Achilles I INTRODUCTION Thetis Dipping Achilles in the Styx The sea nymph Thetis is seen dipping her son Achilles in the River Styx to make him immortal.

Achilles I INTRODUCTION Thetis Dipping Achilles in the Styx The sea nymph Thetis is seen dipping her son Achilles in the River Styx to make him immortal. Only the heel by which she holds him remains untouched by the waters and thus vulnerable to injury. This sketch in oil on board by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens was one of a series of designs for tapestries illustrating the history of Achilles. It is now in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Francis G. Mayer/Corbis Achilles, in Greek mythology, greatest of the Greek warriors in the Trojan War. He was the son of the sea nymph Thetis and Peleus, king of the Myrmidons of Thessaly. When the Fates prophesied that Achilles would die in the Trojan War, Thetis attempted to make her infant son immortal. In one version of the story, Thetis rubbed Achilles with ambrosia and placed him in the hearth fire to make him immortal. According to a later legend, she bathed him in the River Styx. The waters made him invulnerable except for the heel by which his mother held him. The term Achilles heel has become popularized to refer to someone's or something's key weakness. II YOUTH The Anger of Achilles The youthful Greek warrior Achilles has just learned from Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, that he will not be allowed to marry Agamemnon's daughter, Iphigenia, shown dressed as a bride and being comforted by her tearful mother, Clytemnestra. To appease the goddess Artemis so that the Greek fleet can sail to Troy, Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter to her. French artist Jacques-Louis David based his painting The Anger of Achilles (1819) on the ancient Greek tragedy Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides. The painting now hangs in the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Kimbell Art Museum/Corbis While Achilles was growing up, the Greek armies were preparing for their assault on Troy in Asia Minor. Knowing that her son was fated to die if he took part in the war, Achilles's mother dressed him in women's clothing and sent him to Skyros to live among the young women in the court of King Lycomedes. Warned that they could not conquer Troy without the aid of Achilles, the Greeks sent Odysseus, king of Ithaca, to find him. Disguised as a peddler, Odysseus went to Skyros bearing a shield and a spear among his goods. When Achilles betrayed his identity by seizing the weapons, Odysseus persuaded him to join the Greek expedition to Troy. III THE TROJAN WAR Priam Reclaims the Body of Hector The relief sculpture on this ancient Roman sarcophagus, discovered in northwestern Greece, depicts an event from Homer's epic poem the Iliad. In this scene Priam, the king of Troy, reclaims the body of his son, Hector, from the Greek warrior Achilles, who has killed Hector in battle. Hector's recumbent body is seen in front of a chariot. Chris Hellier/Corbis Achilles fought many battles during the Greeks' ten-year siege of Troy. When the Mycenaean king Agamemnon seized the captive slave Briseis from him during the war, Achilles withdrew the Myrmidons from battle and sulked in his tent. The Trojans, emboldened by his absence, attacked the Greeks and drove them into headlong retreat. Then Patroclus, Achilles's friend and companion, begged Achilles to lend him his armor and let him lead the Myrmidons into battle. Achilles consented. Death of Achilles Achilles, a hero in Greek mythology, was invulnerable to injury except on one of his heels. His death from an arrow in the heel is depicted in this painting by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. The Death of Achilles (1630-1632) is in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Kavaler/Art Resource, NY Patroclus was killed by the Trojan prince Hector. Afterward the grief-stricken Achilles returned to battle, slew Hector, and dragged his body in triumph behind his chariot. Achilles fought his last battle with Memnon, king of the Ethiopians. After killing the king, Achilles led the Greeks to the walls of Troy. There he was mortally wounded in the heel by Paris, the Trojan prince whose abduction of Helen, queen of Sparta, started the Trojan War. The quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, the subsequent battle, and the ransoming of Hector's body are recounted in the Iliad, an ancient Greek epic poem attributed to the poet Homer. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.