<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<page xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.mediawiki.org/xml/export-0.4/">
    <title>Achilles</title>
    <id>305</id>
    <revision>
      <id>321058698</id>
      <timestamp>2009-10-20T19:40:48Z</timestamp>
      <contributor>
        <username>Burner0718</username>
        <id>6016732</id>
      </contributor>
      <minor/>
      <comment>
<p><a href="WP:RBK" title="WP:RBK">Reverted</a> edits by <a href="Special:Contributions/163.6.192.10" title="Special:Contributions/163.6.192.10">163.6.192.10</a> (<a href="User_talk:163.6.192.10" title="User talk:163.6.192.10">talk</a>) to last version by Deor</p></comment>
      <text xml:space="preserve">
<p>{{redirect6}}
<div style="width:250px;"><a class="internal" href="Image:250px-Leon_Benouville_The_Wrath_of_Achilles.jpg" title="The Wrath of Achilles, by François-Léon Benouville (1821&amp;ndash;1859) (Musée Fabre)"><img src="250px-Leon_Benouville_The_Wrath_of_Achilles.jpg" alt="The Wrath of Achilles, by François-Léon Benouville (1821&amp;ndash;1859) (Musée Fabre)" title="The Wrath of Achilles, by François-Léon Benouville (1821&amp;ndash;1859) (Musée Fabre)" class="location-right type-thumb" width="250"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption"><i>The Wrath of Achilles</i>, by <a href="Fran%C3%A7ois-L%C3%A9on_Benouville" title="François-Léon Benouville">François-Léon Benouville</a> (1821–1859) (<a href="Mus%C3%A9e_Fabre" title="Musée Fabre">Musée Fabre</a>)</div></div>
</p>
<p>In <a href="Greek_mythology" title="Greek mythology">Greek mythology</a>, <b>Achilles</b> (<a href="Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Ancient Greek</a>: {{polytonic}}) was a <a href="Greeks" title="Greeks">Greek</a> <a href="Hero" title="hero">hero</a> of the <a href="Trojan_War" title="Trojan War">Trojan War</a>, the <a href="Central_character" title="central character">central character</a> and the greatest warrior of <a href="Homer" title="Homer">Homer</a>'s <i><a href="Iliad" title="Iliad">Iliad</a></i>.</p>
<p>Achilles also has the attributes of being the most handsome of the heroes assembled against <a href="Troy" title="Troy">Troy</a>.<sup id="_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#_note-1" title="">[1]</a></sup></p>
<p>Later legends (beginning with a poem by <a href="Statius" title="Statius">Statius</a> in the first century AD) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his <a href="Heel" title="heel">heel</a>. Since he died due to a poisoned arrow shot into his heel, the "<a href="Achilles'_heel" title="Achilles' heel">Achilles' heel</a>" has come to mean a person's principal weakness. </p>
<table id="toc" class="toc" summary="Contents">
<tr>
<td>
<div id="toctitle">
<h2>Contents</h2>
</div>
<ul>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Birth">Birth</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Achilles_in_the_Trojan_War">Achilles in the Trojan War</a>
</li>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Telephus">Telephus</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Troilus">Troilus</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#In_the_Iliad">In the Iliad</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Penthesilea">Penthesilea</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Memnon.2C_and_the_fall_of_Achilles">Memnon, and the fall of Achilles</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Fate_of_Achilles'_armor">Fate of Achilles' armor</a>
</li>
</ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Achilles_and_Patroclus">Achilles and Patroclus</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#The_cult_of_Achilles_in_antiquity">The cult of Achilles in antiquity</a>
</li>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#The_cult_of_Achilles_in_modern_times:_The_Achilleion_in_Corfu">The cult of Achilles in modern times: The Achilleion in Corfu</a>
</li>
</ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#The_name_of_Achilles">The name of Achilles</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Other_stories_about_Achilles">Other stories about Achilles</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Achilles_in_Greek_tragedy">Achilles in Greek tragedy</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Achilles_in_Greek_philosophy">Achilles in Greek philosophy</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Spoken-word_myths_(audio)">Spoken-word myths (audio)</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Achilles_in_later_art">Achilles in later art</a>
</li>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Drama">Drama</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Fiction">Fiction</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Film">Film</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Television">Television</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="#Music">Music</a>
</li>
</ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Namesakes">Namesakes</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Quotes">Quotes</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Notes">Notes</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#References">References</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#Bibliography">Bibliography</a>
</li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#External_links">External links</a>
</li>
</ul>
</ul></td></tr></table><hr/>
<a id="Birth" name="Birth"/><h2>Birth</h2>
<p>Achilles was the son of the <a href="Nymph" title="nymph">nymph</a> <a href="Thetis" title="Thetis">Thetis</a> and <a href="Peleus" title="Peleus">Peleus</a>, the king of the <a href="Myrmidons" title="Myrmidons">Myrmidons</a>. <a href="Zeus" title="Zeus">Zeus</a> and <a href="Poseidon" title="Poseidon">Poseidon</a> had been rivals for the hand of Thetis until <a href="Prometheus" title="Prometheus">Prometheus</a>, the fire-bringer, warned Zeus of a prophecy that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed  Peleus.<sup id="_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#_note-2" title="">[2]</a></sup></p> 
<p>As with most mythology there is a tale which offers an alternative version of these events: in <i><a href="Argonautica" title="Argonautica">Argonautica</a></i> (iv.760) <a href="Hera" title="Hera">Hera</a> alludes to Thetis's chaste resistance to the advances of <a href="Zeus" title="Zeus">Zeus</a>, that Thetis was so loyal to Hera's marriage bond that she coolly rejected him.</p>
<p><a class="internal" href="Image:The_Education_of_Achilles%2C_by_James_Barry.jpg" title="The Education of Achilles (ca. 1772), by James Barry"><img src="The_Education_of_Achilles%2C_by_James_Barry.jpg" alt="The Education of Achilles (ca. 1772), by James Barry" title="The Education of Achilles (ca. 1772), by James Barry" class="location-none type-thumb"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption"><i>The Education of Achilles</i> (ca. 1772), by <a href="James_Barry_(painter)" title="James Barry (painter)">James Barry</a></div>
According to a fragment of an <i>Achilleis</i>— the <i><a href="Achilleid" title="Achilleid">Achilleid</a></i>, written by <a href="Statius" title="Statius">Statius</a> in the first century AD, and to no other sources, when Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river <a href="Styx" title="Styx">Styx</a>. However, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body she held him by, his heel. (See <a href="Achilles_heel" title="Achilles heel">Achilles heel</a>, <a href="Achilles'_tendon" title="Achilles' tendon">Achilles' tendon</a>.) It is not clear if this version of events was known earlier. In another version of this story, Thetis anointed the boy in <a href="Ambrosia" title="ambrosia">ambrosia</a> and put him on top of a fire to burn away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted by Peleus and abandoned both father and son in a rage.<sup id="_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#_note-3" title="">[3]</a></sup> </p>
<p>However none of the sources before Statius makes any reference to this general invulnerability.  To the contrary, in the <i>Iliad</i> Homer mentions Achilles being wounded: in Book 21 the <a href="Paeonian" title="Paeonian">Paeonian</a> hero <a href="Asteropaeus" title="Asteropaeus">Asteropaeus</a>, son of Pelagon, challenged Achilles by the river Scamander. He cast two spears at once, one grazed Achilles' elbow, "drawing a spurt of blood."</p>
<p>Also in the fragmentary poems of the <a href="Epic_Cycle" title="Epic Cycle">Epic Cycle</a> in which we can find description of the hero's death, <a href="Cypria" title="Cypria">Kúpria</a> (unknown author), <i><a href="Aithiopis" title="Aithiopis">Aithiopis</a></i> by <a href="Arctinus_of_Miletus" title="Arctinus of Miletus">Arctinus of Miletus</a>, <i><a href="Little_Iliad" title="Little Iliad">Ilias Mikrá</a></i> by Lesche of Mytilene, Iliou pérsis by <a href="Arctinus_of_Miletus" title="Arctinus of Miletus">Arctinus of Miletus</a>, there is no trace of any reference to his general invulnerability or his famous weakness (heel); in the later vase-paintings presenting Achilles' death, the arrow (or in many cases, arrows) hit his body. </p>
<p>Peleus entrusted Achilles to <a href="Chiron" title="Chiron">Chiron</a> the <a href="Centaur" title="Centaur">Centaur</a>, on Mt. <a href="Pelion" title="Pelion">Pelion</a>, to be raised.<sup id="_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#_note-4" title="">[4]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Achilles_in_the_Trojan_War" name="Achilles_in_the_Trojan_War"/><h2>Achilles in the Trojan War</h2>
<p><div style="width:250px;"><a class="internal" href="Image:250px-The_Rage_of_Achilles_by_Giovanni_Battista_Tiepolo.jpeg" title="The Rage of Achilles, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo"><img src="250px-The_Rage_of_Achilles_by_Giovanni_Battista_Tiepolo.jpeg" alt="The Rage of Achilles, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo" title="The Rage of Achilles, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo" class="location-right type-thumb" width="250"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption"><i>The Rage of Achilles</i>, by <a href="Giovanni_Battista_Tiepolo" title="Giovanni Battista Tiepolo">Giovanni Battista Tiepolo</a></div></div>
</p>
<p>The first two lines of the <i>Iliad</i> read:
</p>
<dl>
<dd>{{Polytonic}}</dd>
<dd>{{Polytonic}}</dd></dl>


