View source for Achilles

{{Short description|Greek mythological hero}}
{{Redirect|Achilleus|the Roman usurper with this name|Aurelius Achilleus|other uses|Achilles (disambiguation)}}
{{protection padlock|small=yes}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Achilles
| image = Achilles fighting against Memnon Leiden Rijksmuseum voor Oudheden.jpg
| caption = Ancient Greek polychromatic [[Ancient Greek vase painting|pottery painting]] (dating {{circa|300 BCE}}) of Achilles during the Trojan War
| god_of = 
| abode = [[Phthia]]
| symbol = 
| consort = [[Deidamia (daughter of Lycomedes)|Deidamia]], [[Briseis]]
| parents = [[Peleus]] and [[Thetis]]
| siblings = [[Polymele]]
| children = [[Neoptolemus]], Oneiros
| Roman_equivalent = 
}}
{{Greek mythology sidebar}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Achilles''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|k|ɪ|l|iː|z|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Achilles.wav}} {{respell|ə|KIL|eez}}) or '''Achilleus''' ({{langx|grc|[[wikt:Ἀχιλλεύς|Ἀχιλλεύς]]|Achilleús}}) was a hero of the [[Trojan War]] who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', he was the son of the [[Nereids|Nereid]] [[Thetis]] and [[Peleus]], king of [[Phthia]] and famous [[Argonauts|Argonaut]]. Achilles was raised in Phthia along with his childhood companion [[Patroclus]] and received his education by the [[centaur]] [[Chiron]]. In the ''Iliad'', he is presented as the commander of the mythical tribe of the [[Myrmidons]].

Achilles's most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan prince [[Hector]] outside the gates of [[Troy]]. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in the ''Iliad'', other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War by [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]], who shot him with an arrow. Later legends (beginning with [[Statius]]'s unfinished epic ''[[Achilleid]]'', written in the first century&nbsp;CE) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for one heel. According to that myth, when his mother Thetis dipped him in the river [[Styx]] as an infant, she held him by one of his heels, leaving it untouched by the waters and thus his only vulnerable body part.

Alluding to these legends, the term ''[[Achilles' heel]]'' has come to mean a point of weakness which can lead to downfall, especially in someone or something with an otherwise strong constitution. The [[Achilles tendon]] is named after him following the same legend.

== Etymology ==
[[Linear B]] tablets attest to the personal name ''Achilleus'' in the forms ''a-ki-re-u'' and ''a-ki-re-we'',<ref name="New Pauly">{{cite encyclopedia |author1=Dorothea Sigel |title=Achilles |author2=Anne Ley |author3=Bruno Bleckmann |entry=Achilles |encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly |editor=Hubert Cancik |display-editors=etal |publisher=Brill Reference Online |doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e102220}} Retrieved 5 May 2017.</ref> the latter being the [[dative case|dative]] of the former.<ref name=Beekes /> The name grew more popular, becoming common soon after the seventh century&nbsp;BCE<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111126201849/http://epigraphy.packhum.org/inscriptions/search?patt=*AXIL&first=250 Epigraphical database] gives 476 matches for Ἀχιλ-.The earliest ones: [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/inscriptions/oi?ikey=27810&bookid=6&region=2&subregion=1 Corinth 7th c. BCE], [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/inscriptions/oi?ikey=238250&bookid=118&region=3&subregion=7 Delphi 530 BCE], Attica and Elis 5th c. BC.</ref> and was also turned into the female form {{lang|grc|Ἀχιλλεία}} (''Achilleía''), attested in [[Attica]] in the fourth century&nbsp;BCE ([[Inscriptiones Graecae|IG]] II² 1617) and, in the form ''Achillia'', on a [[Gladiatrix|stele in Halicarnassus]] as the name of a female gladiator fighting an "Amazon".

Achilles's name can be analyzed as a combination of {{lang|grc|ἄχος}} (''{{transliteration|grc|áchos}}''), 'distress, pain, sorrow, grief',<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3D*)axilleu%2Fs |title=An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1889 |via=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref><ref>Scholia to the ''Iliad'', 1.1.</ref> and {{lang|grc|λαός}} ({{transliteration|grc|laós}}), 'people, soldiers, nation', resulting in a proto-form ''*Akhí-lāu̯os'', 'he who has the people distressed' or 'he whose people have distress'.<ref>{{cite book |author=Leonard Palmer |title=The Interpretation of Mycenaean Greek Texts |place=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1963 |page=79}}</ref><ref name=Nagy>{{cite web |author=Gregory Nagy |title=The best of the Achaeans |url=http://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5442 |website=CHS |publisher=The Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University |access-date=19 March 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402115312/http://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5442 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{OEtymD|achilles}}</ref> The grief or distress of the people is a theme raised numerous times in the ''Iliad'' (and frequently by Achilles himself). Achilles's role as the hero of grief or distress forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of him as the hero of {{lang|grc|κλέος}} {{transliteration|grc|kléos}} ('glory', usually in war). Furthermore, {{transliteration|grc|laós}} has been construed by [[Gregory Nagy]], following [[Leonard Palmer]], to mean 'a corps of soldiers', a [[muster (military)|muster]].<ref name=Nagy /> With this derivation, the name obtains a double meaning in the poem: when the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring distress to the enemy, but when wrongly, his men get the grief of war. The poem is in part about the misdirection of anger on the part of leadership.

Some researchers deem the name a [[loan word]], possibly from a [[pre-Greek]] language.<ref name="New Pauly" /> Achilles's descent from the [[Nereid]] [[Thetis]] and a similarity of his name with those of [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river deities]] such as [[Acheron]] and [[Achelous]] have led to speculations about his being an old [[Greek sea gods|water divinity]] {{see below|{{section link||Worship and heroic cult}}, below}}.<ref>Cf. the supportive position of {{cite journal |author=Hildebrecht Hommel |title=Der Gott Achilleus |journal=Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften |issue=1 |year=1980 |pages=38–44}}&nbsp;– A critical point of view is taken by {{cite journal |author=J. T. Hooker |title=The cults of Achilleus |journal=Rheinisches Museum für Philologie |volume=131 |issue=3 |date=1988 |pages=1–7}}</ref> [[Robert S. P. Beekes]] has suggested a pre-Greek origin of the name, based among other things on the coexistence of ''-λλ-'' and ''-λ-'' in epic language, which may account for a palatalized phoneme /l<sup>y</sup>/ in the original language.<ref name=Beekes>Robert S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, pp. 183ff.</ref>

=== Other names ===
Among the appellations under which Achilles is generally known are the following:<ref>{{Source-attribution|{{Cite book |title=A Classical Manual: Being a Mythological, Historical and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer, and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil, with a Copious Index |last=Murray |first=John |year=1833 |location=Albemarle Street, London |pages=1–3 |url=https://archive.org/details/aclassicalmanua01unkngoog/page/n17}}|sentence=yes}}</ref>
* '''Pyrisous''', "saved from the fire", his first name, which seems to favour the tradition in which his mortal parts were burned by his mother Thetis
* '''Aeacides''', from his grandfather [[Aeacus]]
* '''Aemonius''', from Aemonia, a country which afterwards acquired the name of Thessaly
* '''Aspetos''', "inimitable" or "vast", his name at [[Epirus (ancient state)|Epirus]]
* '''Larissaeus''', from [[Larissa Cremaste|Larissa]] (also called Cremaste), a town of Achaia Phthiotis in Thessaly
* '''Ligyron''', his original name
* '''Nereius''', from his mother Thetis, one of the [[Nereid]]s
* '''Pelides''', from his father, [[Peleus]]
* '''Phthius''', from his birthplace, [[Phthia]]
* '''Podarkes''', "swift-footed", from the wings of [[Arke]] ({{langx|grc|Ἄρκη||swift|label=none}}) being attached to his feet ({{wikt-lang|grc|πόδες}}, {{translit|grc|podes}})<ref>[[Ptolemy Hephaestion]], ''New History'', Book 6 (summary from Photius, ''Myriobiblon'' 190, trans. Pearse):

"It is said ... that he [Akhilleus (Achilles)] was called Podarkes (Podarces, Swift-Footed) by the Poet [i.e. Homer], because, it is said, Thetis gave the newborn child the wings of Arke (Arce) and Podarkes means that his feet had the wings of Arke. And Arke was the daughter of Thaumas and her sister was Iris; both had wings, but, during the struggle of the gods against the Titanes (Titans), Arke flew out of the camp of the gods and joined the Titanes. After the victory Zeus removed her wings before throwing her into Tartaros and, when he came to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, he brought these wings as a gift for Thetis."</ref>

== Birth and early years ==
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens 181.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|''Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles into the River Styx'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens]] ({{circa|1625|lk=no}}; [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]], Rotterdam)]]

Achilles was the son of [[Thetis]]—a [[Nereid]] and daughter of the [[Old Man of the Sea]]—and [[Peleus]], the king of the [[Myrmidons]]. [[Zeus]] and [[Poseidon]] had been rivals for Thetis's hand in marriage until [[Prometheus]], the fore-thinker, warned Zeus of a prophecy (originally uttered by [[Themis]], goddess of divine law) that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed Peleus.<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''Prometheus Bound'' 755–768; [[Pindar]], ''Nemean'' 5.34–37, ''Isthmian'' 8.26–47; Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' 3.13.5; ''[[Poeticon astronomicon]]'' 2.15.</ref>

There is a tale which offers an alternative version of these events: In the ''[[Argonautica]]'' (4.760) Zeus's sister and wife [[Hera]] alludes to Thetis's chaste resistance to the advances of Zeus, pointing out that Thetis was so loyal to Hera's marriage bond that she coolly rejected the father of gods. Thetis, although a daughter of the sea-god [[Nereus]], was also brought up by Hera, further explaining her resistance to the advances of Zeus. Zeus was furious and decreed that she would never marry an immortal.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' 3.13.5.</ref>

[[File:The Education of Achilles 1862 Delacroix.jpg|thumb|''The Education of Achilles'', by [[Eugène Delacroix]], pastel on paper, {{circa|1862|lk=no}} ([[Getty Center]], Los Angeles)]]

