Achilles1.0000

Achilles.
    The central hero of Homer’s Iliad, Achilles was the strongest and swiftest of the Greeks at Troy, as his epithet “swift-footed” suggests. His strong emotions were responsible for many of the important events in the Trojan saga, from his withdrawal of support for Agamemnon in the opening scene of the Iliad to his defilement of the Trojan Hector’s corpse in the epic’s conclusion.
    Achilles’ godlike courage was that of a young man, single-minded and valiant, but not balanced by forethought (the image of the hero “sulking in his tent” bespeaks this weakness). In his dispute with Agamemnon over the maiden Briseis, only Athena’s intervention prevented Achilles’ impetuous attack on his commander, which would have brought ruin to all. Later, he foolishly allowed Patroclus to don his armor and fight in his stead, when the Greek ships were endangered by Achilles’ stubborn refusal to fight.
    Nevertheless, Achilles was capable of acts of leadership, compassion, and love. He loved and was loved by Patroclus and Briseis, and he was esteemed by his fellow leaders. He respected a gallant enemy, such as the Amazon warrior Penthesilea, and treated Hector’s grieving father, Priam, with compassion. And in post-Homeric accounts he loved Polyxena, an innocent daughter of Priam; the liaison ultimately brought death to them both.
    The mutual devotion of Achilles and Patroclus presented a paradigm of the Greek ideal, a concept Homer treated realistically but ironically. It was Patroclus’s death that finally roused Achilles to return to battle, a furious onslaught in which he fought the river Scamander itself. Achilles’ return changed the tide of battle back in favor of the Greeks, but it also led to his death at Paris’s hands.

Achilles listings are arranged under the following headings:
Achilles General List)
Infancy and Education)
Achilles at Scyros)
Wrath of Achilles)
Return to Battle)
Death of Achilles)
Afterlife)