Achilles, Achilles: Heroes of Myths and Legends - Mythological Encyclopedia. Achilles and his exploits

The Creator sat on the Throne and thought. Behind Him stretched the boundless expanse of heaven, bathed in the splendor of light and colors, before Him the black night of Space rose like a wall. He rose to the very zenith like a majestic steep mountain, and His divine head shone in the sky like a distant sun...

Sabbath day. As usual, no one follows it. Nobody but our family. Sinners everywhere gather in crowds and indulge in fun. Men, women, girls, boys - everyone drinks wine, fights, dances, gambles, laughs, shouts, sings. And do all sorts of other nasty things...

Received the Mad Prophet today. He is a good man, and, in my opinion, his mind is much better than his reputation. He received this nickname a very long time ago and completely undeservedly, since he simply makes predictions, and does not prophesy. He doesn't claim to be. He makes his predictions based on history and statistics...

The first day of the fourth month of the year 747 from the beginning of the world. Today I am 60 years old, for I was born in the year 687 from the beginning of the world. My relatives came to me and begged me to marry, so that our family would not be cut off. I am still young to take such care upon myself, although I know that my father Enoch, and my grandfather Jared, and my great-grandfather Maleleel, and great-great-grandfather Cainan, all entered into marriage at the age that I reached on this day ...

Another discovery. Once I noticed that William McKinley looked very sick. This is the very first lion, and from the very beginning I became very attached to him. I examined the poor man, looking for the cause of his ailment, and found that he had an unchewed head of cabbage stuck in his throat. I couldn't get it out, so I took a broom stick and pushed it in...

... Love, peace, peace, endless quiet joy - this is how we knew life in the Garden of Eden. Living was a pleasure. The passing time left no traces - no suffering, no decrepitude; sickness, sorrow, worries had no place in Eden. They hid behind its fence, but they could not penetrate it ...

I'm almost a day old. I showed up yesterday. So, anyway, it seems to me. And, probably, this is exactly so, because, if it was the day before yesterday, I did not exist then, otherwise I would remember it. It is possible, however, that I simply did not notice when it was the day before yesterday, although it was ...

This new creature with long hair is very annoying to me. It sticks out in front of my eyes all the time and follows me on my heels. I don't like it at all: I'm not used to society. Go to other animals...

Dagestanis - a term for peoples who originally live in Dagestan. There are about 30 peoples and ethnographic groups in Dagestan. In addition to Russians, Azerbaijanis and Chechens, who make up a large proportion of the population of the republic, these are Avars, Dargins, Kumti, Lezgins, Laks, Tabasarans, Nogais, Rutuls, Aguls, Tats, and others.

Circassians (self-designation - Adyge) - people in Karachay-Cherkessia. In Turkey and other countries of Western Asia, Circassians are also called all immigrants from the North. Caucasus. Believers are Sunni Muslims. The Kabardino-Circassian language belongs to the Caucasian (Iberian-Caucasian) languages ​​(Abkhazian-Adyghe group). Writing based on the Russian alphabet.

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This ancient Greek hero, who came with a hundred thousandth army under the walls of Troy, and became the central character of Homer's poem Iliad, had in abundance everything that from time immemorial has been the pride of a real man. The gods generously rewarded him with strength, courage, beauty and nobility. He was deprived of only one thing in life - happiness.

Mortal descendants of the inhabitants of Olympus

We know who Achilles is from the works of many ancient authors, the most famous and authoritative of which is Homer. From the pages of his immortal poem, we learn that those who inhabited the top of Olympus used to descend to earth and marry mortal people who, in one way or another, deserved this honor.

According to ancient legends, only heroes were born from such unions, combining an endless list of virtues that placed them above all other inhabitants of the earth, into whose lives they brought order and harmony. And only one problem deprived them of the fullness of happiness - they were born mortal.

Son of an earthly king and a sea goddess

It so happened that the Phthian king Peleus once turned the head of the sea goddess Thetis. He found a way to the heart of the mistress of the depths, and the legendary Achilles became the fruit of her momentary weakness, who inherited from his mother all the virtues inherent in the gods, but remained mortal by his father.

Wanting to fill this gap, Thetis resorted to an old and proven remedy, dropping him immediately after birth into the waters flowing in the underworld. From this, the entire body of the baby was covered with an invisible, but impenetrable shell, which no weapon could hit. The only exception was the heel, for which the mother held him, lowering him into the water.

She became his only weak point, and this was kept secret. But looking ahead, it should be said that the one who killed Achilles, and he ended his life, despite all the efforts of Thetis, as a mere mortal, knew about this. The name of the killer will be named only at the end of the story, so as not to violate the laws of the genre and not reduce the sharpness of the plot intrigue.

The tutors of the young prince

To educate the future hero, his father picked up two mentors for him. One of them was the old and wise Phoenix, who taught the boy decent manners, medicine and the composition of poems, without which in those days one could be considered ignorant and boorish. The second was a centaur named Chiron.

