Ajax And Achilles Playing Dice: Archaic Era Of Greek Art

Ajax and Achilles Playing Dice was created by Exekias in the Archaic era of Greek art. This piece features two seated black figures on what appears to be a red or brown backdrop. The two characters, Achilles and Ajax, are, as the title suggests, engaged in a game of dice. Although this the vase was produced for a larger audience than it’s comparative counterpart, it is meticulously crafted, as showcased in the details on the clothing, specifically the cloaks of the figures. Other details on the vase include several inscriptions that tell the reader of the game and its victor, Achilles, and of the artist’s patrons. A particularly interesting factor of the piece is that Achilles, though no longer in battle, still wears his helmet. This attribute

These attributes include that the pieces are somewhat similar stylistically, that the works are extraordinarily detailed and complex, and that both share a common theme of death. To the first point, the Greeks developed a knowledge for Egyptian art and used it as a base for their own creations in the Archaic era, as seen in other pieces of art like early Kouros figures. To another stylistic detail, both the pieces have very ornate features. The cloaks of Achilles and Ajax have precise and well crafted lines, and the clothing in the Book of the Dead were manufactured with great care for the hatching of each piece of cloth. Next, the theme of death is present in both compositions. In Ajax and Achilles Playing Dice, the game of dice alongside Achilles’ helmet are used as a foreshadowing device to inform the viewer of the deaths to come. The death in the Book of the Dead is in almost every facet of the piece, because of it’s funerary context. Despite these similarities, the differences in the pieces are extensive. The main difference which can be derived is that the flows of the story of each respective work is diverging. Though both compositions feature text as a storytelling device, the images shown in the Book of the Dead are a continuous series, but the singular image of Ajax and Achilles Playing Dice stands almost alone; the text is not a main feature of the