Achilles
Sent by Debreni for, she said, the edification of various Lions
Achilles was the great hero of the Trojan War. His mother was the Nereid Thetis, who is known for her many interventions in the affairs of both Ancestors and mortals. For example, when King Zeus cast Hephaestus from the Heavens into the sea, Thetis saved him. When King Lycurgus persecuted Dionysus, he found refuge in the sea with her. And when the Argonauts, after having met the Sirens, encountered the whirlpool Charybdis, the monstrous Scylla and the Wandering Rocks, Thetis, leading the other Nereids, put them out of danger by steering their ship through those threats.
Thetis helped even King Zeus - Once a palace revolt took place in Olympus and Queen Hera and Lords Poseidon and Apollo plotted against Zeus, chained him, and took away his awesome thunderbolts. Thetis unchained him and brought therefore an end to the unjust rebellion.
King Zeus and Lord Poseidon were both in love with Thetis and tried to win her hand in marriage. But the wise and respected Themis made a prophecy that the son of Thetis would grow to become far mightier than his father, so quickly they changed their minds about her. Instead she married a mortal man named Peleus.
Thetis was not happy to wed a mere mortal and complained that it was an insult to her status, so when Peleus tried to claim his bride she refused him and changed her form, first into a bird, then a tree, and finally into a tigress, scaring Peleus into letting go of her. But Proteus, a son of Poseidon, instructed Peleus to not let go of Thetis no matter what form she took. When Thetis turned into fire and water yet Peleus still held on, in admiration of his perseverance she finally grudgingly relented and agreed to be his wife.
It's worth noting that the wedding of Thetis and Peleus indirectly brought on the Trojan War. King Zeus had invited all the Ancestors to the wedding, except for the Ancestress of Discord, Eris. 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 Ancestresses 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, the most beautiful mortal.
In time Thetis and Peleus had a son who they named Achilles, and wanting him to come to no harm, Thetis took the baby to the river Styx, the place the Ancestors submerged their weapons in in order to make them indestructable, and dipped him in the waters, holding him by his heel, and thus made him invulnerable.
Peleus took the child to be reared by the Centaur Chiron, who was a famous mentor and teacher of many heroes. On Mount Pelion Achilles was fed meat from lions and wild boars, and the marrow of bears, to give him courage. A diet of honeycomb and fawn's marrow made him a swift runner. Chiron taught Achilles the arts of riding, hunting, archery, pipe playing, healing and more. The Muse Calliope taught him to sing. Achilles exemplified the best qualities of a warrior, coupled 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 Chiron. Lady Athena and Lady Artemis gazed in wonder at this handsome golden-haired child, impressed at his swiftness and skill - Achilles could overtake and kill stags without the help of hounds.
When Achilles was nine years old the prophet Calchas declared that Troy would never be taken without the help of the son of Thetis. Themis had spoken the prophecy that Achilles would either live long and be forgotten or have a short life but live forever in memory. Knowing this, Thetis did her utmost to preserve the life of Achilles, even going so far as to disguise him as a girl and sending him away to Lycomedes, a proud and noble king. There he lived under the name of Cercysera. Achilles wanted nothing to do with dressing like a girl but he realized that it was the only way to get close to King Lycomedes's beautiful daughter. This affair with the king's daughter, Diedameia, produced a son named Pyrrhus, later called Neoptolemus.
Thus disguised as a young woman Achilles lived quietly at Scyros until the leaders of the expedition against Troy, who were Odysseus, Nestor and Ajax, arrived and asked to speak to Achilles. They wanted him to join them in the Trojan War. King Lycomedes insisted that he wasn't there, and offered the men a search of the palace. The search failed to expose Achilles, so Odysseus resorted to trickery.
The Greeks had brought a pile of gifts to Scyros, mostly jewels, girdles, fancy embroidered dresses and colourful cloth. Odysseus asked the ladies to pick their choice of any gift, but instructed his men to sound a sudden trumpet blast and clash of arms outside the palace. All the girls had gathered around the gold and finery, ooohing and aaahing, but one girl showed absolutely no interest in the jewels, but instead seemed fascinated by the swords, spears and arms that were part of the gifts.
So when the trumpet blew and the sounds of fighting were heard, one of the "young girls", the disguised Achilles, instinctively grabbed the sword and shield, readying for battle. Thus Achilles was exposed, and he promptly agreed to join the expedition, and lead to Troy his army of Myrmidons, the name by which his warriors were known.
Before he left Achilles married his sweetheart, the pregnant Deidameia. Then he brought a fleet of fifty or sixty ships to join his fellow Greacians. He was fifteen years old.
The winds were not favourable for the fleet to sail and much time was wasted, making the gathered armies restless. Calchas investigated, and discovered that the leader of the army, Agamemnon, had offended Lady Artemis by killing one of her deer then claiming to be a better hunter that her, and she had thus sent the contrary winds in punishment. He told Agamemnon that the She would only co-operate if he was to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia. So, the army’s leader tricked his daughter by telling her to sail as she was to be married to Achilles, who naturally was unaware of the Agamemnon's scheming. If Athena had not intervened, Achilles would have killed Agamemnon for using his name in such a vile deception, but he could not prevent the sacrifice of the girl. Lady Artemis was appeased, and the winds turned.
