#neoptolemos

[ditoob]

face of a future war criminal

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Witness to a Tragedy: The Discovery of the Polyxena Sarcophagus

In 1994, during a rescue excavation at the Kızöldün Tumulus near Biga in Çanakkale Province, Türkiye, archaeologists unearthed a remarkable artifact: the Polyxena Sarcophagus.

Dating back to approximately 520–500 BCE, this marble sarcophagus is considered the earliest known example in Anatolia featuring figural reliefs.

The sarcophagus is adorned with intricate carvings depicting scenes from the life and tragic death of Polyxena, the youngest daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy.

One side illustrates her sacrifice by Neoptolemos, son of Achilles, at the tomb of his father — a poignant moment rooted in Greek mythology.

Another panel portrays Queen Hecuba mourning beneath a barren tree, while additional sides show ceremonial processions with musicians and dancers.

Interestingly, despite the sarcophagus's association with Polyxena, it contained the remains of a 40-year-old man, suggesting it may have served a symbolic or commemorative purpose rather than being her actual tomb.

Today, the Polyxena Sarcophagus is prominently displayed at the Troy Museum in Tevfikiye village, near the ancient city of Troy.

The museum, inaugurated in 2018, houses over 2,000 artifacts that chronicle the rich history of the region.

In a contemporary reflection on the themes depicted, the museum covered the sarcophagus with a black cloth on 25 November 2024 to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

This act aimed to highlight the enduring issue of violence against women, connecting ancient narratives to present-day concerns.

[asha-dasha]

anytime i gotta spell "pyrrhus" i become the number 1 self-doubter is it pryhhus is it phyrrus is it prryhus is it prhhyus is it pyhhrus is it

[ibrithir-was-here]

Wait hang on - is Helenus married to Andromache or to Mrs Achilles??

Also now I am imagining N&N dividing up kills so neither gets cursed for Patricide

Nicostratus: look you can't kill Helenus he's your step-dad now

Neoptolemeus: by that logic you can't kill Paris

Nicostratus: STYX

Neoptolemeus: here why don't I kill Paris and you kill Helenus

Nicostratus: no that's a good point you have a right to Paris too...

Neoptolemeus: I'll even kill Menelaus for you

Nicostratus: as tempting as that is maybe we shouldn't be assassinating our own generals???

Neoptolemeus: can I at least kill Agamemnon?

Nicostratus: ....

Nicostratus: ...yeah you can kill Agamemnon

XDDD

Ah ok so, Helenus gets like, given as a war-prize and then married to Deadamia, Neo's mom, after the Trojan War. After she dies, he then marries Andromache. (In the myths Neo is also dead by then)

In the Hermioniad I'm thinking that neither Helenus nor Deadamia are happy about this arrangement but Neo is a 13 year old traumatized war vet/brand new king and this is how he's trying to juggle the various people he kidnapped-saved-feels responsible for him/his dad ruining their lives, so, Interesting Choices are made.

Anyway so though the timeline of the above convo doesn't quite fit they definitely have convos about how to best avoid Dire Fates and make this whole thing work.

(Nico probably shouldn't be killing Menelaus as that is his dad, but he certainly has felt like it, I'm sure 😅. And yes, everyone wants to kill Agamemnon. Neither of them are surprised or saddened when they hear about Clytemnestra offing him in the bathtub basically immediately when he gets back from the war )

[i-shall-not-show-mercy]

I did go into why I think Pyrrhus is more tragic than I realised. As I said prior I only thought of him as a one dimensional monster. I have always seen him as a mindless brute but last week, I thought about it.

He was born on an island surrounded by women to a father he most likely never met. He grew up revered and was told of his father’s prowesses and how he should live up to them or be ashamed.

He arrived in Troy after his father’s death and once more he was cast in his shadow. But the thing is that he was not sheltered on an island, told he would be just as great. He was on a battlefield amongst people who knew Achilles, loved him, hated him…. it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he had to be enough and never could be.