Unlike his fellow tribesmen - cunning and treacherous creatures, he was distinguished by openness and friendliness. All his pedagogy, however, boiled down to the fact that he fed Achilles with bear brains and fried lions. But such a diet clearly benefited the boy, and at the age of ten he already easily killed wild boars with his bare hands and overtook deer.

Escape to Skyros

When the war began, in which the Greeks with their numerous allies approached the walls of Troy, where Queen Helen ruled, recognized as the most beautiful woman of all times and peoples, our hero was fifteen years old. By the way, this detail allows us to determine with a certain accuracy in what year Achilles lived. Historians date the beginning at the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC, which means that he was born around 1215 BC. e or so.

The goddess Thetis, despite the fact that by lowering her son into the waters of Six, made him almost immortal, nevertheless allowed the possible death of Achilles. She decided not to risk and save him from the campaign in which he was obliged to take part. To this end, the goddess, by the power of magic, transferred her son to the island of Skyros, where he, in women's clothes, was hiding from being drafted into the army among the daughters of the local king Lykomed, who naively hoped for his chastity.

Cunning Odysseus

However, soon the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, found out the whereabouts of Achilles and sent Odysseus after him. His envoy faced a rather piquant task - to recognize among the young charmers the one who hid his masculine nature under a woman's outfit. And Odysseus handled it brilliantly.

Disguised as a merchant, he laid out in front of the princesses luxurious fabrics, jewelry, and other things for which women have always had a weakness, and between them, as if by accident, he left a sword. When, at his command, the servants issued a battle cry, all the girls fled with a screech, and only one of them grabbed her weapon, betraying a man and a warrior in herself.

They escorted the recruit on a campaign throughout the island. King Lycomedes sincerely grieved, and his young daughter Diedamia shed tears, in whose womb the son of Achilles was gaining strength for the sixth month (a hero is a hero in everything).

A hero who terrifies the enemy

Under the walls of Troy, Achilles arrived not alone, but accompanied by a hundred thousandth army, which was sent with him by his father, King Peleus, who, due to his old age, was deprived of the opportunity to personally take part in the siege of the city. He gave his son his armor, forged for him once and possessing magical properties. A warrior wearing them became invincible.

In his poem The Iliad, Homer tells how, using a gift from his father, the son fought for nine years, terrifying the Trojans, and capturing one city after another. Thanks to the magical powers granted to him by the waters of the Styx, as well as his father's armor, he was invulnerable to the enemy, but the one who killed Achilles in the Trojan War (which will be discussed below) knew his weak spot, and remained in the shadows for a while.

Envy that captivated the soul of a warrior

The countless feats accomplished by Achilles earned him great fame among ordinary warriors and became the cause of envy that consumed their commander-in-chief Agamemnon. It is known that this low feeling at all times pushed people to meanness, and sometimes even to crimes. The Greek military leader was no exception.

One day, returning from another raid, Achilles, among other prey, brought a beautiful captive, whose father Chris was a priest of Apollo. Agamemnon, taking advantage of his position, took her away from Achilles, to which he did not object, since he was then carried away by another slave named Briseida.

Soon the unfortunate priest appeared in the Greek camp and offered a rich ransom for his daughter, but was refused. In desperation, he called for the help of Apollo himself, and he, having entered the position of his servant, sent a pestilence to the offenders of his daughter. The Greeks did not have time to bury the dead. The soothsayer Kalhant, who was among them, after talking with the gods, said that death would not recede until Chris received his daughter, and Apollo received rich sacrifices.

Agamemnon had to obey, but in retaliation, he took away his beloved Briseis from Achilles and it was she who was sacrificed to the deity. He vilely scolded and insulted the hero himself in the presence of his subordinate warriors. This act came as a surprise to everyone, since before the commander-in-chief had a reputation not only as a brave, but also as a completely noble person. There is no doubt that there was magic here too. Moreover, it is possible that the evil spell was cast on him by the one who killed Achilles at the end of the poem we are retelling. But his name will be called a little later.

Confounded envious

Innocently offended and deprived of his best slave, Achilles refused to continue participating in the war, which indescribably delighted the Trojans, who trembled at the mere sight of him. Appearing on the seashore, he called his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, from its depths, and, having heard his story, she begged the supreme god Zeus to help the Trojans defeat the army of Agamemnon and show him that without Achilles they would face imminent death.

That's how it all happened. The accommodating Zeus gave strength to the Trojans, and they began to ruthlessly crush their enemies. The catastrophe seemed inevitable, and the vile envious had no choice but to publicly, in the presence of all the same soldiers, apologize to Achilles and, as compensation for the ruined Briseis, give him several beautiful slaves.

The Last Labors of Achilles

After that, the magnanimous Achilles forgave his offender and, with even greater frenzy, began to smash the defenders of the city. One of his most famous feats belongs to this period - a victory in a duel with the leader of the Trojans, Hector. Achilles not only managed to put him to flight, but forced him to run around the walls of Troy three times, and only after that he pierced him with a spear.