<dl>
<dd>Sing, Goddess, of the rage, of Peleus' son Achilles</dd>
<dd>the accursed rage, which brought pain to thousands of the Achaeans.</dd></dl>

<p>Achilles is the only mortal to experience consuming rage. His anger is at some times wavering, but at other times he cannot be cooled. The humanization of Achilles by the events of the war is an important theme of the narrative. </p>
<a id="Telephus" name="Telephus"/><h3>Telephus</h3>
<p>When the Greeks left for the Trojan War, they accidentally stopped in <a href="Mysia" title="Mysia">Mysia</a>, ruled by King <a href="Telephus" title="Telephus">Telephus</a>. 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 at <a href="Argos" title="Argos">Argos</a>, where Achilles heals him in order that he become their guide for the voyage to Troy. </p>		
<p>According to other reports in <a href="Euripides" title="Euripides">Euripides</a>' lost play about Telephus, he went to <a href="Aulis" title="Aulis">Aulis</a> pretending to be a beggar and asked Achilles to heal his wound. Achilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. Alternatively, Telephus held <a href="Orestes_(mythology)" title="Orestes (mythology)">Orestes</a> for ransom, the ransom being Achilles' aid in healing the wound. <a href="Odysseus" title="Odysseus">Odysseus</a> 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.</p>
<a id="Troilus" name="Troilus"/><h3>Troilus</h3>
<p>According to the <a href="Cypria" title="Cypria">Cypria</a> (the part of the <a href="Epic_Cycle" title="Epic Cycle">Epic Cycle</a> that tells the events of the Trojan War before Achilles' Wrath), when the Achaeans desired to return home, they were restrained by Achilles, who afterwards attacked the cattle of Aeneas, sacked neighboring cities and killed <a href="Troilus" title="Troilus">Troilus</a>.<sup id="_ref-stoa.org_a" class="reference"><a href="#_note-stoa.org" title="">[5]</a></sup></p>
<p>According to <a href="Dares_Phrygius" title="Dares Phrygius">Dares Phrygius</a>' <i>Account of the Destruction of Troy</i>,<sup id="_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#_note-6" title="">[6]</a></sup> the Latin summary through which the story of Achilles was transmitted to medieval Europe, <a href="Troilus" title="Troilus">Troilus</a> was a young Trojan prince, the youngest of King <a href="Priam" title="Priam">Priam</a>'s (or sometimes <a href="Apollo" title="Apollo">Apollo</a>) and <a href="Hecuba" title="Hecuba">Hecuba</a>'s five legitimate sons. Despite his youth, he was one of the main Trojan war leaders. Prophecies linked Troilus' 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 sister <a href="Polyxena" title="Polyxena">Polyxena</a>, and overcome with lust directed his sexual attentions on the youth - who refusing to yield found instead himself decapitated upon an altar-omphalos of Apollo.  Later versions of the story suggested Troilus was accidentally killed by Achilles in an over-ardent lovers' embrace. In this version of the myth, Achilles' death therefore came in retribution for this sacrilege.<sup id="_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#_note-7" title="">[7]</a></sup> Ancient writers treated Troilus as the epitome of a dead child mourned by his parents. Had Troilus lived to adulthood, the <a href="First_Vatican_Mythographer" title="First Vatican Mythographer">First Vatican Mythographer</a> claimed Troy would have been invincible.</p> 
<a id="In_the_Iliad" name="In_the_Iliad"/><h3>In the <i>Iliad</i></h3>

<p><div style="width:250px;"><a class="internal" href="Image:250px-AmbrosianIliadPict47Achilles.jpg" title="Achilles sacrificing to Zeus, from the Ambrosian Iliad, a 5th century illuminated manuscript."><img src="250px-AmbrosianIliadPict47Achilles.jpg" alt="Achilles sacrificing to Zeus, from the Ambrosian Iliad, a 5th century illuminated manuscript." title="Achilles sacrificing to Zeus, from the Ambrosian Iliad, a 5th century illuminated manuscript." class="location-right type-thumb" width="250"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">Achilles sacrificing to <a href="Zeus" title="Zeus">Zeus</a>, from the <a href="Ambrosian_Iliad" title="Ambrosian Iliad">Ambrosian Iliad</a>, a 5th century illuminated manuscript.</div></div>

{{main}}</p>
<p><a href="Homer" title="Homer">Homer's</a> <i><a href="Iliad" title="Iliad">Iliad</a></i> is the most famous narrative of Achilles' deeds in the <a href="Trojan_War" title="Trojan War">Trojan War</a>. The Homeric epic only covers a few weeks of the war, and does not narrate Achilles' death. It begins with Achilles' withdrawal from battle after he is dishonored by <a href="Agamemnon" title="Agamemnon">Agamemnon</a>, the commander of the <a href="Achaean" title="Achaean">Achaean</a> forces. Agamemnon had taken a woman named <a href="Chryseis" title="Chryseis">Chryseis</a> as his slave. Her father <a href="Chryses" title="Chryses">Chryses</a>, a priest of <a href="Apollo" title="Apollo">Apollo</a>, begged Agamemnon to return her to him.  Agamemnon refused and Apollo sent a plague amongst the Greeks.  The prophet <a href="Calchas" title="Calchas">Calchas</a> correctly determined the source of the troubles but would not speak unless Achilles vowed to protect him. Achilles did so and Calchas declared Chryseis must be returned to her father. Agamemnon consented, but then commanded that Achilles' battle prize <a href="Briseis" title="Briseis">Briseis</a> be brought to replace Chryseis.  Angry at the dishonor (and as he says later, because he loved Briseis)<sup id="_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#_note-8" title="">[8]</a></sup> and at the urging of Thetis, Achilles refused to fight or lead his troops alongside the other Greek forces.</p>
<p>As the battle turned against the Greeks, <a href="Nestor_(mythology)" title="Nestor (mythology)">Nestor</a> declared that the Trojans were winning because Agamemnon had angered Achilles, and urged the king to appease the warrior. Agamemnon agreed and sent <a href="Odysseus" title="Odysseus">Odysseus</a> and two other chieftains to Achilles with the offer of the return of Briseis and other gifts. Achilles took back Briseis and refused the other gifts and urged the Greeks to sail home as he was planning to do.</p>
<p>Eventually, however, hoping to retain glory despite his absence from the battle, Achilles prayed to his mother Thetis, asking her to plead with Zeus to allow the Trojans to push back the Greek forces.</p> 
<p>The Trojans, led by <a href="Hector" title="Hector">Hector</a>, subsequently pushed the Greek army back toward the beaches and assaulted the Greek ships. With the Greek forces on the verge of absolute destruction, <a href="Patroclus" title="Patroclus">Patroclus</a> led the <a href="Myrmidons" title="Myrmidons">Myrmidons</a> into battle, though Achilles remained at his camp. Patroclus succeeded in pushing the Trojans back from the beaches, but was killed by Hector before he could lead a proper assault on the city of Troy.</p>
<p><div style="width:250px;"><a class="internal" href="Image:250px-Triumph_of_Achilles_in_Corfu_Achilleion.jpg" title="Triumphant Achilles dragging Hector's lifeless body in front of the Gates of Troy. (From a panoramic fresco on the upper level of the main hall of the Achilleion)"><img src="250px-Triumph_of_Achilles_in_Corfu_Achilleion.jpg" alt="Triumphant Achilles dragging Hector's lifeless body in front of the Gates of Troy. (From a panoramic fresco on the upper level of the main hall of the Achilleion)" title="Triumphant Achilles dragging Hector's lifeless body in front of the Gates of Troy. (From a panoramic fresco on the upper level of the main hall of the Achilleion)" class="location-none type-thumb" width="250"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">Triumphant Achilles dragging Hector's lifeless body in front of the Gates of <a href="Troy" title="Troy">Troy</a>. (From a <a href="Panoramic" title="panoramic">panoramic</a> <a href="Fresco" title="fresco">fresco</a> on the upper level of the main hall of the <a href="Achilleion_(Corfu)" title="Achilleion (Corfu)">Achilleion</a>)</div></div>

