Achilles's most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan princeHector outside the gates ofTroy. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in theIliad, other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War byParis, who shot him with an arrow. Later legends (beginning withStatius's unfinished epicAchilleid, 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 riverStyx as an infant, she held him by one of his heels, leaving it untouched by the waters and thus his only vulnerable body part.
Alluding to these legends, the termAchilles' heel has come to mean a point of weakness which can lead to downfall, especially in someone or something with an otherwise strong constitution. TheAchilles tendon is named after him following the same legend.
Etymology
Linear B tablets attest to the personal nameAchilleus in the formsa-ki-re-u anda-ki-re-we,[1] the latter being thedative of the former.[2] The name grew more popular, becoming common soon after the seventh century BCE[3] and was also turned into the female formἈχιλλεία (Achilleía), attested inAttica in the fourth century BCE (IG II² 1617) and, in the formAchillia, on astele in Halicarnassus as the name of a female gladiator fighting an "Amazon".
Achilles's name can be analyzed as a combination ofἄχος (áchos), 'distress, pain, sorrow, grief',[4][5] andλαός (laós), 'people, soldiers, nation', resulting in a proto-form*Akhí-lāu̯os, 'he who has the people distressed' or 'he whose people have distress'.[6][7][8] The grief or distress of the people is a theme raised numerous times in theIliad (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 ofκλέοςkléos ('glory', usually in war). Furthermore,laós has been construed byGregory Nagy, followingLeonard Palmer, to mean 'a corps of soldiers', amuster.[7] With this derivation, the name obtains a double meaning in the poem: when the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring distress to the enemy, but when wrongly, his men get the grief of war. The poem is in part about the misdirection of anger on the part of leadership.
Some researchers deem the name aloan word, possibly from aPre-Greek language.[1] Achilles's descent from theNereidThetis and a similarity of his name with those ofriver deities such asAcheron andAchelous have led to speculations about his being an oldwater divinity(see§ Worship and heroic cult, below).[9]Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name, based among other things on the coexistence of-λλ- and-λ- in epic language, which may account for a palatalized phoneme /ly/ in the original language.[2]
Other names
Among the appellations under which Achilles is generally known are the following:[10]
Pyrisous, "saved from the fire", his first name, which seems to favour the tradition in which his mortal parts were burned by his mother Thetis
Achilles was the son ofThetis—aNereid and daughter of theOld Man of the Sea—andPeleus, the king of theMyrmidons.Zeus andPoseidon had been rivals for Thetis's hand in marriage untilPrometheus, the fore-thinker, warned Zeus of a prophecy (originally uttered byThemis, goddess of divine law) that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed Peleus.[12]
There is a tale which offers an alternative version of these events: In theArgonautica (4.760) Zeus's sister and wifeHera alludes to Thetis's chaste resistance to the advances of Zeus, pointing out that Thetis was so loyal to Hera's marriage bond that she coolly rejected the father of gods. Thetis, although a daughter of the sea-godNereus, was also brought up by Hera, further explaining her resistance to the advances of Zeus. Zeus was furious and decreed that she would never marry an immortal.[13]
According to theAchilleid, written byStatius in the first century CE, and tonon-surviving previous sources, when Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the riverStyx; however, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him: his left heel[14][15](seeAchilles' heel,Achilles tendon). It is not clear if this version of events was known earlier. In another version of this story, Thetis anointed the boy inambrosia 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.[16]
None of the sources before Statius make any reference to this general invulnerability. To the contrary, in theIliad, Homer mentions Achilles being wounded: in Book 21 thePaeonian heroAsteropaios, son ofPelagon, challenged Achilles by the riverScamander. He was ambidextrous, and cast a spear from each hand; one grazed Achilles's elbow, "drawing a spurt of blood".[17] In the few fragmentary poems of theEpic Cycle which describe the hero's death (i.e. theCypria, theLittle Iliad byLesches of Pyrrha, theAethiopis andIliupersis byArctinus of Miletus), there is no trace of any reference to his general invulnerability or his famous weakness at the heel. In the later vase paintings presenting the death of Achilles, the arrow (or in many cases, arrows) hit his torso.
Peleus entrusted Achilles toChiron, who lived onMount Pelion and was known as the most righteous of theCentaurs, to be reared.[18] In some accounts, Achilles's original name was "Ligyron" and he was later namedAchilles by his tutor Chiron.[19] According to Homer, Achilles grew up inPhthia with his childhood companionPatroclus.[1] Homer further writes that Achilles taught Patroclus what he himself had been taught by Chiron, including the medical arts.[20] 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.[21]
According toPhotius, the sixth book of theNew History byPtolemy Hephaestion reported that Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus. When she had Achilles, Peleus noticed, tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot, and confided him to the centaur Chiron. Later Chiron exhumed the body of theDamysus, who was the fastest of all the giants, removed the ankle, and incorporated it into Achilles's burnt foot.[22]
Physical description
In Homer'sIliad, Achilles is portrayed as tall and striking, with strength and looks that were unmatched among the Greek warriors.[23] Homer describes him as having long hair or a mane (χαίτη).[24][25] Along with some other characters, his hair is described with the wordxanthḗ (ξανθή),[26] which meant 'yellow' and was used for light hair, includingblond,brown,tawny (light brown) andauburn.[27][28] A later Latin account, probably from the fifth century CE,falsely attributed toDares 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 (capillo myrteo, color ofmyrtus bark ormyrrh[29]). Though mild in manner, he was very fierce in battle. His face showed the joy of a man richly endowed."[30]
Some post-Homeric sources[31] 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 or at least a girl at the court ofLycomedes, king ofSkyros.
