weak point of Achilles

Notch at the end of the arrow shaft for easy installation of the arrow on the bowstring.

In technology - a shaft trunnion that perceives an axial load

The top stone (or row of stones) of a support on which an arch or vault rests

Back of human and bear foot

The end of the pole at the pole edged weapon, to which the inflow is attached

The lower, supporting part of an arch or vault

Shaft trunnion, perceiving axial load

Unsharpened area at the handle of the blade

Vladimir Gardin's film Iron...

The story of the American writer D. London "Iron ..."

The place where they held Achilles, bathing him in the Styx

Part of the foot

Achilles...

Vulnerable at Achilles

Weakness of Achilles

Back of the foot

Weakness of Achilles

The organ that killed Achilles

Shaft trunnion in engineering

Slack Achilles

Achilles' Vulnerability

Lower part of the arch

Achilles is vulnerable

Back of the foot (obsolete)

Not the strongest place of Achilles

Human lower support

The area at the handle of the blade

Upper stone of the arch support

Achilles slack

Failed Achilles

paris target

In it, Paris stung Achilles

Slack Achilles

Achilles' place

. Achilles' weak link

arch support, vault

Achilles' Vulnerable Point

Standing pitch support

Filthy place of Achilles

Shaft trunnion, perceiving axial load

The lower supporting part of the arch, vault

Support stone under an arch or vault

In the technique of the shaft pin, perceiving the axial load

The meaning of the phraseologism "Achilles' heel" is a weak, vulnerable spot in someone or something. If this expression is used in relation to a person, then it can characterize him both morally and physically. Moreover, as a rule, the expression "Achilles' heel" has an ironic and mocking connotation.

We owe the origin of the phraseologism "Achilles' heel" to the myths of Ancient Greece, or rather, the myth of the ancient Greek legendary hero Achilles or Achilles. Heroes were born from the marriages of gods with mortals and possessed some supernatural qualities for mortal people, but were not immortal. Fulfilling the will of the gods, they performed various feats, for which people created legends about them. So it was with Achilles.

His parents were Thetis - a sea nymph and Peleus - the son of the Aegin king Aeacus. According to the prediction, their joint son will live a long life or become a hero and die at the walls of Troy.

Therefore, Thetis, wanting to know whether her child was immortal or not, dipped the newborn into boiling water. So the six children of Thetis died. When the seventh child was born, Peleus insisted that Thetis did not put her inhuman experiments on him. As you guessed, this child was Achilles. However, Thetis, wanting to make her son invulnerable, according to one version, put Achilles in the divine furnace of the god of fire and the patron of blacksmithing, Hephaestus, while holding him by the heel. According to another version, Thetis dipped Achilles into the sacred waters of the underground river Styx in the kingdom of the dead Hades. Thus, Achilles had one weak spot - his heel. Hence the expression "Achilles' heel", denoting a weak, unprotected place.

When the Greeks were about to attack the Trojans, King Odysseus of Ithaca and King Nestor of Pylos wished to see Achilles in the ranks of their army. Having received a blessing from his father, Achilles joined the campaign against Troy.

Thetis, remembering the prophecy and wanting to save her son, made a storm, and Achilles' ship ended up off the island of Skyros. There, with King Lycomedes, Thetis hoped to hide Achilles so that he could not take part in the fatal war for himself. To do this, she dressed her son in women's clothes and hid him among the daughters of King Lycomedes. But the cunning and clever Odysseus found out about it. He appeared on the island under the guise of a merchant. Odysseus put up for review the princesses not only dresses, jewelry, but also weapons. Suddenly, at his order, a noise and a battle cry arose, and, by inertia, Achilles took up arms. So the exposed "deserter" had to go on his last campaign.

Achilles performed many feats in the war, he defeated many enemies in battles. No one could handle the hero. But the prediction, nevertheless, came true. The arrow, fired by the son of the king of Troy, Paris and directed by the god of light and the patron of the arts, Apollo, hit the only unprotected place of Achilles - in the heel. Although the wound was not significant, Achilles died.

So every living being, every object is imperfect. And it does not matter whether he hides his shortcomings and flaws or not, but they are. According to scientists, even the sun has spots. So this myth suggests that no matter how perfect and invulnerable you seem, you should not be deceived and be careless and self-confident, you should beware of chance and be vigilant. After all, as the humorous Murphy's law says:

“If there is a possibility that some kind of trouble can happen, then it will definitely happen.”

