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Back to Subjects - Mythology

Achilles

Achilles Achilles was the half god, half mortal who was the hero of the Trojan War. His mother was the Nereid Thetis, who is known for her many interventions in the affairs of both gods and mortals. His Father was Peleus, a mortal, but it took a while for his mother and father to get together. Nereid had many offers from the gods Zeus and Poseidon, who were brothers, but she refused both of them. Some say she refused Zeus because Hera had raised Thetis when she was a child, but this angered Zeus and to punish Thetis he commanded that she would not marry a god but a mortal. Thetis was not happy to wed a mere mortal and complained that it was an insult to her status. So when Peleus tried to claim his bride she refused him and changed her form, first into a bird, then a tree, and finally into a tigress, scaring Peleus letting her go. Proteus, a son of Poseidon, instructed Peleus to not let go of Thetis no matter what form she took. When Thetis turned into fire and water Peleus still held on, and, in admiration of his perseverance, she finally agreed to be his wife. Ironically, the wedding of Thetis and Peleus was the cause of the Trojan War, the war in which Achilles died in. Seeing how Achilles was half god and half mortal, his mother wanted him to me immortal. So she took him to the river Styx , which was a river found in the underworld and anyone who bathed in it became invulnerable. She dipped Achilles in the river, holding him by his ankle, which was eventually the cause of his death. Some other theories on how Achilles became immortal are that “Thetis would hold him over the fire to get rid of the mortal elements inherited from Peleus, and that in the daytime she would anoint his body with Ambrosia”. Peleus was said to have caught Thetis doing this to their infant child and when he did he got very angry with Thetis and she ran out on both of them. “Peleus chanced upon his infant son in the fire one night and freaked out on Thetis. In disgust she tossed down the child and left both him and Peleus, rejoining her fellow Nereid’s. Thetis never stopped caring for her son, however, and always kept an eye out for his welfare.”(Internet) Since his wife was gone, Peleus sent his son to the famous Centaur, Chiron where he learned how to become the man he was. To attain all these great skill he had, Achilles was sent to Mount Pelion. On Mount Pelion Achilles was fed meat from lions and wild boars, and the marrow of bears to give him courage. A diet of honey-comb and fawn's marrow made him a fast runner. Chiron taught Achilles the arts of riding, hunting, archery, pipe-playing, healing and more. Achilles was still a young child while learning all of these things too. At the young age of six, he had killed his first wild boar and soon thereafter brought home wild game every night. After a few years, when Achilles was nine years old, the prophet Calchas said that the Greeks would never overthrow Troy without the help of Achilles. Knowing that her son would either die as a young man or live to be a prosperous man she sent him away to Lycomedes, king of Scyros. He did not like the fact he had to dress like a girl, but because he was it made it easier to get to the kings daughter, Diedameia. What started out as an affair turned into love and Diedameia became pregnant. Before he was sent off to defend the Greek at age fifteen, he and Diedameia married. Achilles took over fifty ships with him to Aulis to join his fellow Greeks, he was also told by his mother that the first person to set foot on the ground when they land would die. Listening to his mother Achilles avoided being the first to set foot on Tojan soil. The first person to set foot was an unlucky man by the name of Protesilaus. Before he died though, Protesilaus killed many Trojans. Achilles was a brave warrior taking down many towns and killing many, many men. He quit the war for a while though because of Agamemnon who took away the slave girl Briseis, who was Achilles lover at the time. Agamemnon finally came around and gave back Briseis. This still did not please Achilles who was sulking around in his tent all the time. Seeing that his ships were being burned down though, he gave his armor to his best friend Patroclus. Patroclus took the armor and fought very bravely for a while until his death by the hands of Hector, who took the armor for himself. When Achilles learned about the death of his friend, he became enraged and vowed revenge. He went to his mother and asked her to get him some more armor from the god of smiths, Hephaestus. He received his armor, headed back into battle, and went looking for Hector. Hector, thinking that because Achilles had been sitting around so long he would be out of shape, decided that he was going to run around the city of Troy and wear out Achilles. His plan backfired and he had to fight Achilles instead. He was slain and Achilles friend was avenged. Achilles was still unhappy though, so he drug the body of Hector around Troy by his horses three times. Then after Patroclus was buried, Achilles took Hectors body and drug it around Patroclus’s tomb three times every night. Soon after that Achilles went back to war and caused much more destruction to the Trojan army. The gods Apollo and Poseidon had other plans for Achilles though, they sought out Paris, who shot Achilles in the ankle, his only vulnerable spot, with a poisoned arrow. His body was burned on a pyre on the eighteenth day and his ashes were mixed with Patroclus’s ashes and put in a golden urn made by Hephaestus and buried at Sigaeum. But Thetis took Achilles' soul from the pyre and brought it to the island of Leuce, where he rejoined his dead friends, including Patroclus. Achilles was a great warrior with only one flaw, like many other warriors and great men, they are all perfect except one little flaw. Achilles was almost as great a hero as Hercules was. They were taught by the same guy to do the same things, but the only difference is that Hercules dad is Zeus, so he was the mightiest half-mortal, half-god there ever was. He was even mightier than some of the gods, just like Achilles was. What was really amazing is what Achilles was doing when he was so young. The fact that he could kill a wild boar at the age of only six is down right impossible to any normal person. He was probably the mightiest warrior that had ever lived during his time. The fact that he fought for ten years straight and never died or got tired of fighting proves how he loved fighting. The only reason he quit was for a girl, he was so depressed that he wouldn’t fight, and if he wouldn’t fight, then his men weren’t going fight either. He shows his true loyalty to his friends when he vowes to avenge his death. He is my kind of real hero. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1252