Achilles - Revision history

Irlandos: /* The Lost Play of Aeschylus */

2006-06-12T18:58:36Z

The Lost Play of Aeschylus

Irlandos: /* Bibliography */

2006-06-12T18:52:09Z

Bibliography

Irlandos: /* References */

2006-06-12T18:51:54Z

References

Irlandos: /* Spoken-word myths (audio) */

2006-06-12T18:50:26Z

Spoken-word myths (audio)

Irlandos: /* Memnon, Cycnus, Penthesilea, and the death of Achilles */

2006-06-12T18:49:57Z

Memnon, Cycnus, Penthesilea, and the death of Achilles

Irlandos: /* Bibliography */

2006-03-22T08:27:01Z

Bibliography

Irlandos: /* Bibliography */

2005-10-01T08:37:53Z

Bibliography

Irlandos at 19:02, September 23, 2005

2005-09-23T19:02:45Z

Irlandos at 19:02, September 23, 2005

2005-09-23T19:02:16Z

New page

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Αχιλλεύς Achilles''' as '''Achilleus''') was the greatest and the central character of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]''.

==Birth==
Achilles was the son of the mortal [[Peleus]], king of the [[Myrmidons]] in [[Phthia]] (southeast [[Thessaly]]), and the sea nymph [[Thetis]]. [[Zeus]] and [[Poseidon]] were rivals for the hand of Thetis. That is until [[Prometheus]] the fire bringer revealed that if one of these gods wed Thetis, she would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit. When Achilles was born, Thetis had tried to make Achilles immortal by dipping him in the river [[Styx]], but forgot to wet the heel she held him by, leaving him vulnerable. (See [[Achilles' tendon]].)

==Achilles in the Trojan War==
===During the Trojan War===

Achilles is one of the only two people described as "god-like" in the ''[[Iliad]]''. He shows a complete and total devotion to the excellence of his craft and, like a god, has almost no regard for life. Not his own — clearly he does not mind a swift death, so long as it is glorious (''kleos'') — and not really of others. His anger is absolute. The humanization of Achilles by the events of the war is the main theme of the ''[[Iliad]]''.

====Agamemnon and the death of Patroclus====

Achilles took twenty-three towns outside [[Troy]], including Lyrnessos, where he captured [[Briseis]] to keep as a concubine. Meanwhile, [[Agamemnon]] took a woman named [[Chryseis]] and taunted her father, [[Chryses]], a priest of [[Apollo]], when he attempted to buy her back. Apollo sent a plague through the Greek armies and Agamemnon was forced to give Chryseis back to her father; however he took Briseis away from Achilles as compensation for his loss. This action sparked the central plot of the [[Iliad]]: Achilles becomes enraged and refuses to fight for the Greeks any further. The war goes badly, through the influence of [[Zeus]], and the Greeks offer handsome reparations to their greatest warrior. Achilles is visited by [[Odysseus]], [[Telamonian Aias|Ajax]], and [[Phoenix (Iliad)|Phoenix]] who attempt to persuade him to return to battle, but Achilles still refuses to fight. Once the Greeks are pushed back to the ships, which are just starting to be set on fire by [[Hector]], he agrees to allow [[Patroclus]] to fight in his place, wearing his armor. The next day [[Patroclus]] is killed and stripped of the armor by the Trojan hero Hector, who mistakes him for Achilles. Achilles is overwhelmed with grief for his friend, and the rage he once harbored toward Agamemnon begins shifting to Hector. Thetis, his mother, rises from the sea floor and berates him for excessive grief, reminding him it is a fine thing to sleep with women too. She obtains magnificent new armor for him from [[Hephaestus]], and he returns to the fighting, killing Hector. He desecrates the body, dragging it behind his chariot before the walls of Troy three times, and refuses to allow it to receive funeral rites. When [[Priam]], the king of Troy and Hector's father, comes secretly into the Greek camp to plead for the body, Achilles finally relents; in one of the most moving scenes of the ''Iliad'', he receives Priam graciously and allows him to take the body away.

The greatness of Achilles lies in not just being the greatest Greek fighter ever, but in knowing the choice provided to him by [[Destiny]]. His mother Thetis had prophesied to him that if he pulled out of the [[Trojan War]], he would enjoy a long and a happy life. If Achilles fought, however, he would die before the walls of [[Troy]] but assure an everlasting glory, surpassing that of all other heroes. He had made the choice, and coming face to face with it showed his greatness.

