Fragmentary Wine Cup with Odysseus Addressing Achilles (Main view, interior)

On the interior of this fragment of a large Athenian red-figure cup, a youth sits despondently. Wrapped in his cloak, he rests his downcast head in his hand. An older, bearded man stands before him, leaning on a staff. Although neither figure is named, the composition is close to other scenes that show the mission of Odysseus to Achilles' tent, an episode described in Homer’s Iliad. Achilles took deep offense when Briseis, his concubine, was taken by Agamemnon, and so withdrew from the battlefield and sulked in his tent. During his absence, the Greeks fared badly in battle, and so their leaders sent a delegation to convince Achilles to return. Even the wily Odysseus, however, proved unable. Only the death of his dearest companion Patroklos would motivate Achilles to rejoin the fighting.