Isthmian 8.54-55

Greg Nagy

Last updated at March 25, 2020, 1:48 p.m.

Achilles is shown here in the act of defeating and killing the heroes Memnon and Hector. These two heroic opponents of Achilles, as attested in the epics that we know as the Aithiopis and the Iliad respectively, are treated here as if they belonged to a single epic tradition.

Achilles in combat with Memnon, flanked by Thetis and Eos (all named). Red-figure volute krater by the Berlin Painter, ca. 490–460 BCE. London, British Museum, Vase E468. Image via the British Museum.