History of ancient Greek myths with Achilles. Achilles (Achilles), the greatest Greek hero in the Trojan War. Meeting with Odysseus

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 deed 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.

Achilles burned with terrible anger against the Trojans. He decided to take cruel revenge on them for the death of his friends, Patroclus and Antilochus. Achilles fought like an angry lion, overthrowing the heroes of Troy one by one. The Trojans rushed into a hasty flight, they hurried to hide behind the walls of Troy. Furious Achilles pursued them. His inexorable fate drove him to certain death. Achilles pursued the Trojans all the way to the Skeian Gate.

He would have broken into sacred Troy, and she would have perished if the god Apollo had not appeared. Shouting menacingly, he stopped Achilles. But Achilles disobeyed him. He himself was angry with God for the fact that many times the arrow-god saved Hector and the Trojans from him. Achilles even threatened the god that he would hit him with a spear. Relentless fate clouded the mind of Achilles. He was ready to attack even God. Apollo was angry, he also forgot what he once promised, at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, to keep Achilles. Covered with a dark cloud, invisible to anyone, he sent an arrow to Paris, and she hit Achilles in the heel, where only the great hero could be hit. This wound was fatal for Achilles. He felt the approach of death to Achilles. He pulled out an arrow from the wound and fell to the ground. He bitterly reproached the god Apollo for destroying him. Achilles knew that without the help of God, none of the mortals could kill him. Achilles gathered his strength once more. Terrible, like a dying lion, he rose from the ground and slew many more Trojans. But now his members have grown cold. Death was getting closer. Achilles staggered and leaned on a spear. He shouted menacingly to the Trojans:

Woe to you, you will perish! And after death I will take revenge on you!

At this exclamation the Trojans fled. But Achilles grew weaker and weaker. The last of his strength left him, and he fell to the ground. His golden armor rattled on him, and the earth trembled. Achilles died. But the Trojans did not dare to approach the dead either. They were afraid of him and the dead, such horror he inspired in them during his lifetime. Little by little, they overcame their fear, and a fierce slash boiled around the body of the greatest of heroes. The most powerful heroes of the Greeks and Trojans took part in this battle. Corpses piled up in mountains around Achilles, and he lay motionless, huge, no longer hearing the battle. Dust whirled under the feet of the combatants. Blood flowed like a river. The battle seemed to never end. Suddenly the thunder of Zeus struck, a storm arose and stopped the Trojans. Zeus did not want the Trojans to take possession of the corpse of Achilles. The mighty Ajax Telamonides lifted the corpse of Achilles and carried it to the ships, and Odysseus defended him, repelling the advancing Trojans. A cloud of arrows and spears flew from the ranks of the Trojans to Odysseus, but he still courageously held back their onslaught, retreating step by step.

Ajax brought the corpse of Achilles to the ships. The Greeks washed the corpse, anointed it with fragrant oil and laid it on a richly decorated couch. Surrounding the bed, the Greeks loudly mourned their greatest hero and tore their hair in grief. The goddess Thetis heard their cry. She rose from the depths of the sea with her Nereid sisters. Upon learning that her beloved son had died, Thetis uttered such a cry of grief that all the Greeks trembled. They would have fled in fear to the ships if Elder Nestor had not stopped them. For seventeen days Thetis, the Nereids and the Greeks mourned Achilles. The Muses descended from the high Olympus. They sang a funeral hymn in honor of the deceased. The immortal gods on Olympus also mourned the hero. On the eighteenth day, the funeral pyre was built. The corpse of Achilles was burned on it. Many sacrifices were made in honor of the greatest of heroes by the Greeks. All Greeks participated in the funeral, dressed in magnificent armor. When the fire burned down, they collected the bones of Achilles and put them in a golden urn, which the god Dionysus presented to Thetis. The bones of Patroclus lay in the same urn. Achilles, Patroclus and Antilochus, the son of Nestor, were buried in the same grave. The Greeks poured a high mound over the grave; it was far visible from the sea, testifying to the great glory of the heroes buried under it.

After the same funerals were arranged in honor of the deceased game. The goddess Thetis brought precious gifts from the sea. They were supposed to serve as a reward for the winners in the games. So luxurious were these gifts that Achilles himself would have been delighted if the great hero had lived.

