El talón de Aquiles

ACHILLES HEEL

  

Achilles at the court of king Lycomedes,detail.

Marble,greek artwork, Attic sarcophagus

Date: ca .240 CE.

Location: Louvre Museum.

The Death of Achilles

Date:1630-32

Author: Peter Paul Rubens

Location: The Courtauld Gallery

MYTHOLOGY

The expression " Achilles or Achilles’ heel" is used to refer to vulnerable or weakness of something or someone`s part.

The expression refers to Achilles, a Greek hero who participated in the Trojan War.

Achilles, son of Peleus and Nereid Thetis, is one of the most famous heroes of Greek mythology, above all and especially after the importance of Iliad by Homer (Poet) in the 9th century.

Achilles was invulnerable in his entire body except for his heel. In fact, it is said that Achilles died in the battle after being hit by a poisoned arrow in his heel, and that’s wherein the expression of "Achilles’ heel" has come to refer to the only weakness of a person.

Why was the heel his weakness? It is stated that Thetis tried to make Achilles immortal by dipping him in the Styx, but she forgot to wet his heel by which he was held, leaving that point vulnerable or leaving his point of weakness. In another version of the story or history, Thetis anointed the boy with ambrosia and put him in the fireside to burn this mortality away, however, she was interrupted by Peleus, who ripped violently the child from her hands. Thetis, furious, left them and Peleus replaced Achilles’ burned with the Giant Damiso’s astralagus, who was famous for his speed in the race. Hence, Achilles was known as "The swift-footed" or in other words "The light-footed"

The Warth of Achilles

Oil on canvas

Date: 1847

Author: François Léon Benouville

Location: Musée Fabre

In the Trojan War, according to the Iliad, after the death of his friend Patroclus by the Trojan Hector, Achilles, full of sorrow, managed to kill Hector and cruelly avenged his friend´s death by dragging Hector's body tied to a cart for twelve days around Troy. The god Apollo did not like such a show of victory over Hector's body, and when Achilles was moved by the aged Priam, Hector’s father, returned the body of his son. Then, an arrow shot by Paris, Hector’sbBrother, and who was guided by the god Apollo, crossed the vulnerable point of Achiles, his right heel specifically which killed him.

MEANING

The expression "Achilles or Achilles heel" is used to refer to vulnerable or weakness of something or someone’s part.

Dying Achilles

Date: 1884

Author: Ernst Herter

Location: Achilleion Corfu

The Rage of Achilles

Fresco

Date: 1757

Author: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Location: Villa Valmarana, Vicenza

EXAMPLES