According to the ''[[Achilleid]]'', written by [[Statius]] in the first century&nbsp;CE, and to [[Lost literary work|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<ref>Statius, ''Achilleid'' 1.269; Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 107.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Jonathan S. Burgess |title=The Death and Afterlife of Achilles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ko_YAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA9 |access-date=5 February 2010 |year=2009 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=978-0-8018-9029-1 |page=9}}</ref> {{Crossreference|(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 [[ambrosia]] and put him on top of a fire in order to burn away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted by Peleus and abandoned both father and son in a rage.<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 4.869–879.</ref>

[[File:The Education of Achilles, by James Barry.jpg|thumb|''The Education of Achilles'' ({{circa|1772|lk=no}}), by [[James Barry (painter)|James Barry]] ([[Yale Center for British Art]])]]

None of the sources before Statius make any reference to this general invulnerability. To the contrary, in the ''Iliad'', Homer mentions Achilles being wounded: in Book 21 the [[Paeonia (kingdom)|Paeonian]] hero [[Asteropaios]], son of [[Pelagon]], challenged Achilles by the river [[Scamander]]. He was ambidextrous, and cast a spear from each hand; one grazed Achilles's elbow, "drawing a spurt of blood".<ref>{{cite book |author1=Homer (Robert Fagles translation) |title=The Iliad |page=525 |quote=But the other (spear) grazed Achilles's strong right arm and dark blood gushed as the spear shot past his back}}</ref> In the few fragmentary poems of the [[Epic Cycle]] which describe the hero's death (i.e. the ''[[Cypria]]'', the ''[[Little Iliad]]'' by [[Lesches]] of Pyrrha, the ''[[Aethiopis]]'' and ''[[Iliupersis]]'' by [[Arctinus of Miletus]]), there is no trace of any reference to his general invulnerability or his famous weakness at the heel. In the later vase paintings presenting the death of Achilles, the arrow (or in many cases, arrows) hit his torso.

Peleus entrusted Achilles to [[Chiron]], who lived on [[Mount Pelion]] and was known as the most righteous of the [[Centaur]]s, to be reared.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''Catalogue of Women'', fr. 204.87–89 MW; ''Iliad'' 11.830–832.</ref> In some accounts, Achilles's original name was "Ligyron" and he was later named ''Achilles'' by his tutor Chiron.<ref>Apollodorus, Library, Book III [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.13&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 3.13.6]</ref> According to Homer, Achilles grew up in [[Phthia]] with his childhood companion [[Patroclus]].<ref name="New Pauly" /> Homer further writes that Achilles taught Patroclus what he himself had been taught by Chiron, including the medical arts.<ref>Homer, ''The Iliad'' [[wikisource:The Iliad (Murray)/Book XI|Book XI 822-836]]</ref> Thetis foretold that her son's fate was either to gain glory and die young, or to live a long but uneventful life in obscurity. Achilles chose the former, and decided to take part in the Trojan War.<ref>''Iliad'' 9.410ff.</ref>

[[File:Achilleus Lyra.jpg|thumb|[[Chiron]] teaching Achilles how to play the [[lyre]], Roman [[fresco]] from [[Herculaneum]], first century&nbsp;CE]]

According to [[Photius]], the sixth book of the ''New History'' by [[Ptolemy Hephaestion]] reported that Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus. When she had Achilles, Peleus noticed, tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot, and confided him to the centaur Chiron. Later Chiron exhumed the body of the [[Damysus (Giant)|Damysus]], who was the fastest of all the giants, removed the ankle, and incorporated it into Achilles's burnt foot.<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm Photius, ''Bibliotheca'', cod. 190]: "Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus; six were born; when she had Achilles, Peleus noticed and tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot and confided him to Chiron. The latter exhumed the body of the giant Damysos who was buried at Pallene—Damysos was the fastest of all the giants—removed the 'astragale' and incorporated it into Achilles's foot using 'ingredients'. This 'astragale' fell when Achilles was pursued by Apollo and it was thus that Achilles, fallen, was killed. It is said, on the other hand, that he was called Podarkes by the Poet, because, it is said, Thetis gave the newborn child the wings of Arce and Podarkes means that his feet had the wings of Arce."</ref>

=== Physical description ===
In Homer's ''Iliad'', Achilles is portrayed as tall and striking, with strength and looks that were unmatched among the Greek warriors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Strauss |first=Barry |url= |title=The Trojan War: A New History |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7432-6442-6 |pages=87 |language=en}}</ref> Homer describes him as having long hair or a mane ({{lang|grc|χαίτη}}).<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+23.141&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133 23.141] (in Greek)</ref><ref>{{LSJ|xai/th|χαίτη|ref}}</ref> Along with some other characters, his hair is described with the word ''xanthḗ'' ({{lang|grc|ξανθή}}),<ref name="Myres">Myres, John Linton (1967). ''Who were the Greeks?'', pp. 192–199. University of California Press.</ref> which meant 'yellow' and was used for light hair, including [[blond]], [[Brown hair|brown]], [[Tawny (color)|tawny]] (light brown) and [[Auburn hair|auburn]].<ref>{{LSJ|canqo/s|ξανθός|ref}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Woodhouse |first=Sidney Chawner |title=English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited |year=1910 |location=London |pages=52,84,101}}</ref> A later Latin account, probably from the fifth century&nbsp;CE, [[Pseudepigrapha|falsely attributed]] to [[Dares Phrygius]] described Achilles as having "... a large chest, a fine mouth, and powerfully formed arms and legs. His head was covered with long wavy chestnut-colored hair (''capillo myrteo'', color of [[myrtus]] bark or [[myrrh]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Navarro Antolín |first1=Fernando |title=Lygdamus: Corpus Tibullianum III. 1-6: Lygdami Elegiarum Liber : Edition and Commentary |date=1996 |publisher=E.J. Brill |location=Belgium |page=309}}</ref>). Though mild in manner, he was very fierce in battle. His face showed the joy of a man richly endowed."<ref>[[Dares Phrygius]], ''History of the Fall of Troy'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/DaresPhrygius.html 13]</ref>

=== Hidden on Skyros ===
{{Main|Achilles on Skyros}}
[[File:Gaziantep Zeugma Museum Achilles mosaic in 2011 2098.jpg|thumb|A [[Roman mosaic]] from the Poseidon Villa in [[Zeugma, Commagene]] (now in the [[Zeugma Mosaic Museum]]) depicting Achilles disguised as a woman and [[Odysseus]] tricking him into revealing himself]]

Some post-Homeric sources<ref>[[Euripides]], ''Skyrioi'', surviving only in fragmentary form; [[Philostratus III|Philostratus Junior]], ''Imagines'' i; Scholiast on Homer's ''Iliad'', 9.326; [[Ovid]], ''Metamorphoses'' 13.162–180; Ovid, ''[[Tristia]]'' 2.409–412 (mentioning a Roman tragedy on this subject); Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' 3.13.8; [[Statius]], ''[[Achilleid]]'' 1.689–880, 2.167ff.</ref> claim that in order to keep Achilles safe from the war, Thetis (or, in some versions, Peleus) hid the young man dressed as a princess or at least a girl at the court of [[Lycomedes of Scyros|Lycomedes]], king of [[Skyros]].

There, Achilles, properly disguised, lived among Lycomedes's daughters, perhaps under the name "[[Pyrrha (mythology)|Pyrrha]]" (the red-haired girl), Cercysera or Aissa ("swift"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Graves |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Graves |title=The Greek Myths – The Complete and Definitive Edition |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-241-98338-6 |pages=Index s.v. Aissa}}</ref>).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Graves |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Graves |title=The Greek Myths – The Complete and Definitive Edition |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-241-98338-6 |page=642}}</ref> With Lycomedes's daughter [[Deidamia (daughter of Lycomedes)|Deidamia]], with whom he had begun a relationship, Achilles there fathered two sons, [[Neoptolemus]] (also called Pyrrhus, after his father's possible alias) and Oneiros. According to this story, Odysseus learned from the prophet [[Calchas]] that the Achaeans would be unable to capture Troy without Achilles's aid. Odysseus went to Skyros in the guise of a pedlar selling women's clothes and jewellery and placed a shield and spear among his goods. When Achilles instantly took up the spear, Odysseus saw through his disguise and convinced him to join the Greek campaign. In another version of the story, Odysseus arranged for a trumpet alarm to be sounded while he was with Lycomedes's women. While the women fled in panic, Achilles prepared to defend the court, thus giving his identity away.

== In the Trojan War ==
{{Trojan War}}
[[File:Achilles by Lycomedes Louvre Ma2120.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A marble representation of Achilles at the court of King [[Lycomedes]], {{circa|240 CE|lk=no}}]]

According to the ''Iliad'', Achilles arrived at Troy with 50 ships, each carrying 50 [[Myrmidons]]. He appointed five leaders (each leader commanding 500 Myrmidons): Menesthius, [[Eudoros|Eudorus]], Peisander, [[Phoenix (son of Amyntor)|Phoenix]] and Alcimedon.<ref>''Iliad'' 16.168–197.</ref>

=== Telephus ===
When the Greeks left for the Trojan War, they accidentally stopped in [[Mysia]], ruled by King [[Telephus]]. In the resulting battle, Achilles gave Telephus a wound that would not heal; Telephus consulted an oracle, who stated that "he that wounded shall heal". Guided by the oracle, he arrived at [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], where Achilles healed him in order that he might become their guide for the voyage to Troy.<ref name="Epitome 3.20">{{cite web |last1=Pseudo-Apollodorus |title=Bibliotheca, Epitome 3.20 |url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/ApollodorusE.html#69 |website=theoi.com |ref=69}}</ref>

According to other reports in [[Euripides]]'s lost play about Telephus, he went to [[Aulis (ancient Greece)|Aulis]] pretending to be a beggar and asked Achilles to heal his wound. Achilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. Alternatively, Telephus held [[Orestes]] for ransom, the ransom being Achilles's aid in healing the wound. [[Odysseus]] reasoned that the spear had inflicted the wound; therefore, the spear must be able to heal it. Pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound and Telephus was healed.<ref name="Epitome 3.20" />

=== Troilus ===
[[File:Achilles slaying Troilus.PNG|thumb|left|Achilles slaying Troilus, red-figure kylix signed by [[Euphronios]]]]

