Chiron and Achilles. Achilles (Achilles), the greatest Greek hero in the Trojan War

(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 bloody 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) - in the Iliad, one of the bravest Greek heroes who besieged Troy. Son of Thetis and Peleus, grandson of Aeacus. Achilles' mother, the goddess Thetis, wanting to make her son immortal, immersed him in the sacred waters of the Styx; only the heel, by which Thetis held him, did not touch the water and remained vulnerable. The armor forged by Hephaestus also contributed to Achilles' invulnerability. Before entering the Trojan War, dressed in a woman's dress, he lived on the island of Skyros, among the daughters of King Lycomedes, where the goddess Thetis hid Achilles, wanting to protect him from participating in the war. Odysseus exposed his deception: having arrived at Skyros under the guise of a merchant, he laid out many goods attractive to women, and among these goods was a set of weapons. While the daughters of Lycomedes examined the jewelry and fabrics, Achilles looked only at the weapons. At this time, Odysseus’s comrades raised a false alarm in front of the palace, the princesses fled, and Achilles, grabbing his sword, rushed towards the imaginary danger. By this he gave himself away and soon left with Odysseus to go to war. He accomplished many feats at Troy, but in the tenth year of the war, Achilles died from an arrow from Paris, which Apollo aimed at his heel. Hence the expression “Achilles heel” (weak spot). From the union with Elena a son, Euphorion, was born. From Deidamia, the daughter of Lycomedes, Neotolemus was born, without whose participation the Trojan War could not end.

// Gottfried BENN: Fifth Century // Valery BRYUSOV: Achilles at the Altar // Konstantinos CAVAFY: Treason // Konstantinos CAVAFY: Horses of Achilles // Marina TSVETAEVA: Achilles on the Rampart // Marina TSVETAEVA: From the cycle “Under the Shawl”

Myths of Ancient Greece, dictionary-reference book. 2012

Achilles in art

This is especially noticeable when depicting Achilles in painting, which at one time or another is at the forefront of exhibitions: depending on the era and culture, the paintings always show different episodes of Achilles’ life, emphasizing various aspects of his heroism, giving a new flavor and different qualities and the shape of his body and figure, evaluating him differently in discussions.

At the same time, images of Achilles are sought in new contexts of aspects of life: for example, in ancient Greece, the image of Achilles is found mainly on outstanding canvases depicting men's feasts.

Here the hero can be noted as an outstanding warrior who is equally distinguished by his strength and courage, and he is also distinguished by his cruelty, which transcends all human and divine barriers.

They always decorated their homes and tombs with paintings of Achilles. However, unlike, in the foreground in these paintings Achilles was depicted much less often as a warrior; rather, episodes from his childhood and youth were chosen here, which show him as a young beautiful boy or as a desired lover in a dazzlingly masculine image.

Later eras once again emphasized the completely different sides of Achilles: in the court culture of the Middle Ages, due to the fact that many ruling dynasties referred to their supposed origins with the Trojans, they showed Achilles as a cruel opponent of Troy, images of the overthrown image of the noble knight were especially favorite.

In the Baroque period, Achilles, first of all, appears before us as a courageous lover and hero, beautiful in his hour of death. The 18th and 19th centuries presented him as a reasonable, sentimental, almost tragic and unforgotten hero. This story of continuous reinterpretation of Achilles continues today: to this day we present him through the prism of our own views. But unlike the ancient Greeks, for whom their hero Achilles was neither good nor bad, but everything he did was simply outstanding for them, we need accuracy. This is how we see Achilles today in movies, comics or computer games. In the modern world, they pay special attention to his appearance and figure.

Birth and early life of Achilles

Achilles was the son of Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis. Since little Achilles, like his father, was a mortal, his divine mother dipped him into the River Styx to make him invulnerable and grant him eternal life. But there was a place on his leg where his mother held him, and which was not exposed to water and therefore remained vulnerable - this is the heel: as a result, this place was called the notorious “Achilles heel”.

