Achilles

Also known as: ACH / ACHILLES / Pelides · Family: Greeks · Role: warrior · First appears: Sophocles, Aias — Scene 1

Trained by Chiron and reared by Peleus, Achilles was a Greek warrior whose closest bond included Patroclus, whom his father loved. After Achilles was killed by Apollo’s shaft, Hephaestus’s armour was awarded to Odysseus instead of Aias; at Sigeum, Neoptolemus was likewise denied the armour as his paternal heirloom. Neoptolemus later reported that Patroclus too was dead.

After his death, Achilles’ authority continued among the Greeks. He demanded Polyxena as a sacrificial victim for his tomb, and Odysseus persuaded the army to accept the request; the council decreed that Polyxena should be sacrificed to him. He was honored as a man who had died gloriously for Greece, while Helen and Paris were associated with his death, and Thetis mourned the loss of her son.

In the events at Aulis, Agamemnon used Achilles’ name to lure Iphigenia under the pretense of marriage, though Achilles had never wooed her. On discovering the deception, he opposed Agamemnon and promised Clytemnestra aid, declaring, “But I will restrain him.” Achilles also stood as an enemy to Hector, whom he slew, and his son Neoptolemus was fated to help take Troy with Philoctetes’ bow; later, Thetis ordered Peleus to bury Achilles’ slaughtered son at Delphi.