According to the ''[[Cypria]]'' (the part of the [[Epic Cycle]] that tells the events of the Trojan War before Achilles's wrath), when the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]] desired to return home, they were restrained by Achilles, who afterwards attacked the cattle of [[Aeneas]], sacked neighbouring cities (such as [[Pedasus]] and [[Lyrnessus]], where the Greeks capture the queen [[Briseis]]) and killed [[Tenes]], a son of [[Apollo]], as well as Priam's son [[Troilus]] in the sanctuary of Apollo [[Thymbra]]ios; however, the romance between Troilus and [[Chryseis]] described in [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[Troilus and Criseyde]]'' and in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]'' is a medieval invention.<ref name="stoa.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.stoa.org/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Stoa:text:2003.01.0004 |title=Proclus' Summary of the Cypria |publisher=Stoa.org |access-date=9 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009120320/http://www.stoa.org/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Stoa:text:2003.01.0004 |archive-date=9 October 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="New Pauly" />

In [[Dares Phrygius]]'s ''Account of the Destruction of Troy'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/DaresTW.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011130034104/http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/DaresTW.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 November 2001 |title=Dares' account of the destruction of Troy, Greek Mythology Link |publisher=Homepage.mac.com |access-date=9 March 2010<!--Added by DASHBot-->}}</ref> the Latin summary through which the story of Achilles was transmitted to medieval Europe, as well as in older accounts, Troilus was a young Trojan prince, the youngest of King [[Priam]]'s and [[Hecuba]]'s five legitimate sons (or according other sources, another son of Apollo).<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca'' 3.151.</ref> Despite his youth, he was one of the main Trojan war leaders, a "horse fighter" or "chariot fighter" according to Homer.<ref>''Iliad'' 24.257. Cf. [[Vergil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 1.474–478.</ref> Prophecies linked Troilus's fate to that of Troy and so he was ambushed in an attempt to capture him. Yet Achilles, struck by the beauty of both Troilus and his sister [[Polyxena]], and overcome with lust, directed his sexual attentions on the youth—who, refusing to yield, instead found himself decapitated upon an altar-omphalos of Apollo [[Thymbra]]ios.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca Epitome'' 3.32.</ref> Later versions of the story suggested Troilus was accidentally killed by Achilles in an over-ardent lovers' embrace.<ref>Scholia to [[Lycophron]] 307; [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], Scholia to the ''Aeneid'' 1.474.</ref> In this version of the myth, Achilles's death therefore came in retribution for this sacrilege.<ref>James Davidson, [http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n14/davi02_.html "Zeus Be Nice Now"] in ''London Review of Books'', 19 July 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2007.</ref> Ancient writers treated Troilus as the epitome of a dead child mourned by his parents. Had Troilus lived to adulthood, the [[First Vatican Mythographer]] claimed, Troy would have been invincible; however, the motif is older and found already in [[Plautus]]'s ''[[Bacchides (play)|Bacchides]]''.<ref>[[Plautus]], [[Bacchides (Plautus)|''Bacchides'']] 953ff.</ref>

=== In the ''Iliad'' ===
[[File:Achilles Agamemnon Pompei mosaic NAMNaples 10006.jpg|thumb|Achilles and [[Agamemnon]], from a mosaic from [[Pompeii]], first century&nbsp;CE]]

Homer's ''[[Iliad]]'' is the most famous narrative of Achilles's deeds in the Trojan War. Achilles's wrath ({{lang|grc|μῆνις Ἀχιλλέως}}, {{tlit|grc|mênis Achilléōs}}) is the central theme of the poem. The first two lines of the ''Iliad'' read:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος<br />
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, [...]
|Sing, Goddess, of the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,<br />
the accursed rage that brought great suffering to the Achaeans, [...]
|}

[[File:Wall painting - Briseis taken away from Achilles - Pompeii (VI 8 5) - Napoli MAN 9105 - 01.jpg|thumb|Achilles cedes [[Briseis]] to [[Agamemnon]], from the [[House of the Tragic Poet]] in [[Pompeii]], fresco, first century&nbsp;CE ([[Naples National Archaeological Museum]])]]

The Homeric epic only covers a few weeks of the decade-long war, and does not narrate Achilles's death. It begins with Achilles's withdrawal from battle after being dishonoured by [[Agamemnon]], the commander of the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaean]] forces. Agamemnon has taken a woman named [[Chryseis]] as his slave. Her father [[Chryses]], a priest of [[Apollo]], begs Agamemnon to return her to him. Agamemnon refuses, and Apollo sends a plague amongst the Greeks. The prophet [[Calchas]] correctly determines the source of the troubles but will not speak unless Achilles vows to protect him. Achilles does so, and Calchas declares that Chryseis must be returned to her father. Agamemnon consents, but then commands that Achilles's slave [[Briseis]], the daughter of [[Briseus]], be brought to him to replace Chryseis. Angry at the dishonour of having his plunder and glory taken away (and, as he says later, because he loves Briseis),<ref>''Iliad'' 9.334–343.</ref> with the urging of his mother Thetis, Achilles refuses to fight or lead his troops alongside the other Greek forces. At the same time, burning with rage over Agamemnon's theft, Achilles [[Homeric prayer|prays]] to Thetis to convince Zeus to help the Trojans gain ground in the war, so that he may regain his honour.

As the battle turns against the Greeks, thanks to the influence of Zeus, [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]] declares that the Trojans are winning because Agamemnon has angered Achilles, and urges the king to appease the warrior. Agamemnon agrees and sends [[Odysseus]] and two other chieftains, [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]] and [[Phoenix (son of Amyntor)|Phoenix]]. They promise that, if Achilles returns to battle, Agamemnon will return the captive Briseis and other gifts. Achilles rejects all Agamemnon offers him and simply urges the Greeks to sail home as he is planning to do.

[[File:The Rage of Achilles by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.jpeg|thumb|left|''The Rage of Achilles'', fresco by [[Giovanni Battista Tiepolo]] (1757, Villa Valmarana ai Nani, Vicenza)]]

The Trojans, led by [[Hector]], subsequently push the Greek army back toward the beaches and assault the Greek ships. With the Greek forces on the verge of absolute destruction, [[Patroclus]] leads the [[Myrmidons]] into battle, wearing Achilles's armour, although Achilles remains at his camp. Patroclus succeeds in pushing the Trojans back from the beaches, but is killed by Hector before he can lead a proper assault on the city of Troy.

After receiving the news of the death of Patroclus from [[Antilochus]], the son of Nestor, Achilles grieves over his beloved companion's death. His mother Thetis comes to comfort the distraught Achilles. She persuades [[Hephaestus]] to make new armour for him, in place of the armour that Patroclus had been wearing, which was taken by Hector. The new armour includes the [[Shield of Achilles]], described in great detail in the poem.

Enraged over the death of Patroclus, Achilles ends his refusal to fight and takes the field, killing many men in his rage but always seeking out Hector. Achilles even engages in battle with the river god [[Scamander]], who has become angry that Achilles is choking his waters with all the men he has killed. The god tries to drown Achilles but is stopped by [[Hera]] and Hephaestus. Zeus himself takes note of Achilles's rage and sends the gods to restrain him so that he will not go on to sack Troy itself before the time allotted for its destruction, seeming to show that the unhindered rage of Achilles can defy fate itself. Finally, Achilles finds his prey.

[[File:The Triumph of Achilles by Franz von Matsch.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|''The Triumph of Achilles'', fresco by [[Franz von Matsch]] in the [[Achilleion (Corfu)|Achilleion]], Greece]]

Achilles chases Hector around the wall of Troy three times before [[Athena]], in the form of Hector's favourite and dearest brother, [[Deiphobus]], persuades Hector to stop running and fight Achilles face to face. After Hector realizes the trick, he knows the battle is inevitable. Wanting to go down fighting, he charges at Achilles with his only weapon, his sword, but misses. Accepting his fate, Hector begs Achilles not to spare his life, but to treat his body with respect after killing him. Achilles tells Hector it is hopeless to expect that of him, declaring that, "my rage, my fury would drive me now to hack your flesh away and eat you raw – such agonies you have caused me."<ref>"The Iliad", Fagles translation. Penguin Books, 1991: 22.346.</ref> Achilles then kills Hector and drags his corpse by its heels behind his chariot. After having a dream where Patroclus begs Achilles to hold his funeral, Achilles hosts a series of [[funeral games]] in honour of his companion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lattimore |first1=Richmond |title=The Illiad of Homer |date=2011 |publisher=The University of Chicago |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-46937-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_5}}</ref>

At the onset of his duel with Hector, Achilles is referred to as the brightest star in the sky, which comes on in the autumn, Orion's dog ([[Sirius]]); a sign of evil. During the cremation of Patroclus, he is compared to [[Hesperus]], the evening/western star ([[Venus]]), while the burning of the funeral pyre lasts until [[Phosphorus (morning star)|Phosphorus]], the morning/eastern star (also Venus) has set (descended).

With the assistance of the god [[Hermes]] (Argeiphontes), Hector's father [[Priam]] goes to Achilles's tent to plead with 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, lasting 9 days with a burial on the 10th (in the tradition of [[Niobe]]'s offspring). The poem ends with a description of Hector's funeral, with the doom of Troy and Achilles himself still to come.

=== Penthesilea and Memnon ===
[[File:Akhilleus Memnon Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1410.jpg|thumb|Achilles and Memnon fighting, between Thetis and Eos, Attic black-figure amphora, {{circa|510&nbsp;BCE|lk=no}}, from Vulci]]

Later works, including the ''[[Aethiopis]]'' (seventh century&nbsp;BCE) and a work named ''[[Posthomerica]]'', composed by [[Quintus of Smyrna]] in the fourth century&nbsp;CE, 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 and kills the warrior queen, only to grieve over her death later.<ref>[[Propertius]], 3.11.15; [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]] 1.</ref> Initially taken aback, he did not fight as intensely as usual. Once he realized that his distraction was endangering his life, he refocused and killed her.

