This ancient Greek hero, who came along with a hundred thousandth army under the walls of Troy, and became the central character of the poem of Homer Iliad, had in abundance everything that from time immemorial has been the pride of a real man. The gods generously awarded him strength, courage, beauty and nobility. He was deprived in life of only one thing - happiness.
Mortal descendants of the inhabitants of Olympus
We know about 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 the Greek gods who inhabited the summit of Olympus used to go down to the earth and marry mortal people, one way or another deserving of this honor.
According to ancient legends, from such unions exclusively heroes were born, combining an endless list of virtues, putting them higher than all the other inhabitants of the earth, in whose life they brought order and harmony. And only one problem deprived them of the fullness of happiness - they were born mortals.
The son of an earth king and a sea goddess
It so happened that the king of Phthos Peleus once turned the head of the sea goddess Thetis. He found a way to the heart of the lady of the depths, and the fruit of her momentary weakness was the legendary Achilles, who inherited from his mother all the virtues inherent in the gods, but remained mortal in his father.
Wanting to fill this gap, Thetis resorted to an old and proven remedy, dropping it immediately after birth in the water of the Styx River, flowing in the underworld. From this, the whole body of the baby was covered with an invisible, but impenetrable carapace that could not hit any weapons. The only exception was the heel, for which his mother held him, lowering him into the water.
She became his only vulnerability, and it 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 it. 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 to reduce the severity of the plot intrigue.
Mentors of the young prince
To educate the future hero, his father picked him up two mentors. One of them was the old and wise Phoenix, who taught the lad decent manners, medicine and composing poems, without which in those days it was possible to pass for ignoramus and boor. The second was a centaur named Chiron.
Unlike his fellow tribesmen - cunning and insidious creatures, he was distinguished by openness and friendliness. All his pedagogy, however, boiled down to the fact that he fed Achilles with brains and fried lions. But such a diet clearly benefited the boy, and at the age of ten, he easily killed wild boars with his bare hands and caught up with deer.
Escape to the island of Skyros
When the war broke out, in which the Greeks and their many allies approached the walls of Troy, where Queen Elena ruled, recognized as the most beautiful woman of all time and people, our hero turned fifteen. By the way, this detail allows with a certain accuracy to determine in which year Achilles lived. The beginning of the Trojan War, historians date the border of the XIII and XII centuries BC, which means that he was born in approximately 1215 BC. uh or so.
The goddess Thetis, despite the fact that having lowered her son into the waters of Sixx, made him almost immortal, nevertheless admitted the possible death of Achilles. She decided not to take risks and save him from a campaign in which he was obliged to take part. To this end, the goddess, by magic's power, transferred her son to the island of Skyros, where he was hiding in women’s clothes from conscription among the daughters of the local Tsar Lycomedes, who naively relied on his chastity.
The Odyssey Trick
However, soon the leader of the Greeks Agamemnon recognized the whereabouts of Achilles and sent Odysseus for him. His messenger faced a rather piquant task - to recognize among the young damsels whoever hid his masculine nature under a female outfit. And Odysseus dealt with her brilliantly.
Having dressed as a merchant, he laid out before the princesses luxurious fabrics, jewelry, and other things to which women always had a weakness, and between them, as if by chance, left a sword. When, at his command, the servants issued a battle cry, all the girls screeched and screamed, and only one of them grabbed a weapon, betraying a man and a warrior.
The rookie was seen off on a campaign all over the island. Tsar Likomed sincerely grieved, and his young daughter Diedamia fell in tears, in the womb of which the son of Achilles was gaining strength for the sixth month (the hero is the hero throughout).
Hero, terrifying the enemy
Under the walls of Troy, Achilles arrived not alone, but accompanied by a hundred thousandth army sent by his father, Tsar Peleus, who, in old age, was deprived of the opportunity to personally take part in the siege of the city. He gave his son his armor, once forged to him by the god Hephaestus and possessing magical properties. The warrior, clothed in them, became invincible.
