Art about the Sack of Troy
The study of ancient art has led to a lot of our known history about ancient civilizations, but it is not only the surviving works that tell the story, but also the ones that have not survived the years, which is the case with the tales of the Sack of Troy. Also the writings about these lost pieces provide today’s researchers with many other influential insights about ancient cultures. A comparison of a vase painted by Kleophrades and the painting by Polygnotos, as described by Pausanias, will help with the explanation of how lost art can provide insight into ancient history. There are many vases and smaller pieces of artwork that have survived from the time of the Greeks, which describe parts of the Sack of Troy, but the detailed description of the painting of The Sack of Troy, by Polygnotos, described by Pausanias, provides us with new insight to the story as well as what the painters may have been trying to represent in their representations. Polygnotos was described by Pliny the Elder as an innovator in painting, with such revolutionary styles of painting as women with transparent drapery, representing the mouth open, which showed the teeth, and changing the faces from the rigidity, which previously existed. Polytgnot
the painting was to be place over the grave of Neoptolemus, which may be a reason that the child is not dead in his version. The many vases that depict scenes from the Sack of Troy only offer excerpts from the conflict, and provide no opinion, such as the writings of Pausanias and Homer do. On the vase painted by Kleophrades we see two scenes from the Sack of Troy. The first scene (Fig. 2) is one of Neoptolemus slaying what appears to be Astynous the Trojan sitting on an alter as well as an unknown child. This differs from the depiction painted by Polygnotos, which, as explained by Pausanias, is of Neoptolemus slaying Astynous, but he is not sitting on an alter, he has fallen to his knees. Also in the painting there is an alter and a boy, but the boy is alive and clinging to the alter, while on the alter there sits a corselet, which was a piece of battle armor. Both depict horrific sights, but they vary slightly. Also in that scene there is a dead or dying soldier on the ground, which seems to be a running theme throughout all the pieces of artwork. In Pausanias’ description he mentions that ! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ On the other side of the vase (Fig. 3) another scene of the Sack of Troy is depicted, which shows the rape of Cassandra by Ajax. This design also has small differences from the one painted by Polygnotos, and explained by Pausanias. One difference is that on the vase Cassandra is holding onto a standing statue of Athena, while in Polygnotos’ painting she is sitting holding onto the image of Athena, which she dragged from its stand when Ajax dragged her from sanctuary. In this image Ajax is taking an oath about the outrage of Cassandra, which means that the rape has already ha
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1191
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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