After the death of Hector, the Trojans, with their best fighter dead, call on their allies to help them defeat the Greeks. The Ethiopian King Memnon brings his army to support the Trojans, but is killed by Achilles in battle. Achilles also faces the Amazons — the tribe of female warriors — and fights their leader, Queen Penthesilea. At the moment Achilles kills her with his spear, their eyes meet and he falls in love with her, too late.
Achilles is killed by an arrow, shot by the Trojan prince Paris. In most versions of the story, the god Apollo is said to have guided the arrow into his vulnerable spot, his heel. In one version of the myth Achilles is scaling the walls of Troy and about to sack the city when he is shot. In other accounts he is marrying the Trojan princess Polyxena and supposedly negotiating an end to the war when Paris fires the shot that kills him.
After his death, Achilles is cremated, and his ashes are mixed with those of his dear friend Patroclus. The Odyssey describes a huge tomb of Achilles on the beach at Troy, and Odysseus meets Achilles during his visit to the underworld, among a group of dead heroes.
For the ancient Greeks he was an archetypal hero who embodied the human condition. Despite his greatness he was still mortal and fated to die. A hero cult for Achilles developed in several areas across Greece where he was venerated and worshipped like a god.
For the Romans, Achilles was on the one hand a model of military prowess but also, for poets such as Horace and Catullus, an archetype of brutality. By the medieval period, Achilles provided a model of how not to behave.
Changes to the narrative in the markedly pro-Trojan versions of the myth that were dominant at this time made Achilles into a cowardly scoundrel who destroyed himself through his lustful passions.
In the Renaissance, when there was a renewal of interest in the classical world accompanying the reintroduction of Greek texts into western Europe, Achilles regained interest as a more complex character. By the early 19th century, the period of Romanticism, he was the perfect hero, embodying a life given over to emotion, and beauty doomed to ruin. A neoclassical sculpture of the period, The Wounded Achilles , shows the perfection of his body even in his dying moments.
Achilles has also served as a heroic justification for the sacrifice of soldiers as well as a symbol of the destruction and brutality of war. Achilles may be a killing machine but he is nevertheless deeply human and that is, perhaps, why his story is still compelling after more than 3, years.
Buy the book accompanying the exhibition here. Map Data. Terms of Use. Report a map error. Exhibitions and events Who was Achilles? The Greek hero Achilles is one of the most famous figures in Greek myth and a key character in the Trojan War. British Museum 15 October Achilles was the son of Peleus, a Greek king, and Thetis, a sea nymph or goddess.
Terracotta relief showing Peleus and Thetis, c. Thetis tries to resist marriage to Peleus by transforming her body into powerful elements such as fire and wild beasts, here a lion.
Why was Achilles raised by a centaur? Achilles instructed by Chiron in the Management of the Javelin. What does Odysseus learn from Achilles in Hades? Is Achilles a hero or a villain? Why is Achilles so angry? What bad things did Achilles do? Why is Achilles so angry with Hector?
What is Achilles most famous for? What are the 3 types of Achilles tendon surgeries called? Did Hector and Achilles really fight? Did Achilles know his weakness? Why didnt Achilles get dipped twice? Previous Article What does Odysseus find out about his mom? You can help Hades Wiki by expanding it. I see no reason to regale you with stories of my past. Suffice it that I fought, as bravely as I could, alongside many of the finest men the world has ever known. I buried far too many of them, and sent many others to this place, where now at last we are all peers.
I am fortunate that the Master of the House took pity upon me, and spared me from eternal boredom in Elysium with an existence closer to the times when I still lived, and had a job to do. Yet, I am unmade, unwhole, here in this place; alone, without the one with whom I shared my life when we were flesh and blood. He is somewhere within this realm, yet our time, I think, is long since passed. But, I have made mistakes before So many!
Surely, in believing this, I could be making yet another? The infinite awaits. Given limitless time Yet, our finite mortal time both limits us and spurs our actions. Thus, now, I am always of two minds. Categories Stubs Characters Add category. Cancel Save. Universal Conquest Wiki. Good to see you, lad, despite the circumstances.
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