In Greece, on the island of Corfu in the Achillion Palace, a statue of Ernst Gustav Harter "The Dying Achilles", created by him in 1884, is exhibited. It depicts Achilles trying to take an arrow out of his heel. And this statue was made by order of Empress Elizabeth.

And some anatomy. The progenitor of the name "Achilles tendon" is the myth of the "Achilles heel". By the way, this heel tendon is the strongest and most powerful in the human body.

Achilles' heel is a phraseological unit denoting the weakness, vulnerability of an enterprise or person. It can be a personality trait, a feature that spoils life, or imperfection in the organization of the case - everything that, one way or another, is a hidden flaw that can appear unexpectedly and confuse all the cards.

Let's talk about how this expression appeared, what is its original meaning.

The myth of Achilles

The expression "Achilles' heel" originates in the myth of the post-Homeric era, transmitted by the Roman poet Hyginus. It deals with the fate of the great hero named Achilles, who was invulnerable to enemy arrows and swords. The secret of his magical protection was that when he was a child, his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, dipped him into the waters. She dreamed of making her son immortal and equal to the gods. However, the protection was not complete. During the bathing of Achilles in the eternal river, his mother held his heel, which remained dry. She was the hidden weak point of the hero.

During the siege of Troy, Achilles fought for ten. No wonder, because the weapon could not do him any harm. The Trojans were on the verge of complete defeat. But then Apollo stood up for them, enraged by the impudence of a mere mortal. He directed the arrow fired by Paris, exactly at the heel of Achilles, and the hero was defeated.

Since then, the Achilles' heel has meant an inconspicuous and, it seems, insignificant feature that can be fraught with a threat to any business.

By the way, the Achilles tendon, named after the hero of the Greek myth, is able to withstand a load of 400 kg or more and is one of the most vulnerable places in the human body.

Achilles' heel of the modern enterprise

Let us consider in more detail the concept of hidden vulnerability using the example of modern enterprises.

Any company is a complex system, which means that there are flaws somewhere that are inaccessible to a superficial glance.

The Achilles' heel of a firm is a weak point from which the destruction of the entire enterprise can begin.

When an ordinary employee does not pay enough attention to his official duties, he does not know that his carelessness can destroy the entire carefully built structure if he touches that very painful point with his actions.

In order to avoid such risks, most large Western and domestic companies pay much attention to the creation of a corporate culture, which helps to increase the discipline and motivation of employees.

Any owner of a successful large company needs to understand where this point is. If he cannot strengthen this place yet, then at least he should pay special attention to it.

Every industry has its weak link. For example, it is generally accepted that in aviation the main safety threat is the human factor, that is, unreliable and unpredictable people on whom the management of complex machines depends.

Sometimes such a flaw can be an insignificant event, which along the chain can lead to a complete collapse. It is almost impossible to predict the outcome, the only way to control such accidents is to introduce preventive measures. For example, creating rules of conduct in various situations, and so on.

Achilles' heel - a myth familiar to many since childhood, warns of the danger that is fraught with carelessness and self-confidence. Any accident, ambiguity in contracts can become a weak link and turn into a threat to the life of the enterprise.

It says: "If trouble can happen, it will definitely happen." So, you can not give this trouble a single chance, you need to be extremely vigilant.

Achilles' weakness

Notch at the end of the arrow shaft for easy installation of the arrow on the bowstring.

In technology - a shaft trunnion that perceives an axial load

The top stone (or row of stones) of a support on which an arch or vault rests

Back of human and bear foot

The end of the pole at the pole edged weapon, to which the inflow is attached

The lower, supporting part of an arch or vault

Shaft trunnion, perceiving axial load

Unsharpened area at the handle of the blade

Vladimir Gardin's film Iron...

The story of the American writer D. London "Iron ..."

The place where they held Achilles, bathing him in the Styx

Part of the foot

Achilles...