Achilles was a beloved baby, a lover, a friend, an enemy. He was a hero, he had a destiny, he was awaited. Neoptolemos was never a person. He was just a shadow of his father, a remnant of the fear Achilles struck in people’s hearts. He was a ghost and monster. So he did what he thought was wanted. He killed and killed. Nothing was too violent, nothing was too cruel. He went too far trying to live up to expectations.

Neoptolemos… the 'new war'. Took up after his father… Arrived towards the end of the war. What good is a ‘new war’ when peace is afoot? He was doomed to be obsolete… unwanted… rejected.

He was first treated like someone’s son and then like a vile beast to be feared. He was treated like a monster and acted like one. A murderer and not a man. And then he died… to the hands of people he didn’t know. He didn’t even consider.

He was born silenced, grew up to be famous and yet unknown and died alone.

No wonder he was the way he was. Treated like an animal, man becomes beast.

[bcb-brian-camryn]

Patroklos surviving his fight with Hektor and having to raise/tutor Neoptolemos after Akhilles dies to make sure his lover and friends son doesn't become a war criminal.

That is all

[silveroliveleaf]

*Pics from Classical Art Research Centre, University Of Oxford

Hydria with the Sack Of Troy by Kleophrade's Painter, early 5th century

This red-figured style vase was painted at the time of the Persian Wars. The Persians plundered Athens destroying the first temples erected on the Acropolis (before the Parthenon) until the Greeks defeated them at the Battle Of Salamis (480 BC). Athens' sack becoming a trauma to the Athenians inspired the so-called Kleophrade's Painter to depict the most legendary sack of a city, none other than Troy, 4 centuries before Virgil.

Second picture

On the left, Aeneas bears his old father, Achises, on his shoulders in order to save him from the massacre. His son, Ascanios, leads them. This moving moment, when Aeneas decided not to leave behind his father despite the danger, signifies the beggining of gods' plan for him, as he'll become the predecessor of the first Romans. The depiction of Aeneas' myth on the vase indicates that Aeneas' destiny was known to the Greeks, before the Aenead, no matter the little written sources about it (of course, this doesn't reduce at all Virgil's marvellous illustration of the myth that turned out to be one of the most famous epic poems ever written).

On tne center, Ajax The Lesser aggressively approaches Cassandra and the other women (perhaps, Andromache, too) who have found refugie to Palladion, Athena's altar. Athena as the Parthenos, meaning the virgin, is supposed to protect the women who turn to it. Therefore, Cassandra was protected by the moral laws of the society as a sacred beggar. Nonetheless, Ajax The Lesser didn't obey to the divine laws and raped the misfortuned Cassandra -the one who had foreseen Troy's end, but no one believed her. The violence of the scene is intesively transmitted, as Cassandra streches her hand pleading and the other women hide their faces and pull their hair in grief, while the heartless Ajax The Lesser walks towards them looking terrifying in full armor. (Nemesis (=punishment) always being important for the greek way of thinking, Ajax The Lesser will suffer Athena's wrath and will be finally killed by Poseidon -in a rare case where Athena and Poseidon's intentions are in line).

Third picture

On the center, it's one of the most realistically painted scenes; Neoptolemos, Achilles' son, after having killed Astyanax, Hector's little son, strikes Priam, who is covered with blood. The old king will die along with his city, completely defenceless. The vivid red color not only attracts the viewer's attention, but makes it look like it comes straight out of a horror film increasing the scene's drama.

All in all, I love this vase, as it enclosures many different myths connected with a single event. There's much movement and tension, while the bodies' position (for example, look at the last pic how Neoptolemos has turned his body) and the effort to depict real space (for instance, at Neoptolemos' feet a dead soldier looks like he's three dimensional) make the scene a lot realistic. Forgetting the virtuous Achilles and Helen's beauty, we come face to face with the war's cruelty, where the heroes turn to beasts.

[oddnub-eye]

I want to know what was going through Achilles and Deidamia's heads when they named their son "New War"