Who Is Achilles (Achilleus)?
The greatest hero of the Trojan War
Achilles is the mightiest hero of the Greek army in the Trojan War. The son of the mortal king Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis, he is also the hero of Homer's other epic, the Iliad.
In this story, he meets Odysseus again in the Underworld. When Odysseus tells him he is honored like a king even among the dead, Achilles replies that he would rather work as a hired laborer for a poor man on earth than be king over all the dead, showing how precious life is. Yet when he hears that his son Neoptolemus fought bravely at Troy, he strides away full of joy.
The story that his heel was his only weak spot, the origin of the term "Achilles tendon," is a legend that spread after Homer's time.
