#skyros

So I came up with a little backstory, keep in mind I’m making up 99% of it lol Buckle up for some angst:

Iphis was exposed as an infant, a common backstory for heroes but instead of being taken in by a loving family like most others, she was found by slavers, who “raise” her to be a servant, as a child she was bought by a wealthy family to do housework. They treat her “as their own daughter” kinda like how Penelope supposedly treated Melantho as a “daughter” but then a young woman in the family married into royalty and Iphis moves again, this time to a royal palace were she now serves Deidamia as well as her mistress.

Working in a massive palace was difficult compared to working at a big house but Iphis manages. It’s a difficult life but she has no point of reference for what life is supposed to be, after all she was a slave all her life so this life seems alright. Then a strange newcomer arrives, it’s Achilles (boooo) so his whole thing with Deidamia happens and Neoptelemus is born. Then Achilles gets exposed and now he has to go to Troy and leave Skyros behind.

Iphis sees all this as an outside observer but doesn’t think much of it. Since it’s none of her business since she’s a slave, but then Deidamia gives Achilles Iphis as a gift, and everything falls apart. Iphis always lived in wealthy homes, she was always provided for and lived relative in comfort and peace, now she’s expected to live in a war zone. That’s terrifying that’s beyond every thing she did in her simple life, but she has no choice but to follow her new master into the unknown. Then things get even more tricky, she’s given to her master’s beloved companion Patroclus.

I imagine Iphis has the opposite of Briseis’s view on Patroclus, after all Briseis wasn’t the one forced to sleep with him. To Briseis Patroclus is her only comfort after her life fell apart, to Iphis Patroclus symbolizes when her life fell apart. Iphis sees the darker, less kinder side of Patroclus that the soldiers and other slaves in the camp don’t see as much, same as Briseis knowing Achilles at his worst.

Well if we're talking about late Bronze Age, which is when the events of The Iliad were believed to have taken place, Eric Shanower's "Age of Bronze" (a more historical interpretation of the events of the Trojan War) is a good place to start as it's very well researched and actually depicts Achilles as Pyrrha during the scene when he reveals himself at Skyros. He's wearing a shorter Mycenaean women's tunic with a longer tunic underneath (probably to hide his musculature) along with a wrapped length of fabric to obstruct a lack of curvature in his hips and waist. In terms of art from the time, there's Mycenaean fresco of a young woman with a saffron colored cloak (depicted and recreated in the image above) which could be used as a means for Achilles to cover himself, at least in the presence of strangers.

We don't know if women veiled themselves during the Aegean Bronze Age, lots of art depicting men and women together suggests no, but there's no way to be sure. Veiling however was common in Ancient Greece (and is indeed mentioned a great deal in The Iliad) so it would have been more common if you're going for a later time period. There are depictions of Achilles revealing himself at Skyros from the early Roman period with the fresco at the Dioscuri house in Pompeii (1st century CE) and the mosaic from the Poseidon Villa (2nd-3rd century CE). In the fresco, Achilles looks more androgynous and appears to have been wearing a veil that has been pulled back. The mosaic, which has Achilles in shorter hair, is probably more symbolic.