There, Achilles, properly disguised, lived among Lycomedes's daughters, perhaps under the name "Pyrrha" (the red-haired girl), Cercysera or Aissa ("swift"[32]).[33] With Lycomedes's daughterDeidamia, with whom he had begun a relationship, Achilles there fathered two sons,Neoptolemus (also called Pyrrhus, after his father's possible alias) and Oneiros. According to this story, Odysseus learned from the prophetCalchas 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. In another version of the story, Odysseus arranged for a trumpet alarm to be sounded while he was with Lycomedes's women. While the women fled in panic, Achilles prepared to defend the court, thus giving his identity away.
A marble representation of Achilles at the court of KingLycomedes,c. 240 CE
According to theIliad, Achilles arrived at Troy with 50 ships, each carrying 50Myrmidons. He appointed five leaders (each leader commanding 500 Myrmidons): Menesthius,Eudorus, Peisander,Phoenix and Alcimedon.[34]
Telephus
When the Greeks left for the Trojan War, they accidentally stopped inMysia, ruled by KingTelephus. In the resulting battle, Achilles gave Telephus a wound that would not heal; Telephus consulted an oracle, who stated that "he that wounded shall heal". Guided by the oracle, he arrived atArgos, where Achilles healed him in order that he might become their guide for the voyage to Troy.[35]
According to other reports inEuripides's lost play about Telephus, he went toAulis pretending to be a beggar and asked Achilles to heal his wound. Achilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. Alternatively, Telephus heldOrestes for ransom, the ransom being Achilles's aid in healing the wound.Odysseus reasoned that the spear had inflicted the wound; therefore, the spear must be able to heal it. Pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound and Telephus was healed.[35]
Troilus
Achilles slaying Troilus, red-figure kylix signed byEuphronios
InDares Phrygius'sAccount of the Destruction of Troy,[37] the Latin summary through which the story of Achilles was transmitted to medieval Europe, as well as in older accounts, Troilus was a young Trojan prince, the youngest of KingPriam's andHecuba's five legitimate sons (or according other sources, another son of Apollo).[38] Despite his youth, he was one of the main Trojan war leaders, a "horse fighter" or "chariot fighter" according to Homer.[39] Prophecies linked Troilus's fate to that of Troy and so he was ambushed in an attempt to capture him. Yet Achilles, struck by the beauty of both Troilus and his sisterPolyxena, and overcome with lust, directed his sexual attentions on the youth—who, refusing to yield, instead found himself decapitated upon an altar-omphalos of ApolloThymbraios.[40] Later versions of the story suggested Troilus was accidentally killed by Achilles in an over-ardent lovers' embrace.[41] In this version of the myth, Achilles's death therefore came in retribution for this sacrilege.[42] Ancient writers treated Troilus as the epitome of a dead child mourned by his parents. Had Troilus lived to adulthood, theFirst Vatican Mythographer claimed, Troy would have been invincible; however, the motif is older and found already inPlautus'sBacchides.[43]
In theIliad
Achilles andAgamemnon, from a mosaic fromPompeii, first century CE
Homer'sIliad is the most famous narrative of Achilles's deeds in the Trojan War. Achilles's wrath (μῆνις Ἀχιλλέως,mênis Achilléōs) is the central theme of the poem. The first two lines of theIliad read:
Μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, [...]
Sing, Goddess, of the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
the accursed rage that brought great suffering to the Achaeans, [...]
The Homeric epic only covers a few weeks of the decade-long war, and does not narrate Achilles's death. It begins with Achilles's withdrawal from battle after being dishonoured byAgamemnon, the commander of theAchaean forces. Agamemnon has taken a woman namedChryseis as his slave. Her fatherChryses, a priest ofApollo, begs Agamemnon to return her to him. Agamemnon refuses, and Apollo sends a plague amongst the Greeks. The prophetCalchas correctly determines the source of the troubles but will not speak unless Achilles vows to protect him. Achilles does so, and Calchas declares that Chryseis must be returned to her father. Agamemnon consents, but then commands that Achilles's slaveBriseis, the daughter ofBriseus, be brought to him to replace Chryseis. Angry at the dishonour of having his plunder and glory taken away (and, as he says later, because he loves Briseis),[44] with the urging of his mother Thetis, Achilles refuses to fight or lead his troops alongside the other Greek forces. At the same time, burning with rage over Agamemnon's theft, Achillesprays to Thetis to convince Zeus to help the Trojans gain ground in the war, so that he may regain his honour.
As the battle turns against the Greeks, thanks to the influence of Zeus,Nestor declares that the Trojans are winning because Agamemnon has angered Achilles, and urges the king to appease the warrior. Agamemnon agrees and sendsOdysseus and two other chieftains,Ajax andPhoenix. They promise that, if Achilles returns to battle, Agamemnon will return the captive Briseis and other gifts. Achilles rejects all Agamemnon offers him and simply urges the Greeks to sail home as he is planning to do.
The Trojans, led byHector, subsequently push the Greek army back toward the beaches and assault the Greek ships. With the Greek forces on the verge of absolute destruction,Patroclus leads theMyrmidons into battle, wearing Achilles's armour, although Achilles remains at his camp. Patroclus succeeds in pushing the Trojans back from the beaches, but is killed by Hector before he can lead a proper assault on the city of Troy.
