Two-handled jar (amphora) with Achilles and Ajax

These two versions of the same scene from the Trojan War appear on either side of an amphora, one painted in black-figure and the other in red-figure technique. During a lull in the fighting, the two most fearsome Greek warriors-Achilles and Ajax (the more familiar Latin names for Achilleus and Aias, as they were known to the Greeks)-sit playing pessoi, an ancient game akin to backgammon. The two heroes face each other across the table as equals; no winner is declared. Their equality emphasizes their distinction-often mentioned by Homer-as the strongest of the Greeks. Al-though this scene is not included in any extant written account of the Trojan War, more than 150 renditions survive in Greek vase painting, raising the possibility that it sprang from the imagination of an artist, rather than that of a writer. One candidate is the famed black-figure vase painter Exekias, who was known for his everyday approach to heroic subjects and who signed the earliest known vase featuring this scene. Vases that have both red-figure and black-figure decoration are called "bilingual." In its earliest form, the red-figure technique was essentially a reverse of the black-figure, and for a short time artists employed both in tandem. Although the Andokides Painter is credited with the red-figure composition on this vase and the Lysippides Painter with the black, researchers debate whether one person or two painted the vessel; both names may refer to the same artist. Despite the similarity between the two scenes, a comparison reveals some of the characteristics of the red-figure style that would lead to its eventual displacement of black-figure. The more fluid nature of the compostion-the figures gesture with their spears, and their helmets overlap the upper vegetal border-and the greater emphasis on the human form are both hallmarks of the movement toward naturalism that would dominate later Greek art.