The exploits of Achilles summary. Achilles (Achilles), the greatest Greek hero in the Trojan War

Achilles is one of the greatest heroes of the Trojan War. His father was the Marmidonian king Peleus, and his mother was the sea goddess Thetis. To make Achilles invulnerable, that is, immortal, Thetis tempered him in fire every night and rubbed him with ambrosia during the day.

P In one version, when Peleus saw his little son on fire, he snatched him from his mother’s arms. According to another version, Thetis bathed Achilles in the waters of the underground river Styx so that he would become invulnerable. At the same time, she held his heel, so only she remained vulnerable. This is where the expression "Achilles' heel" came from.

Thetis was offended by Peleus' intervention. She left her husband, and he gave Achilles to be raised by the wise centaur Chiron. Chiron fed him with the entrails of lions, bears and wild boars, and also taught him to play the cithara and sing.

Achilles was the youngest of all future participants in the Trojan War. He was not one of Elena’s suitors and should not have participated in the campaign. According to other versions, Chiron, who had the gift of foresight, kept him from matchmaking. Achilles' mother knew that he was destined to die at Troy; she tried in every possible way to save him. Thetis even hid Achilles in the palace of King Lycomedes on the island of Skyros. There he lived, dressed in women's clothing, among the daughters of Lycomedes. The young man secretly married the king's daughter Deidamia, from whose marriage he had a son, Pyrrhus. When the Achaean leaders were predicted by the priest Kalkhant that without the participation of Achilles the campaign against Troy would be unsuccessful, they sent an embassy to Skyros. Odysseus was at the head of the embassy.

Achilles bandages Patroclus (there is no such scene in the Iliad, apparently it is from Cypria)

Odysseus used a trick. He and his companions took on the appearance of merchants and laid out jewelry mixed with weapons in front of everyone who had gathered. Odysseus ordered his soldiers to play an alarm. The frightened girls ran away, but Achilles immediately grabbed the weapon in his hands and rushed towards the enemy. This is how Achilles was identified by the Greeks. He became a participant in the campaign against Troy. He arrived in Aulis on 50 ships at the head of the Marmidonian militia. His participation in the sacrifice of Iphigenia dates back to this time. According to Euripides, the Atrides, in order to summon Iphigenia to Aulis, informed her that she would be married to Achilles. With this trick they decided to lure Iphigenia to sacrifice her. When Achilles found out about this, he was ready to defend Iphigenia with arms in hand.

However, according to another version, an earlier one, Achilles himself was interested in getting Iphigenia dealt with quickly, and he rather sailed to Troy. The hero became famous already in the first years of the war. The Greeks made several unsuccessful attempts to take Troy by storm, after which they decided to ravage its surroundings and launch numerous expeditions against the neighboring cities of Asia Minor and islands. Achilles ravaged the cities of Lyrnessos and Pedas, Placian Thebes - the homeland of Andromache, Methymna on Lesbos. During one of the expeditions, Achilles captured the beautiful Briseis and Lycaon.

The image of Achilles is given in detail in the Iliad. The behavior of Agamenon, who stole Briseis from him, aroused furious anger in Achilles. If the goddess Athena had not intervened, bloodshed would have been inevitable. However, this event contributed to Achilles' refusal to continue the war. Agamemnon tried to reconcile with him, but the hero rejected this attempt. The Trojans, of course, won more and more victories over the Achaean troops. As soon as Agamemnon found out about this, he announced to Achilles that he would return Briseis to him, give him one of his daughters as a wife, and many cities as a dowry. Achilles changed his anger to mercy and, having received new armor from the god Hephaestus, rushed into battle. In the decisive duel with Hector, Achilles won, which, by the way, foreshadowed his own death.

As for the further fate of Achilles, it is known from the retelling of the epic poem “Ethiopida”, which has not reached us. After the battles in which Achilles emerged victorious, he burst into Troy, where at the Scaean Gate he died from two arrows of Paris, which were directed by the hand of Apollo: the first arrow hit the heel, it deprived Achilles of the opportunity to rush at the enemy, and Paris killed him with the second arrow in the chest.

(Quintus of Smirnsky. Posthomerica)

After the burial of Antilochus, Achilles again decided to take out the death of his friend on the Trojans. Despite all the failures, they, carried away by fate, again entered into battle, trying to save Ilion. But after a short skirmish, Achilles and his brave squad drove them back to the city. A few more moments, and, having broken down the Scaean gates, he would have killed all the Trojans in the city. Then Apollo came down from Olympus, terribly angry with the Achaeans for the disasters of the Trojans, and went to meet Achilles; his bow and quiver rang terribly on his shoulders, the earth shook from his steps, and the silver-bowed god exclaimed in a terrifying voice: “Get away from the Trojans, Pelid, and stop being fierce, otherwise one of the immortals of Olympus will destroy you.” But Achilles, furious from the battle, did not move away, did not heed the command of God, for gloomy fate was already standing next to him; he boldly exclaimed: “Phoebus, why do you challenge me against my will to a battle with the gods and stand up for the arrogant? You have already deceived me once and distracted me from Hector and the Trojans. Now go to the other gods, otherwise I will hit you with a spear, although you and God." Having said this, he rushed at the Trojans, who were still running scattered across the field; and the angry Apollo said: “Woe! How furious he is! None of the immortals, not even Zeus himself, would have allowed him to indulge in rage and resist the immortals for so long.” And, covered with a thick cloud, he shot a deadly arrow.

