File:Attic Black-Figure Neck Amphora - Achilles and Ajax playing a board game overseen by Athena.jpg

English: Achilles and Ajax playing a board game overseen by Athena

Attic Black-figure Neck Amphora; Near Medea Group, ca. 510 BCE Uploaded from the Getty Open Content Program, with the following description:

Achilles and Ajax, two great heroes of the Trojan War, play a board game on this Athenian black-figure amphora. Behind the table stands the goddess Athena. The scene of the warriors at leisure but with their armor at the ready might have taken place during a break in fighting the Trojan War.

This depiction of Ajax and Achilles gaming was especially popular in Athenian art in the late 500s B.C.; over 150 surviving vases show the scene. Why was this image so popular? Some scholars have argued that it was politically motivated. They interpret this scene as a mythical parallel for the tyrant Peisistratos's return from exile, when he was able to regain power because the Athenian army was unprepared for battle. If so, then these vases would be anti-Peisistratid propaganda, alerting Athenians to the importance of vigilance by reminding them of the consequences of their recent failure.