Judgement of Paris Amphora

The black figure technique is older than the red figure technique and continued alongside it. It was adopted by Athenian potters at the end of the seventh century BC and was still very novel in 580 BC. It remained in vogue until around 470.

To create this form of pottery, the vases were moulded on the potter's wheel, then dried in the open air and painted after a few hours. The outlines of the designs were produced with a diluted black "varnish" made of very fine clay. Initially the figures were painted as opaque silhouettes and allowed to dry. Then the layer of dried slip was scratched with a needle in order to create details (facial features, hair, musculature). At the same time the artists highlighted elements in red or white. Finally the vase was fired in three phases:

1. 900 °C with the air vents open: the bare clay turns red or brown
2. 950 °C with the air vents closed: the oven was made smoky by burning green wood and as the carbon oxydised, the vases turned black and the clay slip was vitrified and transformed into "black varnish"
3. Lower temperature with the air vents open again: Oxygen circulates, penetrating the surface of the unvarnished parts of the vase which then regain a red or brown colour (depending on the amount of oxygen in the oven). The slip retains the black colour which it developed in the second phase of firing.

In the archaic period, amphorae display the veneration of gods and heroes in their representation of myths. This vase depicts the myth of the Judgement of Paris.

At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, all the deities were invited except the goddess of discord, Eris. In revenge she threw a golden apple into the middle of the party, inscribed "a gift for the most beautiful." Hermes picked up the apple and read out the inscription. All of the goddesses who considered themselves the most beautiful became jealous of one another. Zeus was unwilling to settle the debate lest he offend his wife, Hera, by judging in favour of another goddess. By mutual consent, the decision was given to the shepherd Paris.

Paris was a Trojan prince, a younger son of King Priam and his wife Hecuba. However, at his birth, an oracle announced that the future prince would cause the destruction of Troy. In fear, Priam ordered that the boy be killed and had Paris exposed on Mount Ida, where he was rescued by shepherds. Paris had to decide amongst:

• Athena, daughter of Zeus and Metis (an Oceanid), goddess of reason, prudence and wisdom. She promised Paris victory in his future wars.
• Hera, daughter of the Titans Kronos and Rhea, was the sister and wife of Zeus. She was the goddess of marriage, as well as the guardian of fertility, couples and woman in labour. She promised Paris the conquest of Europe and Asia.
• Aphrodite, depending on the version, was the daughter of Zeus and Dione or the product of the fertile foaming of the sea around the castrated genitals of the Sky. She was the goddess of love and sex and offered the shepherd the love of the most beautiful of all mortal women: Helen.

Paris decides in favour of Aphrodite and receives the love of Helen, though she is already wife to Menelaos. His abduction of her brings about the Trojan War, in which he participates. Thus the two faces are related, with face A foreshadowing the dueling hoplites on face B.

In his work Art & Myth in Ancient Greece, Thomas Carpenter compares this work with later representations of the myth. In short, Paris is here represented without his beard and trademark bow, attributes which he is depicted with in a near-contemporary krater made by Chalcidian colonists at Vulci around 540 BC and in most later depictions. Likewise Athena differs from the norm. She usually appears wearing her serpent-hemmed aegis and a helmet, as in an Attic Black figure hydria found at Vulci which was produced around 540 BC.