The arrow hit Achilles in the heel. Suddenly a strong pain penetrated to his very heart, and he fell like a tower toppled by an earthquake. “Who is it,” exclaimed Achilles, looking around, “who shot a destructive arrow at me? Let him come against me, let him openly fight with me, and my sword will immediately tear his insides apart, and he will be thrown bloodied into Hades. I know that "No mortal can defeat me in open battle, but the cowardly lies in wait for the strongest. Let him come forward, even if he is a celestial! Yes, I feel that this is Apollo, clothed in darkness. My mother has long predicted to me that I will fall under his destructive arrow near Scae gate: she spoke the truth." So said Achilles and took the arrow from the incurable wound; Blood flowed in a black stream, and death reached the heart. Achilles angrily threw a spear, which the wind immediately carried to the hands of Apollo, who returned to Olympus to the meeting of the gods. Hera greeted him with words full of bitterness: “What kind of destructive deed have you done today, Phoebus? After all, at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, you played the zither among the feasting gods and begged the newlyweds for a son: you killed this son today. But this will not help your Trojans. ": soon the son of Achilles will arrive from Skyros, equal in valor to his father, and he will break out in disaster over them. Fool, with what eyes will you look at Nereus' daughter when she appears at our Olympian meeting." Thus she spoke, blaming God; Apollo did not answer, fearing his father’s wife, and, lowering his gaze, sat silently away from the other gods.

Death of Achilles. Sculpture by Christophe Veyrier, 1683

Achilles had not yet lost his courage; his blood, greedy for battle, boiled in his powerful limbs. None of the Trojans dared to approach him, prostrate on the ground: so timid the villagers stand at a distance from the lion that the hunter was struck in the heart and, with rolled-up eyes and clenched teeth, struggles with death. So the angry Achilles, like a wounded lion, fought against death. Once again he rose up and with a raised spear rushed towards the enemies. He pierced Oriphaon, Hector's friend, in the temple, so that the tip of the spear penetrated into the brain, and he gouged out the eye of Hippothois; then he defeated Alkithos and many others of the Trojans, who fled in fear. But little by little Achilles’ limbs grew cold and his strength disappeared. However, he resisted and, leaning on his spear, shouted in a terrible voice to the fleeing enemies: “Woe to you, cowardly Trojans, and after my death you will not escape my spear, my avenging spirit will reach you all.” The Trojans fled at the last click, thinking that he was not yet wounded; but Achilles, with stiff limbs, fell among other dead bodies, heavy as a rock; the earth shook and his weapon hummed. This is how death befell Achilles.

The Trojans saw the death of Achilles, but, trembling, they did not dare to approach his body, like sheep timidly running away from a predatory beast killed near the herd. First of all, Paris dared to exhort the Trojans to approach the fallen man: would it be possible, he thought, to steal the body with armor and bring it to Ilion to the joy of the Trojans and Trojans? Finally, Aeneas, Agenor, Glaucus and many others, who had previously been fearfully running from Achilles, rushed forward together with Paris; but Telamonides Ajax and other strong friends of Pelides opposed them. A terrible battle ensued over the body and armor of the fallen: corpses were piled up in hills all around, and the blood of the dead flowed in streams. The battle lasted all day, until the evening. Then Zeus rushed between the combatants in a stormy whirlwind and allowed the Achaeans to save their body and weapons. The strong Ajax carried Achilles' body on his shoulders from the battle, while the cautious Odysseus pushed back the advancing enemy. The Achaeans safely carried the body of Achilles to the ships, washed and anointed it with myrrh; then, having clothed him in thin and delicate garments, they laid him, lamenting and weeping, on a bed and cut off his hair.

Ajax carries Achilles' body out of the battle. Attic vase, ca. 510 BC

Having heard the sad news of the death of Achilles at the bottom of the sea, Thetis with all her Nereid sisters sailed to the Achaean camp, filling the air with such loud cries that the roar from them carried far above the waves, filling the hearts of the Achaeans with fear. The unfortunate mother and the maidens of the sea, lamenting, stood in mourning clothes around the bed of Achilles; a choir of nine muses descended from Olympus and sang funeral songs in honor of the deceased, while the saddened army grieved and cried around them. It took seventeen days and seventeen nights for both the immortal gods and people to honor their beloved hero, kidnapped by death, with tears and funeral songs. On the eighteenth day, they placed the body, dressed in precious garments, on a fire and burned it with many slain sheep and bulls, with honey and myrrh; throughout the night, armed Achaean heroes solemnly walked around and around the blazing fire of Achilles. Early in the morning, when everything was destroyed by fire, they collected the ashes and white bones of the hero and put all this, along with the ashes of Patroclus, in a golden urn made by Hephaestus, which Dionysus presented to Thetis. This was the wish of the friends. Then they placed the urn of Achilles in the tomb, which had already been built on the Scaean Cape, on the shores of the Hellespont, to Patroclus; There they placed the ashes of their friend Antilochus and above all this they poured a high mound - a monument for future generations: this mound is visible from afar, from the Hellespont. After the burial, Thetis, in memory of the death of Achilles, organized a funeral feast in the Achaean army with a splendor never before seen by mortals. The first heroes of the army showed their strength and dexterity in various games, and received the most beautiful gifts from the hands of Thetis.