Achilles(ancient Greek Ἀχιλλεύς, Achilleus) (lat. 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. Name a-ki-re-u(Achilleus) is recorded in ancient Knossos, it is worn by ordinary people.

Myths about Achilles

Childhood of Achilles

Heroes were born from the marriages of the Olympian gods with mortals. They were endowed with great strength and superhuman abilities, but did not possess immortality. The heroes were supposed to fulfill the will of the gods on earth, to bring order and justice into people's lives. With the help of their divine parents, they performed all sorts of feats. Heroes were highly revered, legends about them were passed down from generation to generation.

Thetis dipping Achilles in the waters of the Styx
(Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640)

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 earliest versions of the birth of Achilles mention the furnace of Hephaestus, where Thetis, wanting to deify Achilles (and make him immortal), put her son, holding him by the heel. According to another ancient legend that Homer does not mention, the mother of Achilles, Thetis, wanting to test whether her son was mortal or immortal, wanted to dip the newborn Achilles in boiling water, just as she did with her former children, but Peleus opposed this. Later legends tell that Thetis, wanting to make her son immortal, plunged him into the waters of the Styx or, according to another version, into the fire, so that only the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable; hence the proverb that is still used today - "Achilles' heel" - to indicate someone's weak side.

Baby Achilles is handed over to Chiron to be raised

As a child, Achilles bore the name Pyrrisius (translated as "Ice"), but when the fire burned his lips, he was called Achilles ("lipless"). According to other authors, Achilles was called Ligiron as a child. Such a change of a child's name to an adult, associated with trauma or a feat, is a relic of an initiation ritual (cf. the change of the child's name "Alkid" to "Hercules" after the hero killed the Cithaeron lion and defeated King Ergin).

Teaching Achilles (James Barry (1741-1806)

Achilles was brought up by Chiron on Pelion. He was not Helen's fiancé (as only Euripides calls him). Chiron fed Achilles with the bone marrow of deer and other animals, hence supposedly from a-chylos, and his name "feedless" came about, that is, "not breastfed." According to one interpretation, Achilles found an herb that can heal wounds.

The education of Achilles and the beginning of the war for Troy

Achilles was raised by the Phoenix, and the centaur Chiron taught him the art of healing. According to another legend, Achilles did not know the art of medicine, but nevertheless healed Telef.

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

Identification of Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes (Bray)

The legend of the post-Homer cycle conveys that Thetis, wanting to save her son from participating in a fatal campaign for him, hid him from Lycomedes, the king of the island of Skyros, where Achilles in women's clothes was between 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, having added weapons to them, ordered an unexpected battle cry and noise, discovered the floor of Achilles (who immediately grabbed his weapon), as a result, the exposed Achilles was forced to join the campaign of the Greeks.

According to some authors, at the beginning of the campaign, Achilles was 15 years old, and the war lasted 20 years. The first shield of Achilles was made by Hephaestus, this scene is depicted on vases.

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

At the beginning of the war, Achilles tried to take the city of Monia (Pedas), and a local girl fell in love with him. “There is nothing strange in the fact that he, being amorous and intemperate, could zealously study music.”

Achilles in the Iliad

The protagonist of the Iliad.

In the tenth year of the siege of Ilion, Achilles captured the beautiful Briseis. She served as a bone of contention who had to return her captive Astinoma to her father Chris, and therefore claimed the possession of Briseis.

Achilles receives ambassadors from Agamemnon
(Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)

Enraged, Achilles refused to take further part in the battles (cf. similar refusal to fight offended Karna, the greatest hero of the Indian legend "Mahabharata"). Thetis, wanting to take revenge on Agamemnon for the offense inflicted on her son, begged Zeus to grant victory to the Trojans.

Angry Achilles (Hermann Wilhelm Bissen (1798-1868)

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 of great importance for the original history of Greek art). ; Hector alone dared to oppose him here, but nevertheless he fled from Achilles.

Achilles duel with Hector

Pursuing the murderer of his friend, Achilles forced Hector three times to run around the walls of Troy, finally overtook and killed him, tied him naked behind him to the Greek camp. Magnificently celebrating the funeral feast for his fallen friend Patroclus, Achilles returned the corpse of Hector to his father, King Priam, who came to the hero’s tent to pray for this for a rich ransom.

