J u d g m e n t   o f   P a r i s
     
     
     
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    The Judgment of Paris

    On the right Paris sits, holding a chelys (lyre) on a rocky outcrop, rather like a natural throne.
    He is beardless with long hair and a fringe of curls round his forehead.
    He wears a fillet and a himation which is draped over his arms.
    At his feet a mountain ram faces right, its fleece indicated with arrow-shaped marks.

    Three Goddesses enter the scene, approaching him in single file from the left.

    First and closest to him is Hera in a bordered chiton with long sleeves and a himation with a sakkos and earrings on her head.
    She extends an apple to him with her left hand and holds the scepter of authority, surmounted with a honeysuckle flower, in her right.

    Following behind her comes Athena, in a long chiton, with her mantle or himation hanging in pteryges (wing-like folds) and her aegis, dotted and bordered with a fringe of snakes.
    On her head she wears a fillet and earrings.
    Her left hand is obscured by Hera, but her right holds a spear.
    She looks back to the right at Aphrodite who approaches last.

    The Goddess of love wears a long chiton, a mantle which discreetly covers her arms and the back of her head, and a dotted fillet.

    Each of the Goddesses has a wavy loop of hair brought forward over the temples.

    Attic red figure hydria, from Capua, Campania, H 0.330m
    Attributed to the Painter of the Yale Oinochoe, 500-450 BCE
    London, British Museum E 178

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    Copyright ©1998-2001 Roy George