Based on materials from the book by G. Stoll “Myths of Classical Antiquity”

Achilles (Achilles), Greek - the son of the Phthian king Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, the greatest Achaean hero in the Trojan War.

None of the hundred thousand Achaeans who came under the high walls of Troy could compare with him in strength, courage, agility, speed, as well as directness of character and courageous beauty. Achilles had everything that adorns a man in abundance; fate denied him only one thing - happiness.

Achilles was born from a marriage that was forced on his mother. Initially, Zeus himself courted her, but then he learned from the titan Prometheus that, according to the prophecy, the son of Thetis would surpass his father - and then, protecting his interests, Zeus married her off to a mortal, to Peleus. When her son was born, she dipped him into the waters of the Styx, an underground river in the kingdom of the dead, and his entire body (except for the heel by which she held her son) was covered with an invisible shell. But, obviously, these are legends of later origin, since Homer knew nothing about it. He only said that Thetis rubbed Achilles with ambrosia and tempered him over fire so that he would become invulnerable and immortal. But one day Peleus found her doing this. Seeing his son on fire, he got scared, decided that Thetis wanted to kill Achilles, and rushed at her with a sword. The poor goddess had no time for explanations; she barely managed to hide in the depths of the sea and never returned to Peleus. Peleus found a teacher for his abandoned son. First he was the wise old man Phoenix, then the centaur Chiron, who fed him bear brains and roasted lions. This diet and education clearly benefited Achilles: as a ten-year-old boy, he killed a wild boar with his bare hands and caught up with a deer while running. He soon learned everything that a hero of that time was supposed to: behave like a man, wield weapons, heal wounds, play the lyre and sing.

"Achilles between the Daughters of Lycomedes", Gerard de Leresse(many paintings of Achilles-Achilles by different artists have been collected on).

Thetis was told that her son would be given a choice: to live long, but without glory, or to live a short, but glorious age. Although she wished him glory, as a mother she naturally gave preference to a long life. Having learned that the Achaean kings were preparing for war with Troy, she hid Achilles on the island of Skyros with King Lycomedes, where he had to live in women's clothing among the king's daughters. But Agamemnon, with the help of the soothsayer Calhant, found out his whereabouts and sent Odysseus and Diomedes after him. Disguised as merchants, both kings entered the palace and laid out their goods in front of the king's daughters. Among the expensive fabrics, jewelry and other products in which women have been interested since time immemorial, it was as if a sword happened to be there. And when, according to a conventional sign, the companions of Odysseus and Diomedes uttered a war cry and their weapons rang, all the girls ran away in fear - and only one hand reached for the sword. So Achilles gave himself away and, without much persuasion, promised to join the Achaean army. Neither Lycomedes' daughter Deidamia, who was expecting a son from him, nor the prospect of a long and happy reign in her homeland kept him on Skyros. Instead of Phthia, he chose glory.

Achilles led five thousand men to the harbor of Aulis, where the Achaean army was concentrated, the core of the detachment being the brave Myrmidons. His father Peleus, due to his advanced years, could not participate in the campaign, so he gave him his armor, a huge spear made of solid ash and a war chariot drawn by immortal horses. These were wedding gifts that Peleus received from the gods when he married Thetis, and Achilles was able to use them. He fought for nine years at Troy, took twenty-three cities in its vicinity, and terrified the Trojans with his very appearance. All the Achaeans, from the leaders to the last ordinary warrior, saw in him the most courageous, skillful and successful warrior - everyone except the commander-in-chief, Agamemnon.

He was a mighty king and a good warrior, but Agamemnon lacked the nobility to accept the fact that his subordinate surpassed him in merit and popularity. He hid his hostility for a long time, but one day he could not resist. And this led to a strife that almost destroyed the entire Achaean army.

