Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Phoenix.
The gallery
The Embassy to Achilles (Attic red-figure hydria, Munich)
Unknown (Attic red-figure), c. 480 BC
On this Attic red-figure hydria in Munich, Phoenix and Odysseus stand before the sulking Achilles — Iliad 9 made visible. Phoenix is the foster-father whose Meleager parable will fail to move the hero. Staatliche Antikensammlungen.
The Embassy to Achilles (Attic red-figure cup, Louvre G146)
Ambassador Painter (attributed), c. 480 BC
Louvre G146 names the ambassadors of Iliad 9: Phoenix, Ajax, and Odysseus before Achilles in his hut. The old tutor appears as the diplomatic voice Homer gives him — persuasion before the wrath.
Achilles Receiving the Ambassadors of Agamemnon
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1801
Ingres' Prix de Rome canvas restages the embassy: Odysseus speaks while Phoenix and Ajax attend Achilles and Patroclus. Neoclassical calm for the tutor who raised the hero and cannot bring him back to battle.