This ancient Greek hero, who came along with a hundred thousandth army under the walls of Troy, and became the central character of Homer's poem Iliad, had in abundance everything that from time immemorial has been the pride of a real man. The gods generously rewarded him with strength, courage, beauty and nobility. He was deprived of only one thing in life - happiness.
Mortal descendants of the inhabitants of Olympus
We know who Achilles is from the works of many ancient authors, the most famous and authoritative of which is Homer. From the pages of his immortal poem, we learn that those who inhabited the top of Olympus used to descend to earth and marry mortal people who, in one way or another, deserved this honor.
According to ancient legends, only heroes were born from such unions, combining an endless list of virtues that placed them above all other inhabitants of the earth, into whose lives they brought order and harmony. And only one problem deprived them of the fullness of happiness - they were born mortal.
Son of an earthly king and a sea goddess
It so happened that the Phthian king Peleus once turned the head of the sea goddess Thetis. He found a way to the heart of the mistress of the depths, and the legendary Achilles became the fruit of her momentary weakness, who inherited from his mother all the virtues inherent in the gods, but remained mortal by his father.
Wanting to fill this gap, Thetis resorted to an old and proven remedy, dropping him immediately after birth into the waters flowing in the underworld. From this, the entire body of the baby was covered with an invisible, but impenetrable shell, which no weapon could hit. The only exception was the heel, for which the mother held him, lowering him into the water.
She became his only weak point, and this was kept secret. But looking ahead, it should be said that the one who killed Achilles, and he ended his life, despite all the efforts of Thetis, as a mere mortal, knew about this. The name of the killer will be named only at the end of the story, so as not to violate the laws of the genre and not reduce the sharpness of the plot intrigue.
The tutors of the young prince
To educate the future hero, his father picked up two mentors for him. One of them was the old and wise Phoenix, who taught the boy decent manners, medicine and the composition of poems, without which in those days one could be considered ignorant and boorish. The second was a centaur named Chiron.
Unlike his fellow tribesmen - cunning and treacherous creatures, he was distinguished by openness and friendliness. All his pedagogy, however, boiled down to the fact that he fed Achilles with bear brains and fried lions. But such a diet clearly benefited the boy, and at the age of ten he already easily killed wild boars with his bare hands and overtook deer.
Escape to Skyros
When the war began, in which the Greeks with their many allies approached the walls of Troy, where Queen Helen ruled, recognized as the most beautiful woman of all times and peoples, our hero was fifteen years old. By the way, this detail allows us to determine with a certain accuracy in what year Achilles lived. Historians date the beginning at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC, which means that he was born around 1215 BC. e or so.
The goddess Thetis, despite the fact that by lowering her son into the waters of Six, made him almost immortal, nevertheless allowed the possible death of Achilles. She decided not to risk and save him from the campaign in which he was obliged to take part. To this end, the goddess, by the power of magic, transferred her son to the island of Skyros, where he, in women's clothes, was hiding from being drafted into the army among the daughters of the local king Lykomed, who naively hoped for his chastity.
Cunning Odysseus
However, soon the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, found out the whereabouts of Achilles and sent Odysseus after him. His envoy faced a rather piquant task - to recognize among the young charmers the one who hid his masculine nature under a woman's outfit. And Odysseus handled it brilliantly.
Disguised as a merchant, he laid out in front of the princesses luxurious fabrics, jewelry, and other things for which women have always had a weakness, and between them, as if by accident, he left a sword. When, at his command, the servants issued a battle cry, all the girls fled with a screech, and only one of them grabbed her weapon, betraying a man and a warrior in herself.
They escorted the recruit on a campaign throughout the island. King Lycomedes sincerely grieved, and his young daughter Diedamia shed tears, in whose womb the son of Achilles was gaining strength for the sixth month (a hero is a hero in everything).
A hero who terrifies the enemy
Under the walls of Troy, Achilles arrived not alone, but accompanied by a hundred thousandth army, which was sent with him by his father, King Peleus, who, due to his old age, was deprived of the opportunity to personally take part in the siege of the city. He gave his son his armor, forged for him once and possessing magical properties. A warrior wearing them became invincible.
In his poem The Iliad, Homer tells how, using the gift of his father, the son fought for nine years, terrifying the Trojans, and capturing one city after another. Thanks to the magical powers granted to him by the waters of the Styx, as well as his father's armor, he was invulnerable to the enemy, but the one who killed Achilles in the Trojan War (which will be discussed below) knew his weak point, and remained in the shadows until the time.
Envy that captivated the soul of a warrior
The countless feats accomplished by Achilles earned him great fame among ordinary warriors and became the cause of envy that consumed their commander-in-chief Agamemnon. It is known that this low feeling at all times pushed people to meanness, and sometimes even to crimes. The Greek military leader was no exception.
