"likely anatomical basis for Achilles's death, assuming an unpoisoned dart, would have been an injury to his posterior tibial artery behind the medial malleolus, in between the tendons of the flexor digitorum longus and the posterior tibial vein. This area could also have been included in Thetis's grip. Achilles' heel An Achilles' heel is a weakness in spite of overall strength, which can lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common. In Greek mythology, when Achilles was a baby, it was foretold"
"mother of Achilles, but there is some evidence that as the sea-goddess she played a more central role in the religious beliefs and practices of Archaic Greece. The pre-modern etymology of her name, from ""tithemi"" (τίθημι), ""to set up, establish,"" suggests a perception among Classical Greeks of an early political role. Walter Burkert considers her name a transformed doublet of Tethys. In ""Iliad"" I, Achilles recalls to his mother her role in defending, and thus legitimizing, the reign of Zeus against an incipient rebellion by three Olympians, each of whom has pre-Olympian roots: You alone of all the gods saved"
"them both from Aegina. Endeïs In Greek mythology, Queen Endeïs (; Ancient Greek: Ενδηίς or Ενδαΐς) was the wife of King Aeacus and mother of the heroes Telamon and Peleus (since Peleus was the father of Achilles, Endeïs was Achilles's grandmother). The name is a dialect variant of Engaios (""Ἐγγαῖος"", ""in the earth""). Endeïs was either the daughter of Chiron and the nymph Chariclo; the daughter of Pandion of Athens; or the daughter of the Megarian warlord Sciron. In some versions, Endeïs's father, Sciron, married her to Aeacus after he declared Sciron the military leader of Megara. Endeïs hated her"
"Endeïs In Greek mythology, Queen Endeïs (; Ancient Greek: Ενδηίς or Ενδαΐς) was the wife of King Aeacus and mother of the heroes Telamon and Peleus (since Peleus was the father of Achilles, Endeïs was Achilles's grandmother). The name is a dialect variant of Engaios (""Ἐγγαῖος"", ""in the earth""). Endeïs was either the daughter of Chiron and the nymph Chariclo; the daughter of Pandion of Athens; or the daughter of the Megarian warlord Sciron. In some versions, Endeïs's father, Sciron, married her to Aeacus after he declared Sciron the military leader of Megara. Endeïs hated her stepson Phocus, Aeacus's son"
"son of Nestor and a great favourite of Achilles. Achilles then kills Memnon, and Zeus makes Memnon immortal at Eos' request. But in his rage Achilles pursues the Trojans into the very gates of Troy, and at the Scaean Gates he is killed by an arrow shot by Paris, assisted by the god Apollo. Achilles' body is rescued by Ajax and Odysseus. The Greeks hold a funeral for Antilochus. Achilles' mother, the sea nymph Thetis, comes with her sisters and the Muses to lament over Achilles' body. Funeral games are held in honour of Achilles, at which Achilles' armor and"
"tomb of Achilles. However, some details in the pictorial evidence of the sacrifice hint at varying and perhaps earlier versions of the myth. For instance, some images appear to show Polyxena sacrificed over an altar, rather than a tomb, and one sarcophagus relief, from Gümüşçay, dated to c. 500 BC shows a tripod placed next to the tomb. These details have been interpreted as indicating an association between the burial mound of Achilles and sacred ground dedicated to Apollo. Polyxena In Greek mythology, Polyxena (; Greek: ) was the youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen, Hecuba."
