Achilles, Infancy and Education.
    Achilles’ mother was the sea goddess Thetis, who had been courted by Poseidon and by Zeus. Both abandoned her when they learned that her son would someday be more famous than his father. Thetis married Peleus, king of the Phthians, and from their union came Achilles, whom she tried to make immortal. In earlier tales, she accomplished this by anointing him with ambrosia during the day and dipping him in fire at night. In a later, more popular version of the legend, she dipped the infant in the river Styx, holding him by one heel. The parts of his body that touched the water were made invincible, but the heel remained vulnerable, and there he eventually received his fatal wound on the Trojan battlefield. As a boy, Achilles was placed by his mother in the care of the wise centaur Chiron, from whom he learned music and archery.

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)