Written by: Calli DeManiro
Issue: #004
Hello all and welcome to Out of the Ruins, We Go! 's fourth post. This blog is all about ancient Greek minor and major gods/goddesses, heroes, myths, and more! I'll be sharing some facts about their backgrounds, and then other fun facts about them!
For this week's article, we're going to be learning about the fast, the powerful, the legend himself... Achilles!
So, you might already know this myth about Achilles and his heel. But if you don't, well, today's your lucky day!
Achielles is the son of a mortal named Peleus, and the sea nymph, Thetis. He was said to be the greatest warrior of the Agamemnon army.
Thetis wanted to make her child invinsible. Therefore, she dipped him into the River Styx. However, Thetis didn't realize that by holding onto his heel, she never makes his heel invincible. The heel then became his vulnerable part. This leads to the saying, if you have a weak heel, you have an "Achilles heel."
It was later said that Peleus received an oracle saying that his son would soon die fighting in Troy. He then sent Achilles to the court of Lycomedes on Scyros, where he dressed like a girl (during that time he even had a child with a woman named Deïdamia! The child was named Neoptolemus!).
After hearing that Troy could not be taken down without the help of Achilles, Greek search far and wide for him. They eventually tracked him down.
After letting Patrolclus, Achielles' lover, impersonate him, Hector, the eldest son of King Priam of Troy, slew Patroclus. Achilles, heartbroken, received new armor from the god Hephaestus and slew Hector. He gave Priam Hector's body after having dragged it around on his chariot.
The book, the Iliad includes details about Hector's funeral rites. There isn't any mentions of Achielles' death, however, there is some in the Oddessy (both books written by Homer).
He was later killed by Priam's son, Paris, whose arrow was guided to Achilles' weak spot, his heel, by the god himself, Apollo (that was Out the Ruins, We Go!'s last post, go check it out!)
Now, let's get onto the fun facts!
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The reason Apollo guiding Paris' arrow - the one that killed Achilles - was because Achilles killed one of Apollo's many children.
Achielles' father, Peleus, was the king of Myrmidons! And even though his mother was a sea nymph, she was immortal and his father not, therefore Achilles was considered a demi-god.
At one point during the Trojan War, Achilles captured a beautiful princess named Briseis. He even fell in love with her! However, Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army, soon became angry with him. So angry that he took Briseis away from him! Achilles became depressed and refused to fight in the war.
In the book Aethiopis, written by the poet Arctinus, said that Achilles said the Ethiopian king, Memnon. He also killed the queen of the Amazons,
And that is all I have for you guys today. I hope to see you soon!