After receiving the news of the death of Patroclus fromAntilochus, the son of Nestor, Achilles grieves over his beloved companion's death. His mother Thetis comes to comfort the distraught Achilles. She persuadesHephaestus to make new armour for him, in place of the armour that Patroclus had been wearing, which was taken by Hector. The new armour includes theShield of Achilles, described in great detail in the poem.
Enraged over the death of Patroclus, Achilles ends his refusal to fight and takes the field, killing many men in his rage but always seeking out Hector. Achilles even engages in battle with the river godScamander, who has become angry that Achilles is choking his waters with all the men he has killed. The god tries to drown Achilles but is stopped byHera and Hephaestus. Zeus himself takes note of Achilles's rage and sends the gods to restrain him so that he will not go on to sack Troy itself before the time allotted for its destruction, seeming to show that the unhindered rage of Achilles can defy fate itself. Finally, Achilles finds his prey.
Achilles chases Hector around the wall of Troy three times beforeAthena, in the form of Hector's favourite and dearest brother,Deiphobus, persuades Hector to stop running and fight Achilles face to face. After Hector realizes the trick, he knows the battle is inevitable. Wanting to go down fighting, he charges at Achilles with his only weapon, his sword, but misses. Accepting his fate, Hector begs Achilles not to spare his life, but to treat his body with respect after killing him. Achilles tells Hector it is hopeless to expect that of him, declaring that, "my rage, my fury would drive me now to hack your flesh away and eat you raw – such agonies you have caused me."[45] Achilles then kills Hector and drags his corpse by its heels behind his chariot. After having a dream where Patroclus begs Achilles to hold his funeral, Achilles hosts a series offuneral games in honour of his companion.[46]
At the onset of his duel with Hector, Achilles is referred to as the brightest star in the sky, which comes on in the autumn, Orion's dog (Sirius); a sign of evil. During the cremation of Patroclus, he is compared toHesperus, the evening/western star (Venus), while the burning of the funeral pyre lasts untilPhosphorus, the morning/eastern star (also Venus) has set (descended).
With the assistance of the godHermes (Argeiphontes), Hector's fatherPriam goes to Achilles's tent to plead with Achilles for the return of Hector's body so that he can be buried. Achilles relents and promises a truce for the duration of the funeral, lasting 9 days with a burial on the 10th (in the tradition ofNiobe's offspring). The poem ends with a description of Hector's funeral, with the doom of Troy and Achilles himself still to come.
Penthesilea and Memnon
Achilles and Memnon fighting, between Thetis and Eos, Attic black-figure amphora,c. 510 BCE, from Vulci
Later works, including theAethiopis (seventh century BCE) and a work namedPosthomerica, composed byQuintus of Smyrna in the fourth century CE, relate further events from theTrojan War. WhenPenthesilea, queen of theAmazons and daughter ofAres, arrives in Troy, Priam hopes that she will defeat Achilles. After his temporary truce with Priam, Achilles fights and kills the warrior queen, only to grieve over her death later.[47] Initially taken aback, he did not fight as intensely as usual. Once he realized that his distraction was endangering his life, he refocused and killed her.
Following the death of Patroclus, Nestor's sonAntilochus becomes Achilles's closest companion. Achilles already loved Antilochus, so Menelaus thought Antilochus would be the best person to inform Achilles of Patroclus's death.[48] Later,Memnon, son of the Dawn GoddessEos and king ofEthiopia, slays Antilochus as he sacrifices himself to save his father. According toPhilostratus'sImagines, Achilles laments his death on the battlefield, promising Antilochus a glorious funeral and vengeance. Achilles once more obtains revenge on the battlefield, killing Memnon.[49] Consequently, Eos will not let the sun rise until Zeus persuades her. The fight between Achilles and Memnon over Antilochus echoes that of Achilles and Hector over Patroclus, except that Memnon (unlike Hector) was also the son of a goddess.
Many Homeric scholars argued that episode inspired many details in theIliad's description of the death of Patroclus and Achilles's reaction to it. The episode then formed the basis of thecyclic epicAethiopis, which was composed after theIliad, possibly in the seventh century BCE. TheAethiopis is now lost, except for scattered fragments quoted by later authors.
Achilles tending Patroclus wounded by an arrow, Attic red-figurekylix,c. 500 BCE (Altes Museum, Berlin)
The exact nature of Achilles's relationship with Patroclus has been a subject of dispute in both the classical period and modern times. In theIliad, it appears to be the model of a deep and loyal friendship. Homer does not suggest that Achilles and his close friend Patroclus had sexual relations.[50][51] Although there is no direct evidence in the text of theIliad that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers, this theory was expressed by some later authors. Commentators fromclassical antiquity to the present have often interpreted the relationship through the lens of their own cultures. In fifth-century BCE Athens, the intense bond was often viewed in light of theGreek custom ofpaiderasteia, which is the relationship between an older male and a younger one, usually a teenager. In Plato'sSymposium, the participants in a dialogue about love assume that Achilles and Patroclus were a couple; Phaedrus argues that Achilles was the younger and more beautiful one so he was the beloved and Patroclus was the lover.[52] In Xenophon'sSymposium, Socrates says that Achilles and Patroclus were not lovers but had a platonic relationship.Kenneth Dover argues that ancient Greek had no words to distinguish heterosexual and homosexual,[53] and it was assumed that a man could both desire handsome young men and have sex with women. Many pairs of men throughout history have been compared to Achilles and Patroclus to imply a homosexual relationship.[citation needed]
Death
Dying Achilles (Achilleas thniskon) in the gardens of the Achilleion
The death of Achilles, even if considered solely as it occurred in the oldest sources, is a complex one, with many different versions.[54] Starting with the oldest account in book 22 of theIliad,Hector predicts with his last dying breath thatParis and Apollo will slay him at the Scaean Gates leading to Troy (with an arrow to the heel according to Statius). In book 23, the sad spirit of dead Patroclus visits Achilles just as he drifts off into slumber, requesting that his bones be placed with those of Achilles in his golden vase, a gift of his mother.
