FOR YOUR OWN ANALYSIS: Suicide of Ajax by Exekias (roughly 530 B.C.)

This is a painting on a terracotta amphora, which is a type of vase or jug that was used in ancient Greece and Rome for storing food and wine. The adornment is in “black figure,” which means that it contains black figuration on a red background. It is painted by undoubtedly the most famous (and my favorite) black-figure artist and potter, Exekias. Exekias possessed the unique ability to convert black-figure style from a style that could not show a lot of detail to one that is rich in detail and transmits so much sentiment. Exekias actually invented this type of pottery (more specifically called the belly amphora.) That’s awesome. Look at the detail that Exekias demonstrates, it’s brilliant!! The etchings reveal the musculature of Ajax; look at the design on the shield and the feather in his helmet (all this in a style that ordinarily forbids such intricacy.) Exekias presents Ajax’s body in the style of an ideal Greek athlete or warrior, showing chiseled muscles, and small elegant feet. This is typical of this archaic artist’s representation of a Greek hero. On the top of the scene of Ajax preparing for his suicide, there is a geometric border design fused with floral ornamentation done in black-figure style like the scene itself. On the bottom of the amphora, there’s another geometric design consisting of triangular shapes that seem to point upwards towards the scene.

In the scene, which includes Ajax squatting with his right knee forward over a mound of earth in which he plants his sword; Exekias includes Ajax’s armor and a palm tree. Ajax being nude without his armor suggests his vulnerability and the downwardly contorted leaves of the tree add a glum feeling to the scene. Landscape was rare in attic vase painting, but Exekias manages to display the narrative function of it through his placement and depiction of the palm tree. Ajax’s armor is placed to the right of him—leaving the hero unprotected. The helmet seems to watch Ajax which can be Exekias’ attempt to recall Athenian’s previous inclination to be unprepared for battle and thus connect Trojan culture with that of the Athenians.

The idea of Ajax, the mythological Trojan hero who had occupied such a paramount role in Homer’s Trojan War series, sneaking into isolation to kill himself at dawn (which really makes the red background more salient because it actually looks like dawn) really releases such a sentiment that a viewer familiar with this scene would virtually be able to feel Ajax’s dishonor and humiliation. Usually, this scene of Ajax was represented by painters at the pinnacle of the story (which probably would make it more recognizable) where Ajax is impaled on his sword. Exekias’ depiction of Ajax preparing for his suicide is such a unique representation of a familiar scene to ancient Greeks.

Okay so I have a million more things to say about this painting, cause I absolutely love it and it’s really hard to stop here but the point of this section is to let you all look at it for yourselves. So have fun with it and if you’re not familiar with the process of art analysis maybe you can keep the following things in mind:

• How was it seen in an ancient Athenian context?


• How would it be seen from a modern contemporary viewpoint? (maybe here it makes sense to consider how we begin to assign meaning to an image)


• Should you look at the image with the notion that it is to communicate a type of truth? (maybe take into consideration what ultimately effects the way we interpret art, which is dependent somewhat on our own expectations.)


• Maybe you want to do some research on the actual story of the suicide of Ajax to help you grasp the painting