"Damysus (Giant) Damysus or Damysos (), was the fastest of all the Giants in the Greek mythology. In the sixth book of the ""New History"", ascribed by Photius to Ptolemy Hephaestion, mention that Thetis, the mother of Achilles, burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus, but when she had Achilles, Peleus noticed and tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot. Then confided him to centaur Chiron. Later Chiron exhumed the body of the Damysus who was buried at Pallene, removed the ankle and incorporated it into Achilles burnt foot. The ankle fell when"
"were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles). Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited. She was annoyed at this, so she arrived with a golden apple inscribed with the word καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, ""for the fairest""), which she threw among the goddesses. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all claimed to be the fairest, and thus the rightful owner of the apple. The goddesses chose to place the matter before Zeus, who, not wanting to favor one of the goddesses, put the choice into the hands of Paris, a Trojan prince. After bathing in the"
"nearly drowning Achilles. According to Hesiod, there were also three thousand Oceanids. These included: Metis, Zeus' first wife, whom Zeus impregnated with Athena and then swallowed; Eurynome, Zeus' third wife, and mother of the Charites; Doris, the wife of Nereus and mother of the Nereids; Callirhoe, the wife of Chrysaor and mother of Geryon; Clymene, the wife of Iapetus, and mother of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus; Perseis, wife of Helios and mother of Circe and Aeetes; Idyia, wife of Aeetes and mother of Medea; and Styx, goddess of the river Styx, and the wife of Pallas and mother of"
"mother Thetis having treated him with ambrosia and burned away his mortality in the hearth fire except on the heel, by which she held him. Peleus, his father, discovered the treatment and was alarmed to see Thetis holding the baby in the flames, which offended her and made her leave the treatment incomplete. According to a myth arising later, his mother had dipped the infant Achilles in the river Styx, holding onto him by his heel, and he became invulnerable where the waters touched him—that is, everywhere except the areas of his heel that were covered by her thumb and"
"oceans off the Greek coast, would become greater than his father. Possibly for this reasons, Thetis was betrothed to an elderly human king, Peleus son of Aeacus, either upon Zeus' orders, or because she wished to please Hera, who had raised her. All the gods and goddesses as well as various mortals were invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (the eventual parents of Achilles) and brought many gifts. Only Eris, goddess of discord, was not invited and was stopped at the door by Hermes, on Zeus' order. She was annoyed at this, so she threw from the door"
"Acacallis (mythology) Acacallis (Ancient Greek: Ἀκακαλλίς means ""unwalled"") in Greek mythology, was princess of Crete. The ""Bibliotheca"" calls her Acalle (Greek: Ἀκάλλη). Acacallis was the daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and Pasiphae or Crete. She was the sister Ariadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus and Xenodice. According to a Cretan mythological tradition, she bore a son to Hermes, Cydon, the founder of Cydonia. Other traditions give Cydon as the offspring of Acacallis and Apollo. Yet others wrote that Acacallis mothered Cydon with Hermes, and Naxos (eponym of the island Naxos) with Apollo. Another tradition relates that Acacallis and Apollo"
"the greatest of all mortal warriors. After Calchas' prophesy, Thetis hid Achilles in Skyros at the court of King Lycomedes, where he was disguised as a girl. At a crucial point in the war, she assists her son by providing weapons divinely forged by Hephaestus (see below). The most beautiful woman in the world was Helen, one of the daughters of Tyndareus, King of Sparta. Her mother was Leda, who had been either raped or seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan. Accounts differ over which of Leda's four children, two pairs of twins, were fathered by Zeus"
"Aega (mythology) In Greek mythology, Aega (Greek: ) or Pine or Cynosura or Melissa was, according to Hyginus, a daughter of Olenus, who was a descendant of Hephaestus. Aega and her sister Helice nursed the infant Zeus in Crete, and the former was afterwards changed by the god into the constellation called Capella. According to other traditions mentioned by Hyginus, Aega was a daughter of Melisseus, king of Crete, and was chosen to suckle the infant Zeus; but as she was found unable to do it, the service was performed by the goat Amalthea. Hyginus also reports a tradition that"
"in battle or securing a victory in the Olympic Games were considered ""agathos"" (good) and, hence, deserving of ""timê"" (honor). So, not only is Achilles a brave and brilliant warrior but also, from the outset, he is destined to die in battle at Troy with the utmost glory—a guarantor of Arete. Arete was occasionally personified as a goddess, the sister of Homonoia (not to be confused with Harmonia), and the daughter of the goddess of justice, Praxidike. Arete and Homonoia were known jointly as the ""Praxidikai"" (Exacters of Justice). As with many minor Greek deities, there is little or no"
