#ascanio

*Pics from Classical Art Research Centre, University Of Oxford

Hydria with the Sack Of Troy by Kleophrade's Painter, early 5th century

This red-figured style vase was painted at the time of the Persian Wars. The Persians plundered Athens destroying the first temples erected on the Acropolis (before the Parthenon) until the Greeks defeated them at the Battle Of Salamis (480 BC). Athens' sack becoming a trauma to the Athenians inspired the so-called Kleophrade's Painter to depict the most legendary sack of a city, none other than Troy, 4 centuries before Virgil.

Second picture

On the left, Aeneas bears his old father, Achises, on his shoulders in order to save him from the massacre. His son, Ascanios, leads them. This moving moment, when Aeneas decided not to leave behind his father despite the danger, signifies the beggining of gods' plan for him, as he'll become the predecessor of the first Romans. The depiction of Aeneas' myth on the vase indicates that Aeneas' destiny was known to the Greeks, before the Aenead, no matter the little written sources about it (of course, this doesn't reduce at all Virgil's marvellous illustration of the myth that turned out to be one of the most famous epic poems ever written).

On tne center, Ajax The Lesser aggressively approaches Cassandra and the other women (perhaps, Andromache, too) who have found refugie to Palladion, Athena's altar. Athena as the Parthenos, meaning the virgin, is supposed to protect the women who turn to it. Therefore, Cassandra was protected by the moral laws of the society as a sacred beggar. Nonetheless, Ajax The Lesser didn't obey to the divine laws and raped the misfortuned Cassandra -the one who had foreseen Troy's end, but no one believed her. The violence of the scene is intesively transmitted, as Cassandra streches her hand pleading and the other women hide their faces and pull their hair in grief, while the heartless Ajax The Lesser walks towards them looking terrifying in full armor. (Nemesis (=punishment) always being important for the greek way of thinking, Ajax The Lesser will suffer Athena's wrath and will be finally killed by Poseidon -in a rare case where Athena and Poseidon's intentions are in line).

Third picture

On the center, it's one of the most realistically painted scenes; Neoptolemos, Achilles' son, after having killed Astyanax, Hector's little son, strikes Priam, who is covered with blood. The old king will die along with his city, completely defenceless. The vivid red color not only attracts the viewer's attention, but makes it look like it comes straight out of a horror film increasing the scene's drama.