Adventures
Achilles was born as the son of Thetis (a Nymph) and Peleus (a Greek King).
There is a lot of debate over how Achilles got his immortality. Statius wrote in his Achilleid that he had his mother dunk him into the black river Styx. While her devotion was commendable, she missed a spot on his heel and for some reason didn't think to double dip. Other myths state he was coated with a fine paste of ambrosia (the god's food) and his mother began slow roasting him over a house fire. However, Achilles’ dad rocked for what he thought was a ripper barbie and took serious offence when he found what was cooking. A domestic brawl ensued (which he won), with Achilles’ mum walked out on them leaving son with an uncooked heel.
The years went past. One day a rather pretentious little Trojan called Paris went and kidnapped the hottest chick on earth, Helen (the Helen of Troy). She just happened to be the wife of King of Sparta. Bad move. King Menelaus knocked on Paris’s door asking for his wife back. With a snippy little smile, Paris slammed the door in the face of the King of Sparta. He was feeling all smug with himself until 50 Greek and Trojan ships turned up the next day with a declaration of war. But I digress… as this blog entry is not about the Trojan War but about Achilles…
A crabby old seer predicted Menelaus King of Sparta and his Greek allies would fail in their attack… unless of course the invincible Achilles went with them. Achilles’ mum had got over her pyromania and was now scared Achilles would die. So she disguised him as a girl and posted him to a court at the other end of the world. However, a legendary adventurer named Odysseus was in the court at the time, and Achilles got so distracted by the weapons Odysseus left lying about that he was discovered. Score for the Greeks… and for Achilles: no way was he staying in a boring old Greek court. Achilles joined the Greek fleet with his friend Patroclus and sailed in to Troy. What better thrill then sailing invincible into battle with your best mate?
Achilles began battle by capturing twenty three Trojan towers. All was going so well until he had a squabble over girls with Agamemnon, brother of the King of Sparta. Achilles chucked a hissy fit, stuck out his lower lip and refused to fight. The battles went downhill and the Greeks were losing. Still Achilles refused to budge… but he let his friend Patroclus borrow his armour.
Patroclus had an idea. He tricked the Trojans into thinking Achilles had returned to fight, demoralizing them. The plot went well, seeing was believing for the Trojans… until their sceptic hero Hector came up and punched ‘Achilles’ to see if the invincibility was working. Patroclus kind of died, and Hector gloatingly took the armour as a trophy.
Achilles was infuriated about losing his epic armour… oh and also about losing his friend Patroclus. He grabbed some new armour, ran out, and killed Hector. Achilles then paraded around Troy in his chariot dragging a dead Hector behind. Then one day Paris (who started all the mess in the first place) shot Achilles in the heel with an arrow. Achilles died. The Trojan War continued… and it was only through devious equine means that Troy fell…
Image courtesy of www.runningshoesguru.com
Appearance of Hero
Achilles was still very young when he entered the Trojan war, and was apparently quite a stunner according to Greek Philosopher Plato "…indeed he was the most good-looking of all the heroes… and was still beardless, as well...” What Plato had against beards confuses me, but whatever.
Achilles wore a full set of Greek armour. It was forged in the heavens by Hephaestus the god of blacksmiths, volcanoes, and technology. The armour was gold and shone like the sun. After Achilles died the ownership of his armour came into dispute. It came down to Odysseus the legendary adventurer versus Achilles’ cousin Ajax. Odysseus won the ensuing verbal brawl by distracting Ajax with randomly placed weapons. Ajax got sulky over losing the fight and went on a butchering rampage through a field of cows, and then killed himself.
My biggest question concerning Achilles: what use is armour... if you’re invincible?
Relationships
He got on well with his father but was raised by Chiron the Centaur on top of a mountain. He didn’t remain forever estranged from his mother and still had a bit of a friendship.
While in the court his mother had sent him to he had a relationship with that king’s daughter, Deidameia. He had a son: Phyrrhus.
Patrocles was Achilles best friend. While Achilles was callous and arrogant to everyone, except to Patrocles. Patroclus’ death at the hands Hector was enough to motivate Achilles out of sulkiness and into his rampage of fury and revenge.
“From then on the son of Thetis
urged that never in the moil of Ares
should Patroclus be stationed apart
from his own man-slaughtering spear.”
Homer – The Iliad
History
“If Achilles was anything, he was a man who believed his own press releases”
-Roger Ebert
Achilles is the central character of Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad. While it is the most famous work about Achilles, in no part of it does it mention invincibility: in fact it mentions him bleeding several times! He also doesn’t die at the end of the work; all this was attributed by later authors…
The whole notion of Achille’s heel, his seeming invincibility and then his death are recounted in the poem ‘Achilleid’. It was written by a Roman called Statius in the 1st Century AD. Today these changes to the original Illiad are accepted as part of the whole story.
Evolution of Achilles through History
The story of Achilles evolved from Homer’s Iliad, through Statius’s Achilleid and various other poems and Greek & Roman plays. While its story remains ancient at its core, Achilles has made his presence felt since.
William Shakespeare included him in his play ‘Troilus and Cressida’, here he was represented as a caricature of himself and had become completely enamoured of Patroclus. He appears in Dante Alighieri’s 14th century poem ‘Inferno’. At least nine different ships in the British Navy have borne his name. Several modern day comics and graphic novels feature him, for example ‘Captain Marvel’ has Achille’s courage and fortitude. His most recent and well known manifestation is of course in the film Troy (2004) – as portrayed by Brad Pitt in a rather irritating manner.
Symbols associated
Achilles’ most famous symbol would of course be his heel. While his invincibility was not mentioned in Homer’s original Iliad, he was given this by later Greek and roman poets as I’ve explained above. Achilles’ heel as a concept has entered culture and is now a household phrase. A company with a weakness could be said to have an ‘Achilles’ Heel.’ Other symbols would be his armour, its value and the fights over it.
However: while Achilles has evolved over history, for me the original Greek Iliad had the best view of Achilles: You don’t have to be invincible to be a hero.
-Simon Gray
Bibliography
