Achilles
The greatest of the Greek warriors, whose name means 'he who has the people distressed.'
Achilles ( ə-KIL-eez) or Achilleus was a hero of the Trojan War known as the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's Iliad, he was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia and famous Argonaut. He was raised in Phthia along with his childhood companion Patroclus and received his education from Chiron, a centaur. In the Iliad, he is presented as the commander of the mythical tribe of the Myrmidons. His most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan prince Hector outside the gates of Troy. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in the Iliad, other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War by Paris, who shot him with an arrow.
- Class
- Lancer
- True Name
- Achilles
Lore & Background
Achilles's name can be analyzed as a combination of ἄχος (áchos), 'distress, pain, sorrow, grief', and λαός (laós), 'people, soldiers, nation', resulting in a proto-form *Akhí-lāu̯os, 'he who has the people distressed' or 'he whose people have distress'. The grief or distress of the people is a theme raised numerous times in the Iliad (and frequently by Achilles himself). Achilles's role as the hero of grief or distress forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of him as the hero of κλέος kléos ('glory', usually in war). Later legends (beginning with Statius's unfinished epic Achilleid, written in the first century CE) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for one heel. According to that myth, when his mother Thetis dipped him in the river Styx as an infant, she held him by one of his heels, leaving it untouched by the waters and thus his only vulnerable body part. None of the sources before Statius make any reference to this general invulnerability. To the contrary, in the Iliad, Homer mentions Achilles being wounded: in Book 21 the Paeonian hero Asteropaios grazed Achilles's elbow, 'drawing a spurt of blood'.
In Their Own Story
Achilles was the son of Thetis—a Nereid and daughter of the Old Man of the Sea—and Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons. Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals for Thetis's hand in marriage until Prometheus warned Zeus of a prophecy that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed Peleus. According to the Achilleid, written by Statius in the first century CE, when Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx; however, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him: his left heel. In another version of this story, Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire in order to burn away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted by Peleus and abandoned both father and son in a rage. Peleus entrusted Achilles to Chiron, who lived on Mount Pelion, to be reared. In some accounts, Achilles's original name was 'Ligyron' and he was later named Achilles by his tutor Chiron. According to Homer, Achilles grew up in Phthia with his childhood companion Patroclus. Thetis foretold that her son's fate was either to gain glory and die young, or to live a long but uneventful life in obscurity. Achilles chose the former, and decided to take part in the Trojan War.
Reader's Guide
In Homer's Iliad, Achilles is portrayed as tall and striking, with strength and looks that were unmatched among the Greek warriors. Homer describes him as having long hair or a mane (χαίτη). Along with some other characters, his hair is described with the word xanthḗ (ξανθή), which meant 'yellow' and was used for light hair, including blond, brown, tawny (light brown) and auburn. Philostratus wrote that his eyes were amber and lion-like. A later Latin account, probably from the fifth century CE, falsely attributed to Dares Phrygius described Achilles as having '... a large chest, a fine mouth, and powerfully formed arms and legs. His head was covered with long wavy chestnut-colored hair. Though mild in manner, he was very fierce in battle. His face showed the joy of a man richly endowed.' Some post-Homeric sources claim that in order to keep Achilles safe from the war, Thetis (or, in some versions, Peleus) hid the young man dressed as a princess at the court of Lycomedes, king of Skyros. There, Achilles, properly disguised, lived among Lycomedes's daughters, perhaps under the name 'Pyrrha' (the red-haired girl), Cercysera or Aissa ('swift'). With Lycomedes's daughter Deidamia, with whom he had begun a relationship, Achilles there fathered two sons, Neoptolemus (also called Pyrrhus) and Oneiros. According to this story, Odysseus learned from the prophet Calchas that the Achaeans would be unable to capture Troy without Achilles's aid. Odysseus went to Skyros in the guise of a pedlar selling women's clothes and jewellery and placed a shield and spear among his goods. When Achilles instantly took up the spear, Odysseus saw through his disguise and convinced him to join the Greek campaign.
Did You Know?
- Achilles's name can be analyzed as a combination of ἄχος (áchos), 'distress, pain, sorrow, grief', and λαός (laós), 'people, soldiers, nation', resulting in 'he who has the people distressed'.
- Linear B tablets attest to the personal name Achilleus in the forms a-ki-re-u and a-ki-re-we.
- In the Iliad, Homer mentions Achilles being wounded: in Book 21 the Paeonian hero Asteropaios grazed Achilles's elbow, 'drawing a spurt of blood'.
- Later legends (beginning with Statius's unfinished epic Achilleid, written in the first century CE) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for one heel.
- Some post-Homeric sources claim that Thetis hid Achilles dressed as a princess at the court of Lycomedes, king of Skyros, where he fathered two sons with Deidamia.