Achilles In Greek mythology , Achilles ( , " Akhilleus " , ) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and the central character and greatest warrior of Homer ' s " Iliad " . Achilles was said to be a demigod ; his mother was the nymph Thetis , and his father , Peleus , was the king of the Myrmidons . Achilles ’ most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan hero 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 ( beginning with a poem by Statius in the 1st century AD ) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel . Because of his death from a small wound in the heel , the term " Achilles ' heel " has come to mean a person ' s point of weakness . Etymology . Achilles ' name can be analyzed as a combination of ( " akhos " ) " grief " and ( " Laos " ) " 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 " Iliad " ( frequently by Achilles ) . Achilles ' role as the hero of grief forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of Achilles as the hero of " kleos " ( glory , usually glory in war ) . " Laos " has been construed by Gregory Nagy , following Leonard Palmer , to mean " a corps of soldiers " , a muster . 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 . The name Achilleus was a common and attested name among the Greeks soon after the 7th century BC . It was also turned into the female form Ἀχιλλεία ( " Achilleía " ) attested in Attica in the 4th century BC ( IG II² 1617 ) and , in the form " Achillia " , on a stele in Halicarnassus as the name of a female gladiator fighting an " Amazon " . Roman gladiatorial games often referenced classical mythology , and this seems to reference Achilles ' fight with Penthesilea but gives it an extra twist of Achilles being " played " by a woman . Birth . Achilles was the son of the nymph Thetis and Peleus , the king of the Myrmidons . Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals for the hand of Thetis until Prometheus , the fore - thinker , 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 . There is a tale which offers an alternative version of these events : in " Argonautica " ( iv . 760 ) Zeus ' sister and wife Hera alludes to Thetis ' chaste resistance to the advances of Zeus , that Thetis was so loyal to Hera ' s marriage bond that she coolly rejected him . Thetis , although a daughter of the sea - god Nereus , was also brought up by Hera , further explaining her resistance to the advances of Zeus . According to the " Achilleid " , written by Statius in the 1st century AD , and to no surviving previous sources , when Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him immortal , by dipping him in the river Styx . However , he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him , his heel ( see Achilles heel , Achilles ' tendon ) . It is not clear if this version of events was known earlier . In another version of this story , Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia 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 . However , none of the sources before Statius makes any reference to this general invulnerability . To the contrary , in the " Iliad " Homer mentions Achilles being wounded : in Book 21 the Paeonian hero Asteropaeus , son of Pelagon , challenged Achilles by the river Scamander . He cast two spears at once , one grazed Achilles ' elbow , " drawing a spurt of blood " . Also , in the fragmentary poems of the Epic Cycle in which we can find description of the hero ' s death , " Cypria " ( unknown author ) , " Aithiopis " by Arctinus of Miletus , " Little Iliad " by Lesche of Mytilene , " Iliou persis " by Arctinus of Miletus , 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 . Peleus entrusted Achilles to Chiron the Centaur , on Mt . Pelion , to be reared . Achilles in the Trojan War . The first two lines of the " Iliad " read : Achilles ' consuming rage is at 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 . According to the " Iliad " , Achilles arrived at Troy with 50 ships , each carrying 50 Myrmidons ( Book 2 ) . He appointed five leaders ( each leader commanding 500 Myrmidons ) : Menesthius , Eudorus , Peisander , Phoenix and Alcimedon ( Book 16 ) . Telephus . When the Greeks left for the Trojan War , they accidentally stopped in Mysia , ruled by King Telephus . 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 Argos , where Achilles healed him in order that he might become their guide for the voyage to Troy . According to other reports in Euripides ' lost play about Telephus , he went to Aulis pretending to be a beggar and asked Achilles to heal his wound . Achilles refused , claiming to have no medical knowledge . Alternatively , Telephus held Orestes for ransom , the ransom being Achilles ' aid in healing the wound . Odysseus 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 . Troilus . According to the " Cypria " ( the part of the Epic Cycle 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 Troilus . According to Dares Phrygius ' " Account of the Destruction of Troy " , the Latin summary through which the story of Achilles was transmitted to medieval Europe , Troilus was a young Trojan prince , the youngest of King Priam ' s ( or sometimes Apollo ) and Hecuba ' 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 Polyxena , 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 . Ancient writers treated Troilus as the epitome of a dead child mourned by his parents . Had Troilus lived to adulthood , the First Vatican Mythographer claimed Troy would have been invincible . Achilles in the " Iliad " . Homer ' s " Iliad " is the most famous narrative of Achilles ' deeds in the Trojan War . Achilles ' wrath is the central theme of the book . 