But the gods were not pleased to make Achilles a witness to the fall of Troy, and it was their will that the one who killed Achilles fulfilled. Shortly before his death, he accomplished his last feat - he defeated the army of beautiful, but treacherous and evil Amazons, who came to the aid of the Trojans, led by their leader Penthesilea.

The death of Achilles

Ancient authors, in many respects contradicting each other, in the biography of Achilles, nevertheless, are unanimous in depicting his last hour. According to their testimony, one day he tried to break into the besieged city through its main gate. Suddenly, his path was blocked by none other than Apollo himself, who had not yet fully reconciled with the Greeks after the story with the daughter of his priest.

Apollo, of course, knew who Achilles was. The fact is that, crowned with the glory of the most beautiful of the celestials, he harbored shameful envy and jealousy towards a mortal man, who, like him, was considered the standard of beauty. The perniciousness of this low feeling among people has already been discussed in our story, but in this case the name of the deity was tarnished by it.

Blocking Achilles's way, but, nevertheless, expecting, nevertheless, a respectful treatment, he instead received a rude shout and a threat to be pierced by a spear if he did not get out of the way immediately. Insulted, Apollo stepped aside, but only to immediately take his revenge.

Further, the authors differ somewhat in the description of what happened. According to one version, Apollo himself fired a fatal arrow after the offender, and it was he who killed Achilles. According to another, the envious god entrusted this vile business to Paris, the son of the Trojan king, who happened to be nearby. But since the arrow hit Achilles in his only vulnerable spot, which only Apollo knew about, there is no doubt that it was he who directed her flight. The one who killed Achilles in the heel could not help but know his secrets. Therefore, the murder of the hero is attributed to Apollo - the most beautiful of the gods, but who could not overcome the low and petty feelings in himself.

The story of Achilles inspired a whole galaxy of ancient poets who dedicated their works to him, some of which have survived to this day. Many of them are recognized as the best examples of ancient Greek poetry. Undoubtedly, Homer won the greatest fame among them with his famous poem "Iliad". The very death of Achilles gave rise to a popular expression - "Achilles' heel", denoting a weak, vulnerable spot.

One night Peleus , seeing his young son in the fire, snatched him from the hands of his mother. According to another version, Thetis bathed Achilles in the waters of the underground River Styx , to thus make him invulnerable, and only the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable (hence the expression "Achilles' heel"). Insulted by the intervention of Peleus, Thetis left her husband, and he gave Achilles to be raised by a wise centaur Chiron who fed him with the entrails of lions, bears and wild boars, taught him to play the mellifluous cithara and sing. As the youngest of the generation of heroes - future participants in the Trojan War - Achilles was not among the suitors Helena (according to other versions of the myth, Chiron, who had the gift of foresight, kept him from matchmaking) and should not have taken part in the campaign. Thetis, knowing that her son was still destined to die near Troy, sought to save him and for this purpose hid Achilles in the palace of the king Likomed on the island of Skyros.

