"Welcome! Look, dear friends have come our way –
I must be sorely needed now – my dearest friends
in all the Achaean armies, even in my anger."
So Prince Achilles hailed and led them in,
sat them down on settles with purple carpets.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 9, lines 237-241. Achilles welcomes the embassy of Odysseus, Great Ajax and Phoenix to his tent. They are there on behalf of Agamemnon to try to heal the quarrel between him and Achilles and to offer him gifts. Despite his anger at Agamemnon, Achilles is still on friendly terms with the king’s ambassadors.