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 Agamemnon , the commander of the Achaean forces . Agamemnon had taken a woman named Chryseis as his slave . Her father Chryses , a priest of Apollo , begged Agamemnon to return her to him . Agamemnon refused and Apollo sent a plague amongst the Greeks . The prophet Calchas 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 Briseis be brought to replace Chryseis . Angry at the dishonor of having his plunder and glory taken away ( and as he says later , because he loved Briseis ) , with the urging of his mother Thetis , Achilles refused to fight or lead his troops alongside the other Greek forces . At this same time , burning with rage over Agamemnon ' s theft , Achilles prayed to Thetis to convince Zeus to help the Trojans gain ground in the war , so that he may regain his honor . As the battle turned against the Greeks , thanks to the influence of Zeus , Nestor declared that the Trojans were winning because Agamemnon had angered Achilles , and urged the king to appease the warrior . Agamemnon agreed and sent Odysseus and two other chieftains , Ajax and Phoenix , to Achilles with the offer of the return of Briseis and other gifts . Achilles rejected all Agamemnon offered him , and simply urged the Greeks to sail home as he was planning to do . The Trojans , led by Hector , subsequently pushed the Greek army back toward the beaches and assaulted the Greek ships . With the Greek forces on the verge of absolute destruction , Patroclus led the Myrmidons into battle wearing Achilles ' armor , 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 . After receiving the news of the death of Patroclus from Antilochus , the son of Nestor , Achilles grieved over his beloved companion ' s death and held many funeral games in his honor . His mother Thetis came to comfort the distraught Achilles . She persuaded Hephaestus to make a new armor for him , in place of the armor that Patroclus had been wearing which was taken by Hector . The new armor included the Shield of Achilles , described in great detail by the poet . 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 Scamander 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 Hera 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 Athena , in the form of Hector ' s favorite and dearest brother , Deiphobus , 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 " . Achilles then got his vengeance . With the assistance of the god Hermes , Hector ' s father , Priam , went to Achilles ' tent to plead with Achilles to permit him to perform for Hector his funeral rites . Achilles relented and promised a truce for the duration of Hector ' s funeral . The final passage in the " Iliad " is Hector ' s funeral , after which the doom of Troy was just a matter of time . Penthesilea . Achilles , after his temporary truce with Priam , fought and killed the Amazonian warrior queen Penthesilea , 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 . Memnon , and the fall of Achilles . Following the death of Patroclus , Achilles ' closest companion was Nestor ' s son Antilochus . When Memnon , king of Ethiopia slew Antilochus , Achilles once more obtained revenge on the battlefield , killing Memnon . 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 B . C . The " Aethiopis " is now lost , except for scattered fragments quoted by later authors . The death of Achilles , as predicted by Hector with his dying breath , was brought about by Paris with an arrow ( to the heel according to Statius ) . In some versions , the god Apollo guided Paris ' arrow . Some retellings also state that Achilles was scaling the gates of Troy and was hit with a poisoned arrow . All of these versions deny Paris 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 Patroclus , and funeral games were held . He was represented in the " Aethiopis " as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the river Danube . 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 . Achilles was cremated and his ashes buried in the same urn as those of Patroclus . Paris was later killed by Philoctetes using the enormous bow of Heracles . Fate of Achilles ' armor . Achilles ' armor was the object of a feud between Odysseus and Telamonian Ajax ( 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 in favor of Odysseus . Furious , Ajax cursed Odysseus , which earned the ire of Athena . Athena temporarily made Ajax so mad with grief and anguish that he began killing sheep , thinking them his comrades . After a while , when Athena lifted his madness and Ajax realized that he had actually been killing sheep , Ajax was left so ashamed that he committed suicide . Odysseus eventually gave the armor to Neoptolemus , the son of Achilles . A relic claimed to be Achilles ' bronze - headed spear was for centuries preserved in the temple of Athena on the acropolis of Phaselis , Lycia , a port on the Pamphylian Gulf . The city was visited in 333 BC by Alexander the Great , who envisioned himself as the new Achilles and carried the " Iliad " with him , but his court biographers do not mention the spear . But it was being shown in the time of Pausanias in the 2nd century AD . Achilles and Patroclus . The exact nature of Achilles ' relationship with Patroclus has been a subject of dispute in both the classical period and modern times . In the " Iliad " , it appears to be the model of a deep and loyal friendship , but commentators from classical antiquity to the present have often interpreted the relationship through the lens of their own cultures . In 5th - century BC Athens , the intense bond was often viewed in light of the Greek custom of " paiderasteia " . In Plato ' s " Symposium " , the participants in a dialogue about love assume that Achilles and Patroclus were a couple ; Phaedrus argues that Achilles was the younger and more beautiful one so he was the beloved and Patroclus was the lover . But ancient Greek had no words to distinguish