Achilles at Scyros.
    During Achilles’ education, his mother Thetis learned of an oracle that predicted that Troy could not be taken without the young hero and that he could either live for a long time and die in relative anonymity or go to Troy and die young but in glory. To protect her son, Thetis disguised him as a maiden and took him to the island of Scyros, where he was brought up with the daughters of King Lycomedes. There he grew to manhood, fathering the child Neoptolemus (also called Pyrrhus) by Deidamia, one of Lycomedes’ daughters.
     When the Trojan expedition was being organized, Achilles’ whereabouts were discovered and an embassy of Greeks went to Scyros to search for him. He was identified by wily Odysseus (Ulysses), who came to the island as a merchant bearing a variety of goods, including dresses and weapons. When Achilles, still disguised as a maiden, reached for the weapons he was unmasked and taken to join the Greek forces at Aulis.
    The episode on Scyros has been a great favorite in opera and drama. Treatments of the theme in the fine arts most commonly depict the discovery of Achilles among Lycomedes’ daughters.

Achilles listings are arranged under the following headings:
Achilles General List)
Infancy and Education)
Achilles at Scyros)
Wrath of Achilles)
Return to Battle)
Death of Achilles)
Afterlife)