In Greek Myth, Who is Achilles?
In Greek myth, Achilles is the legendary but reluctant warrior who fought in the Trojan War. His mother Thetis, who dipped him in the river Styx after he was born, rendered him nearly impervious to harm by this action. However, she had to hold onto his heel in order to retrieve him from the water, thus missing a spot. The only way Achilles could be killed was by injury to his heel. This leads to the now famous expression, Achilles’ heel, meaning a person’s major weak point. The story of Achilles figures largely in Homer’s Iliad. Achilles is first introduced as having withdrawn from the war in a fight with Agamemnon over the capture of several Trojan women. It is important to understand Achilles’ reluctance to engage in the battle. It is prophesied before Achilles leaves for Troy that he will die there. Thus he is necessarily loath to take part in the battle in any case.
