Palamides, the Hero Inventor of Dice Games
Achilles and Ajax playing a board game in the presence of Athena.
- The Berliner Amphora
The two warriors sit on stools and bend over a block-like gaming table. The player on the left, with his open right hand, seems to be inviting his opponent to move; the player on the right, bending his index finger, stretches one hand out towards the game table, and, hesitantly, holds his hand over the game. Both have put down their Boeotian shields decorated with a satyr mask; their helmets are placed within reach. They wear a metal breastplate and greaves, and have sword and two lances with them. Both have a myrtle wreath, the one on the left with flowers, the one on the right with berries. The two players exhibit red incised beards and mustaches.
Athena is standing in front of the gaming table between the players, raising her left hand and holding a spear in her right one. She turns her head to the player on the left. The aegis is hidden by her cloak hanging down from her shoulders. The goddess’ skin is white; incised crosses decorate her peplos and aegis; the cloak is rendered with vertical strips. A high crested helmet decorated by white dots covers Athena’s head.
- The Context
According to the detailed surveys, there are more than 150 vases depicting the well-known image of Ajax and Achilles playing a board. These vases have been dated to the sixth and fifth centuries BC. In some cases the two warriors are explicitly identified as Ajax and Achilles on the basis of inscriptions. Sometimes even the number of their throws on the game board is also labeled. Furthermore, many of the pieces of pottery adorned with this motif show the presence of the goddess Athena. The goddess is depicted facing the viewer standing between the players, holding her spear in one hand, while making a gesture as if speaking with the other one, and looking rather sternly at Achilles. Exekias, see his Vatican black-figured amphora, is assumed to be the first artist who depicted the motif of playing a board game.
These scenes cannot be understood as detached from a tradition of narrative in an epic context. The recurrent element in all these vases is the board game, which, in the mythical tradition, was an invention of Palamedes, a hero absent from the Homeric poems but important in the epic cycle, especially in the Cypria, if not in a Palamedia. In the resume of the Cypria made by Proclus, the death of Palamedes is immediately followed by the rage of Achilles and his decision not to fight any more in the war against the Trojans. Because of its brevity, the shorthand offered by Proclus does not draw any link between Palamedes’ death and the rage of Achilles apart from the juxtaposition of the two facts, there being no reference to the cause of Achilles’ rage in any way.
The tragic poets and sophists describe Palamides as a sage among the Greeks, and as a poet; he is said to have invented light-houses, measures, scales, discus, dice, the alphabet, and the art of regulating sentinels. Palamides’ genius and skill created envy and jealousies among the other Greek heroes, and, according to the survived literary fonts, they were the main cause of his death. In particular, Agamemnon, Diomedes, and Odysseus, envious of his fame, caused a captive Phrygian to write to Palamedes a letter in the name of Priam, and then induced by bribes a servant of Palamedes to conceal the letter under his master's bed. Hereupon they accused Palamedes of treachery; they searched his tent, and as they found the letter which they themselves had dictated, they caused him to be stoned to death. According to some traditions, it was Odysseus alone who hated and persecuted Palamedes. The manner of Palamedes' death is likewise related differently: some say that Odysseus and Diomedes induced him to descend into a well, where they pretended they had discovered a treasure, and, as he was below, they cast stones upon him, and killed him (Diet. Cret. II. 15) ; others state that he was drowned by them whilst fishing (Paus. X. 31. § 1); according to Dares Phrygius (28) he was killed by Paris with an arrow. The story of Palamedes, which is not mentioned by Homer, seems to have been first related in the Cypria, and was afterwards developed by the tragic poets, especially Euripides, and lastly by the sophists, who liked to look upon Palamedes as their model.
The causal bond between Achilles and Ajax is actually made explicit by Philostratus in his “Heroicus”, where an authorized informant of the Trojan events states that not only Achilles but also Ajax reacted angrily against Palamedes’ death by breaking up with the Achaeans and refusing to continue fighting. Philostratus’ remarks about the cause of Achilles’ (and Ajax’s) rage seem to echo the versions of epic, tragedy and the early sophists. If both Ajax and Achilles cut off their participation in the war because of their close friendship with Palamedes and as a protest against his death, the image of both heroes leaning over the board game invented by Palamedes, while their comrades-in-arms keep on fighting against the Trojans, would then be an appealing reference to these popular heroes and to their well-known myth.
The vascular painters depict Athena never looking at Ajax but at Achilles, in what seems to be a rather furious or exhortative gesture to prevent Achilles from allying with a victim of his patroness’s ploys and to make him join in the war against her most hated enemies, the Trojans.
Source: Romero Mariscal L., “Ajax and Anchilles playing a board game: revisited from the literary tradition”
CAV / CAVI @ www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
Attic black-figure amphora
H. 59,0 cm.; Dm. 37.3 cm.; foot Dm. 21.0 cm.
Attributed to “Chiusi Painter” by Beazley
520 – 510 BC
Berlin, Altes Museum, Inv. No. 1962.28
Palamides, the Hero Inventor of Dice Games
Achilles and Ajax playing a board game in the presence of Athena.
