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Achilles

Warrior in Greek myth, invulnerable save for his heel. Noteworthy both for his attempt to elude being drafted into the Trojan War by disguising himself as a woman and also for his passionate love for his young armor-bearer Patroclus. When Patroclus was slain by the Trojan prince Hector, Achilles in a vengeful rage killed Hector and then tied Hector's naked body to his horse and dragged it around the walls of Troy, an event recorded both in the Iliad and in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. The Trojan prince Troilus was killed by Achilles in the temple of Apollo after he refused the warrior's offer to spare his life in exchange for submitting to Achilles' sexual advances.  Achilles also battled and slew Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, when an army of the warrior women came to the assistance of the besieged city of Troy. Achilles died when Hector's brother Paris shot him in his vulnerable heel with a poisoned arrow.

The Iliad	The Iliad  Retold by Barbara Leonie Picard	Hesiod: The Homeric Hymns

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