Priam asking Achilles for the body of Hector, 1824
(Alexander Andreevich Ivanov (1806-1858)

In the Iliad, 23 Trojans were killed by Achilles, named after them, for example, Asteropey. Aeneas crossed arms with Achilles, but then fled from him. Achilles fought Agenor, who was saved by Apollo.

Death of Achilles

The legends of the epic cycle tell that during the further siege of Troy, Achilles killed in battle the queen of the Amazons and the Ethiopian prince, who came to the aid of the Trojans. Achilles killed Memnon in revenge for his friend Antilochus, the son of Nestor. In Quintus' poem, Achilles killed 6 Amazons, 2 Trojans, and the Ethiopian Memnon. According to Hyginus, he killed Troilus, Astynomus, and Pilemenes. In total, 72 soldiers fell at the hands of Achilles.

Having slain many enemies, Achilles in the last battle reached the Scaean gates of Ilion, but here the hero died. According to some authors, Achilles was directly killed by Apollo himself, or by the arrow of Apollo, who took the form of Paris, or by Paris, who hid behind the statue of Apollo Fimbreysky. The earliest author to mention the vulnerability of Achilles' ankle is Statius, but there is an earlier depiction on a 6th-century amphora. BC e., where we see Achilles, wounded in the leg.

The death of Achilles

Later legends transfer the death of Achilles to the temple of Apollo in Fimbra, near Troy, where he appeared to marry Polyxena, the youngest daughter of Priam. These legends report that Achilles was killed by Paris and Deiphobes when he wooed Polixena and came to negotiate.

According to Ptolemy Hephaestion, Achilles was killed by Helen or Penthesilea, after which Thetis resurrected him, he killed Penthesilea and returned to Hades

Later traditions

According to the existing version, the body of Achilles was redeemed for an equal weight of gold from the gold-bearing river Paktol.

Shield of Achilles

The Greeks erected a mausoleum for Achilles on the banks of the Hellespont, and here, in order to pacify the shadow of the hero, they sacrificed Polyxena to him. For the armor of Achilles, according to the story of Homer, Ajax Telamonides and Odysseus Laertides argued. Agamemnon awarded them to the latter. In the Odyssey, Achilles is in the underworld, where Odysseus meets him. Achilles was buried in a golden amphora (Homer), which Dionysus presented 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 the Serpent Island at the mouth of the Istra Danube), where he continues to live in the company of other deified heroes and heroines . This island served as the center of the cult of Achilles, as well as the mound that rises on the Sigeian hill in front of Troy and is still reputed to be the tomb of Achilles. The sanctuary and monument of Achilles, as well as the monuments of Patroclus and Antilochus, were at Cape Sigei. His temples were still in Elis, Sparta and other places.

Philostratus (born in 170) in his work “On Heroes” (215) cites a dialogue between a Phoenician merchant and a winegrower, which tells about the events on the Serpent Island. With the end of the Trojan War, Achilles and Helen married after death (the marriage of the bravest with the most beautiful) and live on the White Island (Levka Island) at the mouth of the Danube on Ponte Euxinus. One day, Achilles appeared to a merchant who sailed to the island and asked him to buy a slave girl for him in Troy, indicating how to find her. The merchant fulfilled the order and delivered the girl to the island, but before his ship had sailed far from the coast, he and his companions heard the wild cries of the unfortunate girl: Achilles tore her apart - she, it turns out, was the last of the descendants of the royal family of Priam. The screams of the unfortunate woman reach the ears of the merchant and his companions. The role of the owner of the White Island, performed by Achilles, becomes understandable in the light of H. Hommel's article, which showed that even in the 7th century. BC e. this character, long turned into an epic hero, still acted in his original function as one of the afterlife demons.

It is called "reigning over the Scythians." Demodoc sings a song about him. In Troy, the ghost of Achilles appeared, 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 erected a fortification of Achilles against the Athenians from the stones of Ilion, which is refuted by Demetrius of Scepsis. Statues of naked ephebes with spears were called Achilles.