After receiving the news of the death of Patroclus from <a href="Antilochus" title="Antilochus">Antilochus</a>, the son of Nestor, Achilles grieved over his close friend's death and held many funeral games in his honor.  His mother Thetis came to comfort the distraught Achilles. She persuaded <a href="Hephaestus" title="Hephaestus">Hephaestus</a> to make new armor for him, in place of the armor that Patroclus had been wearing which was taken by <a href="Hector" title="Hector">Hector</a>. The new armor included the <a href="Shield_of_Achilles" title="Shield of Achilles">Shield of Achilles</a>, described in great detail by the poet.</p>
<p>Enraged over the death of Patroclus, Achilles ended his refusal to fight and took the field killing many men in his rage but always seeking out Hector.  Achilles even engaged in battle with the river god <a href="Scamander" title="Scamander">Scamander</a> who became angry that Achilles was choking his waters with all the men he killed.  The god tried to drown Achilles but was stopped by <a href="Hera" title="Hera">Hera</a> and Hephaestus.  Zeus himself took note of Achilles' rage and sent the gods to restrain him so that he would not go on to sack Troy itself, seeming to show that the unhindered rage of Achilles could defy fate itself as Troy was not meant to be destroyed yet.  Finally Achilles found his prey. Achilles chased Hector around the wall of Troy three times before <a href="Athena" title="Athena">Athena</a>, in the form of Hector's favorite and dearest brother, <a href="Deiphobus" title="Deiphobus">Deiphobus</a>, persuaded Hector to stop running and fight Achilles face to face. After Hector realized the trick, he knew the battle was inevitable. Wanting to go down fighting, he charged at Achilles with his only weapon, his sword, but missed. Accepting his fate, Hector begged Achilles – not to spare his life, but to treat his body with respect after killing him. Achilles told Hector it was 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".<sup id="_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#_note-9" title="">[9]</a></sup> Achilles then got his vengeance, killing Hector with a single blow to the neck and tying the Trojan's body to his <a href="Chariot" title="chariot">chariot</a>, dragging it around the battlefield for nine days.</p>
<p>With the assistance of the god <a href="Hermes" title="Hermes">Hermes</a>, Hector's father, <a href="Priam" title="Priam">Priam</a>, went to Achilles' tent to plead with Achilles to permit him to perform for Hector his funeral rites.  The final passage in the <i>Iliad</i> is Hector's funeral, after which the doom of Troy was just a matter of time.</p>
<a id="Penthesilea" name="Penthesilea"/><h3>Penthesilea</h3>
<p>Achilles, after his temporary truce with Priam, fought and killed the <a href="Amazons" title="Amazons">Amazonian</a> warrior queen <a href="Penthesilea" title="Penthesilea">Penthesilea</a>, but later grieved over her death. At first, he was so distracted by her beauty, he did not fight as intensely as usual. Once he realized that his distraction was endangering his life, he refocused, and killed her. As he grieved over the death of such a rare beauty, a notorious Greek jeerer by the name of Thersites laughed and mocked the great Achilles. Annoyed by his insensitivity and disrespect, Achilles punched him in the face and killed him instantly.</p>
<a id="Memnon.2C_and_the_fall_of_Achilles" name="Memnon.2C_and_the_fall_of_Achilles"/><h3>Memnon, and the fall of Achilles</h3>
<p><div style="width:300px;"><a class="internal" href="Image:300px-Achilles_thniskon_in_Corfu.jpg" title="Achilles dying in the gardens of the Achilleion in Corfu"><img src="300px-Achilles_thniskon_in_Corfu.jpg" alt="Achilles dying in the gardens of the Achilleion in Corfu" title="Achilles dying in the gardens of the Achilleion in Corfu" class="location-right type-thumb" width="300"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">Achilles dying in the gardens of the <a href="Achilleion_(Corfu)" title="Achilleion (Corfu)">Achilleion</a> in <a href="Corfu" title="Corfu">Corfu</a></div></div>
</p>
<p>Following the death of Patroclus, Achilles' closest companion was Nestor's son <a href="Antilochus" title="Antilochus">Antilochus</a>.  When <a href="Memnon" title="Memnon">Memnon</a>, king of <a href="Ethiopia_(mythology)" title="Ethiopia (mythology)">Ethiopia</a> killed Antilochus, Achilles was once again drawn onto the battlefield to seek revenge. 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.</p>
<p>Many Homeric scholars argued that episode inspired many details in the <i>Iliad<b>s description of the death of Patroclus and Achilles' reaction to it. The episode then formed the basis of the <a href="Epic_Cycle" title="Epic Cycle">cyclic epic</a> <i><a href="Aethiopis" title="Aethiopis">Aethiopis</a></i>, which was composed after the <i>Iliad</i>, possibly in the 7th century B.C. The <i>Aethiopis</i> is now lost, except for scattered fragments quoted by later authors. </b></i></p>
<p>As predicted by <a href="Hector" title="Hector">Hector</a> with his dying breath, Achilles was thereafter killed by <a href="Paris_(mythology)" title="Paris (mythology)">Paris</a> with an arrow (to the heel according to <a href="Statius" title="Statius">Statius</a>). In some versions, the god <a href="Apollo" title="Apollo">Apollo</a> guided Paris's arrow.  Some retellings also state that Achilles was scaling the gates of Troy and was hit with a poisoned arrow.
<a class="internal" href="Image:Aias_body_Akhilleus_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_1884.jpg" title="Ajax carries off the body of Achilles: Attic black-figure lekythos, ca. 510 BCE, from Sicily (Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich"><img src="Aias_body_Akhilleus_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_1884.jpg" alt="Ajax carries off the body of Achilles: Attic black-figure lekythos, ca. 510 BCE, from Sicily (Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich" title="Ajax carries off the body of Achilles: Attic black-figure lekythos, ca. 510 BCE, from Sicily (Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich" class="location-none type-thumb"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">Ajax carries off the body of Achilles: <a href="Attica" title="Attica">Attic</a> black-figure <i><a href="Lekythos" title="lekythos">lekythos</a></i>, ca. 510 BCE, from Sicily (<a href="Staatliche_Antikensammlungen" title="Staatliche Antikensammlungen">Staatliche Antikensammlungen</a>, Munich</div> Both versions conspicuously deny the killer any sort of valor owing to the common conception that Paris was a coward and not the man his brother Hector was, and Achilles remained undefeated on the battlefield. His bones were mingled with those of <a href="Patroclus" title="Patroclus">Patroclus</a>, and funeral games were held. He was represented  in the lost Trojan War epic of <a href="Arctinus_of_Miletus" title="Arctinus of Miletus">Arctinus of Miletus</a> as living after his death in the island of <a href="Leuke" title="Leuke">Leuke</a> at the mouth of the river <a href="Danube" title="Danube">Danube</a> (see below).  Another version of Achilles' 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.</p>
<p>Paris was later killed by <a href="Philoctetes" title="Philoctetes">Philoctetes</a> using the enormous bow of <a href="Heracles" title="Heracles">Heracles</a>.</p>
<a id="Fate_of_Achilles'_armor" name="Fate_of_Achilles'_armor"/><h3>Fate of Achilles' armor</h3>
<p>Achilles' armor was the object of a feud between <a href="Odysseus" title="Odysseus">Odysseus</a> and <a href="Ajax_(mythology)" title="Ajax (mythology)">Telamonian Ajax</a> (Ajax the greater). They competed for it by giving speeches on why they were the bravest after Achilles to their Trojan prisoners, who after considering both men came to a consensus. Odysseus won. Furious, Ajax cursed Odysseus, which earned the ire of Athena.  Athena temporarily made Ajax mad with grief and anguish as he began killing sheep, thinking they were his comrades.  After a while, Athena had lifted the madness and Ajax had seen that he had actually been killing sheep.  In his embarrassment, he then committed suicide. Odysseus eventually gave the armor to <a href="Neoptolemus" title="Neoptolemus">Neoptolemus</a>, the son of Achilles.</p>
<p>A relic claimed to be Achilles' bronze-headed spear was for centuries preserved in the temple of Athena on the acropolis of <a href="Phaselis" title="Phaselis">Phaselis</a>, Lycia, a port on the Pamphylian Gulf. The city was visited in 333 by <a href="Alexander_the_Great" title="Alexander the Great">Alexander the Great</a>, who envisioned himself as the new Achilles and carried the <i>Iliad</i> with him, but his court biographers do not mention the spear, which he would indeed have touched with excitement.<sup id="_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#_note-10" title="">[10]</a></sup> But it was being shown in the time of <a href="Pausanias_(geographer)" title="Pausanias (geographer)">Pausanias</a> in the second century AD.<sup id="_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#_note-11" title="">[11]</a></sup></p>
<a id="Achilles_and_Patroclus" name="Achilles_and_Patroclus"/><h2>Achilles and Patroclus</h2>
<p>{{main}}