There Achilles lived dressed in women's clothes among the daughters of Lycomedes. Here from the secret marriage of Achilles with the daughter of Lycomedes - Deidamia a son was born Pyrrhus , later called Neoptolemos . When the Achaean leaders learned the priest's prediction Kalhanta that without the participation of Achilles, the campaign near Troy is doomed to failure, they sent an embassy to Skyros, led by Odysseus . Under the guise of merchants, Odysseus and his companions laid out women's jewelry mixed with weapons (sword, shield, etc.) in front of the gathered. According to a version that probably goes back to Euripides. Odysseus ordered his soldiers to sound the alarm. The frightened girls fled, while Achilles grabbed the weapon at hand and rushed towards the enemy. So Achilles, identified by the Greeks, became a participant in the campaign against Troy. At the head of the Myrmidon militia on 50 ships, accompanied by his faithful friend and brother Patroclus Achilles arrived in Aulis. By this time is his participation in the sacrifice Iphigenia . According to Euripides (the tragedy "Iphigenia in Aulis"), Atrids, in order to call Iphigenia to Aulis (to sacrifice her), informed her about the marriage with Achilles, and without his knowledge; therefore, when Achilles found out about this, he was ready to defend Iphigenia with weapons in his hands. However, in an earlier version of the myth, this romantic coloring of the image of Achilles was completely absent; he was interested in the sacrifice of Iphigenia no less than the whole army, in order to sail faster under Troy. On the way to Troy, during the stop of the army on the island of Tenedos, the king died at the hands of Achilles Tenes; at the very first battle on the coast of the Troad, Achilles killed the local hero Kiknos, and soon after that, the Trojan prince Troilus. Since each of these events, for various reasons, offends the god Apollo, they serve as a further explanation for the revenge that Apollo does with his hands. Paris over Achilles in the tenth year of the siege of Troy. In this regard, a variant of the myth deserves attention, moving the assassination of Troilus to the last year of the war, when it foreshadows the imminent death of Achilles. Achilles became especially famous already in the first years of the war, when the Greeks, after unsuccessful attempts to take Troy by storm, began to ravage the vicinity of Troy and make numerous expeditions against neighboring cities of Asia Minor and nearby islands. He ravaged the cities of Lirness and Pedas, Plakian Thebes - the birthplace of Andromache, Methymna on Lesbos. During one of these expeditions, Achilles captured the beautiful Briseis and lycaon (son Priam ), who was sold into slavery on the island of Lemnos
Of the sources that have come down to us, the image of Achilles is most thoroughly given in the Iliad. The motive of Achilles' invulnerability plays no role here; Achilles is the bravest and strongest of the heroes solely by virtue of his personal qualities. He knows that he is destined for a short life, and strives to live it in such a way that the glory of his unparalleled valor is preserved forever among the descendants. Therefore, although fate Helena And Menelaus interests him very little, Achilles takes part in the Trojan War, preferring the heroic share of a long but inglorious life. Achilles is very sensitive in matters of honor; the behavior of Agamemnon, having taken him away from Achilles Briseid, awarded to him as an honorable booty, causes the furious anger of Achilles, and only the intervention of the goddess Athena prevents bloodshed among the Achaean leaders. Achilles' refusal to continue the war after this leads to dire consequences for the Achaean army, but Achilles rejects Agamemnon's attempt at reconciliation; saddened by the victories of the Trojans, Agamemnon, on the advice of the elder Nestor announces through Odysseus and other leaders that he will return Achilles Briseis, give him one of his daughters as a wife, and many rich cities as a dowry (Book IX). Only when the Trojan army approaches the Achaean ships and the Trojan hero Hector sets fire to one of them, Achilles allows his friend Patroclus, dressed in his armor, to join the battle to drive the Trojans away. The end of the wrath of Achilles puts the news of the death of Patroclus at the hands of Hector. Having received new armor from the god Hephaestus, (see Art. The Shield of Achilles), he rushes into battle, mercilessly strikes the fleeing Trojans and, with the help of Hephaestus, even defeats the god of the river Scamander who rebelled against him. In the decisive duel with Hector, Achilles wins, which, however, foreshadows his own death, which he knows from his mother and again hears from the lips of the dying Hector (Book XVI-XXII). Having sated his violent rage, Achilles gives Priam the body of Hector for a large ransom (Book XXIII-XXIV).
The further fate of Achilles is reported by a late retelling of the unsurvived epic poem "Ethiopides". After the battles in which Achilles defeats the queen of the Amazons Penthesilea and the leader of the Ethiopians Memnon, who came to the aid of the Trojans, he breaks into Troy and here, at the Skeian Gate, dies from two arrows of Paris, directed by the hand of Apollo: the first arrow, hitting the heel, deprives Achilles of the opportunity rush at the enemy, and Paris strikes him with a second arrow in the chest. In this version, the rudimentary motif of the "Achilles' heel" was preserved, according to which it was enough to hit Achilles' heel with an arrow to kill the hero. The epic, abandoning the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe invulnerability of Achilles, introduced a truly fatal wound to the chest for a person. The death of Achilles, as well as his battle with Penthesilea, in later sources received a romantic coloring. In particular, a later version of Achilles' love for the Trojan princess has been preserved. Polixene and about his readiness for the sake of marriage with her to persuade the Achaean army to stop the war. Having gone unarmed to negotiate a wedding in the shrine of Apollo on the Trojan plain, Achilles was treacherously killed by Paris with the help of Priam's son Deiphobus. For 17 days, Achilles was mourned by the Nereids led by Thetis, the Muses and the entire Achaean army. On the 18th day, the body of Achilles was burned, and the ashes in a golden urn made by Hephaestus were buried along with the ashes of Patroclus at Cape Sigey (at the entrance to the Hellespont from the Aegean Sea) (Not. Oa. XXIV 36-86). The soul of Achilles, according to the beliefs of the ancients, was transferred to the island of Levka, where the hero continued to live the life of the blessed (Riz. III 19, 11 next).

Originally, Achilles was a local Thessalian hero, whose cult also spread to various regions of Greece. In the Laconian city of Prasia, there was a temple of Achilles, in which an annual celebration took place. In front of the temple of Achilles, located on the road from Sparta to Arcadia, Spartan ephebes made sacrifices. The cult of Achilles was also brought to the Greek colonies in Sicily and southern Italy (Tarent. Croton and others). As a place of worship, the burial mound of Achilles and Patroclus at Cape Sigey was revered by the inhabitants. Alexander the Great, and later the Roman emperor Caracalla, held funeral games here. Sanctuaries of Achilles were also in the cities of Byzantium, Erytra, near Smyrna. Finally, the localization of the deceased Achilles on the island of Levka at the mouth of the Danube was explained by the fact that both on this island and in a number of other regions of the Northern Black Sea region (in Olbia, near the Kerch Strait) there were temples, altars and plots dedicated to Achilles.