"Achlys Achlys ( ""mist"" or ""darkness"") is an ancient Greek goddess, symbol mist of death; in Greek mythology, according to some ancient cosmogonies, is the eternal Night before Chaos. If Achlys was a daughter of Nyx (Night) then she may have been numbered amongst the Keres. According to Hesiod, Achlys was the personification of misery and sadness, and as such she was represented on the shield of Heracles: pale, emaciated, and weeping, with chattering teeth, swollen knees, long nails on her fingers, bloody cheeks, and her shoulders thickly covered with dust. She may also have been the goddess of deadly"
"to the goat which was believed to have suckled the infant Zeus in Crete. Aega (mythology) In Greek mythology, Aega (Greek: ) or Pine or Cynosura or Melissa was, according to Hyginus, a daughter of Olenus, who was a descendant of Hephaestus. Aega and her sister Helice nursed the infant Zeus in Crete, and the former was afterwards changed by the god into the constellation called Capella. According to other traditions mentioned by Hyginus, Aega was a daughter of Melisseus, king of Crete, and was chosen to suckle the infant Zeus; but as she was found unable to do it,"
"his brother Poseidon made arrangements for her to marry a human, Peleus, son of Aeacus, but she refused him. Proteus, an early sea-god, advised Peleus to find the sea nymph when she was asleep and bind her tightly to keep her from escaping by changing forms. She did shift shapes, becoming flame, water, a raging lioness, and a serpent. Peleus held fast. Subdued, she then consented to marry him. Thetis is the mother of Achilles by Peleus, who became king of the Myrmidons. According to classical mythology, the wedding of Thetis and Peleus was celebrated on Mount Pelion, outside the"
"her resistance to the advances of Zeus. Zeus was furious and decreed that she would never marry an immortal. According to the ""Achilleid"", written by Statius in the 1st century AD, and to non-surviving previous sources, when Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx. However, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him: his left heel (see Achilles' heel, Achilles' tendon). It is not clear if this version of events was known earlier. In another version of this story, Thetis anointed the boy in"
"The Shield of Achilles The Shield of Achilles is a poem by W. H. Auden first published in 1952, and the title work of a collection of poems by Auden, published in 1955. It is Auden's response to the detailed description, or ""ekphrasis"", of the shield borne by the hero Achilles in Homer's epic poem the ""Iliad"". Auden's poem is written in two different stanza forms, one form with shorter lines, the other with longer lines. The stanzas with shorter lines describe the making of the shield by the god Hephaestus, and report the scenes that Achilles' mother, the Nereid"
"from the loins to feet underneath. Achlys Achlys ( ""mist"" or ""darkness"") is an ancient Greek goddess, symbol mist of death; in Greek mythology, according to some ancient cosmogonies, is the eternal Night before Chaos. If Achlys was a daughter of Nyx (Night) then she may have been numbered amongst the Keres. According to Hesiod, Achlys was the personification of misery and sadness, and as such she was represented on the shield of Heracles: pale, emaciated, and weeping, with chattering teeth, swollen knees, long nails on her fingers, bloody cheeks, and her shoulders thickly covered with dust. She may also"
"body. She was interrupted by Peleus and she abandoned both father and son in a rage, leaving his heel vulnerable. A nearly identical story is told by Plutarch, in his ""On Isis and Osiris"", of the goddess Isis burning away the mortality of Prince Maneros of Byblos, son of Queen Astarte, and being likewise interrupted before completing the process. Later on in life, Achilles is killed by Paris when he is shot in his vulnerable spot, the heel. This is where the term ""Achilles' heel"" is derived from. Peleus gave Achilles to the centaur Chiron, to raise on Mt. Pelion,"
"Artemis Artemis (; Artemis, ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals and chastity. Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the patron and protector of young girls, and was believed to bring disease upon women and relieve them of it. In later Hellenistic times, she even assumed the role of Eileithyia in aiding women during childbirth. Much like Athena and Hestia, Artemis preferred to remain a maiden and is sworn never to marry. Artemis was one of the most widely"
"Achilles later sacked, killing her father Eetion and seven brothers. After this, her mother died of illness (6.425). She was taken from her father's household by Hector, who had brought countless wedding-gifts (22.470-72). Thus Priam’s household alone provides Andromache with her only familial support. In contrast to the inappropriate relationship of Paris and Helen, Hector and Andromache fit the Greek ideal of a happy and productive marriage, which heightens the tragedy of their shared misfortune. Once Achilles kills Hector, Andromache is utterly alone. Andromache is therefore completely alone when Troy falls and her son is killed. Notably, Andromache remains unnamed"
