Fragmentary Wine Cup with Odysseus Addressing Achilles (profile 2)

On the interior of this fragment of a large Athenian red-figure cup, a youth sits despondently. Wrapped in his cloak, he rests his downcast head in his hand. An older, bearded man stands before him, leaning on a staff. Although neither figure is named, the composition is close to other scenes that show the mission of Odysseus to Achilles' tent, an episode described in Homer’s Iliad. Achilles took deep offense when Briseis, his concubine, was taken by Agamemnon, and so withdrew from the battlefield and sulked in his tent. During his absence, the Greeks fared badly in battle, and so their leaders sent a delegation to convince Achilles to return. Even the wily Odysseus, however, proved unable. Only the death of his dearest companion Patroklos would motivate Achilles to rejoin the fighting.

The outside of the cup shows a mythological scene—Herakles competing with the sons of Eurytos in an archery contest—and, on the other, what appears to be a group of seated and standing figures watching a pair of athletes boxing or wrestling.

Running around the foot of this cup is the inscription: “Kleophrades, son of Amasis, made [it]”. Not only does the potter Kleophrades tell us that he made the vase, but he names his father, Amasis, who was also a potter. Evidently the craft had passed down through the family. To decorate the cup, Kleophrades passed the vessel to Douris, who signed his name on the tondo.