In book 11 of theOdyssey, Odysseus sails to the underworld and converses with the shades. One of these is Achilles, who when greeted as "blessed in life, blessed in death", responds that he would rather be a slave to the worst of masters than be king of all the dead. But Achilles then asks Odysseus of his son's exploits in the Trojan war, and Odysseus tells him of Neoptolemus's actions.[55]
Book 24 ofOdyssey gives dead King Agamemnon's ghostly account of Achilles's death: the bleached bones from Achilles's funeralpyre had been mixed with those ofPatroclus and put into his mother's golden vase. Also, the bones ofAntilochus, who had become closer to Achilles than any other following Patroclus's death, were separately enclosed. The customary funeral games of a hero were performed, and a massive tomb ormound was built on theHellespont for approaching seagoers to celebrate.[56]
Achilles was represented in theAethiopis as living after his death in the island ofLeuke at the mouth of the riverDanube. Another version of Achilles's death is that he fell deeply in love with one of the Trojan princesses,Polyxena. Achilles asks Priam for Polyxena's hand in marriage. Priam is willing because it would mean the end of the war and an alliance with the world's greatest warrior. But while Priam is overseeing the private marriage of Polyxena and Achilles, Paris, who would have to give up Helen if Achilles married his sister, hides in the bushes and shoots Achilles with a divine arrow, killing him. According toApollodorus, after his death he marriedMedea in theElysian Fields.[57]
Fate of Achilles's armour
Oinochoe,c. 520 BCE, Ajax and Odysseus fighting over the armour of Achilles
Achilles's armour was the object of a feud between Odysseus andAjax the Great. They competed for it by giving speeches on why they were the bravest after Achilles to their Trojan prisoners, who, after considering the presentations of both men, decided Odysseus was more deserving of the armour. Furious, Ajax cursed Odysseus, which earned him the ire of Athena, who temporarily made Ajax so mad with grief and anguish that he began killing sheep, thinking them his comrades. After a while, when Athena lifted his madness and Ajax realized that he had actually been killing sheep, he was so ashamed that he committed suicide. Odysseus eventually gave the armour toNeoptolemus, the son of Achilles. When Odysseus encounters the shade of Ajax much later in the House of Hades (Odyssey 11.543–566), Ajax is still so angry about the outcome of the competition that he refuses to speak to Odysseus.
The armour they fought for was made byHephaestus and thus much stronger and more beautiful than any armour a mortal could craft. Thetis had the gear made for Achilles because his first set was worn byPatroclus when he went to battle and taken by Hector when he killed Patroclus. TheShield of Achilles was also made by the fire god. His legendary spear was given to him by his mentorChiron before he participated in theTrojan War. It was called the Pelian Spear, which allegedly no other man could wield.
A relic claimed to be Achilles's bronze-headed spear was preserved for centuries in the temple of Athena on the acropolis ofPhaselis, Lycia, a port on the Pamphylian Gulf. The city was visited in 333 BCE byAlexander the Great, who envisioned himself as the new Achilles and carried theIliad with him, but his court biographers do not mention the spear; however, it was shown in the time ofPausanias in the second century CE.[58][59]
Achilles, Ajax and a game ofpetteia
Numerous paintings on pottery have suggested a tale not mentioned in the literary traditions. At some point in the war, Achilles and Ajax were playing a board game (petteia).[60][61] They were absorbed in the game and oblivious to the surrounding battle.[62] The Trojans attacked and reached the heroes, who were saved only by an intervention of Athena.[63]
Achilles on Skyros, where—according to theAchilleid—Odysseus discovers him dressed as a woman and hiding among the princesses of the royal court, late Roman mosaic fromLa Olmeda, Spain, fourth–fifth centuries CE
The cult of Achilles is illustrated in thePolyxena sarcophagus (500 BCE), which depicts the sacrifice of Polyxena near the tumulus of Achilles.[71]Strabo (13.1.32) also suggested that such a cult of Achilles existed in Troad:[64][72]
Near the Sigeium is a temple and monument of Achilles, and monuments also ofPatroclus andAnthlochus. The Ilienses perform sacred ceremonies in honour of them all, and even ofAjax. But they do not worshipHercules, alleging as a reason that he ravaged their country.
