A scene from the Trojan War: Achilles and the Ethiopian king Memnon, son of Eos (Dawn), clash in single combat, flanked by chariots. This combat was recounted in the Aethiopis, a now-lost poem belonging to the Epic Cycle that continued the story of the Trojan War after the Iliad and Hector's death. As often, the relationship between literature and visual art is unclear: did the vase painter deliberately set out to illustrate the Aethiopis, or did poet and painter simply draw upon the same stock of traditional oral narrative?

Attic black-figure pyxis, in the manner of the C Painter; ca. 570 BCE. Now in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany.

A little something out of the Trojan War. Enjoy.

Helen boards a ship leaving Sparta for Troy. Fresco in the Fourth Style from the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii.

Achilles pursues Troilus and Polyxena. Exterior of an Attic black-figure kylix (drinking cup) in the shape of a Siana cup, attributed to the C* Painter; ca. 575 BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

*Short for "Corinthianizing," due to the influence of Corinthian art on his style.

Achilles (identified by an inscription), bearing a shield with a Gorgoneion, stands over a fallen Amazon. Ancient Greek terracotta relief, artist unknown; ca. 600 BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Reconciliation of Helen and Paris after His Defeat by Menelaus, Richard Westall, 1805

Aeneas, holding the hand of his son Ascanius/Iulus and bearing his father Anchises on his shoulders, flees the burning city of Troy. Terracotta sculpture by an unknown artist; 1st cent. CE. Found at Pompeii; now in the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Naples. Photo credit: Alphanidon/Wikimedia Commons.

Patroclus (right) kills the Lycian prince Sarpedon, as Sarpedon's cousin and ally Glaucus rushes to his aid. Proto-Lucanian red-figure hydria by the Policoro Painter; ca. 400 BCE. From the so-called "Tomb of the Policoro Painter" at Heraclea; now in the Museo Nazionale Archaeologico, Policoro.

Thetis presents her son Achilles with his newly forged weapons. Detail of an Attic black-figure hydria by a painter adjacent to the Tyrrhenian Group; ca. 575-550 BCE. Now in the Louvre. Photo credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).

Bronze fragment from a shield strap, signed by Aristodamos of Argos and made ca. 575 BCE. Upper panel: Menelaus, watched by Athena, recovers Helen from Troy; lower panel: the Centaur Nessus abducts Heracles' wife Deianeira. Now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA. Photo credit: Getty Open Content Program.

An episode from the Trojan War: Achilles (left), reinforced by Hermes and Athena, battles Hector and Aeneas at the altar of Apollo Thymbraios. The fallen Trojan prince Troilus lies at Achilles' feet. Attic black-figure amphora, artist unknown (perhaps associated with the Tyrrhenian Group); ca. 550 BCE. Now in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich. Photo credit: Carole Raddato.

Thetis and the Nereids mourn the slain Achilles. Corinthian black-figure hydria, attr. to the Damon Painter; ca. 550 BCE. Now in the Louvre.

The goddess Thetis, riding a hippocampus (seahorse), delivers newly forged arms to her son Achilles. Mosaic from the main andron of the House of the Mosaics, Eretria, artist unknown; ca. 400-350 BCE.

“Helen” - H.D. (Hilda Doolittle, 1886-1961)

All Greece hates  the still eyes in the white face,    the lustre as of olives    where she stands,    and the white hands.  All Greece reviles    the wan face when she smiles,    hating it deeper still    when it grows wan and white,    remembering past enchantments    and past ills.  Greece sees unmoved,    God’s daughter, born of love,    the beauty of cool feet    and slenderest knees,    could love indeed the maid,    only if she were laid,    white ash amid funereal cypresses.

Helen on the Walls of Troy, Frederic Leighton, 1865

Hector and Andromache, Giovanni Maria Benzoni, 1871

Hector’s Body, Jacques-Louis David, 1778

Odysseus and Ajax dispute over the arms of Achilles.  Attic black-figure oinochoe, attr. to the Taleides Painter; ca. 520 BCE.  Now in the Louvre.