British Museum, London
Paris, Helen, Odysseus and Achilles star in this sprawling show of art ranging from Pompeii to today, inspired by the legend of Troy
It begins with a startling vision of love at first sight, painted by an Athenian artist c530BC. The Greek hero Achilles is shown in glinting black armour, bearing down on Penthesilea, leader of the Amazons. Just as his spear pierces her white throat, their eyes meet and Achilles falls in love. His visible eye, in profile, grows lar ge with the double shock of recognition. Hers is a dying full stop.
As a metaphor for war, this urn painting could hardly be surpassed: love and life pointlessly destroyed in a fatal split second. And what are they even fighting about? Everyone knows the myth of origin. Trojan prince Paris abducts Helen, wife of Spartan king Menelaus. The Greeks lay siege to Troy in revenge. A decade of war ends only when Odysseus comes up with the ruse of a gigantic wooden horse, filled with soldiers, which the Trojans foolishly drag inside their city only to be massacred by night. Blood runs in torrents, drenching the earth.
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