One day, returning from another raid, Achilles, among other prey, brought a beautiful captive, whose father Chris was a priest of Apollo. Agamemnon, taking advantage of his position, took her away from Achilles, to which he did not object, since he was then carried away by another slave named Briseida.
Soon the unfortunate priest appeared in the Greek camp and offered a rich ransom for his daughter, but was refused. In desperation, he called for the help of Apollo himself, and he, having entered the position of his servant, sent a pestilence to the offenders of his daughter. The Greeks did not have time to bury the dead. The soothsayer Kalhant, who was among them, after talking with the gods, said that death would not recede until Chris received his daughter, and Apollo received rich sacrifices.
Agamemnon had to obey, but in retaliation, he took away his beloved Briseis from Achilles and it was she who was sacrificed to the deity. He vilely scolded and insulted the hero himself in the presence of his subordinate warriors. This act came as a surprise to everyone, since before the commander-in-chief had a reputation not only as a brave, but also as a completely noble person. There is no doubt that there was magic here too. Moreover, it is possible that the evil spell was cast on him by the one who killed Achilles at the end of the poem we are retelling. But his name will be called a little later.
Confounded envious
Innocently offended and deprived of his best slave, Achilles refused to continue participating in the war, which indescribably delighted the Trojans, who trembled at the mere sight of him. Appearing on the seashore, he called his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, from its depths, and, having heard his story, she begged the supreme god Zeus to help the Trojans defeat the army of Agamemnon and show him that without Achilles, inevitable death awaits them.
That's how it all happened. The accommodating Zeus gave strength to the Trojans, and they began to ruthlessly crush their enemies. The catastrophe seemed inevitable, and the vile envious had no choice but to publicly, in the presence of all the same soldiers, apologize to Achilles and, as compensation for the ruined Briseis, give him several beautiful slaves.
The Last Labors of Achilles
After that, the magnanimous Achilles forgave his offender and, with even greater frenzy, began to smash the defenders of the city. One of his most famous feats belongs to this period - a victory in a duel with the leader of the Trojans, Hector. Achilles not only managed to put him to flight, but forced him to run around the walls of Troy three times, and only after that he pierced him with a spear.
But the gods were not pleased to make Achilles a witness to the fall of Troy, and it was their will that the one who killed Achilles fulfilled. Shortly before his death, he accomplished his last feat - he defeated the army of beautiful, but treacherous and evil Amazons, who came to the aid of the Trojans, led by their leader Penthesilea.
The death of Achilles
Ancient authors, in many respects contradicting each other, in the biography of Achilles, nevertheless, are unanimous in depicting his last hour. According to their testimony, one day he tried to break into the besieged city through its main gate. Suddenly, his path was blocked by none other than Apollo himself, who had not yet fully reconciled with the Greeks after the story with the daughter of his priest.
Apollo, of course, knew who Achilles was. The fact is that, crowned with the glory of the most beautiful of the celestials, he harbored shameful envy and jealousy towards a mortal man, who, like him, was considered the standard of beauty. The perniciousness of this low feeling among people has already been discussed in our story, but in this case the name of the deity was tarnished by it.
Blocking Achilles's way, but, nevertheless, expecting, nevertheless, a respectful treatment, he instead received a rude shout and a threat to be pierced by a spear if he did not get out of the way immediately. Insulted, Apollo stepped aside, but only to immediately take his revenge.
Further, the authors differ somewhat in the description of what happened. According to one version, Apollo himself fired a fatal arrow after the offender, and it was he who killed Achilles. According to another, the envious god entrusted this vile business to Paris, the son of the Trojan king, who happened to be nearby. But since the arrow hit Achilles in his only vulnerable spot, which only Apollo knew about, there is no doubt that it was he who directed her flight. The one who killed Achilles in the heel could not help but know his secrets. Therefore, the murder of the hero is attributed to Apollo - the most beautiful of the gods, but who could not overcome the low and petty feelings in himself.
The story of Achilles inspired a whole galaxy of ancient poets who dedicated their works to him, some of which have survived to this day. Many of them are recognized as the best examples of ancient Greek poetry. Undoubtedly, Homer won the greatest fame among them with his famous poem "Iliad". The very death of Achilles gave rise to a popular expression - "Achilles' heel", denoting a weak, vulnerable spot.
Name: Achilles
Country: Greece
Creator: ancient Greek mythology
Activity: bravest of heroes
Family status: not married
Achilles: character history
The character of the heroic legends of the ancient Greeks. The bravest of the heroes who went on a campaign against Troy led by the Mycenaean king. Son of Peleus and a sea nymph. Mentioned in the epic poem The Iliad.
