(). In the legends about Achilles,
as about all the heroes of the Trojan war, the Homeric traditions should be carefully kept
apart from the various additions and embellishments with which the gaps of the ancient story
have been filled up by later poets and mythographers, not indeed by fabrications of their own,
but by adopting those supplementary details, by which oral tradition in the course of
centuries had variously altered and developed the original kernel of the story, or those
accounts which were peculiar only to certain localities.
Homeric story.
Achilles was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidones in Phthiotis, in Thessaly, and of
the Nereid Thetis. (Hom. Il. 20.206, &c.) From his
father's name he is often called Πηλείδης, Πηληϊάδης, or Πηλείων
(Hom. Il. 18.316; 1.1; 1.197; Verg. A. 2.263), and from
that of his grandfather Aeacus, he derived his name Aeacides (Αἰακίδης, Il. 2.860; Verg. A. 1.99). He was educated from his tender childhood by Phoenix, who taught him
eloquence and the arts of war, and accompanied him to the Trojan war, and to whom the hero
always shewed great attachment. (9.485, &c.; 438, &c.) In the healing art he was
instructed by Cheiron, the centaur. (11.832.) His mother Thetis foretold him that his fate
was either to gain glory and die early, or to live a long but inglorious life.
(9.410,&c.) The hero chose the latter, and took part in the Trojan war, from which he
knew that he was not to return. In fifty ships, or according to later traditions, in sixty
(Hyg. Fab. 97), he led his hosts of Myrmidones, Hellenes, and
Achaeans against Troy. (2.681, &c., 16.168.) Here the swift-footed Achilles was the great
bulwark of the Greeks, and the worthy favourite of Athena and Hera. (1.195, 208.) Previous to
his dispute with Agamemnon, he ravaged the country around Troy, and destroyed twelve towns on
the coast and eleven in the interior of the country. (9.328, &c.) When Agamemnon was
obliged to give up Chryseis to her father, he threatened to take away Briseis from Achilles,
who surrendered her on the persuasion of Athena, but at the same time refused to take any
further part in the war, and shut himself up in his tent. Zeus, on the entreaty of Thetis,
promised that victory should be on the side of the Trojans, until the Achaeans should have
honoured her son. (1.26, to the end.) The affairs of the Greeks declined in consequence, and
they were at last pressed so hard, that Agamemnon advised them to take to flight. (9.17,
&c.) But other chiefs opposed this counsel, and an embassy was sent to Achilles, offering
him rich presents and the restoration of Briseis (9.119, &c.); but in vain. At last,
however, he was persuaded by Patroclus, his dearest friend, to allow him to make use of his
men, his horses, and his armour. (16.49, &c.) Patroclus was slain, and when this news
reached Achilles, he was seized with unspeakable grief. Thetis consoled him, and promised new
arms, which were to be made by Hephaestus, and Iris appeared to rouse him from his
lamentations, and exhorted him to rescue the body of Patroclus. (18.166, &c.) Achilles
now rose, and his thundering voice alone put the Trojans to flight. When his new armour was
brought to him, he reconciled himself to Agamemnon, and hurried to the field of battle,
disdaining to take any drink or food until the death of his friend should be avenged.
(19.155, &c.) He wounded and slew numbers of Trojans (xx. xxi.), and at length met
Hector, whom he chased thrice around the walls of the city. He then slew him, tied his body
to his chariot, and dragged him to the ships of the Greeks. (xxii.) After this, he burnt the
body of Patroclus, together with twelve young captive Trojans, who were sacrificed to appease
the spirit of his friend; and subsequently gave up the body of Hector to Priam, who came in
person to beg for it. (xxiii. xxiv.) Achilles himself fell in the battle at the Scaean gate,
before Troy was taken. His death itself does not occur in the
Iliad, but it is
alluded to in a few passages. (22.358, &c., 21.278, &c.) It is expressly mentioned in
the Odyssey (24.36), &c.), where it is
said that his fall--his conqueror is not mentioned--was lamented by gods and men, that his
remains together with those of Patroclus were buried in a golden urn which Dionysus had given
as a present to Thetis, and were deposited in a place on the coast of the Hellespont, where a
mound was raised over them. Achilles is the principal hero of the Iliad, and
the poet dwells upon the delineation of his character with love and admiration, feelings in
which his readers cannot but sympathise with him. Achilles is the handsomest and bravest of
all the Greeks; he is affectionate towards his mother and his friends, formidable in battles,
which are his delight; open-hearted and without fear, and at the same time susceptible to the
gentle and quiet joys of home. His greatest passion is ambition, and when his sense of honour
is hurt, he is unrelenting in his revenge and anger, but withal submits obediently to the
will of the gods.
Later traditions.