====Xanthus====
During the [[Trojan War]], [[Balius and Xanthos|Xanthos]], one of Achilles' horses, was rebuked by Achilles for allowing [[Patroclus]] to be killed. Xanthus responded by saying (Hera temporarly gave him voice to do so) that a god and a mortal had killed Patroclus and a god and a mortal would soon kill Achilles too.

====Memnon, Cycnus, Penthesilea, and the death of Achilles====
Shortly after the death of [[Hector]], Achilles defeated [[Memnon]] of Ethiopia, [[Cycnus]] of [[Colonae]] and the [[Amazons|Amazonian]] warrior [[Penthesilia]] (with whom Achilles also had an affair in some versions). As predicted by [[Hector]] with his dying breath, Achilles was thereafter killed by [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] by an arrow to the heel, His bones are mingled with those of [[Patroclus]], and funeral games are held. Like Ajax, he is represented (although not by [[Homer]]) as living after his death in the island of [[Leuke]] at the mouth of the Danube.

====The Fate of Achilles' armor====
Achilles' armor was the object of a feud between [[Odysseus]] and [[Telamonian Aias|Ajax the Greater]] (Achilles' older cousin). They competed for it and Odysseus won. Ajax went mad with grief and vowed to kill his comrades; he started killing cattle (thinking they were Greek soldiers), and then himself.

==The Lost Play of Aeschylus==
In the early [[1990]]s a lost play by [[Aeschylus]] was discovered in the wrappings of a mummy in Egypt. The play, ''[[Achilles (play)|Achilles]]'', was part of a trilogy about the [[Trojan War]]. It was known to exist due to mentions in ancient sources, but had been lost for over 2,000 years.

There is another lost play with Achilles as the main character, ''The Lovers of Achilles'', by [[Sophocles]].

==Spoken-word myths (audio)==
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
|-
! style="background:#ffdead;" | Achilles myths as told by story tellers
|-
|[[Media:Achilles and Patroclus wiki.ogg|'''1. Achilles and Patroclus,''' read by Timothy Carter]]
|-
|Bibliography of reconstruction: [[Homer]] ''Iliad,'' 9.308, 16.2, 11.780, 23.54 ([[700 BC]]); [[Pindar]] ''[[Olympian Odes]],'' IX ([[476 BC]]); [[Aeschylus]] ''Myrmidons,'' F135-36 ([[495 BC]]); [[Euripides]] ''Iphigenia in Aulis,'' ([[405 BC]]); [[Plato]] ''Symposium,'' 179e ([[388 BC]]-[[367 BC]]); [[Statius]] ''Achilleid,'' 161, 174, 182 ([[96]] CE)
|-
|}

==References==
[[Homer]], [[Iliad]]; [[Homer]], [[Odyssey|Odyssey XI]], 467-540; [[Apollodorus]], [[Bibliotheke]] III, xiii, 5-8; [[Apollodorus]], [[Epitome III]], 14-V, 7; [[Ovid]], [[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]] XI, 217-265; XII, 580-XIII, 398; [[Ovid]], [[Heroides|Heroides III]]; [[Apollonius Rhodius]], [[Argonautica|Argonautica IV]], 783-879; [[Dante]], [[The Divine Comedy]], Inferno, V.

==Bibliography==
* Ileana Chirassi Colombo, “Heros Achilleus— Theos Apollon.” In ''Il Mito Greco'', éd. Bruno Gentili & Giuseppe Paione, Rome, 1977;
* Anthony Edwards:
** “Achilles in the Underworld: Iliad, Odyssey, and Æthiopis”, ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies'', 26 (1985): pp. 215-227 ;
** “Achilles in the Odyssey: Ideologies of Heroism in the Homeric Epic”, ''Beitrage zur klassischen Philologie'', 171, Meisenheim, 1985 ;
** “Kleos Aphthiton and Oral Theory,” ''Classical Quarterly'', 38 (1988): pp. 25-30 ;
* Hélène Monsacré, ''Les larmes d'Achille. Le héros, la femme et la souffrance dans la poésie d'Homère'', Paris, Albin Michel, 1984;
* [[Gregory Nagy]]:
** ''The Best of The Acheans. Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry'', Johns Hopkins University, 1999 (rev. edition);
** ''The Name of Achilles: Questions of Etymology and 'Folk Etymology''', ''Illinois Classical Studies'', 19, 1994;
* Dale S. Sinos, ''The Entry of Achilles into Greek Epic'', Ph.D. thesis, Johns Hopkins University;

[[Category:People who fought in the Trojan War]]
[[Category:Greek mythology people]]

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 [[Category:People who fought in the Trojan War]]
-[[Category:Greek mythology people]]
+[[Category:Greek mythological people]]
 [[Category:Characters in the Iliad]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:37, October 1, 2005
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	[[Category:People who fought in the Trojan War]]		[[Category:People who fought in the Trojan War]]
	[[Category:Greek mythology people]]		[[Category:Greek mythology people]]
		+	[[Category:Characters in the Iliad]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:02, September 23, 2005
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−	In [[Greek mythology]], '''Αχιλλεύς Achilles''' as '''Achilleus''') was the greatest and the central character of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]''.	+	In [[Greek mythology]], '''Αχιλλεύς Achilles''' also '''Achilleus''') was the greatest and the central character of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]''.