Origin story
Researchers put forward the theory that initially in the mythology of the ancient Greeks, Achilles was considered a demon of the underworld. Other ancient Greek heroes, for example, also belonged to this category of characters. Defending this point of view, researcher Hommel refers to the early classical Greek texts, where Achilles has already been turned into an epic hero, but still demonstrates the functions inherent in the demons of the afterlife.
Myths and legends
Like other Greek heroes, Achilles was born from the marriage of a mortal and a goddess. Such characters in ancient Greek mythology have capabilities that exceed human, enormous physical strength, but are not endowed with immortality, like the gods. The calling of the hero is to bring justice to people and fulfill the will of the gods. And in the accomplishment of feats, the heroes are often helped by divine parents.
Achilles' mother, the sea nymph Thetis, wanted to make her son immortal. For this, Thetis, according to different versions, either put the baby in the forge of the god, then immersed it in fire, then in the waters of the Styx - the rivers of the kingdom of the dead. In all cases, the mother held the baby by the heel during dipping, so that the heel remained the only vulnerable spot of the hero. Later, the Trojan killed Achilles, hitting him with an arrow in the heel.
As a child, the hero had a different name, but after one incident when his lips were burned with fire, he received the name Achilles, which means "lipless". The hero was raised on the slopes of Mount Pelion by the centaur Chiron. The centaur taught Achilles the art of medicine. The hero found a certain herb with which he could heal wounds.
Achilles later joined the Greek campaign against Troy. The king of Ithaca persuaded the hero to this. Achilles led fifty ships. Together with the hero, he went on a campaign - a childhood friend, whom some authors call the lover of Achilles.
One of the myths tells that the mother of Achilles, the nymph Thetis, wanted to save her son from participating in the fatal war. For this, the nymph hid the young man on the island of Skyros, from the local king Lykomed. Achilles was dressed in women's clothes, and in this form the hero hid among the royal daughters.
The cunning Odysseus arrived there, pretending to be a merchant, and laid out jewelry in front of the girls, and, along with trinkets, laid out weapons. Then the people, persuaded by Odysseus, raised a fuss and began to utter war cries. Achilles grabbed his weapon and thereby betrayed himself among the girls.
After this revelation, the hero had to go under Troy. When the campaign began, Achilles was only fifteen years old. The first shield for the hero was forged by the god Hephaestus himself.
The Trojan War lasted 20 years. The siege of the city was long, and during this time the hero managed to make many raids on neighboring cities. It was already the tenth year of the siege, when Achilles captured the beautiful Trojan woman Briseis. The man quarreled over her with Agamemnon. The Mycenaean king demanded that Briseis be given to him, in response Achilles became angry and refused to continue to participate in the battles.
The Greeks began to lose and began to beg the hero to return to the battle, but this did not help. When the Trojans, led by Hector, invaded the Greek camp, the still enraged Achilles did not fight himself, but allowed Patroclus to come to the aid of the Greeks along with the detachment. To make the enemies afraid, Achilles ordered Patroclus to put on his Achilles armor. The Trojan hero Hector killed Patroclus and took the armor of Achilles for himself as a trophy.
Only after this did Achilles appear on the battlefield in person. Seeing the hero, the Trojans fled. The next morning, the god Hephaestus forged new armor for the hero, and Achilles rushed into battle, burning with a thirst for revenge. The hero was able to push the Trojans to the city gates, and at the same time killed Hector and dragged the corpse to the Greek camp. After a magnificent feast for Patroclus, the hero returned the body of Hector to the Trojans for a large ransom.
Achilles fell in battle at the gates of the city, slain by the archer Paris, who was led by himself. The shooter hit Achilles in the only weak spot - the heel. According to another version, Apollo himself took on the appearance of Paris in order to slay the hero. On this story of the life of the hero ended.
Achilles did not have a wife, but had several lovers, among whom was Deidamia, the daughter of King Lycomedes. From her, the hero had a son, Neoptolem.
Greek bas-reliefs depict Achilles as a muscular youth with curly hair. The hero can also be seen on vases, where he is depicted in armor.
Screen adaptations
In 2004, the adventure thriller Troy was released based on Homer's poem The Iliad. The role of Achilles in this film was played by an actor.
In the film, Achilles helps the Mycenaean king Agamemnon subdue the cities of Greece. Agamemnon dreams of destroying the recalcitrant Troy, and then the opportunity just turns up. The Trojan Paris stole his wife from the king's brother, and Menelaus comes to Agamemnon, demanding revenge.
To tempt Achilles to go to fight near Troy, the cunning Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, comes to the hero. And the hero on his ship joins the Greek army, although his own mother predicted Achilles' death under the walls of Troy.
The warriors of Achilles are the first to land on the Trojan coast and enter the battle, having wiped out a detachment of Trojan warriors. King Agamemnon, however, publicly insulted Achilles when he saw that the hero released Hector, the leader of the Trojan detachment, not wanting to fight him.
