Tommaso Piroli, from John Flaxman: Funeral of Hector Achilles is “The Best of the Achaeans”[1], and Hector is the best of the Trojans. The Iliad starts with the anger of Achilles, but the last words belong to Hector’s funeral: Thus, then, did they celebrate the funeral of Hector, tamer of horses.Iliad 24.804[2] Biagio d’Antonio da Firenze: The Siege of Troy – The Death of Hector Achilles will eventually fall in… Read more
But the mane [khaitā] of the other one, my kinswoman Hagesikhora, blossoms [epantheō] on her head like imperishable gold [khrusos]. … She is Hagesikhora. But whoever is second to Agido in beauty, let her be a Scythian horse running against a Lydian one. … It is true: all the royal purple 65 in the world cannot resist. No fancy snake-bracelet, made of pure gold, no headdress from Lydia, the kind… Read more
Marbled head of a veiled woman (500BCE)Metropolitan Museum of Art Andromache is a fascinating woman. Following her different bedfellows or husbands, we learn about her life. Andromache appears in many texts, among them the Iliad, Euripides’ play Andromache, the Aeneid, and the French play Andromache written by Racine who offers another perspective about Andromache. Her name means battle of a man, from ἀνδρός of a man and μάχη battle. How come,… Read more