Erika Simon –
with a panther. He is Achilles with his teacher Cheiron and the divine messenger Iris
between them. One of the side panels has a scene from the lost epic Aithiopis: Achilles
(on the right) fi ghts against Memnon, a son of the goddess of the dawn (Eos, Etruscan
Thesan) and the Trojan prince Tithonos (see note 54). Memnon came with Aethiopians
to help Troy. On the panel (Fig. 24.8) his breast is hit by Achilles’ lance, whereas his
lance fails on Achilles’ helmet. Beneath them lies a dead Aethiopian. The other side panel
shows Achilles after his death, driving his chariot with two winged horses.
The lost epic Kypria, the fi rst of the Trojan cycle, was especially important for visual
art. It contained events around Troy before the Iliad, such as the judgment of Paris or the
death of Troilos. The latter was, like Paris, a son of Priam. According to an oracle, the
Achaeans could not take Troy if Priam’s youngest son became an adult. Therefore Troilos
died early by the hand of Achilles. This myth is painted in the Tomba dei Tori in Tarquinii
of 530 bce (Fig. 24.9).^28 Troilos rides to Apollo’s sanctuary to water his horses. Behind
the fountain, Achilles appears with a knife. He will kill Troilos in the sacred grove. Later,
Apollo took revenge for this crime by killing Achilles. The god’s grove is indicated by the
palm tree that is near the basin, by laurel and by other plants. It continues in the frieze
below, where the laurel trees are adorned with ritual ribbons. Mythical scenes are rare in
Etruscan tomb painting, whereas Apollo’s laurel grove frequently occurs.^29 This is why
the myth of Troilos is depicted here. The spiky object beneath his horse is not a plant but
a demon of death rising from the earth.
As mentioned above, on the main frieze of the Kleitias krater the Olympians come
to celebrate the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (Fig. 24.5). On this occasion, a quarrel
about beauty arose among the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. Zeus ordered
his messenger Hermes to take them to Paris (Alexandros), Priam’s son, who then was
a herdsman on Mount Ida. He had to judge which of the three goddesses was the most
beautiful. The earliest preserved picture of that judgment in ancient art (640/630 bce)
is preserved on an olpe from Corinth, the Chigi vase, found near Veii.^30 The most famous
judgment of Paris in Etruscan art is on a black-fi gured amphora from Vulci (540 bce). It
is attributed to the “Paris Painter” who is named after this vase.^31 Both shoulder friezes
Figure 24.9 Wall painting in Tomba dei Tori, Tarquinii. Achilles waylays Troilos in the grove of
Apollo (n. 28–29).