Origin of the image

There is a hypothesis that initially in Greek mythology, Achilles was one of the demons of the underworld (which included other heroes, for example, Hercules). The assumption about the divine nature of Achilles was expressed by H. Hommel in his article. He shows on the material of Greek early classical texts that even in the 7th century. BC e. this character, long turned into an epic hero, still acted in his original function as one of the afterlife demons. Hommel's publication caused an active discussion, which has not yet been completed.

Image in art

Literature

The protagonist of the tragedies of Aeschylus "Myrmidons" (fr. 131-139 Radt), "Nereids" (fr. 150-153 Radt), "Phrygians, or the Ransom of the Body of Hector" (fr. 263-267 Radt); satyr dramas by Sophocles “Achilles Admirers” (fr.149-157 Radt) and “Companions” (fr.562-568 Radt), Euripides' tragedy “Iphigenia in Aulis”. The tragedies "Achilles" were written by Aristarchus of Tegey, Jophon, Astidamant the Younger, Diogenes, Karkin the Younger, Cleophantus, Evaret, Chaeremon had a tragedy "Achilles the killer of Tersitas", from Latin authors Livy Andronicus ("Achilles"), Ennius ("Achilles according to Aristarchus ”), Actions (“Achilles, or the Myrmidons”).

art

The plastic art of antiquity repeatedly reproduced the image of Achilles. His image has come down to us on many vases, bas-reliefs with individual scenes or a whole series of them, also on the pediment group from Aegina (kept in Munich, see Aegina art), but there is not a single statue or bust that could be attributed to him with certainty.

One of the most remarkable busts of Achilles is kept in St. Petersburg, in the Hermitage. The sad and at the same time indignant head is crowned with a helmet, which ends in a crest hanging forward, mounted on the back of the sphinx; behind this crest curls with a long tail. On both sides of the crest, a fingerboard is carved in flat relief, they are separated by a palmetto. The front forehead plaque of the helmet, ending on both sides with curls, is also decorated with a palmette in the middle; on either side of it are a pair of sharp-faced, thin-tailed dogs with long flattened ears, in collars (apparently a pair of hunting dogs sniffing the ground). The facial expression resembles a bust kept in Munich. It must be assumed that here the moment is captured when the hero was already put on the armor shackled by Hephaestus, and now his face was already on fire with anger, a thirst for revenge, but sadness for a dear friend still trembles on his lips, like a reflection of inner heart anguish. This bust, apparently, dates back to the 2nd century AD. e. to the era of Hadrian, but his idea is too deep for this era, poor creative thought, and therefore it remains only to assume that this head, like the Munich one, is an imitation, the original of which could be created no later than Praxiteles, that is, no later than IV-III V. BC e.

In cinema

In 2003, the two-part television film "Helen of Troy" was released, where Joe Montana played Achilles.

Brad Pitt plays the role of Achilles in the 2004 film Troy.

In astronomy

The asteroid (588) Achilles, discovered in 1906, is named after Achilles.

Lapteva Anna

Achilles

Summary of the myth

Achilles (Greek) or Achilles (lat.) - in the heroic tales of the ancient Greeks, is the bravest of heroes, the son of King Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis.
Zeus and Poseidon wanted to have a son from the beautiful Thetis, but the titan Prometheus warned them that the child would surpass his father in greatness. And the gods prudently arranged the marriage of Thetis with a mortal, the son of the king of the Myrmidons, Peleus. In an effort to make her son invulnerable and thus give him immortality, Thetis tempered him in the fire at night, and rubbed him with ambrosia during the day. One night, Peleus, seeing his infant son on fire, snatched him from his mother's arms. According to another version, Thetis bathed Achilles in the waters of the underground river Styx in order to make him invulnerable in this way, and only the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable. Insulted by the intervention of Peleus, Thetis left her husband, and he gave Achilles to be raised by the wise centaur Chiron, who fed him with the insides of lions, bears and wild boars, taught him to play the sweet-sounding cithara and sing.