Following the death of Patroclus, Nestor's son [[Antilochus]] becomes Achilles's closest companion. Achilles already loved Antilochus, so Menelaus thought Antilochus would be the best person to inform Achilles of Patroclus's death.<ref>[[Philostratus]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/225#2.7.1 2.7.1] ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0601%3Abook%3Dpos%3D2%3Achapter%3D7 Original Greek text])</ref> Later, [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]], son of the Dawn Goddess [[Eos]] and king of [[Ethiopia (mythology)|Ethiopia]], slays Antilochus as he sacrifices himself to save his father. According to [[Philostratus of Lemnos|Philostratus]]'s ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'', Achilles laments his death on the battlefield, promising Antilochus a glorious funeral and vengeance. Achilles once more obtains revenge on the battlefield, killing Memnon.<ref>[[Philostratus]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/225#2.7.2 2.7.2] ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0601%3Abook%3Dpos%3D2%3Achapter%3D7 Original Greek text])</ref> Consequently, Eos will not let the sun rise until Zeus persuades her. The fight between Achilles and Memnon over Antilochus echoes that of Achilles and Hector over Patroclus, except that Memnon (unlike Hector) was also the son of a goddess.

Many Homeric scholars argued that episode inspired many details in the ''Iliad''{{'}}s description of the death of Patroclus and Achilles's reaction to it. The episode then formed the basis of the [[Epic Cycle|cyclic epic]] ''[[Aethiopis]]'', which was composed after the ''Iliad'', possibly in the seventh century&nbsp;BCE. The ''Aethiopis'' is now lost, except for scattered fragments quoted by later authors.

=== Achilles and Patroclus ===
{{Main|Achilles and Patroclus}}
[[File:Akhilleus Patroklos Antikensammlung Berlin F2278.jpg|thumb|Achilles tending Patroclus wounded by an arrow, Attic red-figure [[kylix]], {{circa|500 BCE|lk=no}} ([[Altes Museum]], Berlin)]]

The exact nature of Achilles's relationship with Patroclus has been a subject of dispute in both the classical period and modern times. In the ''Iliad'', it appears to be the model of a deep and loyal friendship. Homer does not suggest that Achilles and his close friend Patroclus had sexual relations.<ref name="Fox 2011">{{cite book |title=The Tribal Imagination: Civilization and the Savage Mind |author=Robin Fox |year=2011 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-06094-4 |quote=There is certainly no evidence in the text of the Iliad that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers. |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YCxy_4Bt1F0C&pg=PA223 223]}}</ref><ref name="Martin 2012">{{cite book |title=Alexander the Great: The Story of an Ancient Life |last=Martin |first=Thomas R |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-14844-3 |quote=The ancient sources do not report, however, what modern scholars have asserted: that Alexander and his very close friend Hephaestion were lovers. Achilles and his equally close friend Patroclus provided the legendary model for this friendship, but Homer in the ''Iliad'' never suggested that they had sex with each other. (That came from later authors.). |page=100}}</ref> Although there is no direct evidence in the text of the ''Iliad'' that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers, this theory was expressed by some later authors. Commentators from [[classical antiquity]] to the present have often interpreted the relationship through the lens of their own cultures. In fifth-century&nbsp;BCE Athens, the intense bond was often viewed in light of the [[Pederasty in ancient Greece|Greek custom of ''paiderasteia'']], which is the relationship between an older male and a younger one, usually a teenager. In Plato's ''Symposium'', the participants in a dialogue about love assume that Achilles and Patroclus were a couple; Phaedrus argues that Achilles was the younger and more beautiful one so he was the beloved and Patroclus was the lover.<ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plat.+Sym.+180a 180a]; the beauty of Achilles was a topic already broached at ''Iliad'' 2.673–674.</ref> In Xenophon's ''Symposium'', Socrates says that Achilles and Patroclus were not lovers but had a platonic relationship. [[Kenneth Dover]] argues that ancient Greek had no words to distinguish heterosexual and homosexual,<ref name ="Dover">{{cite book |first=Kenneth |last=Dover |authorlink=Kenneth Dover |title=Greek Homosexuality |publisher=Harvard University Press |orig-year=1978 |year=1989 |at=p. 1 ''et passim'' |isbn=0-674-36270-5 }}</ref> and it was assumed that a man could both desire handsome young men and have sex with women. However, some ancient Greek texts did recognise that certain men have exclusive preference for other men by nature but only marry women and beget children out of compulsion or custom while others always seek women.<ref name ="Dover" /> Many pairs of men throughout history have been compared to Achilles and Patroclus to imply a homosexual relationship.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clarke |first1=W. M. |title=Achilles and Patroclus in Love |journal=Hermes |date=1978 |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=381–396 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4476069?seq=1 |issn=0018-0777}}</ref>

=== Death ===
[[File:Closeup of Achilles thniskon in Corfu Achilleion autocorrected.JPG|thumb|left|''Dying Achilles'' (Achilleas thniskon) in the gardens of the Achilleion]]

The death of Achilles, even if considered solely as it occurred in the oldest sources, is a complex one, with many different versions.<ref>Abrantes 2016: c. 4.3.1</ref> Starting with the oldest account in book 22 of the ''Iliad'', [[Hector]] predicts with his last dying breath that [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] and Apollo will slay him at the Scaean Gates leading to Troy (with an arrow to the heel according to Statius). In book 23, the sad spirit of dead Patroclus visits Achilles just as he drifts off into slumber, requesting that his bones be placed with those of Achilles in his golden vase, a gift of his mother.

[[File:Aias body Akhilleus Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1884.jpg|thumb|right|Ajax carries off the body of Achilles, [[Attica|Attic]] black-figure [[lekythos]] from Sicily, {{Circa|510 BCE}} ([[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]], Munich).]]

In book 11 of the ''[[Odyssey]]'', Odysseus sails to the underworld and converses with the shades. One of these is Achilles, who when greeted as "blessed in life, blessed in death", responds that he would rather be a slave to the worst of masters than be king of all the dead. But Achilles then asks Odysseus of his son's exploits in the Trojan war, and Odysseus tells him of Neoptolemus's actions.<ref>''Odyssey'' 11.467–564.</ref>

Book 24 of ''Odyssey'' gives dead King Agamemnon's ghostly account of Achilles's death: the bleached bones from Achilles's funeral [[pyre]] had been mixed with those of [[Patroclus]] and put into his mother's golden vase. Also, the bones of [[Antilochus of Pylos|Antilochus]], who had become closer to Achilles than any other following Patroclus's death, were separately enclosed. The customary funeral games of a hero were performed, and a massive tomb or [[mound]] was built on the [[Hellespont]] for approaching seagoers to celebrate.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Odyssey of Homer |author=Richmond Lattimore |publisher=Harper Perennial |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-06-124418-6 |location=New York |page=347}}</ref>

Achilles was represented in the ''Aethiopis'' as living after his death in the island of [[Leuke]] at the mouth of the river [[Danube]]. Another version of Achilles's death is that he fell deeply in love with one of the Trojan princesses, [[Polyxena]]. Achilles asks Priam for Polyxena's hand in marriage. Priam is willing because it would mean the end of the war and an alliance with the world's greatest warrior. But while Priam is overseeing the private marriage of Polyxena and Achilles, Paris, who would have to give up Helen if Achilles married his sister, hides in the bushes and shoots Achilles with a divine arrow, killing him. According to [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], after his death he married [[Medea]] in the [[Elysium|Elysian Fields]].<ref>Dräger, paras. 1, 4; [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg002.perseus-eng1:e.5.5 E.5.5].</ref>

=== Fate of Achilles's armour ===
[[File:Odysseus Ajax Louvre F340.jpg|thumb|left|Oinochoe, {{circa|520 BCE|lk=no}}, Ajax and Odysseus fighting over the armour of Achilles]]

Achilles's armour was the object of a feud between Odysseus and [[Ajax the Great]]. They competed for it by giving speeches on why they were the bravest after Achilles to their Trojan prisoners, who, after considering the presentations of both men, decided Odysseus was more deserving of the armour. Furious, Ajax cursed Odysseus, which earned him the ire of Athena, who temporarily made Ajax so mad with grief and anguish that he began killing sheep, thinking them his comrades. After a while, when Athena lifted his madness and Ajax realized that he had actually been killing sheep, he was so ashamed that he committed suicide. Odysseus eventually gave the armour to [[Neoptolemus]], the son of Achilles. When Odysseus encounters the shade of Ajax much later in the House of Hades (''Odyssey'' 11.543–566), Ajax is still so angry about the outcome of the competition that he refuses to speak to Odysseus.

The armour they fought for was made by [[Hephaestus]] and thus much stronger and more beautiful than any armour a mortal could craft. Thetis had the gear made for Achilles because his first set was worn by [[Patroclus]] when he went to battle and taken by Hector when he killed Patroclus. The [[Shield of Achilles]] was also made by the fire god. His legendary spear was given to him by his mentor [[Chiron]] before he participated in the [[Trojan War]]. It was called the Pelian Spear, which allegedly no other man could wield.

