Ajax and Achille’s body
Black figure kylix depicting Ajax carrying the body of Achilles.
The accounts of Achilles’ death differ very much, though all agree in stating that he did not fall by human hands, or at least not without the interference of the god Apollo.
According to some traditions, he was killed by Apollo himself as he had been foretold (Hom. Il. xxi. 270).
According to Hyginus, Apollo assumed the appearance of Paris in killing him, while others say that Apollo merely directed the weapon of Paris against Achilles, and thus caused his death, as had been suggested by the dying Hector.
His body was rescued by Odysseus and Ajax the Telamonian ; his armor was promised by Thetis to the bravest among the Greeks, which gave rise to a contest between the two heroes who had rescued his body. In the contest, Agamemnon, on the advice of Athena, awarded the prize to Odysseus. This discomfiture threw Ajax into an awful state of madness that led him to commit suicide by using the sword that Hector had once given him as a present.
Attic black-figured kylix
Made in Athens
Approx. half of VI century BC
Attributed to Phrynos Painter
From Vulci, Etruria
Rome, Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco
Ajax and Achille’s body
Black figure kylix depicting Ajax carrying the body of Achilles.
The accounts of Achilles’ death differ very much, though all agree in stating that he did not fall by human hands, or at least not without the interference of the god Apollo.
According to some traditions, he was killed by Apollo himself as he had been foretold (Hom. Il. xxi. 270).
According to Hyginus, Apollo assumed the appearance of Paris in killing him, while others say that Apollo merely directed the weapon of Paris against Achilles, and thus caused his death, as had been suggested by the dying Hector.
His body was rescued by Odysseus and Ajax the Telamonian ; his armor was promised by Thetis to the bravest among the Greeks, which gave rise to a contest between the two heroes who had rescued his body. In the contest, Agamemnon, on the advice of Athena, awarded the prize to Odysseus. This discomfiture threw Ajax into an awful state of madness that led him to commit suicide by using the sword that Hector had once given him as a present.
Attic black-figured kylix
Made in Athens
Approx. half of VI century BC
Attributed to Phrynos Painter
From Vulci, Etruria
Rome, Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Etrusco