Though the death of Achilles is not described in the Iliad, his funeral is mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey. According to legend, the Trojan prince Paris killed Achilles by shooting him in the heel with an arrow. It is rooted in the myth of Achilles’ mother dipping him in the River Styx, making his entire body invulnerable except for the part of his foot where she held him—the proverbial Achilles heel. . Achilles, in Greek mythology, son of the mortal Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and the Nereid, or sea nymph, Thetis. Did Cleopatra Really Dissolve a Pearl in Vinegar? ABOVE: Reproduction based on a photograph from 1927 of a scene from a now-lost Chalkidian black-figure vase painting showing the dead Achilles lying on the ground with one arrow through his ankle and another arrow through his side. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Achilles-Greek-mythology, Achilles - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Thus, the legend as we know it today was born. In Greek mythology, Achilles was the strongest warrior and hero in the Greek army during the Trojan War. She wanted to make her son immortal. Furthermore, even after Statius, the story about Thetis putting Achilles in the fire and anointing him with ambrosia seems to have remained by far the more common story. [9], The oldest-known written record of the tendon being named for Achilles is in 1693 by the Flemish/Dutch anatomist Philip Verheyen. Contrary to popular belief, the Iliad does not describe the entire story of the Trojan War. There is another arrow sticking out of his flank, though, which suggests that, in the version of the story represented in the amphora, Achilles was first shot in the ankle to prevent him running and then shot in the side, killing him. The Difference Between Mythology and Religion. . When Thetis heard, she snatched out the crying baby and dropped him to the floor and, in a form like a breath of wind, she sped from the house like a dream and leapt into the sea in her anger. He was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and Thetis, a sea nymph. So unbeknownst to Peleus, at night she would hide it in the fire and destroy the mortal part that came from his father. After this, she did not return.”. Another non-Homeric episode relates that Thetis dipped Achilles as a child in the waters of the River Styx, by which means he became invulnerable, except for the part of his heel by which she held him—the proverbial “Achilles’ heel.”. Achilles bandaging Patroclus in a scene from Homer's, Achilles slaying Penthesilea, the queen of the Amazons, Attic black-figure amphora signed by Exekias, c. 530–525. To prevent his death, his mother Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his body into the water; however, as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river. During the first nine years of the war, Achilles ravaged the country around Troy and took 12 cities. When the poem ends, Achilles is still alive and no one has even thought of the idea of the Trojan Horse. except for his shoulder. View all posts by Spencer Alexander McDaniel. Your email address will not be published. The Iliad concludes with the funeral rites of Hector. For instance, The Library of Pseudo-Apollodoros, a Greek mythographic composition written in around the second century AD or thereabouts, tells the exact same story that is told in Apollonios of Rhodes’s Argonautika.

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