A relic claimed to be Achilles's bronze-headed spear was preserved for centuries in the temple of Athena on the acropolis of [[Phaselis]], Lycia, a port on the Pamphylian Gulf. The city was visited in 333&nbsp;BCE by [[Alexander the Great]], who envisioned himself as the new Achilles and carried the ''Iliad'' with him, but his court biographers do not mention the spear; however, it was shown in the time of [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in the second century&nbsp;CE.<ref>{{cite book |quote=Alexander came to rest at Phaselis, a coastal city which was later renowned for the possession of Achilles' original spear. |first=Robin Lane |last=Fox |title=Alexander the Great |year=1973 |page=144 }}</ref><ref>Pausanias, iii.3.6; see {{cite book |first=Christian |last=Jacob |first2=Anne |last2=Mullen-Hohl |chapter=The Greek Traveler's Areas of Knowledge: Myths and Other Discourses in Pausanias' Description of Greece |series=Yale French Studies |volume=59 |title=Rethinking History: Time, Myth, and Writing |year=1980 |pages=5–85, especially 81 |jstor=2929815 }}</ref>

=== Achilles, Ajax and a game of ''petteia'' ===
Numerous paintings on pottery have suggested a tale not mentioned in the literary traditions. At some point in the war, Achilles and Ajax were playing a board game (''petteia'').<ref>[http://www.personal.psu.edu/wxk116/roma/petteia.html "Petteia".] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061209122834/http://www.personal.psu.edu/wxk116/roma/petteia.html |date=9 December 2006 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Austin/index.html "Greek Board Games".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408090534/http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Austin/index.html |date=8 April 2009 }}</ref> They were absorbed in the game and oblivious to the surrounding battle.<ref>[http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/roma/latruncu.html "Latrunculi".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060915044905/http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/roma/latruncu.html |date=15 September 2006 }}</ref> The Trojans attacked and reached the heroes, who were saved only by an intervention of Athena.<ref>[[Ioannis Kakridis]] (1988). ''Ελληνική Μυθολογία'' [Greek mythology]. Athens: Ekdotiki Athinon. Vol. 5, p. 92.</ref>

== Worship and heroic cult ==
{{See also|Heroön}}
[[File:Tumulus of Achilles and sacrifice of Polyxena.jpg|thumb|Sacrifice of Polyxena and tumulus-shaped tomb of Achilles with a [[Sacrificial tripod#Ancient Greece|tripod]] in front, on the [[Polyxena sarcophagus]], {{circa|500 BCE|lk=no}}<ref name="CBR79">{{cite book |last1=Rose |first1=Charles Brian |title=The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Troy |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-76207-6 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y9gaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79}}</ref>]]
[[File:Achilles Troilus MAN Napoli Inv5999.jpg|thumb|Roman statue of a man with the dead body of a boy, identified as Achilles and Troilus, second century&nbsp;CE ([[Naples National Archaeological Museum]])]]

{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| header            = 
| header_align      = left/right/center
| footer            = 
| width1            = 220
| caption1          = [[Achilles on Skyros]], where—according to the ''[[Achilleid]]''—[[Odysseus]] discovers him dressed as a woman and hiding among the princesses of the royal court, late Roman mosaic from [[La Olmeda]], Spain, fourth–fifth centuries&nbsp;CE
| footer_align      = left
| image1            = 05-Mosaico del Oecus. Aquiles en Skyros alta.jpg
| image2            = Achilles at Skyros, Mosaic, Villa La Olmeda, 4th century AD.jpg
| width2            = 220
| caption2          = Detail of Achilles
}}

The tomb of Achilles,<ref>Cf. Homer, ''Iliad'' 24.80–84.</ref> extant throughout antiquity in the [[Troad]],<ref name=Troad>Herodotus, ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' 5.94; Pliny, ''[[Naturalis Historia]]'' 5.125; Strabo, ''[[Geographica]]'' 13.1.32 (C596); [[Diogenes Laërtius]] 1.74.</ref> was venerated by [[Thessalians]], but also by [[Persians|Persian]] expeditionary forces, as well as by [[Alexander the Great]] and the Roman emperor [[Caracalla]].<ref name=Hedreen>{{cite journal |author=Guy Hedreen |title=The Cult of Achilles in the Euxine |journal=Hesperia |volume=60 |issue=3 |date=July 1991 |pages=313–330 |doi=10.2307/148068 |jstor=148068}}</ref> Achilles's cult was also to be found at other places, e. g. on the island of [[Astypalaea]] in the [[Sporades]],<ref>Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'' 3.45.</ref> in [[Sparta]] which had a sanctuary,<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 3.20.8.</ref> in [[ancient Elis|Elis]] and in Achilles's homeland [[Thessaly]], as well as in the [[Magna Graecia]] cities of [[Taranto|Tarentum]], [[Locri]] and [[Crotone|Croton]],<ref>Lycophron 856.</ref> accounting for an almost Panhellenic cult to the hero.

The cult of Achilles is illustrated in the [[Polyxena sarcophagus]] (500&nbsp;BCE), which depicts the sacrifice of Polyxena near the tumulus of Achilles.<ref name="JB114">{{cite book |last1=Burgess |first1=Jonathan S. |title=The Death and Afterlife of Achilles |date=2009 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-0361-8 |page=114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVnS1IcVWuYC&pg=PA114 |language=en}}</ref> [[Strabo]] (13.1.32) also suggested that such a cult of Achilles existed in Troad:<ref name="CBR79" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Burgess |first1=Jonathan S. |title=The Death and Afterlife of Achilles |date=2009 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-0361-8 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVnS1IcVWuYC&pg=PA116 |language=en}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Near the Sigeium is a temple and monument of Achilles, and monuments also of [[Patroclus]] and [[Anthlochus]]. The Ilienses perform sacred ceremonies in honour of them all, and even of [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]]. But they do not worship [[Hercules]], alleging as a reason that he ravaged their country.|[[Strabo]] (13.1.32)<ref>{{cite book |title=Str. 13.1.32 |translator-last1=Falconer |translator-first1=W. |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D13%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D32}}</ref>}}

The spread and intensity of the hero's veneration among the [[Greeks in pre-Roman Crimea|Greeks]] that had [[Second Greek colonisation|settled]] on the northern coast of the [[Pontus Euxinus]], today's [[Black Sea]], appears to have been remarkable. An archaic cult is attested for the [[Miletus|Milesian]] colony of [[Olbia (Pontic)|Olbia]] as well as for an island in the middle of the Black Sea, today identified with [[Snake Island (Black Sea)|Snake Island]] ({{langx|uk|Зміїний}}, {{tlit|uk|Zmiinyi}}, near [[Kiliia]], Ukraine). Early dedicatory inscriptions from the [[Greek colonies]] on the Black Sea ([[graffiti]] and inscribed clay disks, these possibly being [[votive offering]]s, from Olbia, the area of [[Berezan Island]] and the [[Tauric Chersonese]]<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hildebrecht Hommel |title=Der Gott Achilleus |journal=Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften |issue=1 |year=1980 |pages=38–44}}</ref>) attest the existence of a [[heroic cult]] of Achilles<ref>{{cite journal |first=J. T. |last=Hooker |title=The cults of Achilleus |journal=Rheinisches Museum für Philologie |volume=131 |issue=3 |date=1988 |pages=1–7}}</ref> from the sixth century&nbsp;BCE onwards. The cult was still thriving in the third century&nbsp;CE, when dedicatory [[stelae]] from Olbia refer to an ''Achilles Pontárchēs'' (Ποντάρχης, roughly 'lord of the sea', or 'lord of the [[Pontus Euxinus]]'), who was invoked as a protector of the city of Olbia, venerated on par with [[Olympian gods]] such as the local [[Apollo]] Prostates, [[Hermes]] Agoraeus,<ref name=Hedreen /> or [[Poseidon]].<ref>Quintus Smyrnaeus, 3.770–779.</ref>

[[Pliny the Elder]] (23–79 CE) in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' mentions a "port of the Achæi" and an "island of Achilles", famous for the tomb of that "man" ({{lang|la|portus Achaeorum, insula Achillis, tumulo eius viri clara}}), situated somewhat nearby Olbia and the [[Dnieper-Bug Estuary]]; furthermore, at 125&nbsp;[[Roman mile]]s from this island, he places a peninsula "which stretches forth in the shape of a sword" obliquely, called ''Dromos Achilleos'' (Ἀχιλλέως δρόμος, ''Achilléōs drómos'', '[[Racecourse of Achilles|the Race-course of Achilles]]')<ref>Pliny, ''Naturalis Historia'' 4.12.83 ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D26#note-link10 chapter 4.26]).</ref> and considered the place of the hero's exercise or of games instituted by him.<ref name=Hedreen /> This last feature of Pliny's account is considered to be the iconic [[Spit (landform)|spit]], called today ''Tendra'' (or ''Kosa Tendra'' and ''Kosa Djarilgatch''), situated between the mouth of the [[Dnieper]] and [[Karkinit Bay]], but which is hardly 125&nbsp;[[Roman mile]]s (around 185&nbsp;km) away from the [[Dnieper-Bug estuary]], as Pliny states (to the "Race-course" he gives a length of {{cvt|80|miles}}, whereas the spit measures around {{cvt|70|km}} today).

In the following chapter of his book, Pliny refers to the same island as ''Achillea'' and introduces two further names for it: ''Leuce'' or ''Macaron'' (from Greek {{lang|grc|[νῆσος] μακαρῶν}}, 'island of the blest'). The "present day" measures, he gives at this point, seem to account for an identification of ''Achillea'' or ''Leuce'' with today's [[Snake Island (Black Sea)|Snake Island]].<ref>Pliny, ''Naturalis Historia'' 4.13.93 ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D27 chapter 4.27]): "Researches which have been made at the present day place this island at a distance of 140 miles from the Borysthenes, of 120 from [[Tyras]], and of fifty from the island of [[Peuce Island|Peuce]]. It is about ten miles in circumference." Although afterwards he speaks again of "the remaining islands in the Gulf of [[Kerkinitis|Carcinites]]" which are "Cephalonesos, Rhosphodusa [or Spodusa], and Macra".</ref> Pliny's contemporary [[Pomponius Mela]] ({{circa|43&nbsp;CE|lk=no}}) tells that Achilles was buried on an island named ''Achillea'', situated between the [[Borysthenes]] and the [[Danube|Ister]], adding to the geographical confusion.<ref>Pomponius Mela, ''De situ orbis'' 2.7.</ref> Ruins of a square temple, measuring 30 meters to a side, possibly that dedicated to Achilles, were discovered by Captain {{ill|Nikolay Kritsky|ru|Критский, Николай Дмитриевич}} in 1823 on [[Snake Island (Black Sea)|Snake Island]]. A second exploration in 1840 showed that the construction of a lighthouse had destroyed all traces of this temple. A fifth-century&nbsp;BCE [[Black-glazed Ware|black-glazed]] [[lekythos]] inscription, found on the island in 1840, reads: "Glaukos, son of Poseidon, dedicated me to Achilles, lord of Leuke." In another inscription from the fifth or fourth centuries&nbsp;BCE, a statue is dedicated to Achilles, lord of Leuke, by a citizen of Olbia, while in a further dedication, the city of Olbia confirms its continuous maintenance of the island's cult, again suggesting its quality as a place of a supra-regional hero veneration.<ref name=Hedreen />

