FEMALE NARRATOR:
The tapestry on the wall in front of this audio point is the ninth in a series of eleven. Woven in the Netherlands between 1475 and 1490, they portray the fall of the ancient city of Troy. This tapestry is over 4 metres, or 13 feet, high and 7 metres, or 23 feet, long. It’s an incredibly detailed work, crammed with figures wearing richly decorated robes and armour.

At the base, a Latin script explains the scenes. The story is read from left to right. Although the tapestry is no longer complete, the portion displayed here shows three separate events that took place after the death of the great warrior Achilles.

On the left, the Amazon warrior queen Penthesilea kneels before King Priam of Troy to promise her aid in repelling the Greek army that is besieging the city. Penthesilea wears armour over a scarlet and gold robe ornamented with stylised flowers. On her head is a tall, cone-shaped hat of gold encrusted with precious stones. King Priam of Troy is portrayed as an elderly bearded man, in the manner of an eastern potentate. He’s dressed in a sumptuous robe of deep blue and gold, worn with an ermine cape. Priam touches Penthesilea’s shoulder with his right hand. Behind them Amazon soldiers and Trojan noblemen confer. The backdrop to this scene are the walls of Troy, depicted as a great fortified city.

In the central scene, battle is underway. The grim-faced women of the Amazon army pour out from the gate of Troy on the left, on foot and on horseback. They join the Trojan army to push back the attacking Greeks. The soldiers of the Greek army press in from the right and the scene is a tangled mêlée of men and women brandishing swords and thrusting with pikes. Blood streams from wounded bodies. In the centre, Penthesilea herself is astride a horse. She has her sword upraised to smite the Greek hero Ajax, who raises his sword in response.

The third section of the tapestry portrays Achilles’ young son, Pyrrhus, receiving his dead father’s armour. He stands at the entrance to a blue pavilion, with Ajax on his left and King Agamemnon, leader of the besieging Greek forces, on his right. Pyrrhus is a beardless youth with jaw-length brown hair. His eyes are fixed on his father’s winged golden helmet. Ajax, in a red and gold brocade robe, buckles Pyrrhus’s belt for him while a servant bends to attach a spur to the young man’s heel. King Agamemnon’s tunic is made of chainmail and decorated with a lion’s head. Both Agamemnon and Pyrrhus clutch the same tall staff with a long blue banner wound around it.

From original drawings, we know there is a further scene, now missing from this tapestry, showing Pyrrhus going into battle against the Amazons. The final fall of Troy was depicted in the eleventh tapestry in the series.