This happened in the tenth year of the war, when deep discontent and disappointment reigned in the Achaean camp. The warriors dreamed of returning home, and the generals lost hope of gaining glory and booty by taking Troy. Achilles went with his Myrmidons to a neighboring kingdom to supply the army with provisions and raise its spirit with rich booty. Among the prisoners brought was the daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo, who, during the division of the spoils, went to Agamemnon. Achilles had nothing against it, since she was not interested in him; he fell in love with the beautiful Briseis, captured during one of the previous expeditions. However, soon Chris also appeared in the Achaean camp; he wished the soldiers a quick victory and asked Agamemnon to return his daughter to him for a rich ransom. The Achaeans were satisfied with this proposal, but Agamemnon was against it: he, they say, likes the girl and he will never give her up, and Chris, they say, let him go where he came from. Then the priest turned to his god Apollo with a prayer to avenge him. Apollo heeded his plea, descended from Olympus and began scattering pestilence throughout the Greek camp with arrows from his silver bow. The soldiers died, but Agamemnon did not try to appease the angry god - and then Achilles decided to intervene. He called a meeting of warriors to decide together what to do. This once again hurt Agamemnon’s pride, and he decided to take revenge. When the soothsayer Kalkhant announced to the army that in order to reconcile with Apollo, it was necessary to return his daughter to Chris (but now without any ransom, and even to apologize), Agamemnon cut him off and angrily attacked Achilles, who stood up for the soothsayer. After unheard-of insults that disgraced Achilles in front of the entire army, Agamemnon declared that in the interests of the army he was abandoning Chryseis, but would take another from one of the commanders - and chose Briseis, Achilles’s beloved.

A still from the 2004 film Troy. Actor Brad Pitt plays Achilles.

As a disciplined soldier, Achilles obeyed the commander’s decision, but also drew his own conclusions from this. He swore that he would not participate in battles until Agamemnon asked him for forgiveness and restored his trampled honor. Then he retired to the seashore, called his mother from the deep waters and asked her to put in a good word for him before Zeus: let the Almighty help the Trojans push back the Achaean army, so that Agamemnon would understand that he could not do without Achilles, and come to him with an apology and a request about help.

Thetis conveyed her son's request to Zeus, and he did not refuse her. He forbade the other gods to interfere in the war, and he himself encouraged the leader of the Trojans, Hector, to take advantage of the absence of Achilles and push the Achaeans back to the sea itself. At the same time, he sent a deceptive dream to Agamemnon, which tempted him to go on the offensive, despite Achilles’ withdrawal from the game. The Achaeans fought bravely, but were forced to retreat. The Trojans, in the evening after the battle, did not even return to the protection of the city walls, but settled down for the night right in front of the Achaean camp, so that when daylight came, they could destroy it with one powerful blow. Seeing that things were bad, Agamemnon sent to inform Achilles that he was taking back his words, returning his beloved and, in addition to her, seven more virgins with rich gifts - if only Achilles would change his anger to mercy and take up arms again. This time Achilles went too far in his anger: he rejected Agamemnon's proposal and declared that he would not engage in battle until Hector attacked his camp directly; however, things will not come to this, since he, Achilles, will soon return with his army to his native Phthia.

The catastrophe seemed inevitable: in the morning attack, the Trojans broke through the ranks of the Achaeans, broke through the wall protecting the camp, and Hector was about to set fire to the ships to deprive the Greeks of the opportunity to escape. At that moment, his best friend Patroclus came to Achilles and asked permission to put on Achilles’ armor and help his Achaean friends who were in trouble. Patroclus hoped that the Trojans would mistake him for Achilles and retreat in fear of him. At first Achilles hesitated, but seeing that Hector was already setting fire to one of the Greek ships, he immediately complied with Patroclus’ request; In addition to armor, he gave him his entire army. Patroclus rushed into battle, and his cunning was a success: thinking that Achilles was in front of them, the Trojans were taken aback. Patroclus put out the fire, pushed the Trojans back to the city walls, but was then identified because he did not dare to take Achilles’ heavy spear with him. Then the Trojans dared to engage him in battle: the spearman Euphorbus, with the help of Apollo, mortally wounded Patroclus, and then Hector pierced him with a spear.

"Achilles at the Walls of Troy", Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1801

The news of the death of his friend struck Achilles and plunged him into grief. Forgetting about his grievances, he wanted to rush into battle to avenge Patroclus, but Hector had already received his armor. At the request of Thetis, the gunsmith of the gods himself, Hephaestus, made new ones for him in one night. Over the corpse of Patroclus, Achilles swore revenge on Hector. He reconciled with Agamemnon, who admitted his guilt in front of the entire army and returned Briseis to him, and in the first battle after the death of Patroclus he killed Hector.

It was a merciless battle: Achilles looked for Hector in the ranks of the Trojans and fought with him three times, but each time Hector was saved by Apollo, the faithful defender of Troy. Enraged, Achilles put the entire Trojan army to flight, killed many Trojans and their allies, and the rest took refuge behind the walls of the city. When the huge Skeian gates closed behind the last of the fugitives, only Hector remained in front of them. To save the honor of the army and his own, he challenged Achilles to a duel. In defiance, he proposed that the winner give the body of the vanquished to his friends so that they could bury him with dignity. But Achilles only accepted the challenge, not agreeing to any conditions, and rushed at the enemy like a lion at a defenseless victim. Despite all his courage, Hector became afraid and fled. He ran around the high walls of Troy three times, saving his life, but finally stopped and, at the instigation of Athena, who wanted the Trojans to die, crossed arms with Achilles. In a duel for life and death, which amazed even the gods, Hector fell, pierced by the spear of Achilles.

