So, Amanda, we've described this particular vase. This one interests me in particular because obviously it's a battle scene, but when you look closely, you also see some Greek lettering. What's going on with the picture, and also, maybe more generally?
This vase has battle scenes on both sides and we're right in the thick of the battle here. You can feel the heat and the dust going on when you look at these scenes, full of vigour and verve, and horses and spears, and men going everywhere. So on this particular scene in the battle, we're actually looking at Achilles, again, here. As David talked about him, the greatest warrior of the Greek army. Apparently invincible, but unfortunately not.
Here, he is downing one of the Trojan soldiers, with his spear raised, just about to spear him through the back of his shoulders. And here's another Greek warrior. Also, downing one of the Trojan soldiers here. And it's very interesting. This is a Greek vase. It's made by Greek potters. So, of course, they're going to make sure that what they decorate and put on these vases represents their side of the story, that they are winning.
And we know that the Greeks did win the Trojan War ultimately. But there's no sort of mistaking the fact that the Greeks are winning and we would refer to this as propagandistic. This is a piece of propaganda that supports the Greek's view of how this myth actually unfolded. And David, you mentioned about the words-- the lettering that you can see, it's quite faint, but you can see quite distinctly. When you get close up, you can see Greek lettering. And it actually relates to the soldiers. And it's actually their names.
So we have Achilles written in relation to this soldier, and then the name of this soldier as well. And we know the names of the Trojan soldiers as well, which is really extraordinary. On the other side of the vase we have this other very, very famous scene from the Trojan War again. And again, it's full of vigour and verve, and you can just feel the dust and the sweat and the heat of the moment of the battle. And what's really fascinating about this particular scene is the frontal view here of this Greek warrior who was called Glaucus.
And in fact, Homer, the poet that wrote about the Trojan War, he actually makes specific reference to Glaucus, the Greek warrior, and actually says that the Trojans actually shuddered at the sight of him when they saw him. And so the person who has decorated this vase has made a feature of Glaucus right in the middle and said, you know, isn't he amazing? Isn't he fantastic? You know, he's one of the great Greek warriors.
Frontal view-- you get the full face and his wonderful plumed helmet. And then he is, of course, flanked by Greek warriors again, all named. And we have their names written. Also, downing poor Trojan soldiers underneath. So this guy is downing two Trojans. So, you know, single handedly, one Greek warrior is downing two separate Trojans. So, you know, of course, it's about the Greeks winning and actually dominating as well.
It's almost as if the skill of the fighting is being matched by the skill of the potter with his painting.
Exactly. That's right. These vases are so beautifully painted. And something we actually haven't mentioned is that these two vases, all of the figures, even the horses, they're all painted in black. And then there are details on top of the black. And sometimes the details have been etched through the black, to the orangey red of the clay beneath. This is what we refer to as black figure decoration on these vases. And this is one of the earlier forms of decoration on Greek vases.
And that actually leads us into talking very quickly about this vase here, because this-- you can see the figures aren't in black, they're actually in the orangey red of the clay. And the black is actually now the background. And so now we refer to this style of decoration as red figure painting. And so the black figure is the earlier. And then remember, this is about 80 years later this was made. And now, the red figure technique of painting has been introduced. And we're looking here, just briefly, at a scene, again, from the Trojan War.
Once again, Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior of the Greek army. Here, a young Achilles, he doesn't have a beard. He's in full armour. He's got his magnificent shield. We're looking-- and interesting, we're looking at the shield from the interior. I can see how it's actually made. You can see this strap here and where his arm goes through the middle of it, but it's also interestingly got-- on the outside of it, it's got a leather protective sort of cover, which drapes down below. So this, what looks like a piece of cloth, we think was probably leather. And in fact, actually performed an extra protection over the shield.
And once again, he's got his spear poised literally just about to down this Trojan soldier named Memnon. And here we see Memnon. He's naked. He's bearded. So he's older. And being naked, it actually makes him both heroic in one sense, but it also makes him very vulnerable. And we know, of course, you know, what the outcome of this scene is, and the fact that Memnon is actually dying, basically. He's about to be speared by Achilles.
