Achilles on Skyros

To keep him from the war that will kill him, Achilles has been hidden on the island of Skyros, disguised as a girl among the daughters of King Lycomedes. Odysseus has just sprung his trap: a war trumpet sounds, and Achilles instinctively grabs for weapons, betraying himself. The fresco catches him being seized at the moment of discovery.

The story was a favorite in antiquity precisely for this instant — identity breaking through disguise. This large fresco from the House of the Dioscuri at Pompeii is one of the finest surviving versions, probably based on a famous Greek original.

When the war begins, Thetis tries one last trick to save her son. She hides Achilles on the island of Skyros, disguised as a girl among the daughters of King Lycomedes. A prophecy has said Troy cannot fall without him, so the Greeks come looking.

Odysseus, king of Ithaca and the cleverest of the Greeks, arrives disguised as a merchant. He lays out gifts for the princesses: jewelry, dresses — and among them, a sword and shield. Then he has a battle-alarm sounded. The girls flee. One of them grabs the weapons. Achilles is caught, and he stops pretending. He chooses the short, famous life.

The wall paintings of Pompeii were produced by anonymous Roman workshops decorating private houses, frequently reproducing renowned Greek paintings now lost. The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 sealed them for seventeen centuries.