The Mirror of the Gods: Classical Mythology in Renaissance Art

Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis; greatest of the Greek heroes in the Trojan War; central character of Homer’s Iliad.

His name may be of Mycenaean Greek origin, meaning ‘a grief to the army’. If so, the destructive Wrath of Achilles, which forms the subject of the Iliad, must have been central to his mythical existence from the first. He was the recipient of hero-cults in various places, but these no doubt result from his prominence in the epic, and do nothing to explain his origins.

In Homer he is king of Phthia, or ‘Hellas and Phthia’, in southern Thessaly, and his people are the Myrmidons. As described at Iliad 2. 681–5 the size of his kingdom, and of his contingent in the Trojan expedition (50 ships), is not outstanding. But in terms of martial prowess, which is the measure of excellence for a Homeric hero, Achilles’ status as ‘best of the Achaeans’ is unquestioned. We are reminded of his absolute supremacy throughout the poem, even during those long stretches for which he is absent from the battlefield.

His character is complex. In many ways he carries the savage ethical code of the Homeric hero to its ultimate and terrifying conclusion. When Agamemnon steals his concubine Briseis in Iliad 1, his anger at the insult to his personal honour is natural and approved by gods and men; but he carries this anger beyond any normal limit when he refuses an offer of immense compensation in Iliad 9. Again, when he finally re-enters the war (Iliad 19) after the death of his friend Patroclus, his ruthless massacre of Trojans, culminating in the killing of Hector (Iliad 22), expresses a ‘heroic’ desire for revenge; but this too is taken beyond normal bounds by his contemptuous maltreatment of Hector’s dead body (Iliad 22. 395–404, 24. 14–22).

But what makes Achilles remarkable is the way in which his extreme expression of the ‘heroic code’ is combined with a unique degree of insight and self-knowledge. Unlike Hector, for instance, Achilles knows well that he is soon to die. In his great speech at Iliad 9. 308–429 he calls the entire code into question, saying that he would rather live quietly at home than pursue glory in the Trojan War; but it is his ‘heroic’ rage against Agamemnon that has brought him to this point. In his encounter with Lycaon at Iliad 21. 34–135, his sense of common mortality (the fact that Patroclus has died and Achilles himself will die) is a reason, not for sparing his suppliant, but for killing him in cold blood. Finally at Iliad 24, when Priam begs him to release Hector’s body, it is human feeling, as well as the gods’ command, that makes him yield (507–70); but even then he accepts a ransom, and his anger still threatens to break out afresh (568–70, 584–6).

Later writers seldom treated the subject-matter of the Iliad (though Aeschylus did so, portraying Achilles and Patroclus as lovers: fr. 134a). But they did provide many further details of Achilles’ career, often derived from other epics such as the Cypria and Aethiopis. As a boy he was brought up by the wise Centaur Chiron on Mt. Pelion. Later his mother Thetis, knowing that he would be killed if he joined the expedition to Troy, hid him at the court of King Lycomedes on Scyros, disguised as a girl (this episode is treated in the unfinished Achilleis of Statius). There he fell in love with the king’s daughter Deidamia, who bore him a son, Neoptolemus. Odysseus discovered his identity by trickery and he joined the Greek army at Aulis, where he was involved in the story of Iphigenia (see Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis). On the way to Troy he wounded Telephus. His exploits at Troy included the ambush and killing of Priam’s son Troilus, a story linked with that of his love for Priam’s daughter Polyxena. After the events of the Iliad he killed two allies of the Trojans: the Amazon queen Penthesilea, with whom he is also said to have fallen in love, and the Ethiopian king Memnon. Finally he was himself killed by Paris and Apollo (as predicted at Iliad 22. 358–60). The fight over his body, and his funeral, are described in a dubious passage of the Odyssey (24. 36–94). His famous arms (described at Iliad 18. 478–613) were then given to Odysseus (see Sophocles’ Ajax). After the fall of Troy his ghost demanded the sacrifice of Polyxena (see Euripides’ Hecuba). A curious story, going back to Ibycus (fr. 10 Page), is that in Elysium he married Medea (see also Pausanias 3. 19. 13 for Achilles and Helen on the White Island). Several of these episodes, including the ambush of Troilus and the killing of Penthesilea, were popular with vase painters.

A late addition is the familiar motif of Achilles’ heel: Thetis sought to make the infant Achilles invulnerable by dipping him in the Styx, but omitted to dip the heel by which she held him, and it was there that he received his death-wound. This is alluded to by Hyginus (107) and Statius (Achilleis 1. 134, 269), but we have no full account until Servius and ‘Lactantius Placidus’.

Recommendation:

<a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195049985?ie=UTF8&tag=arthisspo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0195049985″>The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300-1990s: 2 Volumes</a><img src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=arthisspo-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0195049985″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”" style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />