Attributed to the Achilles Painter’s workshop, this lekythos depicts the Judgement of Paris, an iconographic subject which appeared in Attic black-figure vase-painting ca. 575 BC. The basic scene includes the messenger of the gods, Hermes, who leads the three competing goddesses (Hera, Athena and Aphrodite) to Paris. The Prince of Troy is portrayed bearded, usually sitting on a rocky outcrop –indicating Mount Ida at Troy– and sometimes reluctant to select the most beautiful goddess. On this vase, the goddesses are omitted, yet Paris appears to be aware of the difficult duty that Hermes has announced to him; he probably senses the disaster that will befall his house and his homeland, since the award of the golden apple-prize to Aphrodite would be one of the causes of the outbreak of the Trojan War. Lekythoi were perfume vases but were not always filled to the top. Several of them (including the one illustrated here) had a small phial at the interior of the. In that way, a much smaller quantity of the expensive aromatic oil was used and the relatives –who deposited these vases as offerings in the graves– could economise. Lekythoi of this type were in fact called ‘economical lekythoi’.