Achilles, son of Thetis and Peleus, is the king of Pythia which located in southern Thessaly. His mother, Thetis, frequently put herself in the affairs of human and immortals while his father, Peleus, a mortal king of the Myrmidones in Phthiotis who shares a mysterious background as he married with the goddess Thetis. Together, they give birth to Achilles, a significant character described in Homer’s Iliad. When Achilles was a kid, his mother wanted to eliminate his mortal part by holding one of his ankles and putting him in waters of the river Styx, which indeed made he proof against weapons except the ankle held by his mother. In contrast, other legends tell that, without the knowledge of Achille’s father background, Thetis put on son in a glowing fire overnight to burn down the mortal part inside Achilles. As soon as Peleus found out his son is writhing on the fire, he cried out, and Thetis left them for good but, still, kept an eye on his offspring. It has to be the predetermined fate and prophecy of Achilles to talk about first to understand this complex character. Themis prophesized that whoever marries with Thetis, as long as he is an immortal, will have an offspring mightier than his father, and he will have a short but glorious life. Throughout his entire childhood and even when he matured, his mother Thetis always strive to unchain him from his fate.

Taught by Chiron, the wise Centaur living in Mount Pelion, Achilles grew up strong and wild, disobeying his teacher and indulging in what he thought to be good time—damaging the surrounding village. Later on, without giving up to save her beloved son, Thetis disguised Achilles as a girl and sent him to Scyros under the name of Pyrrha who is Achille’s sister to escape his determined death. However, his true identity was discovered by Odysseus when war approached. By using a trumpet, Odysseus revealed the trick and reasoned that a girl does not react to the sound as a man does. Therefore, when Achilles was fifteen, he became the leader of the Myrmidons and led them against troy.

In the tenth year of the war, The high king Agamemnon insulted the priest of Apollo who had to pledge him to ransom his daughter taken away from him as a prize for victory and disregarded his proposal arrogantly. As a result, Apollo placed a plea in the Achaean army almost decimate the entire troop to revenge for the priest. After acknowledging what had happened in the army, Achilles described Agamemnon as a man who already takes the lion’s share and to profit by other’s effort without battling himself. The king got utterly displeased and punished him by taking away his sweetheart Briseis. At the meantime, Achilles considered killing Agamemnon due to his disrespectful decisions. While he pondered, Athena came down to him, seized him by his hair, and stayed his temper. Although Achilles gave up his notion of slaughtering king Agamemnon, he withdrew from the war and stayed in his tent following Agamemnon’s action. Without the aid of Achilles and his army, the Trojans were able to push forward in the battle filed, came closer to the coastline, and succeeded in setting fire on Greek ships. Finally, Achilles consented to send his best friends Patroclus back in the warzone to stop the Trojans from further offensive attacks, but he did not forecast the death of his closest friends who had been killed by Hector.

When the message finally passed down to Achilles, he was immersed by unspeakable pain and regrets as he could have saved his friend if he did not stand aside from the war. Driven by enormous rage and strong will to put things alright, Achilles asked Thetis to have him a new armour and accepted his fate to die after the fall of Hector. Achilles reconciled with Agamemnon without asking for any compensation, but Agamemnon himself gave back Briseis along with seven unfired tripods, ten gold bars, twenty burnished cauldrons, seven cities, and several other magnificent gifts. Little interests in these gifts, Achilles slaughtered countless trojan warriors without eating any food or drink until he finally killed Hector who he chased thrice during the war. He then tied Hector’s dead body to his chariot and dragged it back to Greek’s ships. It is precise as his fate indicates that, after the death of Hector, Achilles was slain by the Trojan prince Paris and Apollo at Scaean gate when he was on his way to see Polyxena, daughter of Priam. Hence, the legendary life of Achilles came to an end without mentioning explicitly in Homer’s Iliad.

Reference

Leiden, B(2005), Menelaus, Brill’s new Pauly,

Parada, C(1997), Menelaus, General Guide to Greek Mythology Characters, http://www.maicar.com/GML/index.html

Spawforth, A., Eidinow, E., & Hornblower, S. (n.d.). The Oxford classical dictionary(4th ed. / general editors, Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth assistant editor, Esther Eidinow.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Smith, W(1870), Menelaus, ENCYCLOPEDIA MYTHICA, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology,  https://pantheon.org/articles/m/menelaus.html