Achilles' relationship with Patroclus is a key aspect of his myth.  Its exact nature has been a subject of dispute in both the classical period and modern times.  In the <i><a href="Iliad" title="Iliad">Iliad</a></i>, they appeared to be generally portrayed as a model of deep and loyal friendship.  However, commentators from the classical period to today have tended to interpret the relationship through the lens of their own cultures. Thus, in 5th century BC Athens the relationship was commonly interpreted as <a href="Pederastic" title="pederastic">pederastic</a>. Contemporary readers may interpret the two heroes either as relatives or close friends, as "war buddies", as being in a teacher/student pederastic relationship, or in love with each other as a egalitarian <a href="Homosexuality" title="Homosexuality">homosexual</a> couple. Whichever the case may be, Achilles nevertheless continued to have sexual relationships with women.</p>
<a id="The_cult_of_Achilles_in_antiquity" name="The_cult_of_Achilles_in_antiquity"/><h2>The cult of Achilles in antiquity</h2>
<p><a class="internal" href="File:Wenceslas_Hollar_-_Briseis_and_Achilles.jpg" title="Achilles and Briseis"><img src="Wenceslas_Hollar_-_Briseis_and_Achilles.jpg" alt="Achilles and Briseis" title="Achilles and Briseis" class="location-right type-thumb"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">Achilles and Briseis</div></p>
<p>There was an archaic <a href="Heroic_cult" title="heroic cult">heroic cult</a> of Achilles on the <a href="Snake_Island_(Black_Sea)" title="Snake Island (Black Sea)">White Island, <i>Leuce</i></a>, in the <a href="Black_Sea" title="Black Sea">Black Sea</a> off the modern coasts of <a href="Romania" title="Romania">Romania</a> and <a href="Ukraine" title="Ukraine">Ukraine</a>, with a temple and an <a href="Oracle" title="oracle">oracle</a> which survived into the Roman period.<sup id="_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#_note-12" title="">[12]</a></sup></p>
<p>In the lost epic <i><a href="Aithiopis" title="Aithiopis">Aithiopis</a></i>, a continuation of the <i><a href="Iliad" title="Iliad">Iliad</a></i> attributed to <a href="Arctinus" title="Arctinus">Arktinus of Miletos</a>,  Achilles’ mother Thetis returned to mourn  him and removed his ashes from the pyre and took them to Leuce at the mouths of the Danube. There the Achaeans raised a <a href="Tumulus" title="tumulus">tumulus</a> for him and celebrated funeral games.</p>
<p><a href="Pliny's_Natural_History" title="Pliny's Natural History">Pliny's Natural History</a> (IV.27.1) mentions a tumulus that is no longer evident (<i>Insula Akchillis tumulo eius viri clara</i>), on the island consecrated to him, located at a distance of fifty Roman miles from <a href="Peuce" title="Peuce">Peuce</a> by the <a href="Danube_Delta" title="Danube Delta">Danube Delta</a>, and the temple there. <a href="Pausanias_(geographer)" title="Pausanias (geographer)">Pausanias</a> 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’ temple and his statue” (III.19.11). Ruins of a square temple 30 meters to a side, possibly that dedicated to Achilles, were discovered by Captain Kritzikly in 1823, but there has been no modern archeological work done on the island.</p>
<p><a href="Pomponius_Mela" title="Pomponius Mela">Pomponius Mela</a> tells that Achilles is buried in the island named Achillea, between Boristhene and Ister (<i>De situ orbis</i>, II, 7). And the Greek geographer Dionysius Periegetus of Bithynia, who lived at the time of Domitian, writes that the island was called <i>Leuce</i> "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 honor” (<i>Orbis descriptio</i>, v. 541, quoted in Densuşianu 1913).</p>
<p>The <i><a href="Periplus_Ponti_Euxini" title="Periplus Ponti Euxini">Periplus of the Euxine Sea</a></i> gives the following details: "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’ honor, because those who wish to be favored by Achilles, honor Patroclus at the same time. There are also in this island countless numbers of sea birds, which look after Achilles’ 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’ honor. 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’ 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”. (quoted in Densuşianu)</p>
<p>The heroic cult of Achilles on Leuce island was widespread in antiquity, not only along the sea lanes of the <a href="Black_Sea" title="Black Sea">Pontic Sea</a> but also in maritime cities whose economic interests were tightly connected to the riches of the Black Sea.</p>
<p>Achilles from Leuce island was venerated as <i>Pontarches</i> the lord and master of the Pontic (Black) Sea, the protector of sailors and navigation. Sailors went out of their way to offer sacrifice. To Achilles of Leuce  were dedicated a number of important commercial port cities of the Greek waters: Achilleion in Messenia (<a href="Stephanus_Byzantinus" title="Stephanus Byzantinus">Stephanus Byzantinus</a>), Achilleios in Laconia (<a href="Pausanias_(geographer)" title="Pausanias (geographer)">Pausanias</a>, III.25,4) <a href="Nicolae_Densu%C5%9Fianu" title="Nicolae Densuşianu">Nicolae Densuşianu</a> (Densuşianu 1913) even thought he recognized Achilles in the name of <a href="Aquileia" title="Aquileia">Aquileia</a> and in the north arm of the Danube delta, the arm of Chilia ("Achileii"), though his conclusion, that Leuce had sovereign rights over Pontos, evokes modern rather than archaic sea-law."</p>
<p>Leuce had also a reputation as a place of healing. Pausanias (III.19,13) reports that the <a href="Delphi" title="Delphi">Delphic Pythia</a> sent a lord of Croton to be cured of a chest wound.  <a href="Ammianus_Marcellinus" title="Ammianus Marcellinus">Ammianus Marcellinus</a> (XXII.8) attributes the healing to waters (<i>aquae</i>) on the island.</p>
<a id="The_cult_of_Achilles_in_modern_times:_The_Achilleion_in_Corfu" name="The_cult_of_Achilles_in_modern_times:_The_Achilleion_in_Corfu"/><h3>The cult of Achilles in modern times: The Achilleion in Corfu</h3>
<p>In the region of Gastouri (Γαστούρι) to the south of the city of <a href="Corfu" title="Corfu">Corfu</a> <a href="Greece" title="Greece">Greece</a>, Empress of Austria <a href="Elisabeth_of_Bavaria" title="Elisabeth of Bavaria">Elisabeth of Bavaria</a> also known as Sissi built in 1890 a summer palace with Achilles as its central theme and it is a monument to <a href="Platonic" title="platonic">platonic</a> <a href="Romanticism" title="romanticism">romanticism</a>. The palace, naturally, was named after Achilles: <i><a href="Corfu#Beauty.2C_Power_and_Tragedy:_The_Achilleion" title="Corfu">Achilleion</a></i> (Αχίλλειον). This elegant structure abounds with paintings and statues of Achilles both in the main hall and in the lavish gardens depicting the heroic and tragic scenes of the <a href="Trojan_war" title="Trojan war">Trojan war</a>.</p>
<a id="The_name_of_Achilles" name="The_name_of_Achilles"/><h2>The name of Achilles</h2>
<p>Achilles' name can be analyzed as a combination of {{Polytonic}} (<i>akhos</i>) "grief" and {{Polytonic}} (<i>Laos</i>) "a people, tribe, nation, etc." In other words, Achilles is an embodiment of the grief of the people, grief being a theme raised numerous times in the <i>Iliad</i> (frequently by Achilles). Achilles' role as the hero of grief forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of Achilles as the hero of <i>kleos</i> (glory, usually glory in war).</p>
<p><i>Laos</i> has been construed by <a href="Gregory_Nagy" title="Gregory Nagy">Gregory Nagy</a>, following Leonard Palmer, to mean <i>a corps of soldiers</i>, a <a href="Muster_(military)" title="Muster (military)">muster</a>. With this derivation, the name would have a double meaning in the poem: When the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring grief 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.</p>
<p>The name Achilleus was a common and attested name among the Greeks early after 7th century BC.<sup id="_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#_note-13" title="">[13]</a></sup> It was also turned into the female form of Ἀχιλλεία, <i>Achilleía</i>, firstly attested in Attica,4th century BC, (IG II² 1617) and <a href="Female_gladiator#Halicarnassus" title="Female gladiator">Achillia</a>, <a href="Image:Gladiatrix_relief.jpg" title="Image:Gladiatrix relief.jpg">a relief from Halicarnassus</a> as the name of a female gladiator fighting, 'Amazonia'.  Roman gladiatorial games often referenced classical mythology and this seems to reference Achilles' fight with Penthesilea, but give it an extra twist of Achilles being 'played' by a woman.</p>
<a id="Other_stories_about_Achilles" name="Other_stories_about_Achilles"/><h2>Other stories about Achilles</h2>
<p>{{Unreferenced section}}
<div style="width:300px;"><a class="internal" href="Image:300px-Achilles_in_Corfu.JPG" title="Achilles as guardian of the palace in the gardens of the Achilleion in Corfu. He gazes northward toward the city. The inscription in Greek reads: ΑΧΙΛΛΕΥΣ i.e. Achilles"><img src="300px-Achilles_in_Corfu.JPG" alt="Achilles as guardian of the palace in the gardens of the Achilleion in Corfu. He gazes northward toward the city. The inscription in Greek reads: ΑΧΙΛΛΕΥΣ i.e. Achilles" title="Achilles as guardian of the palace in the gardens of the Achilleion in Corfu. He gazes northward toward the city. The inscription in Greek reads: ΑΧΙΛΛΕΥΣ i.e. Achilles" class="location-right type-thumb" width="300"/>
</a>
<div class="thumbcaption">Achilles as guardian of the palace in the gardens of the <a href="Achilleion_(Corfu)" title="Achilleion (Corfu)">Achilleion</a> in <a href="Corfu" title="Corfu">Corfu</a>. He gazes northward toward the city. The inscription in Greek reads: ΑΧΙΛΛΕΥΣ i.e. Achilles</div></div>
 
