tour 11 of 11
The myth of the Trojan war
The sacrifice of Polyxena
The horrors of war continued even after the
fall of Troy and the recapture of Helen. Achilles had died before
the city was taken, but his spirit appeared to the Greeks as they
were about to depart for home and demanded compensation for all the
hard fighting he had done, in the form of the blood of
Priam's virgin daughter
Polyxena.*
The vase-painter
presents the scene of the sacrifice of the innocent girl with
brutal directness. Polyxena's log-like body is held firmly
by three Greeks, while Achilles' son cuts her throat and
the blood flows down onto the altar to his father. Two Greeks, too
old to fight and so holding spears but otherwise unarmed, frame the
scene. All the participants are named.