The heroic cult dedicated to Achilles on ''Leuce'' seems to go back to an account from the lost epic ''[[Aethiopis]]'' according to which, after his untimely death, Thetis had snatched her son from the funeral pyre and removed him to a mythical {{lang|el|Λεύκη Νῆσος}} ({{tlit|el|Leúkē Nêsos}}, 'White Island').<ref>[[Proclus]], ''Chrestomathia'' 2.</ref> Already in the fifth century&nbsp;BCE, [[Pindar]] had mentioned a cult of Achilles on a "bright island" ({{lang|grc|φαεννά νᾶσος}}, {{tlit|grc|phaenná nâsos}}) of the Black Sea,<ref>Pindar, ''Nemea'' 4.49ff.; Arrian, ''[[Periplus of the Euxine Sea]]'' 21.</ref> while in another of his works, Pindar would retell the story of the immortalized Achilles living on a geographically indefinite [[Island of the Blest]] together with other heroes such as his father [[Peleus]] and [[Cadmus]].<ref>Pindar, ''Olympia'' 2.78ff.</ref> Well known is the connection of these mythological [[Fortunate Isles]] (μακαρῶν νῆσοι, ''makárôn nêsoi'') or the Homeric [[Elysium]] with the stream [[Oceanus]] which according to Greek mythology surrounds the inhabited world, which should have accounted for the identification of the northern strands of the Euxine with it.<ref name=Hedreen /> Guy Hedreen has found further evidence for this connection of Achilles with the northern margin of the inhabited world in a poem by [[Alcaeus of Mytilene|Alcaeus]], speaking of "Achilles lord of Scythia"<ref>D. Page, ''Lyrica Graeca Selecta'', Oxford 1968, p. 89, no. 166.</ref> and the opposition of North and South, as evoked by Achilles's fight against the [[Aethiopia]]n prince [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]], who in his turn would be removed to his homeland by his mother [[Eos]] after his death.

The ''[[Periplus Ponti Euxini|Periplus of the Euxine Sea]]'' ({{circa|130 CE|lk=no}}) gives the following details:

{{blockquote|It is said that the goddess Thetis raised this island from the sea, for her son Achilles, who dwells there. Here is his temple and his statue, an archaic work. This island is not inhabited, and goats graze on it, not many, which the people who happen to arrive here with their ships, sacrifice to Achilles. In this temple are also deposited a great many holy gifts, craters, rings and precious stones, offered to Achilles in gratitude. One can still read inscriptions in Greek and Latin, in which Achilles is praised and celebrated. Some of these are worded in Patroclus's honour, because those who wish to be favored by Achilles, honour Patroclus at the same time. There are also in this island countless numbers of sea birds, which look after Achilles's temple. Every morning they fly out to sea, wet their wings with water, and return quickly to the temple and sprinkle it. And after they finish the sprinkling, they clean the hearth of the temple with their wings. Other people say still more, that some of the men who reach this island, come here intentionally. They bring animals in their ships, destined to be sacrificed. Some of these animals they slaughter, others they set free on the island, in Achilles's honour. But there are others, who are forced to come to this island by sea storms. As they have no sacrificial animals, but wish to get them from the god of the island himself, they consult Achilles's oracle. They ask permission to slaughter the victims chosen from among the animals that graze freely on the island, and to deposit in exchange the price which they consider fair. But in case the oracle denies them permission, because there is an oracle here, they add something to the price offered, and if the oracle refuses again, they add something more, until at last, the oracle agrees that the price is sufficient. And then the victim doesn't run away any more, but waits willingly to be caught. So, there is a great quantity of silver there, consecrated to the hero, as price for the sacrificial victims. To some of the people who come to this island, Achilles appears in dreams, to others he would appear even during their navigation, if they were not too far away, and would instruct them as to which part of the island they would better anchor their ships.<ref name="Densuşianu" />}}

The Greek geographer [[Dionysius Periegetes]], who probably lived during the first century&nbsp;CE, wrote that the island was called ''Leuce'' "because the wild animals which live there are white. It is said that there, in Leuce island, reside the souls of Achilles and other heroes, and that they wander through the uninhabited valleys of this island; this is how Jove rewarded the men who had distinguished themselves through their virtues, because through virtue they had acquired everlasting honour."<ref>Dionysius Periegetes, ''Orbis descriptio'' 5.541, quoted in Densuşianu 1913.</ref> Similarly, others relate the island's name to its white cliffs, snakes or birds dwelling there.<ref name=Hedreen /><ref>Arrian, ''[[Periplus of the Euxine Sea]]'' 21; Scholion to Pindar, ''Nemea'' 4.79.</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] has been told that the island is "covered with forests and full of animals, some wild, some tame. In this island there is also Achilles's temple and his statue."<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 3.19.11.</ref> Leuce had also a reputation as a place of healing. Pausanias reports that the [[Delphi]]c [[Pythia]] sent a lord of [[Crotone|Croton]] to be cured of a chest wound.<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 3.19.13.</ref> [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] attributes the healing to waters (''aquae'') on the island.<ref>Ammianus Marcellinus, ''Res Gestae'' 22.8.</ref>

[[Strabo]] mentioned that the cape of the Racecourse of Achilles was sacred to Achilles and although it was treeless, was called Alsos (ἄλσος).<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-grc1:7.3.19 Strabo, Geography, 7.3.19]</ref> ''Alsos'' in Greek means '[[Grove (nature)|grove]]'.

A number of important commercial port cities of the Greek waters were dedicated to Achilles. [[Herodotus]], [[Pliny the Elder]] and [[Strabo]] reported on the existence of a town {{tlit|grc|Achílleion}} ({{lang|grc|Ἀχίλλειον}}), built by settlers from [[Mytilene]] in the sixth century&nbsp;BCE, close to the hero's presumed burial mound in the [[Troad]].<ref name=Troad /> Later attestations point to an ''Achílleion'' in [[Messenia]] (according to [[Stephanus Byzantinus]]) and an ''Achílleios'' (Ἀχίλλειος) in [[Laconia]].<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 3.25.4.</ref> [[Nicolae Densuşianu]] recognized a connection to Achilles in the names of [[Aquileia]] and of the northern arm of the Danube delta, called [[Chilia Veche|Chilia]] (presumably from an older ''Achileii''), although his conclusion, that Leuce had sovereign rights over the Black Sea, evokes modern rather than archaic sea-law.<ref name="Densuşianu">Nicolae Densuşianu: ''Dacia preistorică''. Bucharest: Carol Göbl, 1913.</ref>

The kings of [[Epirus (ancient state)|Epirus]] claimed to be descended from Achilles through his son, [[Neoptolemus]]. [[Alexander the Great]], son of the Epirote princess [[Olympias]], could therefore also claim this descent, and in many ways strove to be like his great ancestor. He is said to have visited the tomb of Achilles at [[Achilleion (Troad)#Tomb of Achilles|Achilleion]] while passing Troy.<ref>[[Arrian]], ''[[Anabasis Alexandri]]'' 1.12.1, [[Cicero]], ''Pro Archia Poeta'' 24.</ref> In 216, the Roman emperor [[Caracalla]], while on his way to war against [[Parthia]], emulated Alexander by holding games around Achilles's tumulus.<ref>[[Dio Cassius]] 78.16.7.</ref>

== Reception during antiquity ==

=== In Greek tragedy ===
{{Main|Achilleis (trilogy)}}
The Greek tragedian [[Aeschylus]] wrote a trilogy of plays about Achilles, given the title ''Achilleis'' by modern scholars. The tragedies relate the deeds of Achilles during the Trojan War, including his defeat of Hector and eventual death when an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo punctures his heel. Extant fragments of the ''Achilleis'' and other Aeschylean fragments have been assembled to produce a workable modern play. The first part of the ''Achilleis'' trilogy, ''The Myrmidons'', focused on the relationship between Achilles and chorus, who represent the Achaean army and try to convince Achilles to give up his quarrel with Agamemnon; only a few lines survive today.<ref>Pantelis Michelakis, ''Achilles in Greek Tragedy'', 2002, p. 22</ref> In Plato's ''Symposium'', Phaedrus points out that Aeschylus portrayed Achilles as the lover and Patroclus as the beloved; Phaedrus argues that this is incorrect because Achilles, being the younger and more beautiful of the two, was the beloved, who loved his lover so much that he chose to die to avenge him.<ref>Plato, ''Symposium'', translated Benjamin Jowett, Dover Thrift Editions, page 8</ref>

The tragedian [[Sophocles]] also wrote ''The Lovers of Achilles'', a play with Achilles as the main character. Only a few fragments survive.<ref>S. Radt. ''Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta'', vol. 4, (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977) frr. 149–157a.</ref>

Towards the end of the fifth century&nbsp;BCE, a more negative view of Achilles emerges in Greek drama; [[Euripides]] refers to Achilles in a bitter or ironic tone in ''[[Hecuba (play)|Hecuba]]'', ''[[Electra (Euripides)|Electra]]'', and ''[[Iphigenia in Aulis]]''.<ref name="Latacz 2010">Latacz 2010</ref>

Other contemporary tragedians, such as [[Astydamas]], wrote works on Achilles that are completely lost today.

=== In Greek philosophy ===

==== Zeno ====
The philosopher [[Zeno of Elea]] centred one of [[Zeno's paradoxes|his paradoxes]] on an imaginary footrace between "[[Epithets in Homer#Individuals|swift-footed]]" [[Achilles and the tortoise|Achilles and a tortoise]], by which he attempted to show that Achilles could not catch up to a tortoise with a head start, and therefore that motion and change were impossible. As a student of the monist Parmenides and a member of the Eleatic school, Zeno believed time and motion to be illusions.