The spread and intensity of the hero's veneration among theGreeks that hadsettled on the northern coast of thePontus Euxinus, today'sBlack Sea, appears to have been remarkable. An archaic cult is attested for theMilesian colony ofOlbia as well as for an island in the middle of the Black Sea, today identified withSnake Island (Ukrainian:Зміїний,Zmiinyi, nearKiliia, Ukraine). Early dedicatory inscriptions from theGreek colonies on the Black Sea (graffiti and inscribed clay disks, these possibly beingvotive offerings, from Olbia, the area ofBerezan Island and theTauric Chersonese[74]) attest the existence of aheroic cult of Achilles[75] from the sixth century BCE onwards. The cult was still thriving in the third century CE, when dedicatorystelae from Olbia refer to anAchilles Pontárchēs (Ποντάρχης, roughly 'lord of the sea', or 'lord of thePontus Euxinus'), who was invoked as a protector of the city of Olbia, venerated on par withOlympian gods such as the localApollo Prostates,Hermes Agoraeus,[67] orPoseidon.[76]
Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) in hisNatural History mentions a "port of the Achæi" and an "island of Achilles", famous for the tomb of that "man" (portus Achaeorum, insula Achillis, tumulo eius viri clara), situated somewhat nearby Olbia and theDnieper-Bug Estuary; furthermore, at 125 Roman miles from this island, he places a peninsula "which stretches forth in the shape of a sword" obliquely, calledDromos Achilleos (Ἀχιλλέως δρόμος,Achilléōs drómos, 'the Race-course of Achilles')[77] and considered the place of the hero's exercise or of games instituted by him.[67] This last feature of Pliny's account is considered to be the iconicspit, called todayTendra (orKosa Tendra andKosa Djarilgatch), situated between the mouth of theDnieper andKarkinit Bay, but which is hardly 125 Roman miles (around 185 km) away from theDnieper-Bug estuary, as Pliny states (to the "Race-course" he gives a length of 80 miles (130 km), whereas the spit measures around 70 km (43 mi) today).
In the following chapter of his book, Pliny refers to the same island asAchillea and introduces two further names for it:Leuce orMacaron (from Greek[νῆσος] μακαρῶν, 'island of the blest'). The "present day" measures, he gives at this point, seem to account for an identification ofAchillea orLeuce with today'sSnake Island.[78] Pliny's contemporaryPomponius Mela (c. 43 CE) tells that Achilles was buried on an island namedAchillea, situated between theBorysthenes and theIster, adding to the geographical confusion.[79] Ruins of a square temple, measuring 30 meters to a side, possibly that dedicated to Achilles, were discovered by CaptainNikolay Kritsky [ru] in 1823 onSnake Island. A second exploration in 1840 showed that the construction of a lighthouse had destroyed all traces of this temple. A fifth-century BCEblack-glazedlekythos inscription, found on the island in 1840, reads: "Glaukos, son of Poseidon, dedicated me to Achilles, lord of Leuke." In another inscription from the fifth or fourth centuries BCE, a statue is dedicated to Achilles, lord of Leuke, by a citizen of Olbia, while in a further dedication, the city of Olbia confirms its continuous maintenance of the island's cult, again suggesting its quality as a place of a supra-regional hero veneration.[67]
The heroic cult dedicated to Achilles onLeuce seems to go back to an account from the lost epicAethiopis according to which, after his untimely death, Thetis had snatched her son from the funeral pyre and removed him to a mythicalΛεύκη Νῆσος (Leúkē Nêsos, 'White Island').[80] Already in the fifth century BCE,Pindar had mentioned a cult of Achilles on a "bright island" (φαεννά νᾶσος,phaenná nâsos) of the Black Sea,[81] while in another of his works, Pindar would retell the story of the immortalized Achilles living on a geographically indefiniteIsland of the Blest together with other heroes such as his fatherPeleus andCadmus.[82] Well known is the connection of these mythologicalFortunate Isles (μακαρῶν νῆσοι,makárôn nêsoi) or the HomericElysium with the streamOceanus which according to Greek mythology surrounds the inhabited world, which should have accounted for the identification of the northern strands of the Euxine with it.[67] Guy Hedreen has found further evidence for this connection of Achilles with the northern margin of the inhabited world in a poem byAlcaeus, speaking of "Achilles lord of Scythia"[83] and the opposition of North and South, as evoked by Achilles's fight against theAethiopian princeMemnon, who in his turn would be removed to his homeland by his motherEos after his death.
It is said that the goddess Thetis raised this island from the sea, for her son Achilles, who dwells there. Here is his temple and his statue, an archaic work. This island is not inhabited, and goats graze on it, not many, which the people who happen to arrive here with their ships, sacrifice to Achilles. In this temple are also deposited a great many holy gifts, craters, rings and precious stones, offered to Achilles in gratitude. One can still read inscriptions in Greek and Latin, in which Achilles is praised and celebrated. Some of these are worded in Patroclus's honour, because those who wish to be favored by Achilles, honour Patroclus at the same time. There are also in this island countless numbers of sea birds, which look after Achilles's temple. Every morning they fly out to sea, wet their wings with water, and return quickly to the temple and sprinkle it. And after they finish the sprinkling, they clean the hearth of the temple with their wings. Other people say still more, that some of the men who reach this island, come here intentionally. They bring animals in their ships, destined to be sacrificed. Some of these animals they slaughter, others they set free on the island, in Achilles's honour. But there are others, who are forced to come to this island by sea storms. As they have no sacrificial animals, but wish to get them from the god of the island himself, they consult Achilles's oracle. They ask permission to slaughter the victims chosen from among the animals that graze freely on the island, and to deposit in exchange the price which they consider fair. But in case the oracle denies them permission, because there is an oracle here, they add something to the price offered, and if the oracle refuses again, they add something more, until at last, the oracle agrees that the price is sufficient. And then the victim doesn't run away any more, but waits willingly to be caught. So, there is a great quantity of silver there, consecrated to the hero, as price for the sacrificial victims. To some of the people who come to this island, Achilles appears in dreams, to others he would appear even during their navigation, if they were not too far away, and would instruct them as to which part of the island they would better anchor their ships.[84]
The Greek geographerDionysius Periegetes, who probably lived during the first century CE, wrote that the island was calledLeuce "because the wild animals which live there are white. It is said that there, in Leuce island, reside the souls of Achilles and other heroes, and that they wander through the uninhabited valleys of this island; this is how Jove rewarded the men who had distinguished themselves through their virtues, because through virtue they had acquired everlasting honour."[85] Similarly, others relate the island's name to its white cliffs, snakes or birds dwelling there.[67][86]Pausanias has been told that the island is "covered with forests and full of animals, some wild, some tame. In this island there is also Achilles's temple and his statue."[87] Leuce had also a reputation as a place of healing. Pausanias reports that theDelphicPythia sent a lord ofCroton to be cured of a chest wound.[88]Ammianus Marcellinus attributes the healing to waters (aquae) on the island.[89]
Strabo mentioned that the cape of the Racecourse of Achilles was sacred to Achilles and although it was treeless, was called Alsos (ἄλσος).[90]Alsos in Greek means 'grove'.
