CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.

Moving to the left is the forepart of a warship, a bireme, with five rowers visible on the second deck. The ship has a curved bowsprit recalling the neck of a swan, springing from a large eye. Below is a triple ram running forward from another eye. On the top deck a warrior runs forward, armed with a helmet, shield and spear. He is Protesilaos, the first Greek warrior killed in the Trojan War when he leaped on to the beaches of Priam's walled city. Scenes of Protesilaos are exceedingly rare in Greek art. A blue chalcedony scaraboid in Boston treats the subject nearly identically, although the hero is shown in a larger scale (see p. 30 in C.C. Vermeule, “Classical Art," in The Museum Year: Annual Report of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, vol. 111).