476 THE GREEK SAGAS: GREEK LOCAL LEGENDS
The Sack of Troy. Attic red-figure hydria by the Kleophrades painter, ca. 480 B.c.; height of
vase I6V2 in., height of painting 6V2 in. In the upper picture Priam sits on the altar with
the dead and mutilated Astyanax across his knees, as Neoptolemus rushes forward to kill
him. Behind Neoptolemus a Trojan woman attacks with a clublike implement, and behind
her, to the right, Aethra is rescued by her grandchildren, Akamas and Demophon (see
p. 564 for her being taken to Troy with Helen). In the lower image, Ascanius, on the left,
leads the way for Aeneas (helmeted), who carries Anchises on his back (Anchises looks
back toward the central scene). In the center Ajax Oileus brutally drags Cassandra from
the statue of Athena, whose threatening stance foreshadows his fate. Between the statue
and a palm tree Trojan women grieve for their coming fate. (Naples, Museo Nazionale.)