Achilles with Hector's body

Triumphant Achilles tied Hector's body to his war chariot and drove around the walls of Troy three times, and then dragged him to his camp to give him to be torn to pieces by the Achaean dogs. However, the gods did not allow the body of the fallen hero to be desecrated, and Zeus himself ordered Thetis to bring Achilles to reason. When, under the cover of darkness, the decrepit Priam made his way to Achilles’ camp to ransom his son’s body, Achilles, touched by the old man’s grief, voluntarily returned Hector’s corpse to him. He even suspended hostilities for twelve days so that the Trojans could solemnly bury their leader. Thus, Achilles defeated not only his opponent, but also his own passions, thereby proving that he is a true hero, moreover, that he is a man.

“Priam asking Achilles for the body of Hector”, Alexander Ivanov, 1821

Achilles was not destined to witness the fall of Troy: soon death awaited him. He still managed to defeat Penthesilea, who brought her female army to the aid of Troy, and then defeated in a duel the new leader of the Trojan army - King Memnon from distant Ethiopia. But when, after this victory, he decided to break into the city through the Skei Gate, he stood in his way. Achilles ordered him to get out of the way, threatening to pierce him with his spear. Apollo obeyed, but only to immediately take revenge for this insult. Climbing the city wall, he ordered Paris to send an arrow to Achilles. Paris willingly obeyed, and the arrow, whose flight was directed by Apollo, hit Achilles’ heel, which was not protected by armor.

The fall of Achilles caused the earth to tremble and the city wall to crack. However, he immediately stood up and pulled the fatal arrow out of his heel. At the same time, the hooks of the tip tore out a large piece of meat, tore the veins, and blood gushed out of the wound like a river. Seeing that strength and life were leaving him with the flow of blood, he cursed Apollo and Troy in a terrible voice and gave up the ghost.

“Chiron, Thetis and the dead Achilles”, Pompeo Batoni, 1770

A brutal slaughter began to boil around Achilles’ body. Finally, the Achaeans snatched his body from the hands of the Trojans, brought it to their camp and with honors set it on fire on a high funeral pyre, which was set on fire by the god Hephaestus himself. Then the ashes of Achilles were mixed with the ashes of Patroclus and a high clay mound was poured over their common grave so that it would proclaim the glory of both heroes for centuries.

According to many researchers of ancient legends, Achilles is the most magnificent image of all created by Greek literature. And since these creations of Homer are the pinnacles of Greek literature, which to this day have not been surpassed in the epic poetry of any other people, Achilles can safely be classified as one of the most magnificent images in all world literature. Therefore, it is clear that none of the paintings or sculptures of Achilles can stand comparison with the literary image.

Apparently, ancient artists were aware of this limitation of their capabilities: they depicted Achilles with some timidity, and sculptors completely avoided him. But about four hundred images of Achilles have been preserved in vase paintings. The most famous is “Achilles” on an Attic amphora, ser. 5th century BC e. (Rome, Vatican Museums), “Achilles plays dice with Ajax” (84 copies in total, including the Exekius vase, c. 530 - also in the Vatican Museums), “Achilles bandages the wounded Patroclus” (Attic bowl, c. 490 BC . e., the only copy is in the State Museums in Berlin). The fights of Achilles with Hector, Memnon, Penthesilea and other subjects were also often depicted. The National Museum in Naples contains Pompeian frescoes “Chiron the Centaur teaches Achilles to play the lyre”, “Odysseus identifies Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes”, etc.

Among the major artists of modern times, P. P. Rubens was one of the first to risk depicting Achilles (“Achilles kills Hector,” ca. 1610). Let us also name D. Teniers the Younger (“Achilles and the Daughters of Lycomedes”), F. Gerard (“Thetis Brings Armor to Achilles”) and E. Delacroix (“The Education of Achilles,” National Gallery in Prague).

Among the playwrights of modern times, Corneille was the first to turn to the image of Achilles (Achilles, 1673), in the 20th century. - S. Wyspianski (“Achilleid”, 1903), Achille Suarez (“Achilles the Avenger”, 1922), M. Matkovich (“The Legacy of Achilles”). Handel brought Achilles to the stage in the opera Deidamia (1741), Cherubini in the ballet Achilles on Skyros (1804). Only two poets tried to create the “missing link” between the Iliad and the Odyssey: Statius (1st century AD) and Goethe took on the epic poem Achilleid, but neither of them completed the job.

Achilles (lat. Achilles) is one of the most striking and valiant characters in the ancient epics about the Trojan War. He was not just a hero and the son of the majestic King Peleus, but also half a god. He was given birth to the incredible beauty of Thetis, one of the goddesses of the sea. Prometheus predicted that the son of Thetis would become stronger and more powerful than his father. The gods were afraid of competition and gave Thetis in marriage to the Myrmidon king. They had a wonderful son, who was named Ligiron. But later he burned his lips with the flame of a fire and was nicknamed Achilles, “lipless.”

Achilles grew up to be a real hero, possessed superhuman capabilities and had enormous strength. But like all demigods, he did not have the gift of immortality.

