Polixena des Künigs Priami tochter · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Polixena des Künigs Priami tochter
Subject: Polyxena; Important Women; Famous Women; Neoptolemus; King Priam; The Trojan War; Achilles
Period: 1500-1550;
Geographic: Troy; Asia Minor; Ancient Greece
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. The man about to execute Polyxena is Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. He is executing her because she had lured Achilles into the temple of Apollo, where Paris shot and killed Achilles with his arrow. Neoptolemus is the one to execute her as she is the one who is partly responsible for killing his father. There is a man on the left side of the engraving who is crossing his hands, as he and many others were moved by Polyxena’s willingness to accept her fate. Boccaccio explains that he wrote on Polyxena due to her fearlessness before her execution.
Image Creator: Joerg Breu (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18317
Language: ger
Source Name: Ein schöne Cronica oder Hystoribuch von den fürnämlichsten Weybern [A beautiful chronicle or history book of reputable women]
Parent Collection: 1543 Stayner
Image: mta_18317_OBJ.jpg