Achilles and Ajax Playing Dice by Exekias

History Research Paper

Greek art is considered as a turning point for the development of all aspects of cultural art history, such as architecture, sculpture, pottery and painting. The ancient Greek civilization was famous for its mythical and aesthetic principle in the art culture. Renowned for the pottery, Greek had developed its unique painting technique called the black-figured. “Achilles and Ajax playing Dice” by Exekias is the most significant black-figure amphora for its iconography and that represents the ideal art principle and history of the ancient Greece.

Exekias, also called Execias, was living during Athens time period between 550BC and 530BC. He was a most recognized painter who frequently worked with black-figure. Under the achievement of some outstanding potteries such as Achilles and Ajax Playing Dice versus Dionysus Crossing the Sea, he is known as a master of black-figure painting in the Greek era (Britannica, 2014).

Black-figure painting was first established in Corinth, c 700 BCE then Athens was influenced by the technique and got control over it (Cartwright, 2012). The entire process was made out of iron clay found in the area mixed with potash pigment, water and leave it evaporate under the sun until it’s thick and settle. Move on to wedging process where human used energy to make the clay combine together and create the smoothness. The forms of potter are made on the potter wheel and are control by human’s hands, which is fascinating because people will have respect toward a finished product. After shaping the entire form, it’s then bake inside a kiln until it turns black (Britannica, 2014). Black-figure painting usually presents a storytelling by depicting animals or people in silhouette and sometime th...

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