Achilles at the court of King Lycomedes
Greek bas-relief, 240

Achilles grew up as a fearless warrior, but Thetis, knowing that her son was still destined to die near Troy, sought to save him and for this purpose hid him in the palace of King Lycomedes on the island of Skyros. There Achilles lived dressed in women's clothes among the daughters of Lycomedes. Here, from the secret marriage of a young man with the daughter of Lycomedes - Deidamia, the son Pyrrhus was born, later nicknamed Neoptolemus. When the Achaean leaders learned the prediction of the priest Kalhant that without the participation of Achilles, the campaign near Troy was doomed to failure, they sent an embassy led by Odysseus to Skyros. Arriving at the king under the guise of a merchant, Odysseus laid out women's jewelry interspersed with weapons in front of the assembled. The inhabitants of the palace began to examine the jewelry, but suddenly, at the sign of Odysseus, an alarm sounded - the girls fled in fright, and the hero grabbed his sword, giving himself away. After the exposure, Achilles willy-nilly had to sail to Troy.

During the long siege of Ilion, he repeatedly launched raids on various neighboring cities. According to the version, he wandered the Scythian land for five years in search of Iphigenia. In the tenth year of the siege of Ilion, during one campaign he captured the beautiful Briseis. According to one version, she served as a bone of contention between Achilles and Agamemnon, who claimed the possession of Briseis.

Fresco "Achilles and Briseis"
1st c.National Museum
Naples

Inflamed with anger, Achilles refused further participation in the battles. Thetis, wanting to take revenge on Agamemnon for the offense inflicted on her son, begged Zeus to grant victory to the Trojans. Neither the disasters of the Greeks, nor the prayers and promises of the embassy, ​​which, on the advice of Nestor, Agamemnon equipped for 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 prey. Then Achilles, unarmed and accompanied by Athena, appeared on the battlefield, and one formidable sight of the hero turned the enemies to flight.

The next morning, 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 the naked corpse to his war chariot, dragged him to the camp. Magnificently celebrating the feast after his fallen friend Patroclus, he returned the corpse of Hector to his father, King Priam, who imploredly entered his tent for a rich ransom.

Teaching Achille Pompeo Batoni, 1770

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. For seventeen days, Achilles was mourned by the Nereids, led by Thetis, the Muses, and the entire Achaean army. On the eighteenth day, the body of the hero was burned, and the ashes in a golden urn made by Hephaestus were buried along with the ashes of Patroclus at Cape Sigey. 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.

Images and symbols of myth

Achilles, first of all, appears as an invulnerable fearless hero who brought death to enemies largely thanks to his mother. But on the other hand, his image can be interpreted without attaching importance to invulnerability as such, but representing him as the bravest and strongest of the heroes solely because of his personal qualities. And then he appears in the form of a warrior who 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 descendants.

Achilles kills Penthesilea
OK. 540-530 AD BC e.

Since the myth of Achilles is related to battles and conquests, the symbols associated with it also refer to military topics. The main symbol of the myth - Achilles' heel, the only unprotected place of this hero, in which he was mortally wounded by Paris. At present, the expression "Achilles' heel" denotes a weak side, a "sick", a weak point of something.

Shield of Achilles
(silver dish)
Late 4th - early 5th century

Achilles Shield- a wonderful shield that Hephaestus forged for Achilles, it was not only intended to protect against enemies, but was a real work of art. The shield had a center with a slight elevation, which symbolized the earth's firmament, which, according to the ancients, had the shape of a shield with a middle mountain, "the navel of the earth." On the shield, Hephaestus depicted the earth, sky, stars, as well as numerous episodes of urban and rural life and the Ocean River on the rim. According to myths, no one had such a shield: neither the Trojan and Achaean warriors, nor the deities descending from Olympus. By his shield, Achilles could find any place: both the land of the Myrmidons, whose ruler was his father Peleus, and Troy, where he defended the honor of Menelaus at the head of the detachment.

The myth of Achilles features River Styx. It was her waters that made Achilles invincible and, therefore, can be a symbol of the divine miraculous power that gives invulnerability. In ancient Greek mythology, Styx is the personification of primeval horror and darkness, from which the first living beings arose. The river Styx flows in Hades, and in historical times it was seen in a stream near Nonacris (in northern Arcadia). According to legend, Alexander the Great was poisoned with water from this river.

