Achilles
a-kil'lez, a legendary hero of the expedition against Troy. Homer makes him the hero of the Iliad. Pieced together from various sources, the story of Achilles may be outlined briefly. He was the son of the sea goddess Thetis, who dipped him in the river Styx to render him proof against wounds; but the heel by which she held him was unwet by the water. To prevent his going to war, she sent him disguised as a girl to be brought up among the daughters of a neighboring king. Crafty Ulysses, desiring to enlist the young man for the Trojan War, and suspecting his place of concealment, presented himself as a peddler or traveling merchant with a pack of finery and ornaments, among which he included a shield and spear. The ruse worked well. The handsomest young lady among them all disregarded the articles of feminine attire and turned to the weapons with undisguised admiration. Ulysses gave a cry of alarm, at which the girls shrieked and fled; but Achilles seized shield and spear and put himself in a posture of defense against the supposed approach of an enemy. After this, disguise was no longer possible; he returned home, manned fifty ships with his troops, the Myrmidons, and joined the Greek forces against Troy.
During the siege he became offended at the overbearing conduct of Agamemnon, and withdrew his forces into camp. Later at the intercession of the Greeks, now hard pressed, he loaned his armor to his best friend Patroclus. The well known helmet and crest of Achilles put new courage into the Greeks and daunted the Trojans; but Trojan Paris was so far unfortunate as to kill Patroclus. In his grief Achilles, provided with new armor by Vulcan, put himself at the head of his Myrmidons, and assailed the Trojans on the plain before the city. Killing Hector in a personal combat, he dragged him behind his chariot about the walls of Troy, yet yielded the dead body to the aged King Priam, who came in person to the Greek camp to beg the sad boon of burying his son. Later, while endeavoring to storm the Scaean gate, an arrow of Paris, directed by Apollo, reached the vulnerable heel of the hero and caused his death.