"Echidna (mythology) In Greek mythology, Echidna (; , ""She-Viper"") was a monster, half-woman and half-snake, who lived alone in a cave. She was the mate of the fearsome monster Typhon and was the mother of monsters, including many of the most famous monsters of Greek myth. Echidna's family tree varies by author. The oldest genealogy relating to Echidna, Hesiod's ""Theogony"" (c. 8th – 7th century BC), is unclear on several points. According to Hesiod, Echidna was born to a ""she"" who was probably meant by Hesiod to be the sea goddess Ceto, making Echidna's likely father the sea god Phorcys;"
"held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles). However, Eris, goddess of discord was not invited, for it was believed she would have made the party unpleasant for everyone. Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the celebration with a golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides, which she threw into the proceedings as a prize of beauty. According to some later versions, upon the apple was the inscription ""καλλίστῃ"" (""kallistēi"", ""To/for the fairest one""). Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge which of them"
"of the ""Aeneid"" reveals a prophecy for Aeneas by the Sibyl of Cumae stating that a Latin-born Achilles, who is also the son of a goddess (""Aeneid"", Book VI, lines 89–90), exists. There are many scholarly debates on who this Latin-born Achilles is, whether he is Aeneas, Turnus, or some other character, and if so, is the opponent symbolic of another character from the ""Iliad""? If comparing Aeneas to Achilles and Turnus to Hector, several parallels can be drawn. One example is when Aeneas is absent from the battlefield, Turnus lays waste to the Trojan army, just as Hector did"
"Apollo in building the walls of Troy. Through him Aegina was the great-grandmother of Achilles, who was son of Peleus, son of Aeacus. It was often said that Zeus took the form of an eagle (or a great flame in Ovid's telling) and abducted Aegina, taking her to an island near Attica, then called Oenone; henceforth known by her name. Aegina's father Asopus chased after them; his search took him to Corinth, where Sisyphus was king. Sisyphus, having chanced to see a great bird bearing a maiden away to a nearby island, informed Asopus. Though Asopus pursued them, Zeus threw"
"Leto In Greek mythology, Leto (; ""Lētṓ""; Λατώ, ""Lātṓ"" in Doric Greek) is a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, the sister of Asteria. The island of Kos is claimed as her birthplace. In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, which Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eyes of Zeus. Classical Greek myths record little about Leto other than her pregnancy and her search for a place where she could give birth to Apollo and Artemis, since Hera in her jealousy caused all lands to shun her. Finally, she"
"resulted in the deaths of six of his men. Later, stranded on a raft, Odysseus was swept back through the strait and passed near Charybdis. His raft was sucked into her maw, but he survived by clinging to a fig tree growing on a rock over her lair. On the next outflow of water, when his raft was expelled, Odysseus recovered it and paddled away safely. The Argonauts were able to avoid both dangers because Hera ordered the Nereid nymph Thetis, Achilles' mother, to guide them through the perilous passage. Aristotle mentions in his ""Meteorologica"" that Aesop once teased a"
"Achilles for the return of Hector's body so that he can be buried. Achilles relents and promises a truce for the duration of the funeral. The poem ends with a description of Hector's funeral, with the doom of Troy and Achilles himself still to come. The ""Aethiopis"" (7th century BC) and a work named ""Posthomerica"", composed by Quintus of Smyrna in the fourth century AD, relate further events from the Trojan War. When Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares, arrives in Troy, Priam hopes that she will defeat Achilles. After his temporary truce with Priam, Achilles fights"
"was present at the birth of Athena and wields the axe with which he split Zeus' head to free her. In the latter account, Hephaestus is there represented as older than Athena, so the mythology of Hephaestus is inconsistent in this respect. In one branch of Greek mythology, Hera ejected Hephaestus from the heavens because he was ""shrivelled of foot"". He fell into the ocean and was raised by Thetis (mother of Achilles and one of the 50 Nereids) and the Oceanid Eurynome. In another account, Hephaestus, attempting to rescue his mother from Zeus' advances, was flung down from the"
"the center of Homer's epic ""The Iliad"" and the deciding factor of the Trojan War. He is the son of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis. Achilles is the self-proclaimed ""aristos Akhaiôn"" or ""best of the Achaeans""; although this title is given to many throughout the ""Iliad"", Achilles is the unparalleled warrior. Known for his godlike strength, ferocious temper and divine rage or ""menis"", Achilles is an example of what a hero should be physically, embodying an animalistic or nature oriented image, as many similes in epic refer to. Often referred to as ""podokes"" or swift footed, or ""godlike Achilles"","