Achilles is one of the most popular characters of ancient art: Pompeian frescoes (“Achilles and Chiron”, “Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes”, “the dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon”, etc.), works of vase painting (plots “Thetis and Achilles”, “duel Achilles with Penthesilea", "Achilles and Briseis", "Priam before Achilles", "mourning of Achilles"), reliefs of Roman sarcophagi and other works. In medieval art, the image of Achilles was embodied mainly in illustrations for works about the Trojan War. Only since the 16th century. scenes from the life of Achilles were widely used in painting (G. dei Rossi, A. van Dyck, N. Poussin, J. B. Tiepolo, P. P. Rubens, and others).
Medieval literature was influenced by Virgil's Aeneid, with its sympathy for the Trojans; hence the significant belittling of the image of Achilles in comparison with Hector. For many centuries, the image of Achilles appears in epic poems dedicated to the Trojan War. From the 17th century playwrights begin to turn to the image of Achilles (including the tragedy “A.” by J. La Fontaine;
"Death A." T. Corneille; in the 18th century - the 1st song of the poem "Achilleid" by Goethe; V
19th century - "Penthesilea" by G. Kleist; in the 20th century - "Achilleid" by S. Wyspiansky; "A. - avenger "A. Suarez). In the musical and dramatic art, the appeal to episodes of A.'s life on Skyros was especially frequent. The first operas: Deidamia by F. Cavalli; "Achilles on Skyros" by A. Draghi; "A. on Skyros” by G. Legrenzi. The most significant works of the subsequent period were operas: “A. on Skyros" by R. Kaiser; "Achilles and Deidamia" by A. Kampra; Deidamia by Handel. In 1736 P. Metastasio gave new life to the plot; his play "Achilles on Skyros" was used by more than 30 composers, including A. Caldara, N. Iommelli, J. Paisiello, J. Sarti. Plots connected with the participation of A. in the Trojan War were also popular (the operas The Appeasement of Achilles by A. Draghi and A. Lotti, the opera Achilles and Polyxena by J. B. Lully and P. Kolas, The Destruction of Troy by R Kaiser and many others). The plot of "The Wrath of Achilles" also attracted many composers, including G. Donizetti

Achilles is a hero of ancient Greek mythology, best known for the episode of participation in Homer wrote about this character in his Iliad. And although the Iliad is considered an epic work describing the war against Troy, in fact, this is a story about a quarrel between Achilles and it was she who led to the events that decided the outcome of the ten-year siege of the city.

Origin of Achilles

Achilles was a hero. And initially, not even because of their actions. Just the heroic fate of Achilles was destined already at birth. After all, according to Greek myths, the offspring, which appeared as a result of the connection of the immortal gods with mortal people, became a hero. He himself did not possess immortality, however, he could count on the protection of his celestial relatives and, as a rule, had outstanding abilities, mainly in combat.

Achilles' mother was the sea nymph Thetis, and his father was Peleus, who reigned over the Myrmidons. Therefore, often in the Iliad the hero is called Pelid (which means the son of Peleus). Not quite an ordinary marriage between an earthly man and an immortal nymph is also explained in myths. Thetis was brought up by Hera, and when Zeus tried to seduce the young nymph, she, in gratitude for the care that her legal wife showed her, refused the voluptuous Olympian. As punishment, Zeus married Thetis to a mortal.

Achilles heel

As time went on, children were born to Thetis and Peleus. To check whether they were immortal or not, Thetis lowered the newborn into a cauldron of boiling water. So the first six sons died. The seventh was Achilles. It was his father who saved him from the unenviable fate of his brothers, taking his son away from his wife in time. After that, Thetis leaves her husband and returns to live at the bottom of the sea. But she continues to closely monitor the life of her son.

According to another myth, Thetis lowered the little Achilles into the waters of the sacred Styx, which flows in the kingdom of Hades. This gave the child invincibility. Only the heel - the place that his mother held tightly to - remained vulnerable. This is where the stable expression "Achilles' heel" comes from, which conveys the idea of ​​a person's weak point.

After the departure of his wife, Peleus sends his little son to be raised by the centaur Chiron. He feeds him with the bone marrow of animals instead of mother's milk. The boy grows up and diligently comprehends the science of owning weapons. And according to some reports, the art of healing.

Visiting Likomed

Chiron, who, among other things, also possessed the gift of a soothsayer, informs Thetis that if her son avoids participating in the upcoming Trojan war, then he is destined for a long life. If he goes there, the Greeks will win, but Achilles will die. This prompts Thetis to send her son to another island - Skyros, and hide him between the daughters of King Lykomed. For greater safety, Achilles lives there disguised in women's clothes.

Such behavior seems somewhat unusual for a hero who yearns for immortal glory. However, it is worth remembering that at that time the young man was barely fifteen years old. By the time described by Homer in the Iliad, Achilles had become a mature, experienced warrior. After all, the siege of the impregnable city lasted twenty years. And all this time the Greeks did not sit idle on the spot. They attacked nearby cities and ravaged them. For now, it was a young man. Bold, but obedient to the instructions of his divine mother.

Meeting with Odysseus

Meanwhile, a chain of events leads to the mustering of troops for the war against Troy. Priest Kalhant announces that if the son of Peleus does not participate in the campaign, the Greeks will face a crushing defeat. Then the Achaean leaders hastily equip Odysseus and send him after Achilles to the island of Skyros.

