page_title: Achilles
section_title: Later epic accounts: fighting Penthesilea and Memnon
hierarchical_section_title: Achilles / In the Trojan War / Later epic accounts: fighting Penthesilea and Memnon
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Achilleus und Memnon, zwischen Thetis und Eos. Seite A einer schwarzfigurigen attischen Amphora, um 510 v. Chr. Aus Vulci. English: Achilles and Memnon, between Thetis and Eos. Side A of an Attic black-figure amphora, ca. 510 BC. From Vulci. Français&#160;: Achille et Memnon, encadrés par Thétis et Éos. Face A d'une amphore attique à figures noires, v. 510 av. J.-C. Provenance&#160;: Vulci. Español: Aquiles y Memnón, rodeados por Tetis y Éos (sus respectivas madres). A sus pies yace Antíloco. Lado A de una ánfora ática de figuras negras c. 510&#160;a.&#160;C. Procedencia: Vulci.
context_page_description: In Greek mythology, Achilles or Achilleus was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and is the central character of Homer's Iliad. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia.
  Achilles' most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan prince Hector outside the gates of Troy. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in the Iliad, other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War by Paris, who shot him in the heel with an arrow. Later legends state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel, because when his mother Thetis dipped him in the river Styx as an infant, she held him by one of his heels. Alluding to these legends, the term "Achilles' heel" has come to mean a point of weakness, especially in someone or something with an otherwise strong constitution. The Achilles tendon is also named after him due to these legends.
context_section_description: The Aethiopis (7th century BC) and a work named Posthomerica, composed by Quintus of Smyrna in the fourth century AD, relate further events from the Trojan War. When Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares, arrives in Troy, Priam hopes that she will defeat Achilles. After his temporary truce with Priam, Achilles fights and kills the warrior queen, only to grieve over her death later. 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.
  Following the death of Patroclus, Nestor's son Antilochus becomes Achilles' closest companion. When Memnon, son of the Dawn Goddess Eos and king of Ethiopia, slays Antilochus, Achilles once more obtains revenge on the battlefield, killing Memnon. Consequently, Eos will not let the sun rise, until Zeus persuades her. 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.
  Many Homeric scholars argued that episode inspired many details in the Iliad's description of the death of Patroclus and Achilles' reaction to it. The episode then formed the basis of the cyclic epic Aethiopis, which was composed after the Iliad, possibly in the 7th century BC. The Aethiopis is now lost, except for scattered fragments quoted by later authors.
caption: Achilles and Memnon fighting, between Thetis and Eos, Attic black-figure amphora, c. 510 BC, from Vulci
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