After this incident, Achilles and his men do not join the battle with the rest of the Greeks, but only watch the battle from the side. Without Achilles, the Greeks are not able to defeat the Trojans in battle, and in the negotiations they refuse to accept the conditions of Agamemnon. The Trojan Hector nobly refuses to finish off the defeated Greeks and concludes a truce with them. Achilles is going to return home and start a family there and live peacefully.
Shot from the movie "Troy" Later, the Trojans attack the Greeks under the cover of night, and Achilles' detachment also goes into battle, thinking that the leader is with them. It turns out, however, that it was Achilles' brother Patroclus who went into battle wearing an Achilles helmet, so that at night both his own and his enemies mistook him for Achilles. Hector defeats Patroclus in battle and kills.
After this, Achilles' plans change. Instead of sailing home, the hero goes to the walls of Troy and challenges Hector to battle. Having defeated him in a duel, Achilles goes to the Greek camp, and the body of Hector, tied by the legs, drags behind the chariot.
Hector's father, the king, sneaks into the Greek camp and begs Achilles to give the body of his son. Achilles agrees to this. Later, when Troy has already been captured, Achilles rushes around the city in search of the Trojan woman Briseis, daughter of Priam, with whom the hero is in love. Achilles saves his beloved from his own compatriots, but at this time Achilles himself is shot by the Trojan Paris.
The plot of the Iliad is heavily distorted in the film. Some heroes are missing, for example, the Trojan prophetess Cassandra and the priest, who tried to warn their compatriots. The costumes of the Greeks are not historical, as is the fighting technique used by the heroes.
Many heroes die not there and not so. For example, King Agamemnon was killed by Homer's own unfaithful wife after returning from Troy. In the film, Briseis was stabbed to death by Agamemnon at the time when the Greeks were sacking Troy.
Achilles himself in the Iliad does not run around the dying city in search of a girl and does not die ingloriously on a neat lawn. In Homer, Paris struck down Achilles with an arrow at the gates of the city, and a terrible battle flared up for the body of the hero. The Greeks did not want to leave the body of the hero to the enemies for desecration, and around Achilles there was a real dump until the dead hero was taken out of the battlefield.
In 2003, the United States released a two-part film "Helen of Troy", also based on the Iliad, where the role of Achilles was played by actor Joe Montana. Here Achilles is a minor character who appears in the fight scene with Hector and nails him to a post with a spear. Later, Achilles attacks Paris, but he strikes Achilles with a heel shot.
In 1997, the director filmed in the United States a two-part film "The Odyssey" - a free interpretation of the Homeric poem of the same name, which deals with the return of the king of Ithaca home after the Trojan War. The minor role of Achilles is played by Richard Truet.
Achilles also appeared on Doctor Who, in a series called The Mythmakers, which aired in the fall of 1965. The Doctor's TARDIS ship materializes beneath Troy just as Achilles is fighting Hector. The Trojan is distracted, and Achilles kills him, and takes the Doctor out of the TARDIS for the supreme god, who pretended to be a poor old man.
Frame from the TV series "Doctor Who" Achilles calls the imaginary "Zeus" to go with him to the camp of the Greeks. There, King Agamemnon demands that "God" help the Greeks against the Trojans, and the cunning Odysseus believes that there is no God, but a Trojan spy. The role of Achilles is played by actor Cavan Kendall.
Quotes
"Go home, prince. Drink some wine, caress your wife. Tomorrow we will fight."
“Do you love me brother? Will you protect me from enemies?
“You asked me questions like this when you were nine and you stole your father's horse. What have you done now?
“Last night was a mistake.
- And the night before?
“I made a lot of mistakes this week.”
The meaning of the word ACHILLES in the Dictionary-Reference Myths of Ancient Greece,
Achilles
(Achilles) - in the Iliad, one of the bravest Greek heroes who besieged Troy. Son of Thetis and Peleus, grandson of Aeacus. Achilles' mother, the goddess Thetis, wishing to make her son immortal, immersed him in the sacred waters of Styx; only the heel, by which Thetis held him, did not touch the water and remained vulnerable. The armor forged by Hephaestus also contributed to the invulnerability of Achilles. Before getting into the Trojan War, disguised as a woman, he lived on the island of Skyros, among the daughters of King Lycomedes, where the goddess Thetis hid Achilles, wanting to protect him from participating in the war. Odysseus exposed his deception: having arrived at Skyros under the guise of a merchant, he laid out a lot of goods attractive to women, and among these goods was a set of weapons. While the daughters of Lycomedes examined the jewels and fabrics, Achilles looked only at the weapons. At this time, Odysseus' comrades raised a false alarm in front of the palace, the princesses fled, and Achilles, grabbing his sword, rushed towards the imaginary danger. By this he betrayed himself and soon left with Odysseus for the war. He performed many feats near Troy, but in the tenth year of the war, Achilles died from the arrow of Paris, which Apollo directed at his heel. Hence the expression "Achilles' heel" (vulnerable spot). From the union with Elena the son Euphorion was born. From Deidamia, the daughter of Lycomedes, Neotolem was born, without whose participation the Trojan War could not have ended.
