poopsie
Description in the booklet: "I am looking at my future. A fully armed warrior is carefully thinking about his move on a chessboard, the night before a battle."
Cerulean in a review of the Etruscan deck here in AT says this of the card:
"In Card XIII the Death scene is represented by Achilles, a black-figure with a red-trimmed helmet and cloak, crouched over a gaming table. He holds four wands, which showed his winnings. In a black figure vase from my Cambridge Art University Press book by Mark D. Fullerton, the full scene is Ajax and Achilles both crouching over the same table. The Cambridge art book notes that Ajax is the second-best warrior and called a three instead of the four chosen by Achilles."
Historically, from http.ancientrome.ru, the scene was described as "Description: Achilles and Ajax playing a board game. The names of Ajax and Achilles are inscribed, and they call out the numbers on the dice, three (tria) and four (tesera), which are inscribed as if issuing from their mouths. A kalos inscription is on the right, and Exekias’s signature (as potter) is on the left."
It is believed that the potter Exekias may have invented this scene.
Achilles is once again portrayed as black, but alive - carefully planning his moves before a battle using a chessboard. His opponent (who may have been Ajax at least according to history) is not shown. Achilles has 4 spears which he may have won during the game.
Death cards in other decks often signify transition - the death of "a cycle" and the beginning of another. In the Etruscan Death card, the cycle doesn't seem to be evident yet since Achilles is just planning his next move.
I feel that the best way to understand this card is to connect it to the earlier card on The Hanged Man. In the Hanged Man, Ajax carries the "wounded" Achilles away from battle. In the Death card, Achilles is planning his next move.
The card may seem to indicate a need to move one and figure out the next best moves to continue fighting life's battles. In the Hanged Man, we have an Ajax (who unfortunately historically takes his own life).
It is a bit disappointing that the artwork of the card did not show the entire scene of both Achilles and Ajax. However, to understand the context, a description from www.ancientworlds.net may give us a hint --
"On this beautiful amphora, about 530 BC, Exekias painted Ajax and Achilles playing a game while relaxing between their fights with Trojans. The two cousins and two heroes are so symmetrically drawn they are almost mirror images of each other. Even their clothing and their armor are identical. Exexias here uses a coral-red wash to enhance their beards and mantles, which he decorates with elaborately incised floral designs. Each man hangs his Gorgon shield up behind behind him. But in case they are suddently attacked, Achilles keeps his helmet on. (With a magnifying glass, you can read his name, AKhILEUS, written from right to left beside his head, and the same with Ajax, AIAS, from left to right.) Each man also holds two spears at the ready: one to throw from his chariot at the opposing army, the second to throw when dismounted and in hand-to-hand combat with an individual opponent.
But for the moment they are dueling each other in a game between friends, their attention focussed, like their spears, at that central point and apex of a triangle where their minds meet in mental combat. But what sort of game is it? Is it a game of chance, played with dice? Or is it a game of wits and brains, played like checkers with pieces on a board? Is it just the fog of history that hides our view? Or did Exekias wish to hint that it's unclear whether a man's fate is determined more by character and foresight, or by chance and the whims of the gods?"
We may interpret the Etruscan Death card this way: we are Achilles, wounded in battle, (or even dying), moving out of a phase in life to enter another and move on. We do not see our opponent here, we are simply doing our thinking alone, strategizing our next moves.
If the Hanged Man has challenged us to reflect on our past, the Death card challenges us to plan for our future. The catch here is that we do not "see" our opponent of the future, we only know the present foes and challenges we need to overcome. We have most likely very little idea of what the future holds for us ... will we be fighting the same battles all over again, and if so, what is it that we need to do differently so that we do not once again become wounded.
Do we anticipate new challenges - those we have never experienced, and if so, can we prevent them from overwhelming us?
We have rested, reflected and recovered from our Hanged Man experiences. We even may have retained the scars and the lessons. Now is the time to move forward -- but how? Ajax in the hanged Man supports his wounded friend by carrying him away from the battle ... he no longer is present or visible in the Death card ... the Achilles in us may have to face life alone.
Mythologically, Ajax killed himself out of shame for having behaved oddly - he slaughtered sheep under the influence of the Goddess Athena "imagining they are the Achaean leaders, including Odysseus and Agamemnon. When he comes to his senses, covered in blood, and realizes what he has done, with diminished honor he decides that he prefers to kill himself rather than to live in shame. He does so with the same sword Hector gave him when they exchanged presents." - (www.en.wikipedia.org)
Achilles in the Death card appears to have a second chance at life -- he needs to plan it however... but he should no longer be ruled by anger or hate. The thing is -- he needs to know what he can leave to chance, and in what areas he will need to use his brains and wit so that his moves are more strategic, less harmful to him, more guided by wisdom, more planned yet unstructured so that he can both flow and order himself simultaneously?