Realizing that going against the immortal celestials with brute force is more expensive for himself, Odysseus resorts to cunning. He introduces himself as an ordinary wandering merchant and enters the palace of Lycomedes. Having laid out his goods in front of the king's daughters, Odysseus puts among the jewels and richly decorated weapons.

At the appointed moment, the people of Odysseus, on his orders, gave an alarm. All the girls rushed in all directions, only Achilles was not taken aback. This gave him away. The young man grabbed a weapon and ran towards imaginary enemies. Declassified by Odysseus, Achilles agrees to join the military campaign and takes with him his beloved friend Patroclus, with whom they grew up together.

Sacrifice of Iphigenia

And now the huge Greek fleet, which now includes a detachment of Myrmidons on fifty warships led by Achilles, is advancing to Troy. The immortal inhabitants of Olympus also participate in all the unfolding events. Moreover, some of them support the Trojans, and some are on the side of the Greeks. Due to the next tricks of the gods supporting the defenders of Troy, the Greek fleet, immobilized by the lack of a fair wind, stands off the coast of the island of Aulis.

Kalhant pronounces another prediction: a fair wind will blow only if Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army, who started a campaign against Troy, sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia. The father was not bothered by this. He saw the problem only in how to deliver the girl to the island? Therefore, messengers are sent to Iphigenia with the message that she has been given as wife to Achilles and must come to Aulis for marriage. The description of the portrait of Achilles, the hero of ancient Greek mythology, does not leave her indifferent and the girl arrives on the island for a wedding. Instead, it goes straight to the altar.

One version of the story claims that Achilles himself knew nothing of the insidious plan. And when he found out, he rushed to defend the deceived princess with a weapon in his hands. But earlier myths tell that the son of Peleus did not show any sentimentality, because he himself was eager to quickly sail to Troy. And if the gods require sacrifice, then who will argue with them? In fairness, it should be noted that Iphigenia was still saved. True, not a hero, but the one who replaced the girl with a doe.

Meeting with the Amazon

But be that as it may, the sacrifice was set off, and the Greeks arrived safely at Troy. Thus began the long siege of the impregnable city. As already mentioned, Achilles did not sit idly by. He became famous already at the very beginning of the war, gaining glorious victories one after another over the cities surrounding Troy and nearby islands. According to the son of Priam, subsequently killed by Achilles, he did not meet during this time with the impudent and successful invader. And Achilles continued to hone his mastery of weapons.

In one of the next raids, Achilles enters into a fight with the queen of the Amazons, Pentiselia, who at that time was hiding on the mainland from the revenge of her fellow tribesmen. After a difficult struggle, the hero kills the queen and, prying off the helmet with the end of the spear, which hid the entire upper part of the face, throws it off the woman. Struck by her beauty, the hero falls in love with her.

Nearby is one of the Greek warriors - Tersit. According to Homer's unflattering descriptions, a very unpleasant subject. He accuses Achilles of lust for the dead and gouges her eyes out with a spear. Without thinking twice, Achilles turns around and kills Thersites with one blow to the jaw.

Briseis and Chryseis

In another campaign, the Greeks capture Briseis, which Achilles keeps as a concubine. In mythology, it is described that a young woman is not at all burdened by her position. On the contrary, she is always loving and tender.

At this time, Agamemnon also enjoys the fruits of the raids. Among other things, the beautiful girl Chryseis is presented to him as a share of the booty. But her father comes to the camp, begging to be allowed to ransom her daughter. Agamemnon taunts him and kicks him out in disgrace. Then the inconsolable father prayed for help to Apollo and he sends an epidemic to the Greeks. All the same soothsayer Kalhant explains the cause of misfortunes and says that the girl should be released. Achilles ardently supports him. But Agamemnon does not want to give in. Passions are heating up.

Discord with Agamemnon

In the end, Chryseis is still released. However, the vengeful Agamemnon, holding a grudge, decides to take revenge on Achilles. Therefore, as compensation, he takes Briseis away from him. Enraged hero, refuses to continue to take part in the war. From this moment, events begin to develop rapidly, as the Iliad describes it. The duel of Achilles and Hector is inexorably approaching. As well as the tragic denouement to which it will lead.

Achilles' inactivity

The Greeks suffer defeat after defeat. But the offended Achilles does not give in to anyone's persuasion and continues to do nothing. But once the defenders of Troy pushed the opponents back to the very shore. Then, having heeded the persuasion of his friend Patroclus, Achilles agrees that he led the Myrmidons into battle. Patroclus asks permission to take the armor of a friend and receives it. In the subsequent battle, Hector, the Trojan prince, mistaking Patroclus in the armor of Achilles for a famous hero, kills him. This provokes a duel between Achilles and Hector.

Fight with Hector

Upon learning of the death of Patroclus, a heartbroken Achilles intends to take cruel revenge. He rushes into battle and sweeps away all the mighty warriors one by one. The characterization of Achilles, which Homer gives him in this episode, is the apogee of the hero's whole life. It was the moment of immortal glory he longed for. Alone, he turns the enemies back and drives them to the very walls of Troy.

