The Lesche of the Knidians: The Iliupersis

Pausanias' description begins at the intersection of the two paintings on the north wall. Troy Taken (Iliupersis) was a traditional subject for representation and there are many examples on vase-paintings. The background was a neutral tone and the landscape and water would have been indicated by the appropriate color. The point of intersection in the two paintings is water. Each of the figures in the two paintings were recognizable to Pausanias by their names painted beside them. Pausanias describes the characters and story by moving up and down the wall vertically and horizontally. The walls are divided into three separate groupings (triptychs) or themes: the Sea Scene, the Altar Scene, and the Land Scene.

Detail from Iliupersis: Aenaeas and Anchises Boston MFA 59.178

In the Iliupersis, the first grouping is of Menelaus's ship (detail above) in the Aegean. Kassandra, sitting on the ground near the altar and holding the cult statue of Athena is the center of the east wall. The south wall or land scene is divided into two parts: the corpses of nine dead Trojans and the scene of Antenor and his family preparing for departure in front of their house. The painting does not record one specific moment of the Sack of Troy, but instead records incidents that are happening at different times. The ambiguity of time is an intentional device used by the artist to stress a theme. Neoptolemos still fights, but Priam is already dead. Polygnotos, by repositioning time and characters, created a mood that highlighted the despair of the morning and not the actual battle. Polygnotos placed complementary or contrasting grouping on facing walls or on adjacent walls to emphasize the themes within the painting. (O'Donnell 1989: 212) Themes of departure from Troy, by land and by sea, are seen on either end of the paintings. This ordering of images is linked to the development of tragedy in fifth century B.C. Greece and will become even more apparent with the description of Polygnotos' Nekyia.