Greco-Roman - Gem with Achilles and Cheiron - Walters 421161

This gemstone depicts Cheiron resting on his hind legs underneath a tree on the right. He wears a long beard, and his hair is arranged in a thick roll around his head. A loose piece of cloth or animal skin hangs over his right shoulder. He reaches out to grasp the lyre that the nude boy holds in his right arm in order to instruct him. The musical education of Achilles by Cheiron is a particularly popular theme on gems. The first literary reference to the theme is Roman (Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1.11), but Achilles' lyre-playing is already mentioned in the Iliad (9.186-89).