Attic Hydria of the Eucharides Painter
Attic Hydria of the Eucharides Painter
The battle between Achilles and Hector is witnessed by their respective guardian deities, Athena and Apollo. At the centre, Achilles advances, armed with a sword and ready to strike. Hector has fallen already with wounds on the trunk and on the left thigh which bleed copiously; he still wields his shield and spear uselessly; a broken spear lies on the ground. Athena raises her arm in an interlocutory gesture and assists Achilles, whose victory she has ensured through deception (the goddess had assumed the likeness of Deiphobus, promising to help Hector to encourage him to the duel; furthermore, she had restored the spear to Achilles after his shot did not find its target: Hom., Il. XXII, 225-275). Apollo, at this stage powerless to save Hector, is armed with a bow and arrow, which he points menacingly towards Achilles, thus prefiguring his tragic destiny, as prophesied by Hector himself at the moment of his death; indeed, the hand of Paris guided by Apollo would release the fatal arrow at the Scaean Gate (Hom., Il. XXII,359).
The Eucharides Painter, a minor figure among the painters of the early fifth century B.C., is considered to have been a pupil of the Painter of Nikoxenos, a ceramic painter from the Leagros Group who subsequently converted to the red figure technique.