Some post-Homeric sources claim that in order to keep Achilles safe from the war, Thetis (or, in some versions, Peleus) hides the young man at the court of <a href="Lycomedes" title="Lycomedes">Lycomedes</a>, king of <a href="Skyros" title="Skyros">Skyros</a>.  There, Achilles is disguised as a girl and lives among Lycomedes' daughters, perhaps under the name "Pyrrha" (the red-haired girl).  With Lycomedes' daughter <a href="Deidamia_(mythology)" title="Deidamia (mythology)">Deidamia</a>, whom in the account of <a href="Statius" title="Statius">Statius</a> he rapes, Achilles there fathers a son, <a href="Neoptolemus" title="Neoptolemus">Neoptolemus</a> (also called Pyrrhus, after his father's possible alias).  According to this story, Odysseus learns from the prophet <a href="Calchas" title="Calchas">Calchas</a> that the Achaeans would be unable to capture Troy without Achilles' aid.  Odysseus goes to Skyros in the guise of a peddler selling women's clothes and jewelry and places a shield and spear among his goods.  When Achilles instantly takes up the spear, Odysseus sees through his disguise and convinces him to join the Greek campaign.  In another version of the story, Odysseus arranges for a trumpet alarm to be sounded while he was with Lycomedes' women; while the women flee in panic, Achilles prepares to defend the court, thus giving his identity away.</p>
<p>In book 11 of Homer's <i><a href="Odyssey" title="Odyssey">Odyssey</a>,</i> 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 when Odysseus tells of Neoptolemus' heroic actions, Achilles is filled with satisfaction.  This leaves the reader with an ambiguous understanding of how Achilles felt about the heroic life. Achilles was worshipped as a sea-god in many of the <a href="Greek_colonies" title="Greek colonies">Greek colonies</a> on the <a href="Black_Sea" title="Black Sea">Black Sea</a>, the location of the mythical "White Island" which he was said to inhabit after his death, together with many other heroes.</p>
<p>The kings of the <a href="Despotate_of_Epirus" title="Despotate of Epirus">Epirus</a> claimed to be descended from Achilles through his son, Neoptolemus. <a href="Alexander_the_Great" title="Alexander the Great">Alexander the Great</a>, son of the Epiran princess <a href="Olympias" title="Olympias">Olympias</a>, could therefore also claim this descent, and in many ways strove to be like his great ancestor; he is said to have visited his tomb while passing Troy.</p>
<p>Achilles fought and killed the <a href="Amazons" title="Amazons">Amazon</a> <a href="Helene_(mythology)" title="Helene (mythology)">Helene</a>. Some also said he married <a href="Medea" title="Medea">Medea</a>, and that after both their deaths they were united in the Elysian Fields of Hades — as Hera promised Thetis in Apollonius' <a href="Argonautica" title="Argonautica">Argonautica</a>. In some versions of the myth, Achilles has a relationship with his captive <a href="Briseis" title="Briseis">Briseis</a>.</p>
<a id="Achilles_in_Greek_tragedy" name="Achilles_in_Greek_tragedy"/><h2>Achilles in Greek tragedy</h2>
<p>{{main}}
The <a href="Tragedy" title="tragedy">Greek tragedian</a> <a href="Aeschylus" title="Aeschylus">Aeschylus</a> wrote a trilogy of plays about Achilles, given the title <i>Achilleis</i> by modern scholars. The tragedies relate the deeds of Achilles during the <a href="Trojan_War" title="Trojan War">Trojan War</a>, including his defeat of <a href="Hector" title="Hector">Hector</a> and eventual death when an arrow shot by <a href="Paris_(mythology)" title="Paris (mythology)">Paris</a> and guided by <a href="Apollo" title="Apollo">Apollo</a> punctures his heel. Extant fragments of the <i>Achilleis</i> and other Aeschylean fragments have been assembled to produce a workable modern play.  The first part of the <i>Achilleis</i> trilogy, <i>The Myrmidons</i>, 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.<sup id="_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#_note-14" title="">[14]</a></sup></p>
<p>The tragedian <a href="Sophocles" title="Sophocles">Sophocles</a> also wrote a play with Achilles as the main character, <i>The Lovers of Achilles</i>. Only a few fragments survive.</p>
<a id="Achilles_in_Greek_philosophy" name="Achilles_in_Greek_philosophy"/><h2>Achilles in Greek philosophy</h2>
<p>The philosopher <a href="Zeno_of_Elea" title="Zeno of Elea">Zeno of Elea</a> centered one of <a href="Zeno's_paradoxes" title="Zeno's paradoxes">his paradoxes</a> on an imaginary footrace between "swift-footed" <a href="Zeno's_paradoxes#Achilles_and_the_tortoise" title="Zeno's paradoxes">Achilles and a tortoise</a>, 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.</p>
<a id="Spoken-word_myths_(audio)" name="Spoken-word_myths_(audio)"/><h2>Spoken-word myths (audio)</h2>