Thetis loved her son very much and tried to make him immortal. She bathed him in the waters of the underground stormy river Styx, which flows through the world of the dead, rubbed him with the food of the gods - ambrosia and tempered him in healing fire. During these procedures, his mother held his heel. So he became practically invulnerable to enemy arrows and swords, but with the only dangerous place for himself - the fifth. This is where the expression “Achilles' heel” came from, as a symbol of special vulnerability. This is what they say about a person’s weakest point.

The hero's father was against the mother's rituals over her son. He insisted on placing Achilles in the care and education of the valiant centaur Chiron. Chiron fed the boy the entrails of boars, bears and lions, taught him the basics of medicine, warfare and even singing.

Achilles grew up to be a fearless and skillful young man, but when the Trojan War began, he was only fifteen years old. The priest Kalkhant prophesied that Achilles would die in this war, but would bring victory to the Greeks. Thetis was afraid to send her son to certain death, and hid him in the palace of King Lycomedes, dressing him in a girl’s dress.

At this time, the cunning Greeks sent the wise Odysseus, disguised as a merchant, to find Achilles. Odysseus invited the palace young ladies to see his goods. Among the many decorations, a sword was also offered. While all the girls were admiring the jewelry, an alarm suddenly sounded. In fright, the court ladies fled, and only one grabbed a sword and took a fighting stance. It was Achilles! He gave himself away, and he still had to go to war. He was a very brave, dexterous, strong warrior and relied only on his skills. Achilles knew that he had a short life ahead and tried to live in such a way that the glory of his valor would reach his descendants. On the way to Troy, on the island of Tenedos, he defeated the local king. And already under the walls of Troy, in the very first battle he killed Cycnus, the Trojan hero.

There was a period when, during the Trojan military campaign, Achilles stopped fighting. The reason for this was Agamemnon, who took the Trojan princess Briseis from him. It was given to Achilles as a reward, as an honorary trophy. After Achilles refused to fight, the Greeks began to noticeably lose. Achilles returned to the battlefield only when his friend Patroclus, who had donned the armor of Achilles, fell in battle at the hands of the Trojan prince Hector. The hero vowed to avenge his friend and did so.

In new battle armor created by the god Hephaestus, Achilles mercilessly defeats many opponents, including Hector. He kept the body for twelve days, and only Thetis was able to convince him to return the remains to the relatives of the deceased.

Achilles himself died from Apollo’s arrow, which hit him in the very heel that was unprotected by Thetis’ spells. Some myths say that his ashes are buried at Cape Sigei, near the tomb of Patroclus, and the soul of the hero is on the island of Levka. In other stories, his mother took his body. In fact, where exactly the ancient hero Achilles rests for many centuries is unknown. Only tales of his legendary military exploits have survived to this day.

Achilles(ancient Greek Ἀχιλλεύς, Achilleus) (lat. Achilles) - in the heroic tales of the ancient Greeks, he is the bravest of the heroes who undertook a campaign against Troy under the leadership of Agamemnon. Name a-ki-re-u(Achilleus) was recorded in ancient Knossos, worn by ordinary people.

Myths about Achilles

Achilles' childhood

From the marriages of the Olympian gods with mortals, heroes were born. They were endowed with enormous strength and superhuman capabilities, but did not have immortality. Heroes were supposed to carry out the will of the gods on earth and bring order and justice into people's lives. With the help of their divine parents, they performed all kinds of feats. Heroes were highly revered, legends about them were passed down from generation to generation.

Thetis immerses Achilles in the waters of the Styx
(Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640)

The legends unanimously call Achilles the son of a mortal - Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, while his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, belongs to the host of immortals. The earliest versions of the birth of Achilles mention the oven of Hephaestus, where Thetis, wanting to deify Achilles (and make him immortal), laid her son, holding his heel. According to another ancient legend, which Homer does not mention, Achilles’ mother, Thetis, wanting to test whether her son was mortal or immortal, wanted to plunge the newborn Achilles into boiling water, just as she did with her previous children, but Peleus opposed this. Later legends tell that Thetis, wanting to make her son immortal, plunged him into the waters of the Styx or, according to another version, into fire, so that only the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable; hence the proverb still used today—“Achilles’ heel”—to denote someone’s weakness.

Baby Achilles is given to Chiron to be raised

As a child, Achilles was named Pyrrhisias (translated as “Icy”), but when fire burned his lips, he was called Achilles (“lipless”). According to other authors, Achilles was called Ligiron in childhood. Such a change from a child’s name to an adult’s, associated with injury or feat, is a relic of the initiation ritual (cf. the change of the child’s name “Alcides” to “Hercules” after the hero killed the lion of Kiferon and defeated King Ergin).

The Training of Achilles (James Barry (1741-1806)

Achilles was raised by Chiron on Pelion. He was not Helen's fiancé (as only Euripides calls him). Chiron fed Achilles the bone marrow of deer and other animals, from here, supposedly, from a-hilos, and his name came from “fedless,” that is, “not breastfed.” According to one interpretation, Achilles found a herb that could heal wounds.

The education of Achilles and the beginning of the War of Troy

Achilles received his upbringing from Phoenix, and the centaur Chiron taught him the art of healing. According to another legend, Achilles did not know the art of medicine, but nevertheless healed Telephus.