The Etruscan Death card holds a brief pause but not to rest, but to plan what we can influence in the complexity of our life.
Cerulean in a review of the Etruscan deck here in AT says this of the card:
"In Card XIII the Death scene is represented by Achilles, a black-figure with a red-trimmed helmet and cloak, crouched over a gaming table. He holds four wands, which showed his winnings. In a black figure vase from my Cambridge Art University Press book by Mark D. Fullerton, the full scene is Ajax and Achilles both crouching over the same table. The Cambridge art book notes that Ajax is the second-best warrior and called a three instead of the four chosen by Achilles."
Historically, from http.ancientrome.ru, the scene was described as "Description: Achilles and Ajax playing a board game. The names of Ajax and Achilles are inscribed, and they call out the numbers on the dice, three (tria) and four (tes
It is believed that the potter Exekias may have invented this scene.
Achilles is once again portrayed as black, but alive - carefully planning his moves before a battle using a chessboard. His opponent (who may have been Ajax at least according to history) is not shown. Achilles has 4 spears which he may have won during the game.
Death cards in other decks often signify transition - the death of "a cycle" and the beginning of another. In the Etruscan Death card, the cycle doesn't seem to be evident yet since Achilles is just planning his next move.
I feel that the best way to understand this card is to connect it to the earlier card on The Hanged Man. In the Hanged Man, Ajax carries the "wounded" Achilles away from battle. In the Death card, Achilles is planning his next move.
The card may seem to indicate a need to move one and figure out the next best moves to continue fighting life's battles. In the Hanged Man, we have an Ajax (who unfortunately historically takes his own life).
It is a bit disappointing that the artwork of the card did not show the entire scene of both Achilles and Ajax. However, to understand the context, a description from www.ancientworlds.net may give us a hint --
"On this beautiful amphora, about 530 BC, Exekias painted Ajax and Achilles playing a game while relaxing between their fights with Trojans. The two cousins and two heroes are so symmetrically drawn they are almost mirror images of each other. Even their clothing and their armor are identical. Exexias here uses a coral-red wash to enhance their beards and mantles, which he decorates with elaborately incised floral designs. Each man hangs his Gorgon shield up behind behind him. But in case they are suddently attacked, Achilles keeps his helmet on. (With a magnifying glass, you can read his name, AKhILEUS, written from right to left beside his head, and the same with Ajax, AIAS, from left to right.) Each man also holds two spears at the ready: one to throw from his chariot at the opposing army, the second to throw when dismounted and in hand-to-hand combat with an individual opponent.
But for the moment they are dueling each other in a game between friends, their attention focussed, like their spears, at that central point and apex of a triangle where their minds meet in mental combat. But what sort of game is it? Is it a game of chance, played with dice? Or is it a game of wits and brains, played like checkers with pieces on a board? Is it just the fog of history that hides our view? Or did Exekias wish to hint that it's unclear whether a man's fate is determined more by character and foresight, or by chance and the whims of the gods?"
We may interpret the Etruscan Death card this way: we are Achilles, wounded in battle, (or even dying), moving out of a phase in life to enter another and move on. We do not see our opponent here, we are simply doing our thinking alone, strategizing our next moves.
If the Hanged Man has challenged us to reflect on our past, the Death card challenges us to plan for our future. The catch here is that we do not "see" our opponent of the future, we only know the present foes and challenges we need to overcome. We have most likely very little idea of what the future holds for us ... will we be fighting the same battles all over again, and if so, what is it that we need to do differently so that we do not once again become wounded.
Do we anticipate new challenges - those we have never experienced, and if so, can we prevent them from overwhelming us?
We have rested, reflected and recovered from our Hanged Man experiences. We even may have retained the scars and the lessons. Now is the time to move forward -- but how? Ajax in the hanged Man supports his wounded friend by carrying him away from the battle ... he no longer is present or visible in the Death card ... the Achilles in us may have to face life alone.
Mythologically, Ajax killed himself out of shame for having behaved oddly - he slaughtered sheep under the influence of the Goddess Athena "imagining they are the Achaean leaders, including Odysseus and Agamemnon. When he comes to his senses, covered in blood, and realizes what he has done, with diminished honor he decides that he prefers to kill himself rather than to live in shame. He does so with the same sword Hector gave him when they exchanged presents." - (www.en.wikipedia.org)
Achilles in the Death card appears to have a second chance at life -- he needs to plan it however... but he should no longer be ruled by anger or hate. The thing is -- he needs to know what he can leave to chance, and in what areas he will need to use his brains and wit so that his moves are more strategic, less harmful to him, more guided by wisdom, more planned yet unstructured so that he can both flow and order himself simultaneously?
The Etruscan Death card holds a brief pause but not to rest, but to plan what we can influence in the complexity of our life.
