When I arrived at Garrhan in the Tarn on Friday evening I was first greeted by Reggie. We performed a ritual that was already established in the 6th century BC.
Sometimes the minutiae of life, the pressures of modern times and rapid technological change make it easy to forget the heritage we share with our ancestors.
This Greek vase is the work of Athenian painter and potter, Exekias. In the centre is a horse (Kyllaros) and its rider, Castor, holds the reins and turns towards Leda (his mother) who holds out a flower to welcome him. Castor’s father, Tyndareus, strokes the horse’s nose and in the background a slave arrives with a change of clothes for Castor. Meanwhile on the left, Castor’s half-brother Pollux has already shed his travelling clothes and exchanges greetings with his Reggie.
The amphora itself is beautifully proportioned and embellished with decoration that frames the scene. Achieving such good perspective on a curved surface is not the least of Exekias’s achievements. It is in a museum in the Vatican.
It was the subject of Dr Stuttard’s talk to the Ancient World Breakfast Club on Friday but he spoke about the scene on the other side of the vase, Ajax and Achilles playing a board game.
They are sitting on low stools and concentrate on the game, unaware that they are being observed for eternity. Achilles, on the left in helmet, appears to be winning as there is tessera (four) written beside his head and Ajax’s score is tria (three). Of course as nobody knows what they are playing three may be a better score but that wouldn’t fit in with Dr Stuttard’s theory, which there is no time to go into now.
There is just time to see how the art of decorating vases has continued. In the 1990s I rented a small dwelling, known as The Potting Shed, near the intersection of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset. My landlady, Patricia Low, made these pots.
What a brilliant photograph of Reggie