Friday, September 23, 2022

Trojan Horse - Mykonos Vase

 Salvete Omnes, 

 


Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes (Aeneid)  or Beware of Achaeans [Greeks] bearing gifts - says the saying - :)  -
full line goes - "Equo ne credite, Teucri. Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes - Do not trust the horse, Trojans! Whatever it is, I fear the Danaans [Greeks], even those bearing gifts."


 

and one of the earliest surviving visual depictions of the Trojan horse  comes from the collection of  Mykonos Museum (Greece) where  this Greek Archaic period pithos vase (circa 675BC or early 7th century BC) is stored.



and the violence depicted on the vase -

 





nota bene -
perhaps a depiction of the Trojan Horse making in this ancient pottery

From Virgil's Aeneid, Book II, - 1-56.
"After many years have slipped by, the leaders of the Greeks,
opposed by the Fates, and damaged by the war,
build a horse of mountainous size, through Pallas's divine art,
and weave planks of fir over its ribs
they pretend it's a votive offering: this rumour spreads.
They secretly hide a picked body of men, chosen by lot,
there, in the dark body, filling the belly and the huge
cavernous insides with armed warriors."

A.S. Kline translated

Valate

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