A number of important commercial port cities of the Greek waters were dedicated to Achilles.Herodotus,Pliny the Elder andStrabo reported on the existence of a townAchílleion (Ἀχίλλειον), built by settlers fromMytilene in the sixth century BCE, close to the hero's presumed burial mound in theTroad.[66] Later attestations point to anAchílleion inMessenia (according toStephanus Byzantinus) and anAchílleios (Ἀχίλλειος) inLaconia.[91]Nicolae Densuşianu recognized a connection to Achilles in the names ofAquileia and of the northern arm of the Danube delta, calledChilia (presumably from an olderAchileii), although his conclusion, that Leuce had sovereign rights over the Black Sea, evokes modern rather than archaic sea-law.[84]
The kings ofEpirus claimed to be descended from Achilles through his son,Neoptolemus.Alexander the Great, son of the Epirote princessOlympias, could therefore also claim this descent, and in many ways strove to be like his great ancestor. He is said to have visited the tomb of Achilles atAchilleion while passing Troy.[92] In 216, the Roman emperorCaracalla, while on his way to war againstParthia, emulated Alexander by holding games around Achilles's tumulus.[93]
The Greek tragedianAeschylus wrote a trilogy of plays about Achilles, given the titleAchilleis by modern scholars. The tragedies relate the deeds of Achilles during the Trojan War, including his defeat of Hector and eventual death when an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo punctures his heel. Extant fragments of theAchilleis and other Aeschylean fragments have been assembled to produce a workable modern play. The first part of theAchilleis trilogy,The Myrmidons, focused on the relationship between Achilles and chorus, who represent the Achaean army and try to convince Achilles to give up his quarrel with Agamemnon; only a few lines survive today.[94] In Plato'sSymposium, Phaedrus points out that Aeschylus portrayed Achilles as the lover and Patroclus as the beloved; Phaedrus argues that this is incorrect because Achilles, being the younger and more beautiful of the two, was the beloved, who loved his lover so much that he chose to die to avenge him.[95]
The tragedianSophocles also wroteThe Lovers of Achilles, a play with Achilles as the main character. Only a few fragments survive.[96]
Towards the end of the fifth century BCE, a more negative view of Achilles emerges in Greek drama;Euripides refers to Achilles in a bitter or ironic tone inHecuba,Electra, andIphigenia in Aulis.[97]
Other contemporary tragedians, such asAstydamas, wrote works on Achilles that are completely lost today.
In Greek philosophy
Zeno
The philosopherZeno of Elea centred one ofhis paradoxes on an imaginary footrace between "swift-footed"Achilles and a tortoise, by which he attempted to show that Achilles could not catch up to a tortoise with a head start, and therefore that motion and change were impossible. As a student of the monist Parmenides and a member of the Eleatic school, Zeno believed time and motion to be illusions.
Plato
InHippias Minor, aSocratic dialogue attributed toPlato, an arrogant man named Hippias argues withSocrates. The two get into a discussion about lying. They decide that a person who is intentionally false must be "better" than a person who is unintentionally false, on the basis that someone who lies intentionally must understand the subject about which they are lying.[98] Socrates uses various analogies, discussing athletics and the sciences to prove his point. The two also reference Homer extensively. Socrates and Hippias agree thatOdysseus, who concocted a number of lies throughout theOdyssey and other stories in the Trojan War Cycle, was false intentionally. Achilles, like Odysseus, told numerous falsehoods. Hippias believes that Achilles was a generally honest man, while Socrates believes that Achilles lied for his own benefit. The two argue over whether it is better to lie on purpose or by accident. Socrates eventually abandons Homeric arguments and makes sports analogies to drive home the point: someone who does wrong on purpose is a better person than someone who does wrong unintentionally.
In Roman and medieval literature
The Romans, who traditionally traced their lineage to Troy, took a highly negative view of Achilles.[97]Virgil refers to Achilles as a savage and a merciless butcher of men,[99] whileHorace portrays Achilles ruthlessly slaying women and children.[100] Other writers, such asCatullus,Propertius, andOvid, represent a second strand of disparagement, with an emphasis on Achilles's erotic career. This strand continues in Latin accounts of the Trojan War by writers such asDictys Cretensis andDares Phrygius and inBenoît de Sainte-Maure'sRoman de Troie andGuido delle Colonne'sHistoria destructionis Troiae, which remained the most widely read and retold versions of theMatter of Troy until the seventeenth century.
Achilles was described by the Byzantine chroniclerLeo the Deacon, not asHellene, but asScythian, while according to the Byzantine authorJohn Malalas, his army was made up of a tribe previously known as Myrmidons and later asBulgars.[101][102]
Achilles appears in Dante'sInferno (composed 1308–1320). He is seen inHell's second circle, that of lust.
