public life of men left them sunburned and dark. The scenes depicted on Athenian black-figure vases
include numerous representations of contemporary life, like the symposium of which the ceramic ware
was itself an integral part, as well as incidents from myth and the life of the gods. These scenes provide
us with a unique source of plentiful evidence for the way Greeks in the sixth century BC saw their world,
since the details of everyday life, which are often conveyed on the vases in a seemingly spontaneous
fashion, are generally ignored in the more conventionalized epic and lyric poetry of the same period. And
the myths, which have taken on an almost canonical form in the literary sources because of the authority
and ubiquity of Homer and Hesiod, appear in the visual arts to be largely independent of the literary
tradition as it has come down to us.
SLIP A mixture of water and clay, applied with a brush by Attic potters for decorating their ceramic
ware.This independence from the literary tradition has nothing to do with the question of whether the vase
painters were literate or not: “Literature” in sixth-century Greece was experienced more commonly by
hearing it recited than by reading texts. We know that some, at least, of the vase painters were literate
because they sometimes label the figures in the mythical scenes with names painted next to the figures.
(By the same token, there are many vases with random strings of letters, presumably intended by illiterate
artists to enhance the prestige value of the object in the same way that unintelligible runs of English words
are applied to articles of clothing manufactured today in parts of eastern Asia.) In addition, some of the
artists, beginning in about the 570s BC, sign their work. This is a conspicuous mark of self-promotion and
self-assurance, and is reminiscent of the way in which Theognis, at approximately the same time, names
himself when he “seals” his poems. Sixth-century Athenian vase painters had every reason to promote
themselves and to feel self-assured. Their technical competence and their artistic and narrative sensitivity
had reached an unprecedented level of accomplishment. No better example of this can be found than the
amphora painted by Exekias (figure 34), showing on one side two heroes of the Trojan War, Ajax and
Achilles, who are relaxing by playing a game of dice. The intense concentration of the figures is matched
by the artist’s elimination of everything except what is necessary to convey the essence of the narrative.
The two figures are labeled, so that we know immediately who they are and what the setting is. Achilles,
on the left, is the dominant figure, with the plume of his helmet looming above Ajax’s head. That he is
winning the game is confirmed by the labels “three” and “four” next to the two figures, revealing each
man’s throw in the game. This reflects the general rank of the two men, since Homer tells us that Ajax was
the best looking and most accomplished of the Greek warriors at Troy, with the exception of Achilles.
Both men, as Exekias and his customers would have known, were destined to die at Troy and, in fact,
Exekias on other occasions painted scenes involving the death of both men: the dead body of Achilles and
his armor being carried off the battlefield by Ajax and Ajax committing suicide because the armor of
Achilles was awarded to Odysseus rather than to him (figure 45). Thus, this apparently simple scene has
profound and complex undertones, as is characteristic of the art of Exekias.