Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Myths and Legends: Deidamia

Deidamia. To find out more about Deidamia, the lover of Achilles, see this Wikipedia article: link; for information about the image: image source.

Deidamia is one of the daughters of King Lycomedes of Scyros. Before the Trojan War, the young Achilles was sent to hide among the daughters of Lycomedes, dressed as a girl. Odysseus managed to discover Achilles, however, by concealing a spear among some women's clothes and jewelry; when the disguised Achilles grabbed the spear rather than the clothes or jewelry, Odysseus recognized him and took him off to fight in the war. Before leaving the court of Lycomedes, Achilles managed to have a love affair with Deidamia and father a child with her, the future Neoptolemus.

You can also find more myths and legends for the week of March 25-31 here. For more information and links to the actual javascript code, see the Myths & Legends Widget Reference Page.