''Achilles and Briseis'' is a picture depicting tableaux from the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

'' relating to the gifting of Briseis to

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...

found in the

House of the Tragic Poet The House of the Tragic Poet (also called ''The Homeric House'' or ''The Iliadic House'') is a Roman house in Pompeii, Italy dating to the 2nd century BCE. The house is famous for its elaborate mosaic floors and frescoes depicting scenes from ...

Pompeii,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The image is painted in distemper, similar to coloured white-washing and intermediary between fresco and paint. It was at one time moved to the

Naples National Archaeological Museum The National Archaeological Museum of Naples ( it, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, italic=no, sometimes abbreviated to MANN) is an important Italian archaeological museum, particularly for ancient Roman remains. Its collection includes wo ...

. Agostino Carracci produced an engraving from it, which was included in his collection of erotic poses, ''

I Modi ''I Modi'' (''The Ways''), also known as ''The Sixteen Pleasures'' or under the Latin title ''De omnibus Veneris Schematibus'', is a famous erotic book of the Italian Renaissance in which a series of sexual positions were explicitly depicted i ...

''.

References

Wheeler, William A., and Charles G. Wheeler. ''Familiar Allusions A Handbook of Miscellaneous Information''. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1881. Print. {{roman-empire-stub Pompeii (ancient city) Roman Empire paintings Ancient Roman erotic art Paintings based on the Iliad Ancient Roman paintings