At the request of Nestor and Odysseus and in accordance with the will of his father, Achilles joined the campaign against Troy at the head of 50 ships (or 60), and took with him his teacher Phoenix and childhood friend Patroclus (some authors call Patroclus the beloved of Achilles). According to Homer, Achilles arrived in the army of Agamemnon from Phthia. According to Lesha's poem, the storm brought Achilles to Skyros.

Identification of Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes (Bray)

The legend of the post-Homeric cycle conveys that Thetis, wanting to save her son from participating in a fatal campaign for him, hid him with Lycomedes, king of the island of Skyros, where Achilles in women's clothes was between the royal daughters. The cunning trick of Odysseus, who, under the guise of a merchant, laid out women's jewelry in front of the girls and, mixing weapons with them, ordered an unexpected battle cry and noise, discovered the sex of Achilles (who immediately grabbed the weapon), as a result, the exposed Achilles was forced to join the Greek campaign.

According to some authors, Achilles was 15 years old at the beginning of the campaign, and the war lasted 20 years. The first shield of Achilles was made by Hephaestus, this scene is depicted on vases.

During the long siege of Ilium, Achilles repeatedly launched raids on various neighboring cities. According to the existing version, he wandered the Scythian land for five years in search of Iphigenia.

At the beginning of the war, Achilles tried to take the city of Monenia (Pedas), and a local girl fell in love with him. “There is nothing strange in the fact that he, being amorous and intemperate, could zealously study music.”

Achilles in the Iliad

The main character of the Iliad.

In the tenth year of the siege of Ilion, Achilles captured the beautiful Briseis. She served as a bone of contention, which forced Astynous to return his captive to her father Chryses, and therefore laid claim to the possession of Briseis.

Achilles receives ambassadors from Agamemnon
(Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)

The angry Achilles refused to further participate in battles (compare with the similar refusal to fight of the insulted Karna, the greatest hero of the Indian legend “Mahabharata”). Thetis, wanting to take revenge on Agamemnon for the insult inflicted on her son, begged Zeus to grant victory to the Trojans.

Angry Achilles (Herman Wilhelm Bissen (1798-1868)

The next morning, Thetis brought her son new armor, forged by the skillful hand of Hephaestus himself (in particular, the shield is described in the Iliad as a marvelous work of art, a description that is important for the original history of Greek art). ; Hector alone dared to resist him here, but still fled from Achilles.

Achilles duel with Hector

Pursuing the murderer of his friend, Achilles forced Hector to run around the walls of Troy three times, finally overtook and killed him, and tied him naked with him to the Greek camp. Having magnificently celebrated the funeral feast for his fallen friend Patroclus, Achilles returned Hector’s corpse to his father, King Priam, for a rich ransom, who came to the hero’s tent to beg him about it.

Priam asking Achilles for the body of Hector, 1824
(Alexander Andreevich Ivanov (1806-1858)

In the Iliad, 23 Trojans, named by name, for example, Asteropeus, died at the hands of Achilles. Aeneas crossed arms with Achilles, but then fled from him. Achilles fought Agenor, who was saved by Apollo.

Death of Achilles

The legends of the epic cycle tell that during the further siege of Troy, Achilles killed in battle the queen of the Amazons and the Ethiopian prince, who came to the aid of the Trojans. Achilles killed Memnon, avenging his friend Antilochus, the son of Nestor. In Quintus' poem, Achilles killed 6 Amazons, 2 Trojans and the Ethiopian Memnon. According to Hyginus, he killed Troilus, Astynome and Pylemenes. In total, 72 warriors fell at the hands of Achilles.

Having defeated many enemies, Achilles in the last battle reached the Scaean Gate of Ilion, but here the hero died. According to some authors, Achilles was directly killed by Apollo himself, or by the arrow of Apollo, who took the form of Paris, or by Paris, hiding behind the statue of Apollo of Thymbrey. The earliest author to mention the vulnerability of Achilles' ankle is Statius, but there is an earlier depiction on a 6th-century amphora. BC e., where we see Achilles wounded in the leg.

Death of Achilles

Later legends transfer the death of Achilles to the temple of Apollo at Thimbra, near Troy, where he came to marry Polyxena, the youngest daughter of Priam. These legends report that Achilles was killed by Paris and Deiphobus when he wooed Polyxena and came to negotiate.

According to Ptolemy Hephaestion, Achilles was killed by Helenus or Penthesilea, after which Thetis resurrected him, he killed Penthesilea and returned to Hades

Subsequent legends

According to the current version, Achilles' body was ransomed for an equal weight of gold from the gold-bearing river Pactolus.

Shield of Achilles

The Greeks erected a mausoleum for Achilles on the banks of the Hellespont, and here, in order to pacify the shadow of the hero, they sacrificed Polyxena to him. According to Homer's story, Ajax Telamonides and Odysseus Laertides argued for the armor of Achilles. Agamemnon awarded them to the latter. In the Odyssey, Achilles is in the underworld, where Odysseus meets him. Achilles was buried in a golden amphora (Homer), which Dionysus gave to Thetis (Lycophron, Stesichorus).

