Achillies Essay, Research Paper

Achilles

Achilles was one of the many, numerous heroes of the great Trojan War. He has a great story that goes along with his adventures. A man who wrote poems about wars named Homer tells his story in the Iliad. He was a great warrior of the Trojan War because of what his parents did to him when he was young. Because of what his parents did when he was young, he could not be defeated and was a major threat to other enemies, but was a great asset to the country he fought for.

Achilles had two parents like most people. His mother was a Nereid named Thetis. She was a sea nymph. Thetis was an immortal nymph. The mortal Peleus fell in love with her, but she avoided him by turning herself into various slippery animals. She turned herself into various slippery animals to try to avoid him because she didn t want to have anything to do with him and she didn t like to be around him. Eventually Peleus caught Thetis. She was very well known for her many inventions. She was well known by both gods and mortals because she made inventions for both the mortals and the gods. An example of her helping gods and mortals is when Hephaestus was cast by Zues from Heaven, and fell into the sea. When hephaestus was cast from Heaven, Thetis had to help him and get her out of the sea. She married Peleus and their wedding indirectly brought on the Trojan War.

All the gods except for the goddess of Discord, Eris had been invited by Zues to the wedding of Achilles parents. Eris was jealous so to get even, Eris tossed a golden apple in the midst of the gathering, and labeled it To the Fairest . A fight soon ensued between the beautiful goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena, as to who the rightful recipient of the golden apple should be. The decision was left to a Shepherd named Paris, who awarded the apple to Aphrodite on the promise of winning the hand of Helen. Helen was considered to be the most beautiful mortal. Aphrodite caused Helen to fall in love with Paris, and when he abducted her and they ran away to Troy, the Greeks launched the Trojan War.

The Trojan s did not fight the war in the city but yet they fought the war outside the city against the Greek s. They wanted to remove the Greek s so that they could recover the beautiful Helen for the Trojan s.

Achilles had a tremendous amount of power. When Achilles was born, he was half god, from Thetis, and half mortal, from Peleus. His mother wished to make him completely immortal. When he was young she dipped him in the waters of the infernal river Styx, found in the Underworld. The river was supposed to annoit the person who was in it to be immortal. When he was dipped in the river Styx, he became invulnerable. The only place he was not immortal was his heel. His heel was then the only place where he could be killed. It was the only part because it was the only part that didn t touch the water because that is where his mother held him when she dipped him in the river Styx. Some believed that for Achilles to remain immortal, Thetis would nightly hold him over the fire to get rid of the mortal elements inherited from Peleus, and that in the daytime she would anoint his body with Ambrosia. Later Peleus took Achilles to be mentored by the Centaur Cheiron, who was a famous mentor and teacher of many heroes. For a long time, Achilles was fed meat from lions and wild boars, and the marrow of bears, to give him courage and to prepare him to become a great Greek warrior for when he grows up. A diet of honeycomb and fawn s marrow made him a swift runner also to prepare for his soon future when he would become a great Greek warrior. Cheiron taught Achilles the arts of riding, hunting, archery, pipe playing, healing and more. The Muse Calliope taught him to sing. By the time he was done, Achilles had the best qualities of a warrior, with the soul of a poet. He killed his first boar when he was only six years old and every day brought wild animals back to Cheiron. Achilles could overtake and kill stags without the help of hounds.

When he was nine years old the prophet Calchas declared that Troy would never be taken without the help of Achilles. This proves how great of a warrior that Achilles was in his time. To be the only person that can make a city be destroyed means you must be a very good warrior and very brave.

Soon after that, Achilles went to war in the Trojan War once it started after his parents wedding. The war had lasted ten years. They continuously fought for ten straight years without stopping. It didn t take him as long as Odysseus to make it home. It took Odysseus twenty years to get back home. He spent ten years at the war, and ten more, which equals twenty, coming back home. Actually Achilles didn t even make it home because he eventually died later on during the Trojan War from his only immortal spot.

No one could stand before the wrath of Achilles. At the sight of him the Trojans broke rank and scattered, dividing into two bodies. The Trojans ran because they knew how much of a great warrior he was and didn t even be around him because they were too afraid. Achilles drove one part across the plain towards the city of Troy and penned the other in a bend of a scorching flame. The stunned Trojan survivors hastened back to behind their walls like a bunch of scared rabbits. They couldn t do anything because they did not have enough faith or guts to do anything.

Towards the end of the war, Achilles was eventually tragically killed. Apollo had been guiding Paris hand to help kill Achilles because Apollo wanted to kill Achilles but didn t have a chance to. Eventually, Paris had finally hit Achilles in his only invulnerable spot. His only invulnerable spot, the only mortal spot on his body was hit after his long reign as a great Greek warrior. Paris hit his right heel and killed the great hero of the Trojan War, as he died in agony, others watched. The Greeks were saddened because they had lost the greatest warrior of all time and they were afraid they would soon die now. Some say it was Apollo himself disguised as Paris, but most say it was just Apollo telling Paris what to do. Soon after, the Greeks won the Trojan War by using the Trojan Horse to sneak their warriors into the city. Odesseus came up with the idea to kill all the Trojans by sticking a bunch of the Greeks in a horse and getting inside the city to eventually kill all the Trojans at night when they were asleep.

This report should help show how Achilles was one of the greatest Greek warriors. I am one of the many people who believe that Achilles was the greatest warriors in Homer s poems. If not the greatest, he is definitely, one of the greatest Greek warriors. This report also shows how they got the name of the Achilles heel. One of the week spots on you foot is your Achilles heel and it is very small but if you hurt it, it will be bad because it is very important.