In horror, the Trojans hide behind the strong walls of the city. All but one. The noble Hector is the only one who decides to fight back the son of Peleus. But even this battle-hardened warrior is horrified at the approach of his furious enemy and turns to flight. Achilles and Hector circled Troy three times before they met in mortal combat. The prince could not resist and fell, pierced by the spear of Achilles. Tying the corpse to his chariot, he dragged the body of Hector to his camp Achilles. And only genuine grief and humility of the inconsolable father of Hector, King Priam, who came to his camp unarmed, softened the heart of the winner, and he agreed to return the body. However, Achilles accepted the ransom - as much gold as the prince of Troy, Hector, weighed.

Death of a hero

Achilles himself dies during the capture of Troy. And this is not without the intervention of the gods. Apollo, who is disgusted by the disrespect of a mere mortal towards him, invisibly guides an arrow fired by Paris, Hector's younger brother. The arrow pierces the hero's heel - his only weak point - and turns out to be deadly. But even dying, Achilles continues to strike many more Trojans. His body is carried out of the thick of the battle by Ajax. Achilles was buried with all honors, and his bones were put in a golden urn along with the bones of Patroclus.

Name: Achilles

A country: Greece

Creator: ancient Greek mythology

Activity: bravest of heroes

Family status: not married

Achilles: character history

The character of the heroic legends of the ancient Greeks. The bravest of the heroes who went on a campaign against Troy led by the Mycenaean king. Son of Peleus and a sea nymph. Mentioned in the epic poem The Iliad.

Origin story

Researchers put forward the theory that initially in the mythology of the ancient Greeks, Achilles was considered a demon of the underworld. Other ancient Greek heroes, for example, also belonged to this category of characters. Defending this point of view, researcher Hommel refers to the early classical Greek texts, where Achilles has already been turned into an epic hero, but still demonstrates the functions inherent in the demons of the afterlife.

Myths and legends

Like other Greek heroes, Achilles was born from the marriage of a mortal and a goddess. Such characters in ancient Greek mythology have capabilities that exceed human, enormous physical strength, but are not endowed with immortality, like the gods. The calling of the hero is to bring justice to people and fulfill the will of the gods. And in the accomplishment of feats, the heroes are often helped by divine parents.

Achilles' mother, the sea nymph Thetis, wanted to make her son immortal. For this, Thetis, according to different versions, either put the baby in the forge of the god, then immersed it in fire, then in the waters of the Styx - the rivers of the kingdom of the dead. In all cases, the mother held the baby by the heel during dipping, so that the heel remained the only vulnerable spot of the hero. Later, the Trojan killed Achilles, hitting him with an arrow in the heel.

As a child, the hero had a different name, but after one incident when his lips were burned with fire, he received the name Achilles, which means "lipless". The hero was raised on the slopes of Mount Pelion by the centaur Chiron. The centaur taught Achilles the art of medicine. The hero found a certain herb with which he could heal wounds.

Achilles later joined the Greek campaign against Troy. The king of Ithaca persuaded the hero to this. Achilles led fifty ships. Together with the hero, he went on a campaign - a childhood friend, whom some authors call the lover of Achilles.

One of the myths tells that the mother of Achilles, the nymph Thetis, wanted to save her son from participating in the fatal war. For this, the nymph hid the young man on the island of Skyros, from the local king Lykomed. Achilles was dressed in women's clothes, and in this form the hero hid among the royal daughters.

The cunning Odysseus arrived there, pretending to be a merchant, and laid out jewelry in front of the girls, and, along with trinkets, laid out weapons. Then the people, persuaded by Odysseus, raised a fuss and began to utter war cries. Achilles grabbed his weapon and thereby betrayed himself among the girls.

After this revelation, the hero had to go under Troy. When the campaign began, Achilles was only fifteen years old. The first shield for the hero was forged by the god Hephaestus himself.

The Trojan War lasted 20 years. The siege of the city was long, and during this time the hero managed to make many raids on neighboring cities. It was already the tenth year of the siege, when Achilles captured the beautiful Trojan woman Briseis. The man quarreled over her with Agamemnon. The Mycenaean king demanded that Briseis be given to him, in response Achilles became angry and refused to continue to participate in the battles.

The Greeks began to lose and began to beg the hero to return to the battle, but this did not help. When the Trojans, led by Hector, invaded the Greek camp, the still enraged Achilles did not fight himself, but allowed Patroclus to come to the aid of the Greeks along with the detachment. To make the enemies afraid, Achilles ordered Patroclus to put on his Achilles armor. The Trojan hero Hector killed Patroclus and took the armor of Achilles for himself as a trophy.

Only after this did Achilles appear on the battlefield in person. Seeing the hero, the Trojans fled. The next morning, the god Hephaestus forged new armor for the hero, and Achilles rushed into battle, burning with a thirst for revenge. The hero was able to push the Trojans to the city gates, and at the same time killed Hector and dragged the corpse to the Greek camp. After a magnificent feast for Patroclus, the hero returned the body of Hector to the Trojans for a large ransom.

