Suicide of Ajax Vase

The painter, Exekias, made this work in Athens at the end of the Archaic Period, around 540-530 BCE.

It was suggested by Jeffrey Hurwit that the tree is an example of "pathetic fallacy,"[1] though this idea was strongly contested by John Madden.

[2] While Exekias' version of the Suicide of Ajax is particularly well known, other examples of this scene, by other vase painters, also survive.

These include a red-figure scene in a kylix (wine cup) attributed to the Brygos Painter (ca.

[4] Ajax believes that after the cattle incident, killing himself is the only way to keep his status as a hero and to avoid bringing shame to his noble father Telamon.

There are other representations of Ajax's suicide, including a Middle Protocorinthian aryballos, an Athenian ivory comb, and sixth century Corinthian vases.

Suicide of Ajax, by the Black-Figure vase painter Exekias, ca. 540-530 BCE
Suicide of Ajax by the red-figure Brygos Painter , Attic red-figure kylix (wine cup), ca. 490 BCE. Getty Museum (86.AE.286)
Suicide of Ajax, red-figure Etruscan calyx-krater, ca. 400-350 BCE. British Museum 1867,0508.1328.
The other side of the vase