<div style="page-break-inside: avoid;">
<table border="1" cellpadding="5" class="wikitable">
<tr>
<th style="background:NavajoWhite;">Achilles myths as told by story tellers</th></tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="Media:Achilles_and_Patroclus_wiki.ogg" title="Media:Achilles and Patroclus wiki.ogg"><b>1. Achilles and Patroclus,</b> read by Timothy Carter</a></td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Bibliography of reconstruction: <a href="Homer" title="Homer">Homer</a> <i>Iliad,</i> 9.308, 16.2, 11.780, 23.54 (700 BC); <a href="Pindar" title="Pindar">Pindar</a> <i><a href="Olympian_Odes" title="Olympian Odes">Olympian Odes</a>,</i> IX (476 BC); <a href="Aeschylus" title="Aeschylus">Aeschylus</a> <i>Myrmidons,</i> F135-36 (495 BC); <a href="Euripides" title="Euripides">Euripides</a> <i>Iphigenia in Aulis,</i> (405 BC); <a href="Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a> <i>Symposium,</i> 179e (388 BC-367 BC); <a href="Statius" title="Statius">Statius</a> <i>Achilleid,</i> 161, 174, 182 (96 CE)</td></tr></table></div>

<a id="Achilles_in_later_art" name="Achilles_in_later_art"/><h2>Achilles in later art</h2>
<a id="Drama" name="Drama"/><h3>Drama</h3>

<ul>
<li>Achilles is portrayed as a former hero, who has become lazy and devoted to the love of Patroclus, in <a href="William_Shakespeare" title="William Shakespeare">William Shakespeare</a>'s <i><a href="Troilus_and_Cressida" title="Troilus and Cressida">Troilus and Cressida</a></i>.</li>
<li>Achilles is a major character in <i>Paris</i>, a musical based on the Trojan War written by Jon English and David MacKay which premiered in October 2003 in Australia.</li></ul>

<a id="Fiction" name="Fiction"/><h3>Fiction</h3>

<ul>
<li>Achilles appears in Dante's <i><a href="Inferno_(Dante)" title="Inferno (Dante)">Inferno</a></i> and is compared to in Purgatory.</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>Achilles is mentioned in John Milton's <i><a href="Paradise_Lost" title="Paradise Lost">Paradise Lost</a></i> (1667). In Book 9 Milton tells us that he is looking for an "argument / Not less but more Heroic than the wrath / Of stern Achilles on his Foe pursu'd / Thrice fugitive about Troy wall". He thus invokes Achilles as the standard of heroism at the point where Adam and Eve are about to face their greatest test.</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>Achilles appears in <a href="W.H._Auden" title="W.H. Auden">W.H. Auden</a>'s poem <i><a href="The_Shield_of_Achilles" title="The Shield of Achilles">The Shield of Achilles</a></i></li></ul>


<ul>
<li>Achilles appears in the novels <i><a href="Ilium_(novel)" title="Ilium (novel)">Ilium</a></i> and <i><a href="Olympos_(novel)" title="Olympos (novel)">Olympos</a></i> by science fiction author <a href="Dan_Simmons" title="Dan Simmons">Dan Simmons</a>.</li></ul>


<ul>
<li><i>Achilles</i> the novel by <a href="Elizabeth_Cook_(author)" title="Elizabeth Cook (author)">Elizabeth Cook</a></li></ul>


<ul>
<li><i>The Wrath of Achilles</i> is a starship in 'Gene Rodenberry's Andromeda'</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>Achilles appears in the novel <i>Inside The Walls of Troy</i>, with emphasis on his relationship to Polyxena</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>Achilles appears in the <a href="Troy_Series" title="Troy Series">book trilogy <i>Troy</i></a> by the late heroic fantasy novelist David Gemmell</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>Achilles is featured heavily in the novel <i><a href="The_Firebrand" title="The Firebrand">The Firebrand</a></i> by Marion Zimmer Bradley</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>The comic book hero <i><a href="Captain_Marvel_(DC_Comics)" title="Captain Marvel (DC Comics)">Captain Marvel</a></i> is endowed with the courage of Achilles, as well as other legendary heroes.</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>In the <a href="Flash_Gordon" title="Flash Gordon">Flash Gordon</a> comic strip published in 1974-75, the titular hero time-travels to Troy where, posing as an envoy of the gods, he gives the Greeks the idea of the <a href="Trojan_Horse" title="Trojan Horse">Trojan Horse</a>. Achilles and Hector are still alive and the former takes the latter prisoner during the final storming of the city. Gordon is accompanied by a woman from his own century and she becomes Achilles' lover.</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>Achilles has a supporting role in the <a href="Marvel_Comics" title="Marvel Comics">Marvel Comics</a> miniseries <a href="Ares_(marvel_comics)" title="Ares (marvel comics)">Ares</a> as the Greek God Ares' favorite warrior and battlefield commander of Greek soldiers on Mount Olympus.</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>Achilles is a hero unit in the <a href="Real-time_strategy" title="real-time strategy">real-time strategy</a> video game <i><a href="Empire_Earth" title="Empire Earth">Empire Earth</a></i> as well as <i><a href="Rise_%26_Fall:_Civilizations_at_War" title="Rise &amp; Fall: Civilizations at War">Rise &amp; Fall: Civilizations at War</a></i>.</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>The name Achilles is used for the fictional antagonist in the popular sci-fi novel <i><a href="Ender's_Shadow" title="Ender's Shadow">Ender's Shadow</a></i> written by Orson Scott Card.</li></ul>


<ul>
<li>Achilles is a major character in the 2008 video game <i><a href="Rise_of_the_Argonauts" title="Rise of the Argonauts">Rise of the Argonauts</a></i>, where he joins the game's main protagonist <a href="Jason" title="Jason">Jason</a> in his search for the <a href="Golden_Fleece" title="Golden Fleece">Golden Fleece</a>.</li></ul>