Achilles is portrayed as a former hero who has become lazy and devoted to the love of Patroclus, inWilliam Shakespeare'sTroilus and Cressida (1602). Despicably, he has his Myrmidons murder the unarmed Hector, and then gets them to announce that Achilles himself has slain Hector, as if it had been in a fair fight (Act 5.9.5-14).
The French dramatistThomas Corneille wrote a tragedyLa Mort d'Achille (1673).
H.D.'s 1961 long poemHelen in Egypt features Achilles prominently as a figure whose irrational hatred of Helen traumatizes her, the bulk of the poem's plot being about her recovery.
The Death of Achilles (Смерть Ахиллеса, 1998) is an historical detective novel by Russian writerBoris Akunin that alludes to various figures and motifs from theIliad.
The character Achilles inEnder's Shadow (1999), by Orson Scott Card, shares his namesake's cunning mind and ruthless attitude.
Achilles is one of the main characters inDan Simmons's novelsIlium (2003) andOlympos (2005).
Achilles is a major supporting character inDavid Gemmell'sTroy series of books (2005–2007).
Peter Paul Rubens has authored a series of works on the life of Achilles, comprising the titles:Thetis dipping the infant Achilles into the river Styx,Achilles educated by the centaur Chiron,Achilles recognized among the daughters of Lycomedes,The wrath of Achilles,The death of Hector,Thetis receiving the arms of Achilles from Vulcanus,The death of Achilles (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam), andBriseis restored to Achilles (Detroit Institute of Arts; allc. 1630–1635)
Pieter van Lint, "Achilles Discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes", 1645, at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
In 1890,Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria, had a summer palace built inCorfu. The building is named theAchilleion, after Achilles. Its paintings and statuary depict scenes from theTrojan War, with particular focus on Achilles.
The name of Achilles has been used for at least nineRoyal Navy warships since 1744—both asHMS Achilles and with the French spellingHMS Achille. A 60-gun ship of that name served at the Battle of Belleisle in 1761 while a 74-gun ship served at theBattle of Trafalgar. Other battle honours include Walcheren 1809. An armored cruiser of that name served in the Royal Navy during the First World War.
HMNZS Achilles was aLeander-class cruiser which served with theRoyal New Zealand Navy in World War II. It became famous for its part in theBattle of the River Plate, alongsideHMS Ajax andHMS Exeter. In addition to earning the battle honour 'River Plate', HMNZSAchilles also served at Guadalcanal 1942–1943 and Okinawa in 1945. After returning to the Royal Navy, the ship was sold to theIndian Navy in 1948, but when she was scrapped parts of the ship were saved and preserved in New Zealand.
A species of lizard,Anolis achilles, which has widened heel plates, is named for Achilles.[104]
Achilles sacrificing toZeus for Patroclus's safe return,[105] from theAmbrosian Iliad, a fifth-century illuminated manuscript
Achilles and Penthesilea fighting, Lucanian red-figure bell-krater, late fifth century BCE
Achilles killing Penthesilea,tondo of an Attic red-figurekylix,c. 465 BCE, fromVulci
Thetis and the Nereids mourning Achilles, Corinthian black-figurehydria,c. 555 BCE (Louvre, Paris)
Achilles and Ajax playing the board gamepetteia, black-figureoinochoe,c. 530 BCE (Capitoline Museums, Rome)
Head of Achilles depicted on a fourth-century BCE coin fromKremaste,Phthia. Reverse:Thetis, wearing and holding the shield of Achilles with his AX monogram
Achilles on a Roman mosaic with the Removal ofBriseis, second century
References
^abcdDorothea Sigel; Anne Ley; Bruno Bleckmann. "Achilles". In Hubert Cancik; et al. (eds.).Achilles.Brill's New Pauly. Brill Reference Online.doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e102220. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
^abRobert S. P. Beekes,Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, pp. 183ff.
^Leonard Palmer (1963).The Interpretation of Mycenaean Greek Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 79.
^abGregory Nagy."The best of the Achaeans".CHS. The Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University. Archived fromthe original on April 2, 2015. RetrievedMarch 19, 2015.
^Cf. the supportive position ofHildebrecht Hommel (1980). "Der Gott Achilleus".Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (1):38–44. – A critical point of view is taken byJ. T. Hooker (1988). "The cults of Achilleus".Rheinisches Museum für Philologie.131 (3):1–7.
^Ptolemy Hephaestion,New History, Book 6 (summary from Photius,Myriobiblon 190, trans. Pearse):"It is said ... that he [Akhilleus (Achilles)] was called Podarkes (Podarces, Swift-Footed) by the Poet [i.e. Homer], because, it is said, Thetis gave the newborn child the wings of Arke (Arce) and Podarkes means that his feet had the wings of Arke. And Arke was the daughter of Thaumas and her sister was Iris; both had wings, but, during the struggle of the gods against the Titanes (Titans), Arke flew out of the camp of the gods and joined the Titanes. After the victory Zeus removed her wings before throwing her into Tartaros and, when he came to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, he brought these wings as a gift for Thetis."
^Homer (Robert Fagles translation).The Iliad. p. 525.But the other (spear) grazed Achilles's strong right arm and dark blood gushed as the spear shot past his back
^Hesiod,Catalogue of Women, fr. 204.87–89 MW;Iliad 11.830–832.
