Artwork information

This scene of repose shows the two friends playing chess. The Iliad tells that after a dispute with Agamemnon, head of the Greek forces, Achilles refused to fight. Beseeched numerous times to return to battle, it was only the death of his friend Patroclus that convinced him to fight again. Achilles return to the war is alluded to in the armour he and Ajax wear and the shields by their sides. (Southern Myths, 2005)