// Gottfried BENN: The Fifth Century // Valery BRYUSOV: Achilles at the Altar // Konstantinos KAVAFISS: Treason // Konstantinos KAVAFISS: Achilles' Horses // Marina TSVETAEVA: Achilles on the Shaft // Marina TSVETAEVA: From the Cycle "Under the Shawl"
Myths of Ancient Greece, dictionary-reference book. 2012
See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what is ACHILLES in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:
- Achilles
In Greek mythology, one of the greatest heroes of the Trojan War, the son of the Myrmidon king Pelen and the sea goddess Thetis. In an effort to make your... - Achilles in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
Achilles (????????), in Greek mythology, one of the greatest heroes of the Trojan War, the son of the king of the Myrmidons Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis. Striving… - Achilles in the Dictionary-Reference Who's Who in the Ancient World:
(Achilles) Greek hero, son of King Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis. In the Iliad, being the leader of the Myrmidons, Achilles leads fifty ships to ... - Achilles in the Literary Encyclopedia.
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(ACHILLES) in the Iliad - the greatest hero of the Achaeans; story about "the wrath of A." and his victory over the best Trojan fighter... - Achilles in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(Achilles) in the Iliad one of the bravest Greek heroes who besieged Troy. The mother of Achilles, the goddess Thetis, wishing to make her son immortal, loaded ... - Achilles in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
Achilles, in ancient Greek mythology, the bravest of the Greek heroes who besieged Troy during the Trojan War. According to one of the myths about... - Achilles in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
- Achilles
(Achilles), in Greek mythology, one of the bravest heroes who besieged Troy. Achilles' mother, Thetis, wanting to make her son immortal, immersed him ... - Achilles in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
ES, a, m., soul, with a capital letter In ancient Greek mythology: one of the bravest heroes of the character of Homer's poem "Iliad". | According to … - Achilles in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
ACHILLES (Achilles), in the Iliad one of the bravest Greek. heroes who besieged Troy. Mother A. - the goddess Thetis, wanting to make her son immortal, loaded ... - Achilles in the Dictionary for solving and compiling scanwords:
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, Achilles ["] e () s (gr. achilleus) is the main character of Homer's poem Iliad, one of the leaders of the ancient Greeks during the siege of Troy. according to ... - Achilles in the dictionary of Synonyms of the Russian language:
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ah`ill, -a (Achilles tendon, in prof. ... - Achilles in the Spelling Dictionary:
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(Achilles), in the Iliad, one of the bravest Greek heroes who besieged Troy. Achilles' mother is the goddess Thetis, wishing to make her son immortal, ... - Achilles in the New Dictionary of the Russian Language Efremova:
m. Achilles, i.e. calcaneus, tendon (in speech ...
Achilles(ancient Greek Ἀχιλλεύς, Achilleus) (lat. Achilles) - in the heroic tales of the ancient Greeks, he is the bravest of the heroes who undertook a campaign against Troy under the leadership of Agamemnon. Name a-ki-re-u(Achilleus) is recorded in ancient Knossos, it is worn by ordinary people.
Myths about Achilles
Childhood of Achilles
Heroes were born from the marriages of the Olympian gods with mortals. They were endowed with great strength and superhuman abilities, but did not possess immortality. The heroes were supposed to fulfill the will of the gods on earth, to bring order and justice into people's lives. With the help of their divine parents, they performed all sorts of feats. Heroes were highly revered, legends about them were passed down from generation to generation.
Thetis dipping Achilles in the waters of the Styx
(Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640)
Legends unanimously call Achilles the son of a mortal - Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, while his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, belongs to the host of immortals. The earliest versions of the birth of Achilles mention the furnace of Hephaestus, where Thetis, wanting to deify Achilles (and make him immortal), put her son, holding him by the heel. According to another ancient legend that Homer does not mention, the mother of Achilles, Thetis, wanting to test whether her son was mortal or immortal, wanted to dip the newborn Achilles in boiling water, just as she did with her former children, but Peleus opposed this. Later legends tell that Thetis, wanting to make her son immortal, plunged him into the waters of the Styx or, according to another version, into the fire, so that only the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable; hence the proverb that is still used today - "Achilles' heel" - to indicate someone's weak side.
