Achilles ' heel - wikipedia Achilles ' heel This article is about the phrase. For the anatomical part, see Achilles tendon. For other uses, see Achilles Heel ( disambiguation ). Statue of Achilleas Thniskon ( Dying Achilles ) at the Corfu Achilleion. An Achilles ' heel is a weakness in spite of overall strength, which can lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common. Contents 1 Origin 2 Anatomy 3 See also 4 References Origin Oil painting ( c. 1625 ) by Peter Paul Rubens of the goddess Thetis dipping her son Achilles in the River Styx, which runs through Hades. In the background, the ferryman Charon rows the dead across the river in his boat. In Greek mythology, when Achilles was a baby, it was foretold that he would die young. To prevent his death, his mother Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his body into the water ; however, as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river. Achilles grew up to be a man of war who survived many great battles. One day, a poisonous arrow shot at him was lodged in his heel, killing him shortly afterwards. The death of Achilles was not mentioned in Homer 's Iliad, but appeared in later Greek and Roman poetry and drama concerning events after the Iliad, later in the Trojan War. In the myths surrounding the war, Achilles was said to have died from a heel wound which was the result of an arrow -- possibly poisoned -- shot by Paris. Classical myths attribute Achilles 's invulnerability to his mother Thetis having treated him with ambrosia and burned away his mortality in the hearth fire except on the heel, by which she held him. Peleus, his father, discovered the treatment and was alarmed to see Thetis holding the baby in the flames, which offended her and made her leave the treatment incomplete. According to a myth arising later, his mother had dipped the infant Achilles in the river Styx, holding onto him by his heel, and he became invulnerable where the waters touched him -- that is, everywhere except the areas of his heel that were covered by her thumb and forefinger. The use of `` Achilles heel '' as an expression meaning `` area of weakness, vulnerable spot '' dates only to 1840, with implied use in Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's `` Ireland, that vulnerable heel of the British Achilles ! '' from 1810 ( Oxford English Dictionary ). Anatomy The large and prominent tendon of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles of the calf is called the tendo achilleus or Achilles tendon. This is commonly associated with the site of Achilles ' death wound. Tendons are avascular, so such an injury is unlikely to be fatal ; however, the myth has the arrow poisoned with the blood of the Lernaean Hydra. A more likely anatomical basis for Achilles 's death, assuming an unpoisoned dart, would have been an injury to his posterior tibial artery behind the medial malleolus, in between the tendons of the flexor digitorum longus and the posterior tibial vein. This area could also have been included in Thetis 's grip. See also Look up Achilles heel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Achilles tendon Balder in Norse mythology Duryodhana in the Mahabharatha Esfandiyar in the Shahnameh Siegfried in the Nibelungenlied Kryptonite Squatting position References Jump up ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.580 -- 619 Jump up ^ See P.J. Heslin, The Transvestite Achilles : Gender and Genre in Statius ' Achilleid, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press : 2005, 166 -- 169. Jump up ^ Apollonius, Argonautica 4.869 -- 872 Jump up ^ Statius, Achilleid 1.122 f., 269f, 480f. Jump up ^ OED online Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Achilles%27_heel&oldid=841466094 '' Categories : Ancient Greek tragedies Trojan War literature English - language idioms Talk Contents About Wikipedia አማርኛ Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español فارسی Français Հայերեն Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Slovenščina Српски / srpski Svenska Tagalog Українська Tiếng Việt 16 more Edit links This page was last edited on 16 May 2018, at 01 : 23. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where does the word achilles heel come from
Answer: Greek mythology