These chiefly consist in accounts which fill up the history of his youth and death. His
mother wishing to make her son immortal, is said to have concealed him by night in fire, in
order to destroy the mortal parts he had inherited from his father, and by day she anointed
him with ambrosia. But Peleus one night discovered his child in the fire, and cried out in
terror. Thetis left her son and fled, and Peleus entrusted him to Cheiron, who educated and
instructed him in the arts of riding, hunting, and playing the phorminx, and also changed his
original name, Ligyron, i. e. the "whining," into Achilles. (Pind. N. 3.51, &c.; Orph. Argon. 395;
Apollon. 4.813; Stat. Achil. 1.269,
&c.; Apollod. 3.13.6, &c.) Cheiron fed his pupil
with the hearts of lions and the marrow of bears. According to other accounts, Thetis
endeavoured to make Achilles immortal by dipping him in the river Styx, and succeeded with
the exception of the ankles, by which she held him (Fulgent. Mythol.
3.7; Stat. Achill. 1.269), while others again state that she put him in
boiling water to test his immortality, and that he was found immortal except at the ankles.
From his sixth year he fought with lions and bears, and caught stags without dogs or nets.
The muse Calliope gave him the power of singing to cheer his friends at banquets. (Philostr.
Her. 19.2.) When he had reached the age of nine, Calchas declared that
Troy could not be taken without his aid, and Thetis knowing that this war would be fatal to
him, disguised him as a maiden, and introduced him among the daughters of Lycomedes of
Scyros, where he was called by the name of Pyrrha on account of his golden locks. But his
real character did not remain concealed long, for one of his companions, Deidameia, became
mother of a son, Pyrrhus or Neoptolemus, by him. The Greeks at last discovered
his place of concealment, and an embassy was sent to Lycomedes, who, though he denied the
presence of Achilles, yet allowed the messengers to search his palace. Odysseus discovered
the young hero by a stratagem, and Achilles immediately promised his assistance to the
Greeks. (Apollod. l.c.;Hyg. Fab. 96; Stat. Achil. 2.200.) A
different account of his stay in Scyros is given by Plutarch (Plut.
Thes. 35) and Philostratus. (Her. 19.3.)
Respecting his conduct towards Iphigeneia at Aulis, see AGAMEMNON, IPHIGENEIA.
During the war against Troy, Achilles slew Penthesileia, an Amazon, but was deeply moved
when he discovered her beauty; and when Thersites ridiculed him for his tenderness of heart,
Achilles killed the scoffer by a blow with the fist. (Q. Smyrn. 1.669, &c.; Paus. 5.11.2; comp. Soph. Philoct. 445; Lycoph.
Cas. 999; Tzetzes, Posthom. 199.) He also fought
with Memnon and Troilus. (Q. Smyrn. 2.480, &c.; Hyg. Fab.
112; Verg. A. 1.474, &c.) The accounts of his
death differ very much, though all agree in stating that he did not fall by human hands, or
at least not without the interference of the god Apollo. According to some traditions, he was
killed by Apollo himself (Soph. Philoct. 334; Q. Smyrn. 3.62; Hor. Carm. 4.6.3, &c.), as he had been foretold. (Hom. Il. 21.278.) According to Hyginus (Hyg. Fab. 107), Apollo assumed the appearance of Paris in killing him, while others
say that Apollo merely directed the weapon of Paris against Achilles, and thus caused his
death, as had been suggested by the dying Hector. (Verg. A.
6.57 ; Ov. Met. 12.601, &c.; Hom. Il. 22.358, &c.) Dictys Cretensis (3.29) relates his
death thus : Achilles loved Polyxena, a daughter of Priam, and tempted by the promise that he
should receive her as his wife, if he would join the Trojans, he went without arms into the
temple of Apollo at Thymbra, and was assassinated there by Paris. (Comp. Philostr. Her. 19.11; Hyg. Fab. 107 and 110; Dares
Phryg. 34; Q. Smyrn. 3.50; Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 307.) His body was rescued
by Odysseus and Ajax the Telamonian; his armour was promised by Thetis to the bravest among
the Greeks, which gave rise to a contest between the two heroes who had rescued his body.
[AJAX.]
After his death, Achilles became one of the judges in the lower world, and dwelled in the
islands of the blessed, where he was united with Medeia or Iphigeneia. The fabulous island of
Leuce in the Euxine was especially sacred to him, and was called Achillea, because, according
to some reports, it contained his body. (Mela, 2.7; Schol. ad Pind. Nem.
4.49; Paus. 3.19.11.) Achilles was worshipped as one of the
national heroes of Greece. The Thessalians, at the command of the oracle of Dodona, offered
annual sacrifices to him in Troas. (Philostr. Her. 19.14.) In the
ancient gymnasium at Olympia there was a cenotaph, at which certain solemnities were
performed before the Olympic games commenced. (Paus. 6.23.2.)
Sanctuaries of Achilles existed on the road from Arcadia to Sparta (Paus. 3.20.8), on cape Sigeum in Troas (Strab. xi.
p.494), and other places. The events of his life were frequently represented in
ancient works of art. (Böttiger, Vasengemälde, iii. p. 144,
&c.; Museum Clement. 1.52, ? 17; Villa Borg. 1.9; Mus. Nap. 2.59.)