Baby Achilles is handed over to Chiron to be raised
As a child, Achilles bore the name Pyrrisius (translated as "Ice"), but when the fire burned his lips, he was called Achilles ("lipless"). According to other authors, Achilles was called Ligiron as a child. Such a change of a child's name to an adult, associated with trauma or a feat, is a relic of an initiation ritual (cf. the change of the child's name "Alkid" to "Hercules" after the hero killed the Cithaeron lion and defeated King Ergin).
Teaching Achilles (James Barry (1741-1806)
Achilles was brought up by Chiron on Pelion. He was not Helen's fiancé (as only Euripides calls him). Chiron fed Achilles with the bone marrow of deer and other animals, hence supposedly from a-chylos, and his name "feedless" came about, that is, "not breastfed." According to one interpretation, Achilles found an herb that can heal wounds.
The education of Achilles and the beginning of the war for Troy
Achilles was raised by the Phoenix, and the centaur Chiron taught him the art of healing. According to another legend, Achilles did not know the art of medicine, but nevertheless healed Telef.
At the request of Nestor and Odysseus and according to the will of his father, Achilles joined the campaign against Troy at the head of 50 ships (or 60), and took with him his tutor Phoenix and childhood friend Patroclus (some authors call Patroclus Achilles' lover). According to Homer, Achilles arrived in the army of Agamemnon from Phthia. According to Lesha's poem, a storm brought Achilles to Skyros.
Identification of Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes (Bray)
The legend of the post-Homer cycle conveys that Thetis, wanting to save her son from participating in a fatal campaign for him, hid him from Lycomedes, the king of the island of Skyros, where Achilles in women's clothes was between the royal daughters. The cunning trick of Odysseus, who, under the guise of a merchant, laid out women's jewelry in front of the girls and, having added weapons to them, ordered to suddenly raise a battle cry and noise, discovered the floor of Achilles (who immediately grabbed his weapon), as a result, the exposed Achilles was forced to join the campaign of the Greeks.
According to some authors, at the beginning of the campaign, Achilles was 15 years old, and the war lasted 20 years. The first shield of Achilles was made by Hephaestus, this scene is depicted on vases.
During the long siege of Ilion, Achilles repeatedly launched raids on various neighboring cities. According to the existing version, he wandered the Scythian land for five years in search of Iphigenia.
At the beginning of the war, Achilles tried to take the city of Monia (Pedas), and a local girl fell in love with him. “There is nothing strange in the fact that he, being amorous and intemperate, could zealously study music.”
Achilles in the Iliad
The protagonist of the Iliad.
In the tenth year of the siege of Ilion, Achilles captured the beautiful Briseis. She served as a bone of contention who had to return her captive Astinoma to her father Chris, and therefore claimed the possession of Briseis.
Achilles receives ambassadors from Agamemnon
(Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)
Enraged, Achilles refused to take further part in the battles (compare with the similar refusal to fight the offended Karna, the greatest hero of the Indian legend "Mahabharata"). Thetis, wanting to take revenge on Agamemnon for the offense inflicted on her son, begged Zeus to grant victory to the Trojans.
Angry Achilles (Hermann Wilhelm Bissen (1798-1868)
The next morning, Thetis brought her son new armor, forged by the skillful hand of Hephaestus himself (in particular, the shield is described in the Iliad as a marvelous work of art, a description of great importance for the original history of Greek art). ; Hector alone dared to oppose him here, but nevertheless he fled from Achilles.
Achilles duel with Hector
Pursuing the murderer of his friend, Achilles forced Hector three times to run around the walls of Troy, finally overtook and killed him, tied him naked behind him to the Greek camp. Magnificently celebrating the funeral feast for his fallen friend Patroclus, Achilles returned the corpse of Hector to his father, King Priam, who came to the hero’s tent to pray for this for a rich ransom.
Priam asking Achilles for the body of Hector, 1824
(Alexander Andreevich Ivanov (1806-1858)
In the Iliad, 23 Trojans were killed by Achilles, named after them, for example, Asteropey. Aeneas crossed arms with Achilles, but then fled from him. Achilles fought Agenor, who was saved by Apollo.
Death of Achilles
The legends of the epic cycle tell that during the further siege of Troy, Achilles killed in battle the queen of the Amazons and the Ethiopian prince, who came to the aid of the Trojans. Achilles killed Memnon in revenge for his friend Antilochus, the son of Nestor. In Quintus' poem, Achilles killed 6 Amazons, 2 Trojans, and the Ethiopian Memnon. According to Hyginus, he killed Troilus, Astynomus, and Pilemenes. In total, 72 soldiers fell at the hands of Achilles.
Having slain many enemies, Achilles in the last battle reached the Scaean gates of Ilion, but here the hero died. According to some authors, Achilles was directly killed by Apollo himself, or by the arrow of Apollo, who took the form of Paris, or by Paris, who hid behind the statue of Apollo Fimbreysky. The earliest author to mention the vulnerability of Achilles' ankle is Statius, but there is an earlier depiction on a 6th-century amphora. BC e., where we see Achilles, wounded in the leg.