Communicative means of creating images and symbols

Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes
Sarcophagus, III century.
St. Petersburg, State Hermitage

Achilles was widely known among the ancient Greeks, as evidenced by the large number of references to him in various sources. That is why there are many options for the finale of the myth about Achilles, about how his life ended, and where he ended up after death. The Greeks erected a mausoleum for him on the banks of the Hellespont, and here, in order to pacify the shadow of the hero, they sacrificed Polyxene to him. According to the Odyssey, Achilles resides in the underworld, where Odysseus meets him, and he is buried in a golden amphora, which Dionysus presented to Thetis, which was also written by the Greek poet Lycophron and the Western Greek poet Stesichorus. But already another ancient Greek epic poem, Ethiopian, tells that Thetis took her son away from the burning fire and transferred him to the island of Levka (Snake Island at the mouth of the Istra Danube), where he continues to live in the company of other deified heroes and heroines. This island served as the center of the cult of Achilles, as well as the mound that rises on the Sigeian hill in front of Troy and is still reputed to be the tomb of Achilles. His temples were still in Elis, Sparta and other places. The great popularity of Achilles is evidenced by the facts that he is called "reigning over the Scythians", and people believed that the ghost of Achilles hunting animals appeared in Troy.

The spear of Achilles was kept in Phaselis in the temple of Athena. His funerary monument was at Elis. And the statues of naked ephebes with spears began to be called Achilles. By origin, Achilles was originally a local Thessalian hero, whose cult also spread to various regions of Greece. In the Laconian city of Prasia, there was a temple of the hero, in which an annual celebration took place. His cult was also brought to the Greek colonies in Sicily in southern Italy (Tarent, Croton and other cities). As a place of worship, the burial mound of Achilles and Patroclus at Cape Sigey was revered. Alexander the Great, and later the Roman emperor Caracalla, held funeral games here. Thus, there is a huge number of temples, altars and sites dedicated to Achilles. In addition, he was the ideal of the great commander of antiquity, Alexander the Great. Up to the present day, based on the myth of Achilles, artists painted pictures, composers composed musical works, and playwrights also turned to his image. There are feature films in which we meet this hero. All this made Achilles one of the most popular characters in ancient art.

The social significance of the myth

Chiron teaches Achilles to play the lyre
Fresco in Pompeii. 1 in. BC.

Achilles personifies greatness, invulnerability, strength given by the gods and backed up by his own strong-willed character, zeal for glory, the desire to accomplish great deeds and clear ideas about honor, goodness and devotion. But in ancient Greek mythology there are many similar images, because in almost every myth you can meet a valiant hero who defends goodness and justice. Nevertheless, Achilles can be called one of the most famous, because despite his invincibility, he still has one weak point - the heel, which distinguishes him from other mythological heroes and distinguishes him from the general series. It is this feature that makes his image extraordinary and memorable, thanks to which even today there are hardly many people who have not heard this name.

The story of Achilles may be the epitome of the fact that even the strongest and most fearless heroes have weaknesses and therefore have no right to consider themselves invincible. On the other hand, by doing great deeds, you can secure the eternal memory of your descendants and thus extend your life to infinity.

(Quint Smyrna. Posthomerica)

After the burial of Antilochus, Achilles again gathered to avenge the death of his friend on the Trojans. Despite all the failures, they, carried away by fate, again entered the battle, trying to save Ilion. But after a short skirmish, Achilles with a brave squad drove them back to the city. A few more moments, and, breaking down the Skeian gate, he would have killed all the Trojans in the city. Then Apollo descended from Olympus, terribly angry with the Achaeans for the disasters of the Trojans, and went to meet Achilles; the bow and quiver rang terribly on his shoulders, the earth shook from his steps, and the silver-armed god exclaimed in a terrifying voice: “Get away from the Trojans, Pelid, and stop raging, otherwise one of the immortals of Olympus will destroy you.” But furious from the battle, Achilles did not retire, did not heed the command of God, for the gloomy fate was already standing next to him; he boldly exclaimed: “Phoebus, why do you challenge me against my will to fight the gods and stand up for the arrogant? You have already deceived me once and distracted me from Hector and the Trojans. and god." Having said this, he rushed at the Trojans, who were still running in all directions across the field; and the enraged Apollo said: "Woe! How raging he is! None of the immortals, not even Zeus himself, would have allowed him to indulge in rage and oppose the immortals for so long." And, covered with a thick cloud, he launched a deadly arrow.