But already “Ethiopida,” one of the epics of the epic cycle, tells that Thetis took her son away from the burning fire and transferred him to the island of Levka (called Snake Island at the mouth of the Istra Danube), where he continues to live in the company of other idolized heroes and heroines . This island served as the center of the cult of Achilles, as well as the mound that rises on the Sigean hill in front of Troy and is still known as the tomb of Achilles. The sanctuary and monument of Achilles, as well as the monuments of Patroclus and Antilochus, were at Cape Sigei. There were also his temples in Elis, Sparta and other places.

Philostratus (born in 170) in his essay “On Heroes” (215) cites a dialogue between a Phoenician merchant and a winegrower, telling about the events on Snake Island. With the end of the Trojan War, Achilles and Helen married after death (the marriage of the bravest with the most beautiful) and live on the White Island (Levka Island) at the mouth of the Danube on the Pontus Euxine. One day, Achilles appeared to a merchant who had sailed to the island and asked him to buy a slave girl for him in Troy, indicating how to find her. The merchant fulfilled the order and delivered the girl to the island, but before his ship had time to sail far from the shore, he and his companions heard the wild screams of the unfortunate girl: Achilles tore her into pieces - she, it turns out, was the last of the descendants of the royal family of Priam. The screams of the unfortunate woman reach the ears of the merchant and his companions. The role of the owner of the White Island, performed by Achilles, becomes understandable in the light of the article by H. Hommel, who showed that even in the 7th century. BC e. this character, who had long ago turned into an epic hero, still acted in his original function as one of the afterlife demons.

Called “reigning over the Scythians.” Demodocus sings a song about him. The ghost of Achilles appeared in Troy, hunting animals.

The spear of Achilles was kept in Phaselis in the temple of Athena. The cenotaph of Achilles was in Elis, in the gymnasium. According to Timaeus, Periander built the fortification of Achilleus against the Athenians from the stones of Ilium, which Demetrius of Skepsis refutes. Statues of naked ephebes with spears were called Achilles.

Origin of the image

There is a hypothesis that initially in Greek mythology Achilles was one of the demons of the underworld (which included other heroes - for example, Hercules). The assumption about the divine nature of Achilles was expressed by H. Hommel in his article. He shows on the material of Greek early classical texts that even in the 7th century. BC e. this character, who had long ago turned into an epic hero, still acted in his original function as one of the afterlife demons. Hommel's publication caused an active discussion, which has not yet been completed.

Image in art

Literature

The protagonist of Aeschylus's tragedies "The Myrmidons" (fr. 131-139 Radt), "Nereids" (fr. 150-153 Radt), "The Phrygians, or the Ransom of the Body of Hector" (fr. 263-267 Radt); the satyr dramas of Sophocles “The Worshipers of Achilles” (fr. 149-157 Radt) and “The Companions” (fr. 562-568 Radt), the tragedy of Euripides “Iphigenia in Aulis”. The tragedies “Achilles” were written by Aristarchus of Tegea, Iophon, Astydamas the Younger, Diogenes, Karkin the Younger, Cleophon, Evaret, Chaeremon had the tragedy “Achilles - the killer of Thersites”, from the Latin authors Livy Andronicus (“Achilles”), Ennius (“Achilles according to Aristarchus "), Aktii ("Achilles, or Myrmidons").

art

The plastic art of antiquity repeatedly reproduced the image of Achilles. His image has come down to us on many vases, bas-reliefs with individual scenes or a whole series of them, also on a group of pediments from Aegina (kept in Munich, see Aegina art), but there is not a single statue or bust that could be attributed to him with certainty.

One of the most remarkable busts of Achilles is kept in St. Petersburg, in the Hermitage. The sad and at the same time indignant head is crowned with a helmet, which ends in a crest hanging forward, mounted on the back of the sphinx; at the back this ridge curls like a long tail. On both sides of the crest there is a sculpture in flat relief along the fingerboard; they are separated by a palmette. The front supra-frontal plaque of the helmet, ending in curls on both sides, is also decorated with a palmette in the middle; on either side of her are a pair of sharp-faced, thin-tailed dogs with long, flat ears, wearing collars (apparently a pair of hunting dogs sniffing the ground). The facial expression is reminiscent of a bust kept in Munich. It must be assumed that this captures the moment when they had already put the armor on the hero, chained by Hephaestus, and now his face was already ablaze with anger, a thirst for vengeance, but sadness for his dear friend still trembles on his lips, like a reflection of inner heart longing. This bust apparently dates back to the 2nd century AD. e. to the era of Hadrian, but its design is too deep for this era, poor in creative thought, and therefore we can only assume that this head, like the Munich one, is an imitation, the original of which could have been created no later than Praxiteles, that is, no later than IV-III V. BC e.

In cinema

In 2003, a two-part television film “Helen of Troy” was released, where Achilles is played by Joe Montana.

Brad Pitt plays the role of Achilles in the 2004 film Troy.

In astronomy

The asteroid (588) Achilles, discovered in 1906, is named after Achilles.