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Achilles' story said that Thetis tried to make her infant son invulnerable by dipping him into the river Styx, which flowed through the underworld. However, the water did not touch the heel by which she held Achilles, and this spot remained vulnerable. This myth is the source of the term Achilles' heel, which refers to a person's one great weakness. When the Trojan War began, Achilles' parents sent him to the court of King Lycomedes on the island of Skyros, where he was disguised as a girl. They hoped this would keep him from being drawn into the combat and suffering the fate of the prophecy that said he would die at Troy. Meanwhile, a seer warned the Greeks that they would never defeat the Trojans without the help of Achilles. The Greeks searched for the boy, and Odysseus*, the most cunning and resourceful of the Greek leaders, learned of Achilles' hiding place. Passing as a traveling merchant, Odysseus displayed ornaments to the women of the royal household at Skyros. Among the ornaments were weapons. When one "girl" admired a shield and spear, Odysseus knew that he had found Achilles. Odysseus persuaded Achilles to join the Greek forces against Troy, even though Achilles owed no loyalty to them. Some stories say that he agreed to fight to prove his courage. Other versions claim that both Achilles and Odysseus were reluctant to join the war, which was fought over the kidnapping of a beautiful Greek woman named Helen by the Trojan prince Paris. In any case, both Achilles and Odysseus joined the Greek forces led by King Agamemnon, which were camped outside the walls of Troy in Asia Minor *. When Hector, son of the Trojan king and Troy's leading warrior, attacked the Greek forces, Achilles still refused to fight. His friend Patroclus asked if he could borrow Achilles' armor. He thought that the Trojans, seeing the armor of the most feared Greek warrior, would certainly retreat. Achilles reluctantly agreed. However, to his great horror and sorrow, Patroclus was killed in combat by Hector. Read more: http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/A-Am/Achilles.html#ixzz2LnkoNq4x
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Copyright �2013
Nicole Ann Ebojo, SSC - II Perseus | 
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