Agora Object: Agora XXX, no. 1226
Chronology:   Ca. 470-460 B.C.
Deposit:   E--F 12--14 (a -- c ); G 12:22 (d )
Published Number:   AV 30.1226
References:   Object: P 4952
Four non-joining wall fragments, a, c, and d with part of outturned rim. Max. dim. a) 0.055, b) 0.071, c) 0.04, d) 0.169; est. diam. at rim 0.26. H. Riemann, AA, 1937, p. 94, fig. 3 (fragment d); ILN, Sept. 11, 1937, p. 432, fig. 21; T. L. Shear, Hesperia 7, 1938, p. 344, fig. 27 (fragment d); T. L. Shear, AJA 42, 1938, p. 7, fig. 6 (fragment d); H. A. Thompson, Hesperia Suppl. IV, p. 128 and fig. 95; C. Clairmont, Das Parisurteil in der antiker Kunst, Zurich 1951, p. 50, cat. no. 144 (the fragments have been relettered since this publication); N. Himmelmann-Wildschütz, Zur Eigenart des klassischen Götterbildes, Munich 1959, fig. 18; I. Raab, Zu Darstellungen des Parisurteils in der griechischen Kunst, Frankfurt 1972, p. 178, cat. no. 7; LIMC IV, 1988, p. 710, no. 429, pl. 431 (fragment d), s.v. Hera.

Judgment of Paris. Fragment d gives the recognizable portion of the scene. Paris (left elbow, left foot missing) sits to left on a rock, his right foot resting on another. He wears laced sandals with wool stockings and has a cloak over his left shoulder, a petasos hanging down his back, and a fillet around his head. He holds a short club in his left hand; his right touches his chin as he listens to Hermes. Behind Paris is the branch of a tree. Hermes (feet missing) faces the shepherd dressed in a chlamys fastened at his right shoulder and a petasos with the brim turned up in the back. In his left hand he holds his kerykeion. Behind Hermes comes Hera wearing a chiton and himation, a veil and diadem on her head. The back of her head and most of her right arm are missing. In her left hand she holds a scepter; her right rests on her hip. Nothing remains of the next figure, who would be Athena. Fragment a shows the head with diadem of Aphrodite to left and the tip of the left wing of Eros. Fragment b preserves part of Aphrodite's peplos and the feet of Eros, who hovers before her. On the rim (a, c, d [not illustrated]), egg pattern with dots. Preliminary sketch. Relief contour for profiles. Dilute glaze: muscles; lines on rocks. Red: ties of petasoi; laces of boots. Added clay: leaves of tree; spikes of Hera's diadem.

For the subject, see 600. Clairmont (Parisurteil, p. 50, cat. no. 144) opts for calling the second goddess not Aphrodite but Peitho, on the analogy of a contemporary skyphos fragment in New York attributed to a follower of Douris on which the name is inscribed (New York, M.M.A. 07.286.51: ARV2 806, 1). Behind her in this scene is part of a staff belonging to another figure, and she is preceded by Aphrodite (name inscribed) and Eros, who flies before her; all four face to right, presumably toward the now-missing figures of Athena, Hera, Hermes, and Paris. Clairmont was reluctant to call the figure on 1226 Aphrodite because she has turned her head away from the group and looks at Eros. But she does not face to left entirely: her body and right leg are frontal, and the position of the drapery folds over her left leg makes clear that it is bent slightly at the knee, with the foot probably to right. Hence, her pose should be understood as a very momentary one, and she will soon turn to the deities who comprise the rest of the procession. Furthermore, Clairmont's interpretation would require a seven-figure composition of Paris, Hermes, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Eros, and Peitho. Given the estimated diameter of 0.26, there simply would not be enough room for seven figures. The composition was probably this, from right to left: Paris (the tree behind him framing the composition as well as providing a landscape element), Hermes, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, and Eros.

For the egg pattern on the rim of a kantharos, see London, B.M. E 155 by the Amphitrite Painter (ARV2 832, 37; Paralip. 422, 37; Addenda 295); London, B.M. E 157 from the Alexandre Group (ARV2 1213, 2); and Bologna 467 by the Eretria Painter (ARV2 1251, 40; Addenda 354): Lezzi-Hafter (Schuwalow-Maler, p. 106, cat. no. S 46) has reattributed this kantharos to the Shuvalov Painter.