Achilles was delighted to be trained by the Centaur Chiron, who taught the young hero horse riding, hunting and the use of weapons, as well as playing the lyre and the healing arts.

Since it was predicted that Achilles would either die before Troy or live a long but very glorious life, Thetis hid her son, disguised as a girl, on the island of Skyros. There he hid among the daughters of King Lycomedes and fell in love with one of the girls named Deidamia. However, the cunning Odysseus discovered the hero hiding on Skyros and asked him to follow him to war. So Achilles came to Troy, where he became the most outstanding hero of Greece.

Trojan War

Already at his parents' wedding, Achilles' fate was sealed. The goddess of discord, Eris, was not invited and, getting angry, caused a quarrel among the goddesses, Hera and Aphrodite.

The young Trojan prince Paris had to choose the most beautiful of the three goddesses. Finally, he chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful woman on earth. However, Paris was in love with Elena, and promised her the title of the most beautiful woman on earth. He turned to Aphrodite with a request to sell her title of beauty, which greatly angered the goddess.

Since Helen was already married to Menelaus, the king of Sparta, he kidnapped her and took her with him to Troy, and thereby summoned her, in which Achilles then took part and died.

Achilles and Penthesilea

In the fight against the Greeks, the Trojans are supported by the Amazons. While participating in the “Battle of the Amazons,” he meets Queen Penthesilea and falls in love with her, a beautiful warrior. He kills her with a sword, and is left with his love, which will remain unfulfilled.

Wrath of Achilles

After almost ten years of war and countless exploits, a dispute broke out between Achilles and King Agamemnon about the beautiful slave Chryseis. Agamemnon eventually won, and Achilles refused to obey, even though he lost his slave and his honor suffered.

The withdrawal of Achilles from the fight and the victory of the Greeks occurred, as it was predicted that only with the participation of Achilles the city of Troy would be conquered. For this reason, Agamemnon sends an envoy to Achilles, who must convince him to return to battle - this was not successful, and the problem remained. Only the death of Patroclus returns Achilles to the battlefield.

When Patroclus, Achilles's closest confidant and close friend, was killed by the son of the king of Troy, Hector, in battle, the Greek hero returned to the war and challenged Hector to a duel. Achilles is victorious in a fierce battle between two equal opponents and finally kills the Trojan heir. Filled with hatred for the man who is the murderer of his friend, Achilles dragged Hector's body around the impenetrable city wall of Troy.

He dragged the body to the Greek camp, where it was denied a proper burial. But when Priam, king of Troy and father of Hector, came to Achilles and begged him to give him the body of his son, Achilles changed his mind and gave the body to his father so that he could be buried with full honors.

Death of Achilles

Soon after Achilles killed his greatest enemy Hector, fate prepared a blow for him. Paris, Hector's brother and the main culprit of the Trojan War, struck the hero in his weak point - the heel. Since the arrow sent by the intervening god Apollo was poisoned, it immediately led to the death of the hero. Thus the prophecy was fulfilled, and Achilles died after a glorious battle, having lived an outstanding but very short life.

Achilles (Achilles), the greatest Greek hero in the Trojan War

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 in order 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 or 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. The name a-ki-re-u (Achilleus) is recorded in ancient Knossos, and was worn by ordinary people.

Source: Myths and legends of Ancient Greece

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.

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 first mention of the legend associated with the birth of Achilles mentions the oven of Hephaestus, into which Thetis, wanting to deify Achilles (and make him immortal ) laid it down, holding it by the heel. According to another legend, which Homer does not mention, but contained in the ancient epic, his mother, Thetis, wanting to test whether he was mortal or immortal, wanted, after the birth of Achilles, to plunge him 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, immersed him in the waters of the Styx or, in another version, in the fire, so that only the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable; hence the proverb still in use today - “Achilles’ heel” to denote the weak side of a given person.

