Greek Vases - At the heart of each Roman Mystery there is at least one Greek vase...

(from The Assassins of Rome)

'Now this...' said Jonathan, tipping out the contents, '... this is a nice present.'
In his hand he held a small jar with black glazed figures moving across the apricot-coloured clay...

'Look, Nubia,' said Flavia. 'It's Odysseus and three of his companions. They're putting out the eye of the cyclops with a sharpened log.'

'Great Neptune's beard!' said Nubia. 'Why are they doing that?'

'Because he's a huge, ugly, old giant who's planning to eat them,' explained Jonathan as he started to pick the yellow wax away from the cork stopper.

above right: This tiny alabastron is a 'black figure' vase from Corinth. It was painted around 600 BC and is similar to the one Jonathan was given. However this vase shows Greek 'hoplites' (footsoldiers) rather than Ulysses and the cyclops.

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