ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the early history of the myth, discussing its absence from the archaic version of Achilles' story and its sudden appearance in Athenian literature and art around the mid-fifth century BC. The story of Achilles' cross-dressing on Scyros has strong links with the tale of his erotic adventure with Deidameia, king Lycomedes' daughter. The theme of Achilles' cross-dressing first occurs with certainty only in the mid-fifth century BC. Around this time, the story of the hero's disguise as a girl at Lycomedes' court was the focus of a play by Euripides, the Skyrioi, which is now lost; its precise date is unknown. The reason for the success of the story of Achilles on Scyros can rather be attributed primarily to its unquestionable dramatic potential, which led to sustained interest in this myth on the part of artists and writers.
