Attic Red-Figure Skyphos Fragments (8)

The primary record for a group of twenty Getty fragments and eight University of Leipzig fragments belonging to a partially reconstructed skyphos. On side A: Peleus, facing left, holds the infant Achilles; the top of Achilles’ head, his ear, and a red cloak covering the back of his head are preserved. Peleus also holds a pair of hunting spears and wears a chlamys around his shoulders and petasos behind his head (the red string around his neck is preserved). He is followed by Thetis, with a cloak drawn up over the back of her head, she lifts her chiton slightly in front of her with her right hand. Behind Thetis, Apollo moves away to the right, but looks back over his shoulder towards the group; his head and quiver are preserved. Peleus and Thetis meet the centaur Cheiron, facing right; he wears a draped garment, likely a himation, and skin boots on his forelegs; only part of his lower body is preserved. A draped figure stands behind Cheiron, presumably his wife, Chariklo, or his mother Philyra. On side B: a priest holding a temple key and a staff with red woolen fillets, facing right, stands behind a woman shaking hands with a seated figure, who faces to the left; a woman wearing a draped garment stands behind the seated figure; on the far right, a figure wearing a cloak stands, facing left. According to one interpretation (see Williams, 1997), this may represent the Trojan priest of Apollo, Chryses, with his temple key and staff, meeting Agamemnon, the seated figure, to recover his daughter Chryseis, who shakes Agamemnon’s hand in farewell. The woman standing immediately behind Agamemnon is likely Briseis, while the cloaked figure on the far right is likely Athena based on a partial inscription.