Achilles fell in battle at the gates of the city, slain by the archer Paris, who was led by himself. The shooter hit Achilles in the only weak spot - the heel. According to another version, Apollo himself took on the appearance of Paris in order to slay the hero. On this story of the life of the hero ended.

Achilles did not have a wife, but had several lovers, among whom was Deidamia, the daughter of King Lycomedes. From her, the hero had a son, Neoptolem.

Greek bas-reliefs depict Achilles as a muscular youth with curly hair. The hero can also be seen on vases, where he is depicted in armor.

Screen adaptations

In 2004, the adventure thriller Troy was released based on Homer's poem The Iliad. The role of Achilles in this film was played by an actor.

In the film, Achilles helps the Mycenaean king Agamemnon subdue the cities of Greece. Agamemnon dreams of destroying the recalcitrant Troy, and then the opportunity just turns up. The Trojan Paris stole his wife from the king's brother, and Menelaus comes to Agamemnon, demanding revenge.

To tempt Achilles to go to fight near Troy, the cunning Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, comes to the hero. And the hero on his ship joins the Greek army, although his own mother predicted Achilles' death under the walls of Troy.

The warriors of Achilles are the first to land on the Trojan coast and enter the battle, having wiped out a detachment of Trojan warriors. King Agamemnon, however, publicly insulted Achilles when he saw that the hero released Hector, the leader of the Trojan detachment, not wanting to fight him.

After this incident, Achilles and his men do not join the battle with the rest of the Greeks, but only watch the battle from the side. Without Achilles, the Greeks are not able to defeat the Trojans in battle, and in the negotiations they refuse to accept the conditions of Agamemnon. The Trojan Hector nobly refuses to finish off the defeated Greeks and concludes a truce with them. Achilles is going to return home and start a family there and live peacefully.

Shot from the movie "Troy"

Later, the Trojans attack the Greeks under the cover of night, and Achilles' detachment also goes into battle, thinking that the leader is with them. It turns out, however, that it was Achilles' brother Patroclus who went into battle wearing an Achilles helmet, so that at night both his own and his enemies mistook him for Achilles. Hector defeats Patroclus in battle and kills.

After this, Achilles' plans change. Instead of sailing home, the hero goes to the walls of Troy and challenges Hector to battle. Having defeated him in a duel, Achilles goes to the Greek camp, and the body of Hector, tied by the legs, drags behind the chariot.

Hector's father, the king, sneaks into the Greek camp and begs Achilles to give the body of his son. Achilles agrees to this. Later, when Troy has already been captured, Achilles rushes around the city in search of the Trojan woman Briseis, daughter of Priam, with whom the hero is in love. Achilles saves his beloved from his own compatriots, but at this time Achilles himself is shot by the Trojan Paris.

The plot of the Iliad is heavily distorted in the film. Some heroes are missing, for example, the Trojan prophetess Cassandra and the priest, who tried to warn their compatriots. The costumes of the Greeks are not historical, as is the fighting technique used by the heroes.

Many heroes die not there and not so. For example, King Agamemnon was killed by Homer's own unfaithful wife after returning from Troy. In the film, Briseis was stabbed to death by Agamemnon at the time when the Greeks were sacking Troy.

Achilles himself in the Iliad does not run around the dying city in search of a girl and does not die ingloriously on a neat lawn. In Homer, Paris struck down Achilles with an arrow at the gates of the city, and a terrible battle flared up for the body of the hero. The Greeks did not want to leave the body of the hero to the enemies for desecration, and around Achilles there was a real dump until the dead hero was taken out of the battlefield.

In 2003, the United States released a two-part film "Helen of Troy", also based on the Iliad, where the role of Achilles was played by actor Joe Montana. Here Achilles is a minor character who appears in the fight scene with Hector and nails him to a post with a spear. Later, Achilles attacks Paris, but he strikes Achilles with a heel shot.

In 1997, the director filmed in the United States a two-part film "The Odyssey" - a free interpretation of the Homeric poem of the same name, which deals with the return of the king of Ithaca home after the Trojan War. The minor role of Achilles is played by Richard Truet.

Achilles also appeared on Doctor Who, in a series called The Mythmakers, which aired in the fall of 1965. The Doctor's TARDIS ship materializes beneath Troy just as Achilles is fighting Hector. The Trojan is distracted, and Achilles kills him, and takes the Doctor out of the TARDIS for the supreme god, who pretended to be a poor old man.

Frame from the TV series "Doctor Who"

Achilles calls the imaginary "Zeus" to go with him to the camp of the Greeks. There, King Agamemnon demands that "God" help the Greeks against the Trojans, and the cunning Odysseus believes that there is no God, but a Trojan spy. The role of Achilles is played by actor Cavan Kendall.

Quotes

"Go home, prince. Drink some wine, caress your wife. Tomorrow we will fight."

“Do you love me brother? Will you protect me from enemies?

“You asked me questions like this when you were nine and you stole your father's horse. What have you done now?

“Last night was a mistake.

- And the night before?

“I made a lot of mistakes this week.”