Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 21

 Achilles

Achilles is the hero of Homer's Iliad, the story of the Trojan War. The Iliad and the Odyssey, Greek epic poems written down in the 8th century BC, are considered to be the first works of Western literature.  The very first line of the Iliad is:

Sing, goddess, sing of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus

But before we get to the Iliad, we need to set the stage with a little background.

Troy was a city-state on the eastern side of the Aegean Sea in what is now Turkey.  According to myth, a prince of Troy named Paris was asked to choose which of three goddesses, Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite, was the most beautiful.  Paris chose Aphrodite.

Above is The Judgment of Paris by Rubens, c. 1599.  Yes, it has a lot of Rubens' typical female flesh, but there's some male skin on view, too.

The reason Paris chose Aphrodite is that she promised him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, in return.  Problem: Helen was the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta.  Paris came and seized Helen and took her back to Troy.  Menelaus convinced all the other Greek city-states to go to war against Troy.  Thus began the Trojan War, and Helen became "the face that launched a thousand ships."

By the way, in the Iliad, the gods take sides in the Trojan War.  Hera and Athena were on the Greek side against the Trojans.  They were still nursing a grudge against Paris because he chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful.

Above: Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris by Eugene Francis Savage, c. 1915.

Meanwhile, who was Achilles?  He was the son of Thetis, a sea nymph.  Thetis dipped the infant Achilles into the underground river Styx, which in Greek myth separates the living world from that of the dead, making him invulnerable everywhere except where she held him by one heel.

Above: Achilles Dipped into the River Styx by Rubens, c. 1650.

Achilles was then turned over to the centaur Chiron, who mentored and taught the youth.  Above is Chiron Instructing Achilles in the Bow by Giovanni Battista Cipriani, 1776.

The Iliad takes place in the last year of the Trojan War.  The Greeks have been besieging Troy for ten years with no success.  Achilles, by now a young man, is the Greeks' greatest fighter.  His companion is Patroclus.

Above is a drinking cup c. 500 BC showing Achilles bandaging the arm of Patroclus.  Note that, although they're clothed, the skirts of their costumes are so skimpy that Patroclus' dick and balls are exposed.  This was not viewed by the Greeks as obscene.  Greek art routinely showed male nudity.  Only if the penis was shown as large or erect was it considered vulgar.

Were Achilles and Patroclus "more than friends"?  Although the Iliad says nothing about it directly, ancient Greek writers such as Aeschylus and Plato took it for granted that they were lovers.  The only question was who was the erastes (the active partner) and who was the eromenos (the passive partner), because Patroclus was a few years older, but Achilles was certainly stronger.

In the Iliad, the trouble in the Greek camp starts when Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, takes a female captive named Briseis away from Achilles.  This is an insult to Achilles' honor, whereupon he refuses to fight in the war.

The gif above is from the 2004 movie Troy, showing Brad Pitt as Achilles getting it on with Briseis.  The film absurdly portrays Briseis as Achilles' main love interest, which she wasn't.  If you imagine that Brad Pitt is doing it with Patroclus, not Briseis, you'll be a lot closer to the original story, but of course a Hollywood movie wouldn't show that.

Without the hero Achilles fighting, the Greeks start losing.  Patroclus, trying to help, disguises himself by wearing Achilles' armor and leads the Greeks into battle.  But Patroclus is killed by Hector, a prince of Troy who is the Trojans' greatest hero.

Above, Menelaus holding the dead body of Patroclus, a Roman copy of a Greek original 240-230 BC.

Achilles is heartbroken and distraught over the death of Patroclus, another clue that they're more than friends.  He now has no armor (the Trojans took his armor off the dead Patroclus).  In the painting above by Henri Regnault, 1866, Achilles is weeping over the dead Patroclus when his mother, Thetis (remember her?) appears bringing him armor forged by the god Hephaestus.

Achilles, in a rage over Patroclus' death, slaughters half of the Trojan soldiers who come out to fight, enough to clog the river with their bodies.  Then he engages Hector, who had killed Patroclus, in single combat and kills him.

Above, Combat of Achilles and Hector, 490-460 BC, British Museum.  Achilles is at left.

Instead of returning Hector's body to the Trojans, Achilles dishonors the body by dragging it around the city behind his chariot.  Above, Achilles Dragging the Body of Hector by Alexander Rothaug, c. 1930.  Eventually, after the king of Troy begs him, Achilles relents and gives back the body.

That's the end of the Iliad.  The war isn't over (that happens in the Odyssey, when Odysseus comes up with the Trojan Horse trick).  And Achilles is still alive and well.

But remember how Achilles was invulnerable everywhere except his heel?  A later account tells how prince Paris avenges his brother Hector by shooting an arrow into Achilles' heel, which kills him.

To this day, the tendon that connects to your heel, running along the back of your ankle, is known as the Achilles tendon.

Above, The Wounded Achilles by Filippo Albacini, 1825.