- The Berliner Amphora
The two warriors sit on stools and bend over a block-like gaming table. The player on the left, with his open right hand, seems to be inviting his opponent to move; the player on the right, bending his index finger, stretches one hand out towards the game table, and, hesitantly, holds his hand over the game. Both have put down their Boeotian shields decorated with a satyr mask; their helmets are placed within reach. They wear a metal breastplate and greaves, and have sword and two lances with them. Both have a myrtle wreath, the one on the left with flowers, the one on the right with berries. The two players exhibit red incised beards and mustaches.
Athena is standing in front of the gaming table between the players, raising her left hand and holding a spear in her right one. She turns her head to the player on the left. The aegis is hidden by her cloak hanging down from her shoulders. The goddess’ skin is white; incised crosses decorate her peplos and aegis; the cloak is rendered with vertical strips. A high crested helmet decorated by white dots covers Athena’s head.
- The Context
According to the detailed surveys, there are more than 150 vases depicting the well-known image of Ajax and Achilles playing a board. These vases have been dated to the sixth and fifth centuries BC. In some cases the two warriors are explicitly identified as Ajax and Achilles on the basis of inscriptions. Sometimes even the number of their throws on the game board is also labeled. Furthermore, many of the pieces of pottery adorned with this motif show the presence of the goddess Athena. The goddess is depicted facing the viewer standing between the players, holding her spear in one hand, while making a gesture as if speaking with the other one, and looking rather sternly at Achilles. Exekias, see his Vatican black-figured amphora, is assumed to be the first artist who depicted the motif of playing a board game.
These scenes cannot be understood as detached from a tradition of narrative in an epic context. The recurrent element in all these vases is the board game, which, in the mythical tradition, was an invention of Palamedes, a hero absent from the Homeric poems but important in the epic cycle, especially in the Cypria, if not in a Palamedia. In the resume of the Cypria made by Proclus, the death of Palamedes is immediately followed by the rage of Achilles and his decision not to fight any more in the war against the Trojans. Because of its brevity, the shorthand offered by Proclus does not draw any link between Palamedes’ death and the rage of Achilles apart from the juxtaposition of the two facts, there being no reference to the cause of Achilles’ rage in any way.
The tragic poets and sophists describe Palamides as a sage among the Greeks, and as a poet; he is said to have invented light-houses, measures, scales, discus, dice, the alphabet, and the art of regulating sentinels. Palamides’ genius and skill created envy and jealousies among the other Greek heroes, and, according to the survived literary fonts, they were the main cause of his death. In particular, Agamemnon, Diomedes, and Odysseus, envious of his fame, caused a captive Phrygian to write to Palamedes a letter in the name of Priam, and then induced by bribes a servant of Palamedes to conceal the letter under his master's bed. Hereupon they accused Palamedes of treachery; they searched his tent, and as they found the letter which they themselves had dictated, they caused him to be stoned to death. According to some traditions, it was Odysseus alone who hated and persecuted Palamedes. The manner of Palamedes' death is likewise related differently: some say that Odysseus and Diomedes induced him to descend into a well, where they pretended they had discovered a treasure, and, as he was below, they cast stones upon him, and killed him (Diet. Cret. II. 15) ; others state that he was drowned by them whilst fishing (Paus. X. 31. § 1); according to Dares Phrygius (28) he was killed by Paris with an arrow. The story of Palamedes, which is not mentioned by Homer, seems to have been first related in the Cypria, and was afterwards developed by the tragic poets, especially Euripides, and lastly by the sophists, who liked to look upon Palamedes as their model.
The causal bond between Achilles and Ajax is actually made explicit by Philostratus in his “Heroicus”, where an authorized informant of the Trojan events states that not only Achilles but also Ajax reacted angrily against Palamedes’ death by breaking up with the Achaeans and refusing to continue fighting. Philostratus’ remarks about the cause of Achilles’ (and Ajax’s) rage seem to echo the versions of epic, tragedy and the early sophists. If both Ajax and Achilles cut off their participation in the war because of their close friendship with Palamedes and as a protest against his death, the image of both heroes leaning over the board game invented by Palamedes, while their comrades-in-arms keep on fighting against the Trojans, would then be an appealing reference to these popular heroes and to their well-known myth.
The vascular painters depict Athena never looking at Ajax but at Achilles, in what seems to be a rather furious or exhortative gesture to prevent Achilles from allying with a victim of his patroness’s ploys and to make him join in the war against her most hated enemies, the Trojans.
Source: Romero Mariscal L., “Ajax and Anchilles playing a board game: revisited from the literary tradition”
CAV / CAVI @ www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
Attic black-figure amphora
H. 59,0 cm.; Dm. 37.3 cm.; foot Dm. 21.0 cm.
Attributed to “Chiusi Painter” by Beazley
520 – 510 BC
Berlin, Altes Museum, Inv. No. 1962.28