Who was Achilles?
Learn more about Achilles.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Media Editor: Lee Goldstein
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn about the significance and history of the Muslim festival Eid al-Fitr.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Fact or Fiction? This ancient Greek epic is less than historically accurate.Media Editor: Miranda Chabot
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.This 1972 video, produced by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation, shows how ancient myths were developed to explain natural phenomena as well as religious, moral, and psychological problems.
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© Open University (A Britannica Publishing Partner)A look at how the definition of a hero has changed through the ages.
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Transcript
In Greek mythology, Achilles was the greatest warrior of the Greek army in the Trojan War.
Born to the mortal king Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, Achilles was dipped in the magical River Styx as a child by his mother, an act that rendered his body invulnerable to harm.
Achilles had only one weakness: the heel Thetis held while she dipped him in the river.
This myth is the origin of the proverbial “Achilles’ heel”—a small but potentially devastating vulnerability.
The legend of Achilles appears in Homer’s Iliad and elsewhere and often varies as to the details of his story.
In some tellings, it’s prophesied that Achilles will die fighting in the Trojan War; in others, the Greek god Apollo guides the arrow of the prince Paris to the weak spot at Achilles’ heel, killing him; and in others, Patrocles—Achilles’ friend or lover—impersonates Achilles and dies in battle in his place.
In all versions of the legend, though, Achilles was the most important soldier in the Greek army during the Trojan War.
Without him, Greece’s victory was anything but assured.
Born to the mortal king Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, Achilles was dipped in the magical River Styx as a child by his mother, an act that rendered his body invulnerable to harm.
Achilles had only one weakness: the heel Thetis held while she dipped him in the river.
This myth is the origin of the proverbial “Achilles’ heel”—a small but potentially devastating vulnerability.
The legend of Achilles appears in Homer’s Iliad and elsewhere and often varies as to the details of his story.
In some tellings, it’s prophesied that Achilles will die fighting in the Trojan War; in others, the Greek god Apollo guides the arrow of the prince Paris to the weak spot at Achilles’ heel, killing him; and in others, Patrocles—Achilles’ friend or lover—impersonates Achilles and dies in battle in his place.
In all versions of the legend, though, Achilles was the most important soldier in the Greek army during the Trojan War.
Without him, Greece’s victory was anything but assured.
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