In his poem The Iliad, Homer tells how, using his father’s gift, his son fought for nine years, terrifying the Trojans and taking over one city after another. Thanks to the magical powers bestowed upon him by the waters of 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 spot, and remained in the shadows for some time.
Envy captivating the soul of a warrior
The countless deeds accomplished by Achilles earned him loud fame among ordinary warriors and became the cause of envy that was consumed by their commander, Agamemnon. It is known that this low feeling at all times pushed people to meanness, and sometimes even to crimes. The Greek commander was no exception.
Once, returning from another raid, Achilles, among other spoils, brought an excellent captive, whose father Chris was a priest of Apollo. Agamemnon, taking advantage of his position, took her from Achilles, to which he did not mind, since he was then carried away by another slave named Briseid.
Soon, the unfortunate priest came to 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 Kalkhant who was among them, having communicated with the gods, said that death would not recede until Chrys received his daughter, and Apollo had rich sacrifices.
Agamemnon had to submit, but in revenge, he took away his beloved Briseis from Achilles and it was she who sacrificed to the deity. The hero himself was vilely cursed and insulted in the presence of warriors subordinate to him. 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 magic could not be avoided here either. Even more than that, it is possible that it was the one who killed Achilles at the end of the poem that we retold that sent him an evil spell. But his name will be called a little later.
Shameful Envious
Innocently insulted and deprived of his best slave, Achilles refused to continue to participate in the war, which unspeakably pleased the Trojans who were trembling from one of his kind. Having appeared 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 Agamemnon’s army and show him that without Achilles they would be inevitable death.
And so it happened. The accommodating Zeus gave strength to the Trojans, and they began to ruthlessly crush their enemies. The catastrophe seemed inevitable, and the infamous envious had nothing to do except publicly, in the presence of the same soldiers, to apologize to Achilles and present him with some beautiful slaves as compensation for the deceased Briceida.
The latest exploits of Achilles
After that, the generous Achilles forgave his offender and with even greater frenzy began to smash the defenders of the city. One of his most famous exploits belongs to this period - victory in a duel with the leader of the Trojans, Hector. Achilles not only managed to put him to flight, but made him run around the walls of Troy three times, and only after that he pierced with a spear.
But the gods did not want to make Achilles a witness to the fall of Troy, and it was their will that was fulfilled by the one who killed Achilles. Shortly before his death, he accomplished his last feat - he defeated an army of beautiful, but insidious and evil Amazons who came to the aid of the Trojans led by their leader Penfesilea.
The death of Achilles
Ancient authors, in many ways contradicting each other, in the biography of Achilles are nevertheless unanimous in depicting his last hour. According to them, one day he tried to break into the besieged city through its main gate. Suddenly, he was blocked by the path, none other than Apollo himself, who had not quite 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 of a mortal man, who, like himself, was considered the standard of beauty. The detriment of this low feeling among people has already been discussed in our story, in this case, the name of the deity was tarnished by them.
Having blocked Achilles' road, but, expecting, nevertheless, respectful treatment, he instead received a rude shout and the threat of being pierced by a spear if he did not get off the road at that very hour. Offended, Apollo stepped aside, but only in order to immediately commit his revenge.
Further, the authors somewhat diverge in the description of what happened. According to one version, Apollo himself shot a fatal arrow after the offender, and he was the one who killed Achilles. According to another, the envious god entrusted this vile deed to Paris, the son of a Trojan king who was nearby. But since the arrow hit Achilles in his only vulnerable spot, which only Apollo knew, there is no doubt that it was he who directed her flight. The one who killed Achilles in the heel, could not know his secrets. Therefore, the murder of the hero is attributed to Apollo - the most beautiful of the gods, but who failed to overcome the low and petty feelings in himself.
The history of Achilles inspired a 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 winged expression - "Achilles' heel", indicating a weak, vulnerable place.