Achilles on Skyros

The story of how Achilles disguised himself as a girl at the court of the king of Skyros, fell in love with one of the princesses, and married her before leaving for Troy, became a popular topic in arts and literature from Classical times until the middle of the 20th century.

Eventually, at a nighttime festival in honor of Dionysus where men are normally not allowed, Achilles gives way to his sexual desires and rapes Deidamia.

Afterwards, trying to console her, he discloses his true name and origin; despite being scared by what has happened, Deidamia doesn't want Achilles to suffer punishment from her father and resolves to keep the incident and his identity, as well as the fact that she has conceived a child, a secret.

As the Achaeans are about to sail off to the war, Deidamia is heartbroken over the impending loss of Achilles and asks if she could go with him, but that seems impossible; she then implores him to keep their son in his thoughts, and to never have children with other women.

Taken from the point of view of Achilles, Deidamia, or a neutral observer, a number of themes have received attention in the later artwork and stories, ranging from the comical aspects of crossdressing and the misunderstandings it involves, over gender differences, heroism, homosexual and heterosexual love, and initiation rites, to rape, incest, and domestic violence.

[10][11] The popularity of the theme was due to a number of factors, but a major part was the aspect of disguises and crossdressing, with Achilles dressed as a girl and his role often performed by women.

Some librettists, especially the earlier ones like Giulio Strozzi, Carlo Capece and Ippolito Bentivoglio approached this from a carnivalesque point of view, emphasizing the comedy, the masquerade and the (homo-)erotic aspects of it.

Others like Metastasio or Paolo Rolli more focused on the failed struggle to conceal the masculinity of the archetypical hero Achilles, and how the inherent nature of the person is stronger than the nurture he receives.

[9] Well known composers writing an opera on this theme include Domenico Scarlatti with his 1712 Tetide in Sciro, John Gay's 1733 Achilles, and Georg Friedrich Händel in 1741 with Deidamia.

Fresco from the House of the Dioscuri in Pompeii depicting Achilles between Diomedes and Odysseus at Skyros
Achilles Discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes was the usual moment shown in art, here by Gérard de Lairesse
A Roman mosaic from the Poseidon Villa in Zeugma, Commagene (now in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum ) depicting Achilles disguised as a woman and Odysseus tricking him into revealing himself
Achilles on Skyros , 1656 painting by Nicolas Poussin , now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Achilles discovered by Ulysses by Jan de Bray , now in the National Museum, Warsaw
Mosaic of the fourth century AD from Sparta .
Detail of a princess of Skyros , from a larger scene of the Iliad depicting her and other princesses fawning over Achilles as Odysseus looks on, from the villa of La Olmeda , Spain, 4th-5th centuries CE
Niccolò Bambini , Achilles at Skyros
Achille à Scyros by Philibert Vigier , in the Gardens of Versailles