heterosexual and homosexual , and it was assumed that a man could both desire handsome young men and have sex with women . Although epic decorum excluded explicit sexuality , the " Iliad " indicates that Achilles had sexual relations with women , with no direct evidence of sexual behaviors with Patroclus . Worship of Achilles in antiquity . There was an archaic heroic cult of Achilles on the White Island , " Leuce " , in the Black Sea off the modern coasts of Romania and Ukraine , with a temple and an oracle which survived into the Roman period . In the lost epic " Aithiopis " , a continuation of the " Iliad " attributed to Arktinus of Miletos , 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 tumulus for him and celebrated funeral games . Pliny ' s " Natural History " mentions a tumulus that is no longer evident ( " Insula Akchillis tumulo eius viri clara " ) , on the island consecrated to him , located at a distance of fifty Roman miles from Peuce by the Danube Delta , and the temple there . Pausanias 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 " . 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 . Pomponius Mela tells that Achilles is buried in the island named Achillea , between Boristhene and Ister . The Greek geographer Dionysius Periegetus of Bithynia , who lived at the time of Domitian , writes that the island was called " Leuce " " 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 " . The " Periplus of the Euxine Sea " 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 ) The heroic cult of Achilles on Leuce island was widespread in antiquity , not only along the sea lanes of the Pontic Sea but also in maritime cities whose economic interests were tightly connected to the riches of the Black Sea . Achilles from Leuce island was venerated as " Pontarches " the lord and master of the Pontic 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 ( Stephanus Byzantinus ) , Achilleios in Laconia ( Pausanias , III . 25 , 4 ) Nicolae Densuşianu ( Densuşianu 1913 ) even though he recognized Achilles in the name of Aquileia 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 . " Leuce had also a reputation as a place of healing . Pausanias ( III . 19 , 13 ) reports that the Delphic Pythia sent a lord of Croton to be cured of a chest wound . Ammianus Marcellinus ( XXII . 8 ) attributes the healing to waters ( " aquae " ) on the island . Worship of Achilles in modern times : The Achilleion in Corfu . In the region of Gastouri ( Γαστούρι ) to the south of the city of Corfu Greece , Empress of Austria Elisabeth of Bavaria also known as Sissi built in 1890 a summer palace with Achilles as its central theme and it is a monument to platonic romanticism . The palace , naturally , was named after Achilles : " Achilleion " ( 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 Trojan war . Other stories . 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 Lycomedes , king of Skyros . There , Achilles is disguised as a girl and lives among Lycomedes ' daughters , perhaps under the name " Pyrrha " ( the red - haired girl ) . With Lycomedes ' daughter Deidamia , whom in the account of Statius he rapes , Achilles there fathers a son , Neoptolemus ( also called Pyrrhus , after his father ' s possible alias ) . According to this story , Odysseus learns from the prophet Calchas 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 . In book 11 of Homer ' s " Odyssey " , 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 Greek colonies on the Black Sea , the location of the mythical " White Island " which he was said to inhabit after his death , together with many other heroes . The kings of the Epirus claimed to be descended from Achilles through his son , Neoptolemus . Alexander the Great , son of the Epirote princess Olympias , could therefore also claim this descent , and in many ways strove to be like his great ancestor . He is said to have visited the tomb of Achilles at Achilleion while passing Troy . In AD 216 the Roman Emperor Caracalla , while on his way to war against Parthia , emulated Alexander by holding games around Achilles ' tumulus . Achilles fought and killed the Amazon Helene . Some also said he married Medea , and that after both their deaths they were united in the Elysian Fields of Hades – as Hera promised Thetis in Apollonius ' " Argonautica " . In some versions of the myth , Achilles has a relationship with his captive Briseis . Achilles in Greek tragedy . The Greek tragedian Aeschylus wrote a trilogy of plays about Achilles , given the title " Achilleis " by modern scholars . The tragedies relate the deeds of Achilles during the Trojan War , including his defeat of Hector and eventual death when an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo punctures his heel . Extant fragments of the " Achilleis " and other Aeschylean fragments have been assembled to produce a workable modern play . The first part of the " Achilleis " trilogy , " The Myrmidons " , 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 . In Plato ' s " Symposium " , Phaedrus points out that Aeschylus portrayed Achilles as the lover and Patroclus as the beloved ; Phaedrus argues that this is incorrect because Achilles , being the younger and more beautiful of the two , was the beloved , who loved his lover so much that he chose to die to revenge him . The tragedian Sophocles also wrote " The Lovers of Achilles " , a play with Achilles as the main character . Only a few fragments survive . Achilles in Greek philosophy . The philosopher Zeno of Elea centered one of his paradoxes on an imaginary footrace between " swift - footed " Achilles and a tortoise , 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 . Achilles in later art . The role of Achilles has been played in film by : Achilles has frequently been mentioned in music :