	==Birth==		==Birth==

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 ====The Fate of Achilles' armor====
 Achilles' armor was the object of a feud between [[Odysseus]] and [[Telamonian Aias|Ajax the Greater]] (Achilles' older cousin). They competed for it and Odysseus won. Ajax went mad with grief and vowed to kill his comrades; he started killing cattle (thinking they were Greek soldiers), and then himself.
 ==The Lost Play of Aeschylus==

@@ Line 60: / Line 60: @@
 ** “Kleos Aphthiton and Oral Theory,” ''Classical Quarterly'', 38 (1988): pp. 25-30 ;
 * Hélène Monsacré, ''Les larmes d'Achille. Le héros, la femme et la souffrance dans la poésie d'Homère'', Paris, Albin Michel, 1984;
-* [[Gregory Nagy]]:
+* Gregory Nagy:
 ** ''The Best of The Acheans. Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry'', Johns Hopkins University, 1999 (rev. edition);
 ** ''The Name of Achilles: Questions of Etymology and 'Folk Etymology''', ''Illinois Classical Studies'', 19, 1994;

@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 ==References==
-[[Homer]], [[Iliad]]; [[Homer]], [[Odyssey|Odyssey XI]], 467-540; [[Apollodorus]], [[Bibliotheke]] III, xiii, 5-8; [[Apollodorus]], [[Epitome III]], 14-V, 7; [[Ovid]], [[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]] XI, 217-265; XII, 580-XIII, 398; [[Ovid]], [[Heroides|Heroides III]]; [[Apollonius Rhodius]], [[Argonautica|Argonautica IV]], 783-879; [[Dante]], [[The Divine Comedy]], Inferno, V.
+*[[Homer]], [[Iliad]];
 ==Bibliography==

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 ! style="background:#ffdead;" | Achilles myths as told by story tellers
 |-
-|[[Media:Achilles and Patroclus wiki.ogg|'''1. Achilles and Patroclus,''' read by Timothy Carter]]
+|Media:Achilles and Patroclus wiki.ogg|'''1. Achilles and Patroclus,''' read by Timothy Carter
 |-
 |Bibliography of reconstruction: [[Homer]] ''Iliad,'' 9.308, 16.2, 11.780, 23.54 ([[700 BC]]); [[Pindar]] ''[[Olympian Odes]],'' IX ([[476 BC]]); [[Aeschylus]] ''Myrmidons,'' F135-36 ([[495 BC]]); [[Euripides]] ''Iphigenia in Aulis,'' ([[405 BC]]); [[Plato]] ''Symposium,'' 179e ([[388 BC]]-[[367 BC]]); [[Statius]] ''Achilleid,'' 161, 174, 182 ([[96]] CE)
 |-
 |}
 ==References==

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 ====Memnon, Cycnus, Penthesilea, and the death of Achilles====
-Shortly after the death of [[Hector]], Achilles defeated [[Memnon]] of Ethiopia, [[Cycnus]] of [[Colonae]] and the [[Amazons|Amazonian]] warrior [[Penthesilia]] (with whom Achilles also had an affair in some versions). As predicted by [[Hector]] with his dying breath, Achilles was thereafter killed by [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] by an arrow to the heel, His bones are mingled with those of [[Patroclus]], and funeral games are held. Like Ajax, he is represented (although not by [[Homer]]) as living after his death in the island of [[Leuke]] at the mouth of the Danube.
+Shortly after the death of [[Hector]], Achilles defeated [[Memnon]] of Ethiopia, [[Cycnus]] of [[Colonae]] and the [[Amazons|Amazonian]] warrior [[Penthesilia]] (with whom Achilles also had an affair in some versions). As predicted by [[Hector]] with his dying breath, Achilles was thereafter killed by [[Paris]] by an arrow to the heel, His bones are mingled with those of [[Patroclus]], and funeral games are held. Like Ajax, he is represented (although not by [[Homer]]) as living after his death in the island of [[Leuke]] at the mouth of the Danube.
 ====The Fate of Achilles' armor====