As a child, he was named Pirrisius (translated as “Ice”), but when fire burned his lips, he was called Achilles (“lipless”). According to other authors, his childhood name was Ligiron. Such a change of a child’s name to an “adult” one, 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).

Raised by Chiron on Pelion, he was not Helen's fiancé. Only Euripides calls him a groom. Chiron fed him with the bone marrow of deer and other animals, which is why they allegedly began to call him a-hilos, “fedless,” that is, “not breastfed.” According to the interpretation, I found a herb that can heal wounds.

The education of Achilles and the beginning of the war

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 healed Telephus.

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

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 he was in women's clothes among 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 his gender, and Achilles was forced to join the Greek campaign.

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

At the beginning of the war he tried to take the city of Monenia (Pedas), a local girl fell in love with him.

Achilles in the Iliad

The main character of the Iliad.

In the tenth year of the siege, during one campaign he captured the beautiful Briseis. It was she who served as a bone of contention between Achilles and Agamemnon, who was forced to return his captive Astynome to her father Chryses, and therefore laid claim to the possession of Briseis. Inflamed with anger, 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. Neither the disaster of the Greeks, nor the pleas and promises of the embassy, which, on the advice of Nestor, Agamemnon sent to him, could soften the hero’s anger. Only when the Trojans, led by Hector, invaded the Greek camp itself, did he allow his friend Patroclus to lead the Myrmidons to their aid and, to further intimidate the enemies, ordered him to put on his armor. But Patroclus fell at the hands of Hector, and only his naked corpse was recaptured by the Greeks from the Trojans, while the armor of Achilles went to Hector as a spoil. Then Achilles, unarmed and accompanied by Athena, appeared on the battlefield, and one formidable appearance of the hero put the enemies to flight.

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). Burning with vengeance, the hero rushed into battle and drove the Trojans to the city walls; Hector alone dared to oppose him here; Pursuing the murderer of his friend, Achilles drove him around the walls three times, finally killed him and, tying his naked corpse to his war chariot, dragged him with him to the camp. Having magnificently celebrated the funeral feast for his fallen friend Patroclus, he returned Hector’s corpse for a rich ransom to his father, King Priam, who pleadingly entered his tent.

In the Iliad he killed 23 Trojans named by name. For example, he killed Asteropeus. Fought with Aeneas, Aeneas fled; with Agenor (who was saved by Apollo).

Death of Achilles

During the further course of the siege, Achilles, as the epics of the epic cycle tell about this, killed Penthesilea, the queen of the Amazons, as well as the Ethiopian prince Memnon, who came to the aid of the Trojans. He killed Memnon, avenging the death of his friend (according to some authors, lover) Antilochus, the son of Nestor. In the poem, Quintus killed 6 Amazons, 2 Trojans and the Ethiopian Memnon. According to Hyginus, he killed Troilus, Astynome and Pylemenes. In total he killed 72 warriors.

After killing the latter, he penetrated to the Scaean Gate of Ilion, but here an arrow, shot from the bow of Paris by the hand of Apollo himself, struck him in the heel, and the hero died. According to some authors, he was 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 a corresponding image on a 6th century amphora. BC e.

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. Achilles was killed by Paris and Deiphobus when he wooed Polyxena and came to negotiate.

According to Ptolemy Hephaestion, he was killed by Helenus or Penthesilea, Thetis resurrected him, he killed Penthesilea and returned to Hell.

Subsequent legends

According to the version, his body was ransomed for an equal weight of gold from Pactol.

The Greeks erected a mausoleum for him on the banks of the Hellespont, and here they, in order to pacify the shadow of the hero, sacrificed Polyxena to him. According to Homer's story, Ajax Telamonides and Odysseus Laertides argued for his armor. Agamemnon awarded them to the latter. According to the Odyssey, Achilles is in the underworld, where Odysseus meets him. He 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.

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.