The death of Achilles
Later legends transfer the death of Achilles to the temple of Apollo in Fimbra, near Troy, where he appeared to marry Polyxena, the youngest daughter of Priam. These legends report that Achilles was killed by Paris and Deiphobes when he wooed Polixena and came to negotiate.
According to Ptolemy Hephaestion, Achilles was killed by Helen or Penthesilea, after which Thetis resurrected him, he killed Penthesilea and returned to Hades
Later traditions
According to the existing version, the body of Achilles was redeemed for an equal weight of gold from the gold-bearing river Paktol.
Shield of Achilles 
The Greeks erected a mausoleum for Achilles on the banks of the Hellespont, and here, in order to pacify the shadow of the hero, they sacrificed Polyxena to him. For the armor of Achilles, according to the story of Homer, Ajax Telamonides and Odysseus Laertides argued. Agamemnon awarded them to the latter. In the Odyssey, Achilles is in the underworld, where Odysseus meets him. Achilles was buried in a golden amphora (Homer), which Dionysus presented to Thetis (Lycophron, Stesichorus).
But already “Ethiopida”, one of the epics of the epic cycle, tells that Thetis took her son away from the burning fire and transferred him to the island of Levka (called the Serpent Island at the mouth of the Istra Danube), where he continues to live in the company of other deified heroes and heroines . This island served as the center of the cult of Achilles, as well as the mound that rises on the Sigeian hill in front of Troy and is still reputed to be the tomb of Achilles. The sanctuary and monument of Achilles, as well as the monuments of Patroclus and Antilochus, were at Cape Sigei. His temples were still in Elis, Sparta and other places.
Philostratus (born in 170) in his work “On Heroes” (215) cites a dialogue between a Phoenician merchant and a winegrower, which tells about the events on the Serpent Island. With the end of the Trojan War, Achilles and Helen entered into marriage after death (the marriage of the bravest with the most beautiful) and live on the White Island (Levka Island) at the mouth of the Danube on Ponte Euxinus. One day, Achilles appeared to a merchant who sailed to the island and asked him to buy a slave girl for him in Troy, indicating how to find her. The merchant fulfilled the order and delivered the girl to the island, but before his ship had sailed far from the coast, he and his companions heard the wild cries of the unfortunate girl: Achilles tore her apart - she, it turns out, was the last of the descendants of the royal family of Priam. The screams of the unfortunate woman reach the ears of the merchant and his companions. The role of the owner of the White Island, performed by Achilles, becomes understandable in the light of H. Hommel's article, which showed that even in the 7th century. BC e. this character, long turned into an epic hero, still acted in his original function as one of the afterlife demons.
It is called "reigning over the Scythians." Demodoc sings a song about him. In Troy, the ghost of Achilles appeared, hunting animals.
The spear of Achilles was kept in Phaselis in the temple of Athena. The cenotaph of Achilles was in Elis, in the gymnasium. According to Timaeus, Periander erected a fortification of Achilles against the Athenians from the stones of Ilion, which is refuted by Demetrius of Scepsis. The statues of naked ephebes with spears were called Achilles.
Origin of the image
There is a hypothesis that initially in Greek mythology, Achilles was one of the demons of the underworld (which included other heroes, for example, Hercules). The assumption about the divine nature of Achilles was expressed by H. Hommel in his article. He shows on the material of Greek early classical texts that even in the 7th century. BC e. this character, long turned into an epic hero, still acted in his original function as one of the afterlife demons. Hommel's publication caused an active discussion, which has not yet been completed.
Image in art
Literature
The protagonist of the tragedies of Aeschylus "Myrmidons" (fr. 131-139 Radt), "Nereids" (fr. 150-153 Radt), "Phrygians, or the Ransom of the Body of Hector" (fr. 263-267 Radt); satyr dramas by Sophocles “Achilles Admirers” (fr.149-157 Radt) and “Companions” (fr.562-568 Radt), Euripides' tragedy “Iphigenia in Aulis”. The tragedies "Achilles" were written by Aristarchus of Tegey, Jophon, Astidamant the Younger, Diogenes, Karkin the Younger, Cleophantus, Evaret, Chaeremon had a tragedy "Achilles the killer of Tersitas", from Latin authors Livy Andronicus ("Achilles"), Ennius ("Achilles according to Aristarchus ”), Actions (“Achilles, or the Myrmidons”).
art
The plastic art of antiquity repeatedly reproduced the image of Achilles. His image has come down to us on many vases, bas-reliefs with individual scenes or a whole series of them, also on the pediment group from Aegina (kept in Munich, see Aegina art), but there is not a single statue or bust that could be attributed to him with certainty.
