According to the list given by Pausanias, there were upward of seventy
in each of the two pictures. In that representing the taking of Troy
Polygnotos had brought together many incidents described in the Cyclic
epics: Menelaos Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Neoptolemos, Antenor, Helen,
Andromache, Kassandra, and many other figures, with which the Homeric
poems have made us familiar, all appeared united in one skillful
composition, arranged in groups. The other picture, the descent of
Ulysses into Hades to interrogate Teiresias, might be called a pictorial
epic of Hades. On one side was the entrance, indicated by Charon's boat
crossing: the Acheron, and the evocation of Teiresias by Ulysses,
besides the punishment of Tityos and other wicked men; on the other side
were Tantalos and Sisyphos. Between these scenes, on the flanks, were
various groups of heroes and heroines from the Trojan and other legends.
From the remarks of ancient critics, it might be inferred that the
genius of Polygnotos, like that of Giotto, was far in advance of his
technical skill. Aristotle called him the most ethical of painters, and
recommended the young artist to study his works in preference to those
of his contemporary Pauson, who was ignobly realistic, or those of
Zeuxis, who had great technical merit, but was deficient in spiritual
conception. The course will comprise four more lectures, as
follows--November 17, "Greek Painters from B.C. 460 to Accession of
Alexander the Great B.C. 336--Apollodoros, Zeuxis, Parrhasios,
Pamphilos, Aristides;" November 24, "Greek Painters from Age of
Alexander to Augustan Age--Apelles, Protogenes, Theon;" December 1,
"Pictures on Greek Fictile Vases;" December 15, "Mural Paintings from
Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other Ancient sites."

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