<a id="Film" name="Film"/><h3>Film</h3>
<p>The role of Achilles has been played by:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="Piero_Lulli" title="Piero Lulli">Piero Lulli</a> in <i>Ulysses</i> (1955)</li>
<li><a href="Riley_Ottenhof" title="Riley Ottenhof">Riley Ottenhof</a> in <i>Something about Zeus</i> (1958)</li>
<li><a href="Stanley_Baker" title="Stanley Baker">Stanley Baker</a> in <i><a href="Helen_of_Troy_(film)" title="Helen of Troy (film)">Helen of Troy</a></i> (1956)</li>
<li><a href="Arturo_Dominici" title="Arturo Dominici">Arturo Dominici</a> in <i><a href="La_Guerra_di_Troia_(movie)" title="La Guerra di Troia (movie)">La Guerra di Troia</a></i> (1962)</li>
<li><a href="Gordon_Mitchell" title="Gordon Mitchell">Gordon Mitchell</a> in <i>Achilles</i> (UK) / <i>Fury of Achilles</i> (US) (1962) </li>
<li><a href="Derek_Jacobi" title="Derek Jacobi">Derek Jacobi</a> [voice] in <i>Achilles</i> (Channel Four Television) by <a href="Barry_Purves" title="Barry Purves">Barry Purves</a> (1995)</li>
<li><a href="Steve_Davislim" title="Steve Davislim">Steve Davislim</a> in <i><a href="La_Belle_H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne_(TV_movie)" title="La Belle Hélène (TV movie)">La Belle Hélène</a></i> (TV, 1996)</li>
<li><a href="Richard_Trewett" title="Richard Trewett">Richard Trewett</a> in the miniseries <i><a href="The_Odyssey_(TV_miniseries)" title="The Odyssey (TV miniseries)">The Odyssey</a></i> (TV, 1997)</li>
<li><a href="Joe_Montana_(actor)" title="Joe Montana (actor)">Joe Montana</a> in <i><a href="Helen_of_Troy_(TV_miniseries)" title="Helen of Troy (TV miniseries)">Helen of Troy</a></i> (TV, 2003)</li>
<li><a href="Brad_Pitt" title="Brad Pitt">Brad Pitt</a> in <i><a href="Troy_(movie)" title="Troy (movie)">Troy</a></i> (2004)</li></ul>

<a id="Television" name="Television"/><h3>Television</h3>

<ul>
<li>In the animated television series <i><a href="Class_of_the_Titans" title="Class of the Titans">Class of the Titans</a></i>, the character Archie is descended from Achilles and has inherited both his vulnerable heel and part of his invincibility.</li></ul>

<a id="Music" name="Music"/><h3>Music</h3>
<p>Achilles has frequently been mentioned in music.</p>

<ul>
<li>"<a href="Achilles_Last_Stand" title="Achilles Last Stand">Achilles Last Stand</a>", by <a href="Led_Zeppelin" title="Led Zeppelin">Led Zeppelin</a>; from the album <i><a href="Presence_(album)" title="Presence (album)">Presence</a></i>, 1976, Atlantic Records.</li>
<li>Achilles is referred to in <a href="Bob_Dylan" title="Bob Dylan">Bob Dylan</a>'s song, "Temporary Like Achilles".</li>
<li>"Achilles' Revenge" is a song by <a href="Warlord_(band)" title="Warlord (band)">Warlord</a>.</li>
<li><i><a href="Achilles_Heel_(album)" title="Achilles Heel (album)">Achilles Heel</a></i> is an album by the indie rock band <a href="Pedro_the_Lion" title="Pedro the Lion">Pedro the Lion</a>.</li>
<li>Achilles and his heel are referenced in the song "Special K" by the rock band <a href="Placebo_(band)" title="Placebo (band)">Placebo</a>.</li>
<li>"Achilles' Heel" is a song by the UK band <a href="Toploader" title="Toploader">Toploader</a>.</li>
<li>"Achilles" is a song by the Colorado-based power metal band <a href="Jag_Panzer" title="Jag Panzer">Jag Panzer</a>, from the album <i>Casting the Stones</i>.</li>
<li>Achilles is referenced in the <a href="Indigo_Girls" title="Indigo Girls">Indigo Girls</a> song "Ghost".</li>
<li>Song by Melbourne band Love Outside Andromeda called "Achilles (All 3)".</li>
<li>"Achilles, Agony &amp; Ecstasy In Eight Parts", by <a href="Manowar_(band)" title="Manowar (band)">Manowar</a>; from the album <i><a href="The_Triumph_of_Steel" title="The Triumph of Steel">The Triumph of Steel</a></i>, 1992, <a href="Atlantic_Records" title="Atlantic Records">Atlantic Records</a>.</li>
<li>Although not mentioned by name, "Citadel" (about the Siege of Troy) by <a href="The_Cr%C3%BCxshadows" title="The Crüxshadows">The Crüxshadows</a> mentions Paris' arrow 'landing true'.</li>
<li>"Achilles' Wrath", a concert piece by <a href="Sean_O'Loughlin" title="Sean O'Loughlin">Sean O'Loughlin</a>.</li>
<li>Achilles is mentioned in "Little Joanna" by McFly: "Achilles wears a necklace".</li>
<li>Achilles is mentioned in the song "Third Temptation Of Paris" by <a href="Alesana" title="Alesana">Alesana</a>.</li>
<li>"Achilles: The Back Breaker" is a song by the band <a href="The_Showdown" title="The Showdown">The Showdown</a></li>
<li>Achilles is an <a href="Oratorio" title="Oratorio">Oratorio</a> by German Composer <a href="Max_Bruch" title="Max Bruch">Max Bruch</a> (1885)</li>
<li>Achilles is also mentioned in the song "Breath Easy" "Y'all ain't real That's y'all Achilles Heel, same routine when you see me you know the drill" by <a href="Jay_Z" title="Jay Z">Jay Z</a></li>
<li><a href="RZA" title="RZA">RZA</a>, in his song "You'll Never Know", says "Firin lightnin, Northern Lights, duck tight and chocolate Philly/ Lyrics pierce through the ear like the spear of Achilles"</li></ul>

<a id="Namesakes" name="Namesakes"/><h2>Namesakes</h2>

<ul>
<li>The name of Achilles has been used for at least nine Royal Navy warships since 1744. A 60 gun ship of that name served at the Battle of Belleisle in 1761 while a 74-gun ship served at the Battle of Trafalgar. Other battle honours include Walcheren 1809. An armoured cruiser of that name served in the Royal Navy during the First World War and was scrapped in 1921.</li>
<li><b>HMNZS <i>Achilles</i></b> was a <a href="Leander_class_cruiser_(1931)" title="Leander class cruiser (1931)"><i>Leander</i> class cruiser</a> which served with the <a href="Royal_New_Zealand_Navy" title="Royal New Zealand Navy">Royal New Zealand Navy</a> in <a href="World_War_II" title="World War II">World War II</a>. She became famous for her part in the <a href="Battle_of_the_River_Plate" title="Battle of the River Plate">Battle of the River Plate</a>, alongside <a href="HMS_Ajax_(22)" title="HMS Ajax (22)">HMS <i>Ajax</i></a> and <a href="HMS_Exeter_(68)" title="HMS Exeter (68)">HMS <i>Exeter</i></a>. In addition to earning the battle honour 'River Plate', HMNZS Achilles also served at Guadalcanal 1942-43 and Okinawa in 1945. The ship was sold to the Indian Navy in 1948 but when she was scrapped parts of the ship were saved and preserved in New Zealand.</li>
<li><a href="Prince_Achileas-Andreas_of_Greece_and_Denmark" title="Prince Achileas-Andreas of Greece and Denmark">Prince Achileas-Andreas of Greece and Denmark</a>, the grandson of the deposed <a href="Greece" title="Greece">Greek</a> <a href="Monarch" title="monarch">king</a>, <a href="Constantine_II_of_the_Hellenes" title="Constantine II of the Hellenes">Constantine II</a></li></ul>

<a id="Quotes" name="Quotes"/><h2>Quotes</h2>
<p><i>If Achilles was anything, he was a man who believed his own press releases.</i><br/>
—<a href="Roger_Ebert" title="Roger Ebert">Roger Ebert</a>,<sup id="_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#_note-15" title="">[15]</a></sup> commenting on the classical depiction of Achilles' character and personality.</p>
<a id="Notes" name="Notes"/><h2>Notes</h2>
<p>{{reflist}}</p>
<a id="References" name="References"/><h2>References</h2>