One of the most remarkable busts of Achilles is kept in St. Petersburg, in the Hermitage. The sad and at the same time indignant head is crowned with a helmet, which ends in a crest hanging forward, mounted on the back of the sphinx; behind this crest curls with a long tail. On both sides of the crest, a fingerboard is carved in flat relief, they are separated by a palmetto. The front forehead plaque of the helmet, ending on both sides with curls, is also decorated with a palmette in the middle; on either side of it are a pair of sharp-faced, thin-tailed dogs with long flattened ears, in collars (apparently a pair of hunting dogs sniffing the ground). The facial expression resembles a bust kept in Munich. It must be assumed that here the moment is captured when the hero was already put on the armor shackled by Hephaestus, and now his face was already on fire with anger, a thirst for revenge, but sadness for a dear friend still trembles on his lips, like a reflection of inner heart anguish. This bust, apparently, dates back to the 2nd century AD. e. to the era of Hadrian, but his idea is too deep for this era, poor creative thought, and therefore it remains only to assume that this head, like the Munich one, is an imitation, the original of which could be created no later than Praxiteles, that is, no later than IV-III in. BC e.
In cinema
In 2003, the two-part television film "Helen of Troy" was released, where Joe Montana played Achilles.
Brad Pitt plays the role of Achilles in the 2004 film Troy.
In astronomy
The asteroid (588) Achilles, discovered in 1906, is named after Achilles.
Achilles (lat. Achilles) is one of the most striking and valiant characters of the ancient epics about the Trojan War. He was not just a hero and the son of the majestic king Peleus, but also half a god. He was born of incredible beauty Thetis - one of the goddesses of the sea. Prometheus predicted that the son of Thetis would become stronger and more powerful than his father. The gods were afraid of competition and married Thetis to the Myrmidon king. They had a wonderful son, who was named Ligiron. But later he burned his lips with a fire flame and he was nicknamed Achilles, "lipless."
Achilles grew up as a real hero, possessed superhuman abilities and had tremendous strength. But like all demigods, he did not possess the gift of immortality.
Thetis loved her son very much and tried to make him immortal. She bathed him in the waters of the underground stormy river Styx, which flows through the world of the dead, rubbed him with the food of the gods - ambrosia and hardened him in a healing fire. During these procedures, the mother held him by the heel. And so he became practically invulnerable to enemy arrows and swords, but with the only dangerous place for himself - the fifth. This is where the expression "Achilles' heel" came from, as a symbol of special vulnerability. So they say about the weakest point of a person.
The father of the hero was against the rituals of the mother over her son. He insisted on giving Achilles to the care and education of the valiant centaur Chiron. Chiron fed the boy with the entrails of boars, bears and lions, taught him the basics of medicine, military affairs and even singing.
Achilles grew up a fearless and skillful young man, but when the Trojan War began, he was only fifteen years old. Priest Kalhant prophesied that Achilles would die in this war, but would bring victory to the Greeks. Thetis was afraid to send her son to certain death, and hid him in the palace of King Lykomed, dressing him in a girl's dress.
At this time, the cunning Greeks sent the wise Odysseus, disguised as a merchant, to find Achilles. Odysseus invited the palace ladies to look at their goods. Among the many decorations, a sword was also offered. As all the girls were admiring the jewels, an alarm sounded suddenly. In fright, the court ladies fled, and only one grabbed a sword and stood up in a fighting stance. It was Achilles! He gave himself away, and he still had to go to war. He was a very brave, dexterous, strong warrior and relied only on his skills. Achilles knew that he was given a short life path and tried to live in such a way that the fame of his valor would reach his descendants. On the way to Troy, on the island of Tenedos, he defeated the local king. And already under the walls of Troy, in the very first battle, he killed Kiknos, the Trojan hero.
There was a period when, during the Trojan military campaign, Achilles stopped fighting. The reason for this was Agamemnon, who took away the Trojan princess Briseis from him. She was given to Achilles as a reward, like an honorary trophy. After Achilles refused to fight, the Greeks began to noticeably lose. Achilles returned to the battlefield only when his friend Patroclus, wearing the armor of Achilles, fell in battle at the hands of the Trojan prince Hector. The hero swore to avenge his friend and did so.
In the new battle armor, created by the god Hephaestus, Achilles mercilessly defeats many opponents, including Hector. For twelve days he kept the body at his place, and only Thetis was able to convince him to return the remains to the relatives of the deceased.
Achilles himself died from the arrow of Apollo, which hit him in the very heel, unprotected by the spells of Thetis. Some myths say that his ashes are buried at Cape Sigey, near the grave of Patroclus, and the soul of the hero is on the island of Levka. In other stories, his mother took his body. In fact, it is not known exactly where the hero of ancient antiquity Achilles rests for many centuries. Only legends about his legendary military exploits have survived to this day.
