Von Polixena des küniges priami tochter · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Von Polixena des küniges priami tochter
Subject: The Trojan War; Achilles; Neoptolemus; Important Women; Famous Women; Greek Mythology; Polyxena
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Asia Minor; Ancient Greece; Troy
Description: This engraving depicts Polyxena, the daughter of king Priam of Troy, getting executed on top of Achilles’ tomb. Polyxena is illustrated kneeling on the tomb of Achilles with her hands crossed while looking up to the sky as she accepts her fate. Her name is engraved beside her body to identify her. Achilles’ name is engraved on the side of his tomb. The man about to execute Polyxena is Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. His name is engraved below his sword. Polyxena had lured Achilles into the temple of Apollo, where Paris shot Achilles with his arrow. She had done this through her mother’s instructions. Neoptolemus is the one to execute her as she is the one who is partly responsible for killing his father. Boccaccio explains that he wrote on Polyxena due to her fearlessness before her execution.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:17990
Language: ger
Source Name: Hyenach volget der kurcz syn von ettlichen frauen von denen johannes boccacius in latein beschriben hat und doctor heinricus stainhöwel geteütschet [Following the short stories of several women of which Giovanni Boccaccio wrote in Latin, and doctor Heinrich Steinhöwel translated]
Parent Collection: 1473 Augsburg; 1473 Augsburg
Image: mta_17990_OBJ.png
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: The Trojan War; Achilles; Neoptolemus; Important Women; Famous Women; Greek Mythology; Polyxena

Media: mta_17990_OBJ.png