The arrow hit Achilles in the heel. A strong pain suddenly penetrated to the very heart, and he fell like a tower overthrown by an earthquake. “Who is this,” exclaimed Achilles, looking around, “who fired a destructive arrow at me? no mortal can overcome me in open battle, but the cowardly treacherously lies in wait for the strongest. Let him come out, 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 would fall under his destructive arrow near the Scaean gate: she spoke the truth." So said Achilles, and took out an arrow from an 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 in the assembly of the gods. With words filled with bitterness, Hera met him: “What a disastrous deed did you do 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 misfortune over them. Madman, with what eyes will you look at Nere's daughter when she appears at our Olympic meeting. Thus spoke she, blaming God; Apollo did not answer, fearing his father's wife, and, lowering his eyes, silently sat down away from the other gods.

Death of Achilles. Sculpture by Christophe Weyrier, 1683

Achilles had not yet lost his courage, his blood, greedy for battle, boiled in mighty limbs. None of the Trojans dared to approach him, prostrate on the ground: so timid villagers stand at a distance from the lion that they are struck by the hunter in the very heart and with rolled eyes and clenched teeth fight death. So angry Achilles, like a wounded lion, fought death. Once more he rose and with a raised spear rushed at the enemies. Orifaon, Hector's friend, he pierced the temple, so that the point of the spear penetrated the brain, and Hippothea gouged out the eye; then he slew Alkifoy and many other of the Trojans, who fled in fear. But little by little, Achilles' limbs grew cold and strength disappeared. However, he resisted and, leaning on a 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 took to flight 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 weapons roared. This is how Achilles died.

The Trojans saw the death of Achilles, but, trembling, did not dare to approach his body, like sheep fearfully fleeing from a predatory beast killed near the herd. First of all, Paris dared to exhort the Trojans to approach the fallen one: would it not be possible, he thought, to steal the body with armor and bring it to Ilion to the delight of the Trojans and Trojans? Finally, Aeneas, Agenor, Glaucus, and many others, who had timidly fled from Achilles before, rushed forward together with Paris; but Telamonides Ajax and other strong friends of Pelid opposed them. Because of the body and armor of the fallen, a terrible battle ensued: corpses piled up in mounds all around, and the blood of the dead flowed in streams. The battle went on all day, until evening. Then, in a stormy whirlwind, Zeus swept between the fighting and allowed the Achaeans to save the body and weapons. A strong Ajax on his shoulders carried the body of Achilles out of the fight, while the cautious Odysseus pushed back the advancing enemy. The Achaeans safely carried the body of Achilles to the ships, washed and smeared it with myrrh; then, having clothed him in thin and delicate robes, they laid him, mourning and weeping, on a bed and cut off his hair.

Ajax takes out the body of Achilles from the battle. Attic vase, ca. 510 BC

Hearing 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 rumble 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 attire around the bed of Achilles; the choir of nine muses descended from Mount Olympus and sang funeral songs in honor of the deceased, and around the saddened army mourned and cried. It took seventeen days and seventeen nights for both immortal gods and people to honor with tears and funeral songs the beloved hero, stolen by death. On the eighteenth day they laid the body, clothed in precious robes, on the fire and burned it with many slaughtered sheep and bulls, with honey and myrrh; throughout the night, armed Achaean heroes solemnly circled and circled 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 them all together with the ashes of Patroclus in a golden urn made by Hephaestus, which Dionysus presented to Thetis. That was the wish of the friends. Then they placed the urn of Achilles in the tomb, which had already been built on Cape Skaeus, on the banks of the Hellespont, Patroclus; there they put the ashes of their friend Antilochus and poured over all this - a monument for future generations - a high mound: this mound is visible from afar, from the Hellespont. After the burial of Thetis, in memory of the death of Achilles, she arranged a feast in the army of the Achaeans with splendor never seen before by mortals. The first heroes of the army showed their strength and dexterity in various games, and from the hands of Thetis they received the most beautiful gifts.

Based on the book by G. Stoll "Myths of Classical Antiquity"