Arrow wounded Achilles statue ready cropped on black background. Achilleion palace at Corfu island in Greece
In Greek mythology, Achilles (Ancient Greek: Ἀχιλλεύς, Akhilleus, pronounced [akʰillěws]) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad. Later legends (beginning with a poem by Statius in the 1st century AD) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. As he died because of a small wound on his heel, the term Achilles' heel has come to mean one's point of weakness. Achilles was the son of the nymph Thetis and Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons. Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals for the hand of Thetis until Prometheus, the fore-thinker, warned Zeus of a prophecy that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed Peleus.[2] As with most mythology, there is a tale which offers an alternative version of these events: in Argonautica () Zeus' sister and wife Hera alludes to Thetis' chaste resistance to the advances of Zeus, that Thetis was so loyal to Hera's marriage bond that she coolly rejected him. Thetis, although a daughter of the sea-god Nereus, was also brought up by Hera, further explaining her resistance to the advances of Zeus.
Size: 3888px × 2592px
Location: Achilleion palace, Corfu island, Greece
Photo credit: © PANAGIOTIS KARAPANAGIOTIS / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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