==== Plato ====
In ''[[Hippias Minor]]'', a [[Socratic dialogue]] attributed to [[Plato]], an arrogant man named Hippias argues with [[Socrates]]. The two get into a discussion about lying. They decide that a person who is intentionally false must be "better" than a person who is unintentionally false, on the basis that someone who lies intentionally must understand the subject about which they are lying.<ref name="hm">{{cite web |last1=Jowett |first1=Benjamin |author2=Plato |title=Lesser Hippias |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1673/1673-h/1673-h.htm |publisher=Project Gutenberg |date=January 15, 2013}}</ref> Socrates uses various analogies, discussing athletics and the sciences to prove his point. The two also reference Homer extensively. Socrates and Hippias agree that [[Odysseus]], who concocted a number of lies throughout the ''Odyssey'' and other stories in the Trojan War Cycle, was false intentionally. Achilles, like Odysseus, told numerous falsehoods. Hippias believes that Achilles was a generally honest man, while Socrates believes that Achilles lied for his own benefit. The two argue over whether it is better to lie on purpose or by accident. Socrates eventually abandons Homeric arguments and makes sports analogies to drive home the point: someone who does wrong on purpose is a better person than someone who does wrong unintentionally.

=== In Roman and medieval literature ===
The Romans, who traditionally traced their lineage to Troy, took a highly negative view of Achilles.<ref name="Latacz 2010" /> [[Virgil]] refers to Achilles as a savage and a merciless butcher of men,<ref>''Aeneid'' 2.28, 1.30, 3.87.</ref> while [[Horace]] portrays Achilles ruthlessly slaying women and children.<ref>''Odes'' 4.6.17–20.</ref> Other writers, such as [[Catullus]], [[Propertius]], and [[Ovid]], represent a second strand of disparagement, with an emphasis on Achilles's erotic career. This strand continues in Latin accounts of the Trojan War by writers such as [[Dictys Cretensis]] and [[Dares Phrygius]] and in [[Benoît de Sainte-Maure]]'s {{lang|fr|[[Roman de Troie]]}} and [[Guido delle Colonne]]'s ''[[Historia destructionis Troiae]]'', which remained the most widely read and retold versions of the [[Matter of Troy]] until the seventeenth&nbsp;century.

Achilles was described by the Byzantine chronicler [[Leo the Deacon]], not as [[Hellenes|Hellene]], but as [[Scythians|Scythian]], while according to the Byzantine author [[John Malalas]], his army was made up of a tribe previously known as Myrmidons and later as [[Bulgars]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ekonomou |first1=Andrew |title=Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes |date=2007 |publisher=Lexington Books |location=UK |page=123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zomZk6DbFTIC&q=john+malalas+myrmidons+achilles&pg=PA123 |access-date=14 September 2015 |isbn=978-0-7391-1977-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jeffreys |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Croke |first2=Brian |title=Studies in John Malalas |publisher=Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, Department of Modern Greek, University of Sydney |location=Sydney |page=206 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p55mAAAAMAAJ&q=john+malalas+myrmidons+achilles |access-date=14 September 2015 |isbn=978-0-9593626-5-7 |year=1990}}</ref>

== In modern literature and arts ==
<!-- Please add NEW works with the YEAR of first publication in the correct subcategory. -->
[[File:Wenceslas Hollar - Briseis and Achilles.jpg|thumb|right|''Briseis and Achilles'', engraving by [[Wenceslaus Hollar]] (1607–1677)]]
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens - The Wrath of Achilles - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''The Wrath of Achilles'' ({{circa|1630–1635}}), painting by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]]]
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens 003.jpg|thumb|''The death of Hector'', unfinished oil painting by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]]]
[[File:Gottlieb Schick Achille and Agamemnon 1801.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Achilles and Agamemnon by Gottlieb Schick (1801)]]
[[File:Leon Benouville The Wrath of Achilles.jpg|thumb|''The Wrath of Achilles'', by [[François-Léon Benouville]] (1847; [[Musée Fabre]])]]

=== Literature ===
* Achilles appears in Dante's ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'' (composed 1308–1320). He is seen in [[Hell]]'s second circle, that of lust.
* Achilles is portrayed as a former hero who has become lazy and devoted to the love of Patroclus, in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]'' (1602). Despicably, he has his Myrmidons murder the unarmed Hector, and then gets them to announce that Achilles himself has slain Hector, as if it had been in a fair fight (Act 5.9.5-14).
* The French dramatist [[Thomas Corneille]] wrote a tragedy ''La Mort d'Achille'' (1673).
* Achilles is the subject of the poem ''Achilleis'' (1799), a fragment by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]].
* In 1899, the Polish playwright, painter and poet [[Stanisław Wyspiański]] published a national drama, based on Polish history, named ''Achilles''.
* In 1921, [[Edward Shanks]] published ''The Island of Youth and Other Poems'', concerned among others with Achilles.
* The 1983 novel ''[[Cassandra (novel)|Kassandra]]'' by [[Christa Wolf]] also treats the death of Achilles.
* [[H.D.]]'s 1961 long poem ''Helen in Egypt'' features Achilles prominently as a figure whose irrational hatred of Helen traumatizes her, the bulk of the poem's plot being about her recovery.
* Achilles is killed by a poisoned Centaur arrow shot by Cassandra in [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s novel ''[[The Firebrand (Bradley novel)|The Firebrand]]'' (1987).
* Achilles is one of various 'narrators' in [[Colleen McCullough]]'s novel ''[[The Song of Troy]]'' (1998).
* ''[[The Death of Achilles]]'' (''Смерть Ахиллеса'', 1998) is an historical detective novel by Russian writer [[Boris Akunin]] that alludes to various figures and motifs from the ''Iliad''.
* The character Achilles in ''[[Ender's Shadow]]'' (1999), by Orson Scott Card, shares his namesake's cunning mind and ruthless attitude.
* Achilles is one of the main characters in [[Dan Simmons]]'s novels ''[[Ilium (novel)|Ilium]]'' (2003) and ''[[Olympos (novel)|Olympos]]'' (2005).
* Achilles is a major supporting character in [[David Gemmell]]'s ''[[David Gemmell#Troy series|Troy]]'' series of books (2005–2007).
* Achilles is the main character in [[David Malouf]]'s novel ''[[Ransom (Malouf novel)|Ransom]]'' (2009).
* The [[ghost]] of Achilles appears in [[Rick Riordan]]'s ''[[The Last Olympian]]'' (2009). He warns Percy Jackson about the Curse of Achilles and its side effects.
* Achilles is a main character in [[Terence Hawkins]]'s 2009 novel ''[[The Rage of Achilles]]''.
* Achilles is a major character in [[Madeline Miller]]'s debut novel, ''[[The Song of Achilles]]'' (2011), which won the 2012 [[Orange Prize for Fiction]]. The novel explores the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles from boyhood to the fateful events of the ''[[Iliad]]''.
* Achilles appears in the light novel series ''[[Fate/Apocrypha]]'' (2012–2014) as the Rider of Red.
* Achilles is a main character in [[Pat Barker]]'s 2018 novel ''[[The Silence of the Girls]]'', much of which is narrated by his slave [[Briseis]].

=== Visual arts ===
* ''Achilles with the Daughters of Lycomedes'' is a subject treated in paintings by [[Anthony van Dyck]] (before 1618; [[Museo del Prado]], Madrid) and [[Nicolas Poussin]] ({{circa|1652}}; [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]) among others.
* [[Peter Paul Rubens]] has authored a series of works on the life of Achilles, comprising the titles: ''Thetis dipping the infant Achilles into the river Styx'', ''Achilles educated by the centaur Chiron'', ''Achilles recognized among the daughters of Lycomedes'', ''The wrath of Achilles'', ''The death of Hector'', ''Thetis receiving the arms of Achilles from Vulcanus'', ''The death of Achilles'' ([[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]], Rotterdam), and ''Briseis restored to Achilles'' ([[Detroit Institute of Arts]]; all {{circa|1630–1635}})
* Pieter van Lint, "Achilles Discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes", 1645, at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
* ''Dying Achilles'' is a sculpture created by [[Christophe Veyrier]] ({{circa|1683}}; [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], London).
* ''The Rage of Achilles'' is a fresco by [[Giovanni Battista Tiepolo]] (1757, [[Villa Valmarana Ai Nani]], Vicenza).
* [[Eugène Delacroix]] painted a version of ''The Education of Achilles'' for the ceiling of the Paris [[Palais Bourbon]] (1833–1847), one of the seats of the [[French Parliament]].
* {{Interlanguage link|Arthur Kaan|de|Arthur Kaan}} created a statue group ''Achilles and Penthesilea'' (1895; Vienna).
* ''Achilleus'' (1908) is a [[lithography]] by [[Max Slevogt]].

=== Music ===
Achilles has been frequently the subject of operas, ballets and related genres.
* Operas titled ''Deidamia'' were composed by [[Francesco Cavalli]] (1644) and [[George Frideric Handel]] (1739).
* ''[[Achille et Polyxène]]'' (Paris 1687) is an opera begun by [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]] and finished by [[Pascal Collasse]].
* ''[[Achille et Déidamie]]'' (Paris 1735) is an opera composed by [[André Campra]].
* ''[[Achilles (opera)|Achilles]]'' (London 1733) is a [[ballad opera]], written by [[John Gay]], parodied by [[Thomas Arne]] as ''Achilles in petticoats'' in 1773.
* ''[[Achille in Sciro]]'' is a [[libretto]] by [[Metastasio]], composed by [[Domenico Sarro]] for the inauguration of the [[Teatro di San Carlo]] (Naples, 4 November 1737). An even earlier composition is from [[Antonio Caldara]] (Vienna 1736). Later operas on the same libretto were composed by [[Leonardo Leo]] (Turin 1739), [[Niccolò Jommelli]] (Vienna 1749 and Rome 1772), [[Giuseppe Sarti]] (Copenhagen 1759 and Florence 1779), [[Johann Adolph Hasse]] (Naples 1759), [[Giovanni Paisiello]] (St. Petersburg 1772), [[Giuseppe Gazzaniga]] (Palermo 1781) and many others. It has also been set to music as ''Il Trionfo della gloria''.
* ''Achille'' (Vienna 1801) is an opera by [[Ferdinando Paër]] on a libretto by [[Giovanni de Gamerra]].
* ''Achille à Scyros'' (Paris 1804) is a [[ballet]] by [[Pierre Gardel]], composed by [[Luigi Cherubini]].
* ''Achilles, oder Das zerstörte Troja'' ("Achilles, or Troy Destroyed", Bonn 1885) is an [[oratorio]] by the German composer [[Max Bruch]].
* ''Achilles auf Skyros'' (Stuttgart 1926) is a ballet by the Austrian-British composer and musicologist [[Egon Wellesz]].
* ''Achilles' Wrath'' is a concert piece by Sean O'Loughlin.<ref>[http://musicalworld.com/artists/sean-oloughlin/ Entry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224050134/http://musicalworld.com/artists/sean-oloughlin/ |date=24 February 2017 }} at ''Musical World''.</ref>
* ''[[Temporary Like Achilles]]'' is a song on the 1966 double-album ''[[Blonde on Blonde]]'' by [[Bob Dylan]]
* ''[[Achilles Last Stand]]'' is a song on the 1976 [[Led Zeppelin]] album ''[[Presence (album)|Presence]]''.
* ''Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts'' is the first song on the 1992 [[Manowar]] album ''[[The Triumph of Steel]]''.
* ''Achilles Come Down'' is a song on the 2017 [[Gang of Youths]] album ''[[Go Farther in Lightness]]''.