Thetis had warned Achilles that the first Greacian to land on Trojan soil would die so Achilles was able to avoid that. It was unlucky Protesilaus who was first to land and he soon died, but not before first dispatching a number of Trojans.
The walls of Troy were heavily fortified and the Trojans had stocked up tremendous stores of supplies so the siege lasted ten years. During that time Achilles sacked and pillaged the lands all around.
Now, King Agamemnon insulted a seer of Apollo, who had come to claim his daughter Chreisis, who was kidnapped by the Achaeans. To punish the king, Apollo brought a terrible pestilence upon the army and many Greacian warriors died, until the Calchas claimed that it was Agamemnon's pride that brought this evil upon them (it was at this point Agamemnon named Calchas the “Seer of Evil”). Eventually Agamemnon gave the girl back to her father, but took from Achilles the girl Briseis, who Achilles had taken as his most recent sweetheart.
This rather annoyed Achilles and he refused to fight, instead wasting away in his tent while his army of Myrmidons idled their time away. When the Trojans realized that Achilles and his Myrmidons had withdrawn from battle they became emboldened by the great warrior's absence and they launched a series of raids against the Greacians, inflicting severe losses. At Thetis' urging, King Zeus permitted this to happen, in order that the Greacians would once again honour Achilles and realize how indispensable to them he truly was.
As time went on and the Trojans became more and more dangerous, Agamemnon came to his senses and agreed to appease Achilles' wrath – it is for that purpose that he offered him seven tripods, seven women, seven cities, and many other gifts including the (according to Agamemnon) untouched Briseis. But Achilles was too hurt and no gift of wealth would sway him to rejoin the battle. The Greacians appeared lost.
Now, Achilles had a close friend called Patroclus – many have suggested that they were lovers. When the Trojans became so bold as to begin setting fire to the Greacian ships, Achilles consented to allowing Patroclus to fight, giving him his own famous armour to wear. The Trojan prince Hector killed Patroclus in battle, believing him to be Achillies, and took the armour for himself. The death of his dearest friend devastated Achilles and spurred him into action, seeking revenge.
Realizing that he had wasted his time and skills bitterly sitting by his ships, Achilles asked his mother to fetch him new armour – and this she did, from the Ancestral smith himself, Hephaestus. When Thetis delivered the new armour Achilles called a council of war and reconciled with Agamemnon, both agreeing that they had acted foolishly, and together planned the counter strike.
None could stand before the wrath of Achilles. At the sight of him the Trojans broke rank and scattered, dividing into two bodies. Achilles drove one part across the plain towards the city of Troy and penned the other in a bend of the river. The Ancestor of the river tried to subdue him but Hephaestus came to the aid of the warrior and dried up the waters with a scorching flame. The stunned Trojan survivors hastened back behind their walls like a bunch of scared rabbits.
Now it was Hector's turn. The two men met and both armies stood back and watched, amazed. Hector's plan was to run around the city walls, hoping to tire Achilles who had been long inactive. Three times Achilles chased Hector around the walls and each time Hector ran for the safety of a gate, Achilles would cut him off. At last Hector stood to fight and at once Achilles drove his sword through him, gaining revenge for the death of Patroclus. He fastened leather straps to the body of Hector, secured them on his chariot and whipping up his horses, dragged the corpse three times around the walls of Troy, much to the dismay and anger of the devastated Trojans.
Achilles now buried Patroclus and sacrificed horses, two of Patroclus' own hounds and twelve noble Trojan captives, several sons of Priam among them. Still beside himself in grief, at dawn every day Achilles would drag Hector's body three times around Patroclus' tomb. Finally at the command of King Zeus, Lord Hermes led Priam to the Greacian camp so that he could beseech Achilles to ransom his son's body, throwing himself at the warrior's feet begging.
Oddly enough Priam found Achilles asleep and could have easily killed him, but being honourable, he chose not to. They agreed to exchange the corpse for Hector's weight in gold and a pair of scales was set up outside the city walls. Hector's body was laid in one pan and the Trojans were invited to heap their gold in the other until the scales balanced. When at last Priam's treasury was empty and still Hector's burly corpse was heavier, Polyxena, a Trojan princess, threw down her bracelets to provide the missing weight. Impressed at her courage Achilles offered to exchange the gold for the beautiful woman and Priam told him that she was freely his if Achilles persuaded the Greacians to depart without Helen, ending the war. There was no chance, and Polyxena stayed in Troy.
Achilles and his warriors continued their rout of the Trojans and pursued them towards the city. But Lords Poseidon and Apollo, who had helped to build Troy, had pledged to punish the insolent boasts uttered by Achilles over the corpse of Hector. Lord Apollo sought out Paris during the battle and guided his hand. The arrow found the only vulnerable spot on Achilles, his right heel where his mother had held him, and the great hero of the Trojan War died in agony from the poison on the tip.
A great battle raged over the corpse until finally the Greacians carried dead Achilles through the midst of the enemy and back to their camp, dismayed at the loss of their greatest warrior. The Nine Muses sang his funeral dirges while a host of Nereids offered solace to his mother Thetis.
His corpse was burned upon a pyre on the eighteenth day and his ashes mixed with those of Patroclus and place in a golden urn made by Hephaestus.
All Works are © Original Author
(OC Author - Gillian Smart, after the Greek Myths)