BLACK FIGURE PYXIS CLV05800PH113

Handmade ceramic black figure pyxis of the classical period, museum copy.

It depicts scenes from the Trojan War.

The Trojan War was a ten-year, civil war conflict between the Greeks, with opposing camps the Achaeans (or Argives or Danaans in Homer, as he called the Mycenaeans) and the Trojans. It took place under the walls of Troy but also in neighboring cities allied with it. The main cause of the war was the abduction of Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, Menelaus, by the prince of Troy, Paris. This war is one of the main events of the time.

The causes of the war can be traced back to the divine dispute between Athena, Hera and Aphrodite, which was provoked by Eris by giving them a golden apple with the inscription to the most beautiful (the most beautiful). Zeus, wanting to settle the dispute about who deserved the apple, referred them to the Trojan prince Paris, who chose Aphrodite. As a reward for his judgment, Aphrodite rewarded him by making Helen, the most beautiful mortal woman, fall in love with him and follow him to Troy.

Immediately after its capture, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and brother of Helen's husband Menelaus, led a general Achaean campaign and besieged Troy for ten years. After the death of many heroes, such as Achilles and Aedas of Telamonius as well as the Trojans, Hector and Pari, the city was defeated thanks to the trick of the Trojan Horse.