Vulnerable at Achilles

Weakness of Achilles

Back of the foot

Weakness of Achilles

The organ that killed Achilles

Shaft trunnion in engineering

Slack Achilles

Achilles' Vulnerability

Lower part of the arch

Achilles is vulnerable

Back of the foot (obsolete)

Not the strongest place of Achilles

Weakness of Achilles

Human lower support

The area at the handle of the blade

Upper stone of the arch support

Achilles slack

Failed Achilles

paris target

In it, Paris stung Achilles

Slack Achilles

Achilles' place

. Achilles' weak link

arch support, vault

Standing pitch support

Filthy place of Achilles

Shaft trunnion, perceiving axial load

The lower supporting part of the arch, vault

Support stone under an arch or vault

In the technique of the shaft pin, perceiving the axial load

Achilles' heel

Achilles' heel
From the post-Homeric myth, transmitted by the Roman writer Gigin (I century BC). The mythical hero Achilles (Greek - Achilles) was predicted by an oracle to die under the walls of Troy, so his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, wanting to give her son immortality, dipped him into the sacred waters of the Styx River, while holding him by the heel. Thus the boy's heel was left unwashed and therefore unprotected. And, when the already adult Achilles fought under the walls of Troy, it was in this only vulnerable place that the arrow of Paris hit, which caused the death of the hero.
Allegorically: weak, vulnerable spot.

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: "Lokid-Press". Vadim Serov. 2003 .

Achilles' heel

In Greek mythology, Achilles (Achilles) is one of the most powerful and brave heroes; He is sung in Homer's Iliad. The post-Homeric myth, transmitted by the Roman writer Hyginus, reports that the mother of Achilles, the sea goddess Thetis, in order to make her son's body invulnerable, dipped him into the sacred river Styx; while dipping, she held him by the heel, which the water did not touch, so the heel remained the only vulnerable spot of Achilles, where he was mortally wounded by the arrow of Paris. The expression "Achilles (or Achilles) heel" that arose from here is used in the meaning: a weak side, a vulnerable spot of something.

Dictionary of winged words. Plutex. 2004

See what "Achilles' heel" is in other dictionaries:

In a figurative sense: the weak side of a person; this proverb came from the following: according to Greek legends, the mother of Achilles, wanting to make her son immortal, immersed him in a magical source, so that only one heel for which she was his ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

- (inosk.) Weak side (easily vulnerable). Wed The absence of a clearly conscious goal is the Achilles' heel of all administrators who have been educated by Dussault and in the establishment of artificial mineral waters. Saltykov. Pompadours. Wed We have many of these... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

Defect, roughness, vice, gap, flaw, flaw, slack, weak link, weakness, complex, liability, flaw, imperfection, wormhole, defect, weakness, minus, weak side, weak point, negative moment, weak point, ... ... Synonym dictionary

Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

ACHILLES' HEEL. see heel. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

ACHILLES' HEEL- what is the only or most vulnerable spot. This means that a position, plan, etc. (P) or a person or group of people (X) has a drawback, a weak side (Z). speech standard. ✦ Z Achilles' heel H and R. In the role of the nominal part of the tale, less often additional ... ... Phraseological dictionary of the Russian language

Achilles' heel- Book. Only ed. Weak side, the most vulnerable spot. = Weak spot. Achilles' heel of whom? men, sportsmen, theories, programs…; whose Achilles heel? the critic, he, we ... And he had an Achilles heel, and he had weaknesses ... ... ... Educational Phraseological Dictionary

Achilles' heel- only ed. , stable combination, book. The weakest, most vulnerable spot of someone. or what l. What kind of man is this Nevelsky? This is the Achilles heel of Zavoyka (Zadornov). Etymology: On behalf of own Achilles, Achilles (Greek Achilleus) and the words ... ... Popular dictionary of the Russian language

Statue "Dying Achilles" (Ernst Herter, 1884). Achilles' heel post-Homeric myth (transmitted by the Roman poet Hyginus ... Wikipedia

- (inosk.) weak side (easily vulnerable) Cf. The absence of a clearly conscious goal is the Achilles' heel of all administrators who have been educated by Dussault and in the establishment of artificial mineral waters. Saltykov. Pompadours. Wed We have many of these Achilles ... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary

Books

• Achilles' heel of intelligence, M.E. Boltunov. The author of this book, a military journalist and writer, having studied recently declassified archival documents, introduces readers to the amazing stories of invisible heroes who provide communication ...