“Let me shear a little secrete with you” the mighty Achilles said
“the gods are jealous of us, they are jealous of
our mortality
our ability to get old and die, any moment might be our last.
They the gods who cannot do without our daily rituals and sacrifice”
These where the words of the mighty Achilles, the son of Peleus, a mortal man and the Nereid Thetis, the goddess of the sea.
He was the mightiest of the Greeks who fought in the Trojan War, and was the hero of Homer''''s Iliad .
Thetis attempted unsuccessfully to make her son immortal by dipping him in Styx, the river of the under world.
When Achilles was a boy, the seer Calchas prophesied that the city of Troy could not be taken without his help. Thetis knew that, if her son went to Troy, he would die an early
death, so she sent him to the court of Lycomedes, in Scyros; there he was hidden, disguised as a young girl. During his stay he had an affair with Lycomedes'''' daughter, Deidameia, and she had a son, Pyrrhus (or Neoptolemus), by him. Achilles'''' disguise was finally penetrated by Odysseus, who placed arms and
armor amidst a display of women''''s finery and seized upon Achilles when he was the only "maiden" to be fascinated by the swords and shields. Achilles then went willingly with Odysseus to Troy, leading a host of his father''''s Myrmidons and accompanied by his tutor Phoenix and his close friend Patroclus. At Troy, Achilles distinguished himself as an undefeatable warrior. Among his other exploits, he captured twenty-three towns in Trojan territory, including the town of Lyrnessos, where he took the woman Briseis as a war-prize which caused a dispute between him and the then leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon.
After the death of Hector,whome achiles killed in range from the death of his beloved friend( lover?) Patroclus whom hector killed in a bout. Achilles'''' days were numbered. He continued fighting heroically, killing many of the Trojans and their allies, including Memnon and the Amazon warrior Penthesilia. Finally Priam''''s son Paris (or Alexander), aided by Apollo, wounded Achilles in the heel with an arrow; Achilles died of the wound. After his death, it was decided to award Achilles'''' divinely-wrought armor to the bravest of the Greeks. Odysseus and Ajax competed for the prize, with each man making a speech explaining why he deserved the honor; Odysseus won, and Ajax then went mad and committed suicide.
After the death of Hector, Achilles'''' days were numbered. He continued fighting heroically, killing many of the Trojans and their allies, including Memnon and the Amazon warrior Penthesilia. Finally Priam''''s son Paris (or Alexander), aided by Apollo, wounded Achilles in the heel with an arrow; Achilles died of the wound. After his death, it was decided to award Achilles'''' divinely-wrought armor to the bravest of the Greeks. Odysseus and Ajax competed for the prize, with each man making a speech explaining why he deserved the honor; Odysseus won, and Ajax then went mad and committed suicide.
During his lifetime, Achilles is also said to have had a number of romantic episodes. He reportedly fell in love with Penthesilia, the Amazon maiden whom he killed in battle, and it is claimed that he married Medea.