In the Roman arena, with a runaway slave, sparing the life of Daniel, at the feet of St Jerome and St Rufina, and snoring gently on the rug.
myth
Ajax goes mad, then falls on his sword. The Greeks are told they need their master-archer and Achilles’ son, but still have to come up with a way of entering the city of Troy.
First, Achilles kills Penthesileia, an Amazon, whose great beauty fills him with remorse. Then come Memnon, who proves Achilles’ undoing by Paris’s arrow.
The curious myth of the swashbuckling hero Hercules dressed in women’s clothing and forced to serve Queen Omphale.
The river runs red with the blood of Trojans before Achilles gets his chance to fight Hector, and kills him. Then he dishonours the Trojan’s body.
With Greek defeat imminent, Patroclus dons Achilles’ armour and puts the Trojans to rout. He chases them to the city’s gate, where he’s killed by Hector.
The modified myth of Pandora remained popular well into the 20th century, when it must have seemed even more appropriate with war and pandemic.
The original Greek myth was almost unknown in paintings until the mid-19th century, then, slightly changed, it became one of the most popular myths in paintings.
Achilles acquires himself a concubine, as does his commander Agamemnon. When the latter is forced to return his, and takes Briseis from Achilles, there’s trouble.
Achilles had gone missing, hiding as a young woman in the royal court on Skyros, where Odysseus found him. And a master archer was bitten on the foot by a snake.
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