PLATE XXXII
Achilles and Thersites
The most conspicuous features of this rather detailed composition depict a scene from the Aithiopis. Achilles, taunted by Thersites for being touched with pity for the fallen Penthesilea, has drawn his sword and beheaded his annoyer, whose mutilated body is seen lying in the lower foreground. The elderly Phoinix, perplexed at the occurrence, stands near Achilles in the facade. Above their heads hang various accoutrements of war, and before them on the ground near Thersites' body are several overturned utensils, emblematic of a scene of violence. From a large South Italian amphora of the fourth century b.c., in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (photograph). See p. 130.
