Achilles in Skyros
The Myth.
In the standard tradition of the myth Thetis is said to have hidden his son Achilles away on Skyros, an island to the east of Euboea, because she knew that he was fated to meet a premature death if he took part in the Trojan war. He was left under the care of its ruler, Lykomedes, and lived among the maidens of the court in female disguise. When rumors about his hiding-place eventually seeped out, Odysseus travelled to Skyros to investigate, either on his own or with Diomedes. To trick the young hero into betraying himself, Odysseus presented some fine clothing and trinkets to the women and girls of the court, mixing a few weapons among them, and Achilles duly revealed his true sex by reaching out for the weapons.
While Achilles was hiding among the maidens of the palace, he embarked on a love affair with Deidameia, a daughter of the king, causing her to become pregnant with a son, Neoptolemos (also known as Pyrrhos), who would become a great warrior like his father and fight at Troy in the last stages of the war.
The Sargophagus.
In the left section a door delimits the space of the palace or, more specifically, the women’s quarters. The three male figures pictured here are Odysseus, Diomedes, and an elderly figure wearing a cap, possibly Phoinix, Achilles’ teacher.
Odysseus, a bearded man wearing a cap, pileus, has been transformed into an impressive figure moving diagonally, depicted in three-quarters. With an open stride, he is rushing towards Achilles, clearly in order to lead him to the Achaian side.
In the central scene, Achilles grabs one of the weapons smuggled in by Odysseus, raising a shield. The hero is thus unmasked. Deidameia, who is standing and moving forcefully beside Achilles, grabs the right arm of the hero with the right hand in an effort to keep him near her. This is the main difference compared to the original iconography and composition concerning her figure reported in others sarcophagi. Τhis motif obviously succeeds in depicting a tightly knit pair about to be abruptly separated. The change described is hardly of minor importance. This is probably a new "corrected" version rather than a wholly new creation of a different workshop, as the same structure of the composition and the same types for seven of the ten figures are basically repeated.
It seems likely that the artist wished to emphasize the relationship between man and woman in life as well as possibly in death. Even if the inscription on the upper part of the field, with the name Metilia Torquata assiduously carved, came from a later use of the sarcophagus, which is not necessarily the case, it refers to a woman that was possibly burried in it. The woman or the purchaser, who would have been a relative, wanted, for the purposes of consolation, to draw a parallel between her and her beloved husband and the mythical couple of Deidameia and Achilleus.
At the same time, Metilia’s musical education is paralleled with that of Achilleus who, together with Lykomedes’ daughters, is engrossed in music on the scenes on the right small side of the chest.
Source: Theodosia Stefanidou-Tiveriou, “Myths and Mythical Heroes on Attic Sarcophagi”
Marble sarcophagus
Height 118 cm.; Length 260 cm.
Mid 2nd century AD - Antonine period
From Atella, Potenza
Naples, National Archaeological Museum – Inv. no. 124325
Achilles in Skyros
The Myth.
In the standard tradition of the myth Thetis is said to have hidden his son Achilles away on Skyros, an island to the east of Euboea, because she knew that he was fated to meet a premature death if he took part in the Trojan war. He was left under the care of its ruler, Lykomedes, and lived among the maidens of the court in female disguise. When rumors about his hiding-place eventually seeped out, Odysseus travelled to Skyros to investigate, either on his own or with Diomedes. To trick the young hero into betraying himself, Odysseus presented some fine clothing and trinkets to the women and girls of the court, mixing a few weapons among them, and Achilles duly revealed his true sex by reaching out for the weapons.
While Achilles was hiding among the maidens of the palace, he embarked on a love affair with Deidameia, a daughter of the king, causing her to become pregnant with a son, Neoptolemos (also known as Pyrrhos), who would become a great warrior like his father and fight at Troy in the last stages of the war.
The Sargophagus.
In the left section a door delimits the space of the palace or, more specifically, the women’s quarters. The three male figures pictured here are Odysseus, Diomedes, and an elderly figure wearing a cap, possibly Phoinix, Achilles’ teacher.
Odysseus, a bearded man wearing a cap, pileus, has been transformed into an impressive figure moving diagonally, depicted in three-quarters. With an open stride, he is rushing towards Achilles, clearly in order to lead him to the Achaian side.
In the central scene, Achilles grabs one of the weapons smuggled in by Odysseus, raising a shield. The hero is thus unmasked. Deidameia, who is standing and moving forcefully beside Achilles, grabs the right arm of the hero with the right hand in an effort to keep him near her. This is the main difference compared to the original iconography and composition concerning her figure reported in others sarcophagi. Τhis motif obviously succeeds in depicting a tightly knit pair about to be abruptly separated. The change described is hardly of minor importance. This is probably a new "corrected" version rather than a wholly new creation of a different workshop, as the same structure of the composition and the same types for seven of the ten figures are basically repeated.
It seems likely that the artist wished to emphasize the relationship between man and woman in life as well as possibly in death. Even if the inscription on the upper part of the field, with the name Metilia Torquata assiduously carved, came from a later use of the sarcophagus, which is not necessarily the case, it refers to a woman that was possibly burried in it. The woman or the purchaser, who would have been a relative, wanted, for the purposes of consolation, to draw a parallel between her and her beloved husband and the mythical couple of Deidameia and Achilleus.
At the same time, Metilia’s musical education is paralleled with that of Achilleus who, together with Lykomedes’ daughters, is engrossed in music on the scenes on the right small side of the chest.
Source: Theodosia Stefanidou-Tiveriou, “Myths and Mythical Heroes on Attic Sarcophagi”
Marble sarcophagus
Height 118 cm.; Length 260 cm.
Mid 2nd century AD - Antonine period
From Atella, Potenza
Naples, National Archaeological Museum – Inv. no. 124325