=== Film and television ===
Achilles has been portrayed in the following films and television series:
* The 1924 film ''[[Helena (1924 film)|Helena]]'' by [[Carlo Aldini]]
* The 1954 film ''[[Ulysses (1954 film)|Ulysses]]'' by [[Piero Lulli]]
* The 1956 film ''[[Helen of Troy (film)|Helen of Troy]]'' by [[Stanley Baker]]
* The 1961 film ''[[The Trojan Horse (film)|The Trojan Horse]]'' by [[Arturo Dominici]]
* The 1962 film ''[[The Fury of Achilles]]'' by [[Gordon Mitchell]]
* The 1997 television miniseries ''[[The Odyssey (miniseries)|The Odyssey]]'' by Richard Trewett
* The 2003 television miniseries ''[[Helen of Troy (miniseries)|Helen of Troy]]'' by Joe Montana
* The 2004 film ''[[Troy (film)|Troy]]'' by [[Brad Pitt]]

=== Architecture ===
{{multiple image
| perrow            = 2
| total_width       = 300
| image1            = Wellington Monument (Achilles) - geograph.org.uk - 2956596.jpg
| image2            = Achillii 490 84, Greece - panoramio (16).jpg
| footer            = [[Wellington Monument]] and Achilles statue in [[Achilleion (Corfu)|Achilleion]]
}}

* In 1890, [[Elisabeth of Bavaria]], Empress of Austria, had a summer palace built in [[Corfu]]. The building is named the [[Achilleion (Corfu)|Achilleion]], after Achilles. Its paintings and statuary depict scenes from the [[Trojan War]], with particular focus on Achilles.
* The [[Wellington Monument, London|Wellington Monument]] is a statue representing Achilles erected in 1822 as a memorial to [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley]], the first duke of Wellington, and his victories in the [[Peninsular War]] and the latter stages of the [[Napoleonic Wars]].

== Namesakes ==
* The name of Achilles has been used for at least nine [[Royal Navy]] warships since 1744—both as {{HMS|Achilles}} and with the French spelling {{HMS|Achille}}. A 60-gun ship of that name served at the Battle of Belleisle in 1761 while a 74-gun ship served at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]]. Other battle honours include Walcheren 1809. An armored cruiser of that name served in the Royal Navy during the First World War.
* {{HMNZS|Achilles|70|6}} was a {{sclass|Leander|cruiser|1||1931}} which served with the [[Royal New Zealand Navy]] in World War II. It became famous for its part in the [[Battle of the River Plate]], alongside {{HMS|Ajax|22|6}} and {{HMS|Exeter|68|6}}. In addition to earning the battle honour 'River Plate', HMNZS ''Achilles'' also served at Guadalcanal 1942–1943 and Okinawa in 1945. After returning to the Royal Navy, the ship was sold to the [[Indian Navy]] in 1948, but when she was scrapped parts of the ship were saved and preserved in New Zealand.
* A species of lizard, ''[[List of Anolis lizards|Anolis achilles]]'', which has widened heel plates, is named for Achilles.<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Achilles", p. 1).</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Achilles departure Eretria Painter CdM Paris 851.jpg|Achilles and the [[Nereid]] Cymothoe, Attic [[red-figure]] [[kantharos]] from [[Volci]] ([[Cabinet des Médailles]], Bibliothèque nationale, Paris)
File:Akhilleus embassy Staatliche Antikensammlungen 8770.jpg|The embassy to Achilles, Attic red-figure [[hydria]], {{circa|480 BCE|lk=no}} ([[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]], Berlin)
File:AmbrosianIliadPict47Achilles.jpg|Achilles sacrificing to [[Zeus]] for Patroclus's safe return,<ref>''Iliad'' 16.220–252.</ref> from the ''[[Ambrosian Iliad]]'', a fifth-century illuminated manuscript
File:Bell-krater Akhilleus Penthesileia MAN.jpg|Achilles and Penthesilea fighting, Lucanian red-figure bell-krater, late fifth century&nbsp;BCE
File:Akhilleus Penthesileia Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2688.jpg|Achilles killing Penthesilea, [[Tondo (art)|tondo]] of an Attic red-figure [[kylix]], {{circa|465 BCE|lk=no}}, from [[Vulci]]
File:Mourning of Akhilleus Louvre E643.jpg|Thetis and the Nereids mourning Achilles, Corinthian black-figure [[hydria]], {{circa|555 BCE|lk=no}} ([[Louvre]], Paris)
File:Aias Achilles game Musei Capitolini MC6.jpg|Achilles and Ajax playing the board game ''petteia'', black-figure [[oinochoe]], {{circa|530 BCE|lk=no}} ([[Capitoline Museums]], Rome)
File:Achilles-01.jpg|Head of Achilles depicted on a fourth-century&nbsp;BCE coin from [[Pelasgia, Phthiotis|Kremaste]], [[Phthia]]. Reverse: [[Thetis]], wearing and holding the shield of Achilles with his AX monogram
File:Getty Villa - Collection (3151231788).jpg|Achilles on a Roman mosaic with the Removal of [[Briseis]], second century
</gallery>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus. The Library, Volume II: Book 3.10-end. Epitome'', translated by James G. Frazer, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 122, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1921. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99136-1}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL122/1921/volume.xml Harvard University Press]. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.10.1 Perseus Digital Library].
* Ileana Chirassi Colombo (1977), "Heroes Achilleus&nbsp;– Theos Apollon". In ''Il Mito Greco'', edd. Bruno Gentili and Giuseppe Paione. Rome: Edizione dell'Ateneo e Bizzarri.
* Dräger, Paul, "Medea", in ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 8'', Lyd &ndash; Mine, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Leiden, Brill, 2006. {{ISBN|9004122710}}.
* Anthony Edwards (1985a), "Achilles in the Underworld: Iliad, Odyssey, and Æthiopis". ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies''. '''26''': pp.&nbsp;215–227.
* Anthony Edwards (1985b), "Achilles in the Odyssey: Ideologies of Heroism in the Homeric Epic". ''Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie''. '''171'''.
* {{cite journal |doi=10.1017/S0009838800031220 |title=ΚΛΕΟΣ ΑΦΘΙΤΟΝ and Oral Theory |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=38 |pages=25–30 |year=1988 |last1=Edwards |first1=Anthony T. |s2cid=170947595}}
* [[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]], ''The Greek Myths'', Harmondsworth, London, England, Penguin Books, 1960. {{ISBN|978-0143106715}}
*Graves, Robert, ''The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition.'' Penguin Books Limited. 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-241-98338-6|024198338X}}
*{{cite journal |author=Guy Hedreen |title=The Cult of Achilles in the Euxine |journal=Hesperia |year=1991 |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=313–330 |jstor=148068 |publisher=American School of Classical Studies at Athens |doi=10.2307/148068}}
* {{cite book |author=Karl Kerényi |author-link=Károly Kerényi |title=The Heroes of the Greeks |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=New York/London |year=1959}}
*{{PWRE|I,1|221|245|Achilleus 1|Jakob Escher-Bürkli|RE:Achilleus 1}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Joachim Latacz |author-link=Joachim Latacz |editor1=Anthony Grafton |editor1-link=Anthony Grafton |editor2=Glenn Most |editor2-link=Glenn W. Most |editor3=Salvatore Settis |encyclopedia=The Classical Tradition |title=Achilles |year=2010 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=978-0-674-03572-0 |pages=3–5}}
* Hélène Monsacré (1984), ''Les larmes d'Achille. Le héros, la femme et la souffrance dans la poésie d'Homère'', Paris: Albin Michel.
* Gregory Nagy (1984), ''The Name of Achilles: Questions of Etymology and 'Folk Etymology'', ''Illinois Classical Studies''. '''19'''.
* [[Gregory Nagy]] (1999), ''The Best of The Acheans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry''. Johns Hopkins University Press (revised edition, [http://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5576 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224041719/https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/5576 |date=24 December 2018 }}).
* {{cite encyclopedia |author1=Dorothea Sigel |title=Achilles |author2=Anne Ley |author3=Bruno Bleckmann |entry=Achilles |encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly |editor=Hubert Cancik |display-editors=et al |publisher=Brill Reference Online |doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e102220}}
* Dale S. Sinos (1991), ''The Entry of Achilles into Greek Epic'', PhD thesis, Johns Hopkins University. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International.
* Jonathan S. Burgess (2009), ''The Death and Afterlife of Achilles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
* Abrantes, M.C. (2016), ''Themes of the Trojan Cycle: Contribution to the study of the greek mythological tradition'' (Coimbra). {{ISBN|978-1530337118}}.

== External links ==
{{EB1911 poster|Achilles}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Wiktionary|Achillean}}
* [http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/troy.html Trojan War Resources]
* [http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/result.htm?alt=Achilles&pnumber=20 Gallery of the Ancient Art: Achilles]
* {{cite wikisource |title=Achilles |wslink=Achilles (Coates)}} Poem by Florence Earle Coates

{{Characters in the Iliad}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Greek mythological heroes]]
[[Category:Kings of the Myrmidons]]
[[Category:Achaean Leaders]]
[[Category:Thessalians in the Trojan War]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Mythological rapists]]
[[Category:Demigods in classical mythology]]
[[Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Achilles| ]]
[[Category:Deeds of Apollo]]
[[Category:Princes in Greek mythology]]