How did achilles die
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Who Was Achilles? Greek Mythology’s Greatest Warrior
Achilles, the central figure in Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, has become a cultural icon, renowned for his obstinate bravery, his unrelenting pursuit of glory, and his supernatural abilities. However, his flaws are equally significant, including his pride, wrath, and the pain that drives his motivations. His story is embedded within the context of the Trojan War, a conflict that pitted the Greeks against the Trojans. Homer’s use of his character particularly sheds light on the complicated nature of heroism, the moral dilemmas produced by war, and the tension between the individual and the collective.
How Was Achilles Born?
Achilles was the son of the powerful sea goddess, Thetis, and the renowned king of Phthia, Peleus. It was told that Thetis was courted by many suitors, all of whom she rejected, fearing that her offspring with a mortal man would be weaker than her. In an attempt to avoid marriage, she transformed into various shapes, including a bird, a tree, and even a river, but Peleus eventually won her hea
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In Greek mythology, Achilles (also Akhilleus or Achilleus; Ancient Greek: Άχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the central character and greatest warrior of Homer's epic poem Iliad, which takes for its theme, not the War of Troy in its entirety, but specifically the Wrath of Achilles.
Later legends (beginning with a poem by Statius in the first century C.E.) state that Achilles was invulnerable on all of his body except for his heel. These legends state that Achilles was killed in battle by an arrow to the heel, and so an Achilles' heel has come to mean a person's only weakness.
Achilles is also famous for being the most 'handsome' of the heroes assembled at Troy,[1] as well as the fleetest. Central to his myth is his relationship with Patroclus, characterized in different sources as deep friendship or love. The persistence of the Achilles myth witnesses to the human need for heroes, whose skills, courage and endurance spur others to emulate their fea
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Achilles: Early Life
Like most mythological heroes, Achilles had a complicated family tree. His father was Peleus, the mortal king of the Myrmidons–a people who, according to legend, were extraordinarily fearless and skilled soldiers. His mother was Thetis, a Nereid.
According to myths and stories composed long after the Iliad, Thetis was extraordinarily concerned about her baby son’s mortality. She did everything she could to make him immortal: She burned him over a fire every night, then dressed his wounds with ambrosial ointment; and she dunked him into the River Styx, whose waters were said to confer the invulnerability of the gods. However, she gripped him tightly by the foot as she dipped him into the river–so tightly that the water never touched his heel. As a result, Achilles was invulnerable everywhere but there.
When he was 9 years old, a seer predicted that Achilles would die heroically in battle against the Trojans. When she heard about this, Thetis disguised him as a girl and sent him to live on the Aegean island of Skyros. To be a great warrior was Achilles’ fa
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