^Photius,Bibliotheca, cod. 190: "Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus; six were born; when she had Achilles, Peleus noticed and tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot and confided him to Chiron. The latter exhumed the body of the giant Damysos who was buried at Pallene—Damysos was the fastest of all the giants—removed the 'astragale' and incorporated it into Achilles's foot using 'ingredients'. This 'astragale' fell when Achilles was pursued by Apollo and it was thus that Achilles, fallen, was killed. It is said, on the other hand, that he was called Podarkes by the Poet, because, it is said, Thetis gave the newborn child the wings of Arce and Podarkes means that his feet had the wings of Arce."
^Strauss, Barry (2007).The Trojan War: A New History. Simon and Schuster. p. 87.ISBN978-0-7432-6442-6.
^Woodhouse, Sidney Chawner (1910).English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. pp. 52, 84, 101.
^Navarro Antolín, Fernando (1996).Lygdamus: Corpus Tibullianum III. 1-6: Lygdami Elegiarum Liber : Edition and Commentary. Belgium: E.J. Brill. p. 309.
^Euripides,Skyrioi, surviving only in fragmentary form;Philostratus Junior,Imagines i; Scholiast on Homer'sIliad, 9.326;Ovid,Metamorphoses 13.162–180; Ovid,Tristia 2.409–412 (mentioning a Roman tragedy on this subject); Pseudo-Apollodorus,Bibliotheca 3.13.8;Statius,Achilleid 1.689–880, 2.167ff.
^Graves, Robert (2017).The Greek Myths – The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. pp. Index s.v. Aissa.ISBN978-0-241-98338-6.
^Robin Fox (2011).The Tribal Imagination: Civilization and the Savage Mind. Harvard University Press. p. 223.ISBN978-0-674-06094-4.There is certainly no evidence in the text of the Iliad that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers.
^Martin, Thomas R (2012).Alexander the Great: The Story of an Ancient Life. Cambridge University Press. p. 100.ISBN978-0-521-14844-3.The ancient sources do not report, however, what modern scholars have asserted: that Alexander and his very close friend Hephaestion were lovers. Achilles and his equally close friend Patroclus provided the legendary model for this friendship, but Homer in theIliad never suggested that they had sex with each other. (That came from later authors.).
^Plato,Symposium,180a; the beauty of Achilles was a topic already broached atIliad 2.673–674.
^Fox, Robin Lane (1973).Alexander the Great. p. 144.Alexander came to rest at Phaselis, a coastal city which was later renowned for the possession of Achilles' original spear.
^Pausanias, iii.3.6; seeJacob, Christian; Mullen-Hohl, Anne (1980). "The Greek Traveler's Areas of Knowledge: Myths and Other Discourses in Pausanias' Description of Greece".Rethinking History: Time, Myth, and Writing. Yale French Studies. Vol. 59. pp. 5–85, especially 81.JSTOR2929815.
^Pliny,Naturalis Historia 4.13.93 (chapter 4.27): "Researches which have been made at the present day place this island at a distance of 140 miles from the Borysthenes, of 120 fromTyras, and of fifty from the island ofPeuce. It is about ten miles in circumference." Although afterwards he speaks again of "the remaining islands in the Gulf ofCarcinites" which are "Cephalonesos, Rhosphodusa [or Spodusa], and Macra".
^Jeffreys, Elizabeth; Croke, Brian (1990).Studies in John Malalas. Sydney: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, Department of Modern Greek, University of Sydney. p. 206.ISBN978-0-9593626-5-7. RetrievedSeptember 14, 2015.
^Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011).The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp.ISBN978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Achilles", p. 1).
Ileana Chirassi Colombo (1977), "Heroes Achilleus – Theos Apollon". InIl Mito Greco, edd. Bruno Gentili and Giuseppe Paione. Rome: Edizione dell'Ateneo e Bizzarri.
Dräger, Paul, "Medea", inBrill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 8, Lyd – Mine, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Leiden, Brill, 2006.ISBN9004122710.
Anthony Edwards (1985a), "Achilles in the Underworld: Iliad, Odyssey, and Æthiopis".Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies.26: pp. 215–227.
Anthony Edwards (1985b), "Achilles in the Odyssey: Ideologies of Heroism in the Homeric Epic".Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie.171.
Graves, Robert,The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. 2017.ISBN978-0-241-98338-6,024198338X
Guy Hedreen (1991). "The Cult of Achilles in the Euxine".Hesperia.60 (3). American School of Classical Studies at Athens:313–330.doi:10.2307/148068.JSTOR148068.
Karl Kerényi (1959).The Heroes of the Greeks. New York/London: Thames and Hudson.
Hélène Monsacré (1984),Les larmes d'Achille. Le héros, la femme et la souffrance dans la poésie d'Homère, Paris: Albin Michel.
Gregory Nagy (1984),The Name of Achilles: Questions of Etymology and 'Folk Etymology,Illinois Classical Studies.19.
Gregory Nagy (1999),The Best of The Acheans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry. Johns Hopkins University Press (revised edition,onlineArchived 24 December 2018 at theWayback Machine).
Dorothea Sigel; Anne Ley; Bruno Bleckmann. "Achilles". In Hubert Cancik; et al. (eds.).Achilles.Brill's New Pauly. Brill Reference Online.doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e102220.
Dale S. Sinos (1991),The Entry of Achilles into Greek Epic, PhD thesis, Johns Hopkins University. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International.
Jonathan S. Burgess (2009),The Death and Afterlife of Achilles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Abrantes, M.C. (2016),Themes of the Trojan Cycle: Contribution to the study of the greek mythological tradition (Coimbra).ISBN978-1530337118.
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