#man naples

[lionofchaeronea]

Medallion from a Pompeii fresco, depicting a young man wearing a laurel wreath and holding a volumen (papyrus roll). Artist unknown; 1st cent. AD/CE. Now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy. Photo credit: Jebulon.

[lionofchaeronea]

Aeneas, holding the hand of his son Ascanius/Iulus and bearing his father Anchises on his shoulders, flees the burning city of Troy. Terracotta sculpture by an unknown artist; 1st cent. CE. Found at Pompeii; now in the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Naples. Photo credit: Alphanidon/Wikimedia Commons.

[lionofchaeronea]

Diomedes and Odysseus, who have been sent to retrieve Achilles from Scyros to fight at Troy, trick him into shedding his disguise as a woman by setting out arms, whose temptation he, as a natural-born warrior, cannot resist.  Fresco from the Casa dei Dioscuri, Pompeii; now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. 

[lionofchaeronea]

The Shield of Achilles

Homer, Iliad 18.478-489 And first he crafted a shield, both great and sturdy, And added ornaments on every side, And around the edge he fashioned a triple rim Shiny and flashing; and onto it he fastened A silver shield-strap.  The shield itself had five Layers in all; and onto it he worked Many adornments, with all his clever craft. He fashioned on it the Earth, and Heaven too, Along with the sea, the Sun that never tires, And the full Moon, plus all the constellations That Heaven is crowned with: the Pleiades, the Hyades, Mighty Orion, and the Bear, which men Also call the Wagon; it turns forever In the same place and keeps its eye on Orion, And it alone has no share in the baths of Ocean.   Ποίει δὲ πρώτιστα σάκος μέγα τε στιβαρόν τε πάντοσε δαιδάλλων, περὶ δ’ ἄντυγα βάλλε φαεινὴν τρίπλακα μαρμαρέην, ἐκ δ’ ἀργύρεον τελαμῶνα. πέντε δ’ ἄρ’ αὐτοῦ ἔσαν σάκεος πτύχες· αὐτὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ ποίει δαίδαλα πολλὰ ἰδυίῃσι πραπίδεσσιν.     Ἐν μὲν γαῖαν ἔτευξ’, ἐν δ’ οὐρανόν, ἐν δὲ θάλασσαν, ἠέλιόν τ’ ἀκάμαντα σελήνην τε πλήθουσαν, ἐν δὲ τὰ τείρεα πάντα, τά τ’ οὐρανὸς ἐστεφάνωται, Πληϊάδας θ’ Ὑάδας τε τό τε σθένος Ὠρίωνος Ἄρκτόν θ’, ἣν καὶ Ἄμαξαν ἐπίκλησιν καλέουσιν, ἥ τ’ αὐτοῦ στρέφεται καί τ’ Ὠρίωνα δοκεύει, οἴη δ’ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν Ὠκεανοῖο.

Thetis waits while Hephaestus prepares new arms for Achilles.  Fresco from triclinium E of House IX.1.7, Pompeii; now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples.