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

serves as closure for the composition and is telling of how Achilles would be the first of the two to spring into battle and the first to die, ironic to the viewer, who just witnessed him beat Ajax in the game. Ajax remains defeated in the point that after losing the game of dice, he has to suffer through seeing his friend die, and after carrying Achilles from the battle, he loses his life. The main themes that surface through the story of the vase and the context of the game are death, fate, and chance. Dice is a game of chance and of fate; concepts which resonate with war and with death. Death is the ribbon which ties this work together. Through the tale of the death of these warriors, Exekias created a scene reminiscent of the fate of Achilles and Ajax.
The Book of the Dead, a funerary text crafted on a papyrus scroll, was commissioned by Hunefer in the New Kingdom for his death. Such a text was popular among elites, as by the time of the New Kingdom, it became popular belief that any elite could have an afterlife as long as they lived according to ma’at. The specific scroll referred to as the Book of the Dead focused on the journey of Hunefer, the man who’s mastaba contained the scroll, towards his afterlife. The scroll begins with Anubis leading Hunefer into the Hall of the Two Truths. Next, Anubis weighs Hunefer’s heart against the feather of ma’at. Thoth records the results of this trial, while Ammut observes the procedure, waiting to see if she may devour Hunefer in the case that he lived an unjust life. Hunefer then had to swear to the gods that he lived by ma’at, and, speaking the truth, he was presented to his father, Osiris.
Ajax and Achilles Playing Dice and the Book of the Dead may have been made in different locations and in different eras, yet they share certain attributes.

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

piece.