<ul>
<li><a href="Homer" title="Homer">Homer</a>, <i><a href="Iliad" title="Iliad">Iliad</a></i></li>
<li><a href="Homer" title="Homer">Homer</a>, <a href="Odyssey" title="Odyssey"><i>Odyssey</i> XI</a>, 467-540</li>
<li>Apollodorus, <i><a href="Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus)" title="Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)">Bibliotheca</a></i> III, xiii, 5-8</li>
<li>Apollodorus, <a href="Epitome_III" title="Epitome III"><i>Epitome</i> III</a>, 14-V, 7</li>
<li><a href="Ovid" title="Ovid">Ovid</a>, <i><a href="Metamorphoses_(poem)" title="Metamorphoses (poem)">Metamorphoses</a></i> XI, 217-265; XII, 580-XIII, 398</li>
<li><a href="Ovid" title="Ovid">Ovid</a>, <a href="Heroides" title="Heroides"><i>Heroides</i> III</a></li>
<li><a href="Apollonius_Rhodius" title="Apollonius Rhodius">Apollonius Rhodius</a>, <a href="Argonautica" title="Argonautica"><i>Argonautica</i> IV</a>, 783-879</li>
<li><a href="Dante_Alighieri" title="Dante Alighieri">Dante Alighieri</a>, <i><a href="The_Divine_Comedy" title="The Divine Comedy">The Divine Comedy</a></i>, Inferno, V.</li></ul>

<a id="Bibliography" name="Bibliography"/><h2>Bibliography</h2>

<ul>
<li>Ileana Chirassi Colombo, “Heroes Achilleus— Theos Apollon.” In <i>Il Mito Greco</i>, ed. Bruno Gentili &amp; Giuseppe Paione, Rome, 1977;</li>
<li>Anthony Edwards:
<ul>
<li>“Achilles in the Underworld: Iliad, Odyssey, and Æthiopis”, <i>Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies</i>, 26 (1985): pp. 215–227 ;</li>
<li>“Achilles in the Odyssey: Ideologies of Heroism in the Homeric Epic”, <i>Beitrage zur klassischen Philologie</i>, 171, Meisenheim, 1985 ;</li>
<li>“Kleos Aphthiton and Oral Theory,” <i>Classical Quarterly</i>, 38 (1988): pp. 25–30 ;</li></ul></li>
<li>{{cite journal}}</li>
<li>{{cite book}}</li>
<li>Hélène Monsacré, <i>Les larmes d'Achille. Le héros, la femme et la souffrance dans la poésie d'Homère</i>, Paris, Albin Michel, 1984;</li>
<li><a href="Gregory_Nagy" title="Gregory Nagy">Gregory Nagy</a>:
<ul>
<li><i>The Best of The Acheans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry</i>, Johns Hopkins University, 1999 (rev. edition);</li>
<li><i>The Name of Achilles: Questions of Etymology and 'Folk Etymology<b>, <i>Illinois Classical Studies</i>, 19, 1994;</b></i></li></ul></li>
<li>Dale S. Sinos, <i>The Entry of Achilles into Greek Epic</i>, Ph.D. thesis, Johns Hopkins University;</li>
<li><a href="Edith_Hamilton" title="Edith Hamilton">Hamilton, Edith</a>, <i><a href="Mythology_(book)" title="Mythology (book)">Mythology</a></i>, New York: Mentor, 1942</li></ul>
<p>Thomas Bullfinch, Myths of Greek and Rome</p>
<a id="External_links" name="External_links"/><h2>External links</h2>
<p>{{Wikisource1911Enc}}
{{Commonscat}}
</p>
<ul>
<li><a class="externallink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_jYuhuxpg" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_jYuhuxpg">Achilles</a> An animated short depicting the story of Achilles as told by Homer, by <a href="Barry_JC_Purves" title="Barry JC Purves">Barry JC Purves</a></li>
<li><a class="externallink" href="http://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/Mythology/Greek/" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/Mythology/Greek/">The Story of Achilles and Patroclus</a></li>
<li><a class="externallink" href="http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/troy.html" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/troy.html">Trojan War Resources</a></li>
<li><a class="externallink" href="http://www.pelasgians.bigpondhosting.com/website1/04_01.htm" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.pelasgians.bigpondhosting.com/website1/04_01.htm">[[Nicolae Densuşianu</a>], <i>Dacia Preistorică</i>, 1913, I.4] Cult of Achilles: literary references to the island <i>Leucos</i> in Antiquity</li>
<li><a class="externallink" href="http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/result.htm?alt=Achilles&amp;pnumber=20" rel="nofollow" title="http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/result.htm?alt=Achilles&amp;pnumber=20">Gallery of the Ancient Art: Achilles</a></li>
<li><a class="externallink" href="http://beckydaroff.com/stories/details.php?recordID=152" rel="nofollow" title="http://beckydaroff.com/stories/details.php?recordID=152">Explore paintings that depict stories about Achilles, including 'Achilles Among the Daughters of Lycomedes' and 'The Death of Achilles'</a></li></ul>

<p>{{Characters in the Iliad}}</p>
<p>{{DEFAULTSORT:Achilles}}





</p>
<p>{{Link FA}}
<a href="http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A2%D8%AE%D9%8A%D9%84">ar:آخيل</a>
<a href="http://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%85%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B8">bn:অ্যাকিলিস</a>
<a href="http://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahilej">bs:Ahilej</a>
<a href="http://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akilles">br:Akilles</a>
<a href="http://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BB">bg:Ахил</a>
<a href="http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquil%C2%B7les">ca:Aquil·les</a>
<a href="http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">cs:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">cy:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilleus">da:Achilleus</a>
<a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilleus">de:Achilleus</a>
<a href="http://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilleus">et:Achilleus</a>
<a href="http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CF%87%CE%B9%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%AD%CE%B1%CF%82">el:Αχιλλέας</a>
<a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquiles">es:Aquiles</a>
<a href="http://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C4%A5ilo">eo:Aĥilo</a>
<a href="http://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiles">eu:Akiles</a>
<a href="http://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A2%D8%B4%DB%8C%D9%84">fa:آشیل</a>
<a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille">fr:Achille</a>
<a href="http://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquiles">gl:Aquiles</a>
<a href="http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%95%84%ED%82%AC%EB%A0%88%EC%9A%B0%EC%8A%A4">ko:아킬레우스</a>
<a href="http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahilej">hr:Ahilej</a>
<a href="http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">id:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkilles">is:Akkilles</a>
<a href="http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille">it:Achille</a>
<a href="http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%A1">he:אכילס</a>
<a href="http://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%90%E1%83%A5%E1%83%98%E1%83%9A%E1%83%94%E1%83%95%E1%83%A1%E1%83%98_(%E1%83%9B%E1%83%98%E1%83%97%E1%83%9D%E1%83%9A%E1%83%9D%E1%83%92%E1%83%98%E1%83%90)">ka:აქილევსი (მითოლოგია)</a>
<a href="http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">la:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahillejs">lv:Ahillejs</a>
<a href="http://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilleus">lb:Achilleus</a>
<a href="http://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilas">lt:Achilas</a>
<a href="http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhilleusz">hu:Akhilleusz</a>
<a href="http://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BB">mk:Ахил</a>
<a href="http://mt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akille">mt:Akille</a>
<a href="http://mr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B8">mr:अकिलिस</a>
<a href="http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">nl:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%82%AD%E3%83%AC%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B9">ja:アキレウス</a>
<a href="http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akilles">no:Akilles</a>
<a href="http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">pl:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquiles">pt:Aquiles</a>
<a href="http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahile">ro:Ahile</a>
<a href="http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BB">ru:Ахилл</a>
<a href="http://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akili">sq:Akili</a>
<a href="http://scn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilli">scn:Achilli</a>
<a href="http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">simple:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">sk:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahil">sl:Ahil</a>
<a href="http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D1%85%D0%B8%D0%BB">sr:Ахил</a>
<a href="http://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahilej">sh:Ahilej</a>
<a href="http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhilleus">fi:Akhilleus</a>
<a href="http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akilles">sv:Akilles</a>
<a href="http://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">tl:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%AA">th:อคิลลีส</a>
<a href="http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhilleus">tr:Akhilleus</a>
<a href="http://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D1%85%D1%96%D0%BB%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%81">uk:Ахіллес</a>
<a href="http://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%DB%8C%DA%A9%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B2">ur:ایکلیز</a>
<a href="http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles">vi:Achilles</a>
<a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%98%BF%E5%96%80%E7%90%89%E6%96%AF">zh:阿喀琉斯</a></p></text>
    </revision>
  </page>