In Odyssey Achilles is said to have died in Troy. And there’s the description of his funeral. But there’s nothing much said about the scene of his death. If he’s shot on his ankle or heel, or in what situation death had come upon him to draw shadows over his eyes, there’s nothing described. Where among the Greek epic poems can I find the scene of his death?
And what was Achilleus’ real weak point? Someone says it is a Roman poet who first indicated that it was on his heel.
You’ll have to read the Iliad to find out about his death… let me see if I can find it on Perseus…
Iliad ends suddenly with the funeral of Hector. Although the death of Achilleus is implied several times, nothing specific is mentioned. (And even the Trojan Horse is NOT in Iliad. It’s in Odyssey. Iliad is an episode among the possible trilogy: 1. Fellow Ships of the Greeks, 2. The Two Stubborns(a.k.a. Iliad), 3. Return of the Queen)
yes you’re right… lol, been reading too much Odyssey it seems.
I remember reading that he was killed by Paris, who shot him… maybe that was in Vergil? We translated some of the Aeneas in Latin some time ago…
I’ll go and check Perseus if they have the Aeneas there…
Lol, I really want to know where I read this now, Mingshey… hehehe…
I think I’ve found it, there’s nothing in my Latin notes of Achilles dying, but we did translate the fall of Troy. But - in my really old ones on Ovid (like 5 years ago) I think I’ve found it 
. It’s a poem in the Metamorphoses, and Paris killes him with one arrow (but it says nothing of it being his heel ).
Wow, thanks.
But the mystery of the Achilles’ heel is still there yet.
In the Greek primer I got, “Chase & Phillips, A New Introduction to Greek”, there’s a picture like from an ancient Greek porcelain that has Achilles lying down with an arrow piercing his ankle(with another arrow piercing his side, too), so it might be a general agreement that he was shot in the ankle(or heel?). But the (Greek) literature about it could be lost except some oral tradition, later written down by Latin poets?
To see the picture I mentioned: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0674616006/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-1918996-8732617#reader-page
click until you see “Illustrations” near the top.
P.S.
I see this figure also decorates the front cover of Pharr. Only without the names besides the characters.
In Quintus Smyrnaeus, “The Fall of Troy,” Apollo tries to hinder Achilles from killing so many Trojans. Achilles is rude to him. Apollo gets grouchy about this, vanishes into his misty cloud and shoots Achilles (in the heel) from concealment.
Quintus wrote around 400AD.
Thanks so much. At first I thought it was written in Latin because the name Quintus sounded Latin. But the Loeb library sample page shows it’s in Greek!
Wow, a story about the last one year of the war is written in a thousand year’s gap! (a ginnunga gap it is!)
Nice topic!
The following is from Virgil’s Aeneid, Book IV, lines 92-95:
“O Phoebus, God who took pity on the pain of Troy, Who guided Paris’ hand, his Dardan shaft, Against the body ofAiacides…”
I was taught that Phoebus=Apollo and Aiacides=Achilles
However, Book II goes into great lengths of the fall of Troy from a Trojan’s perspective. I believe there are other passages that describe the fall of Troy in the Aeneid, but I can not recall where. I believe it is where Aeneas is retelling his story to a foreign king after Aeneas is found crying at artwork depicting the Troy’s fall.
I also took a look at that picture from your Greek text book. It is also shown in a book that I have…The Trojan War in Ancient Art by Susan Woodford (ISBN:0801429498). According to Dr. Woodford’s book, the Greek vase that this picture is from is lost! How sad! On page 94 of this book, there is a red-figure vase from about 460 BC by the Niobid Painter. It shows Apollo directing Paris’ arrow at Achilles. The arrow hasn’t hit Achilles yet, bu* is aimed toward his ankle.
Very true, Emma. Achilles’ death is mentioned at least twice in the Metamorphoses (Book 12, lines 582-612 and Book 13, lines 486-515), but none mention his heel.
Mingshey–sorry I am not able to provide Greek literary sources, only Roman ones. Hope we find more information somewhere!
Forgot about this one!
Arctinus of Miletus wrote Aethiopis. I believe he dates around Homer, c. 750 BC. He wrote about Apollo guiding Paris’ arrow to Achilles’ heel.
Please don’t be sorry! 
It’s enlightening to know the story is recorded largely in Latin, anyway. I think it would be nice to list the classical literary sources on the Trojan War, both Greek and Latin–(P.S. Oh, it’s known as “The Epic Cycle”.). To compare and weave up the sources to construct the whole story, and to compare the differences among them.
I just found this with the keyword “Epic Cycle”:
The Epic Cycle
Here mentioned is Aithiopis by Arktinos of Miletos (776-744 BCE), of which the contents is said to include the death of Achilles. This site doesn’t present the text, though.
P.S.
guys please look at this: http://homepage.mac.com/bmulligan/classics/roots2003/handouts/TrojanWarCycle.pdf
and tell me if the text of any in the list is available in the original language. 
P.P.S
I was busy looking this up and, Oh, eris has already posted about Aethiopis! 
Check out this page. The story at the top is the one I learned about Achilles, with some variation.
I think Thetis was a goddess or some similar kind of being. Apparently, it had been prophesied that Thetis’ son would be more powerful than his father. The gods made her marry a mortal because they didn’t want her son to be greater than them. After the son, Achilles, was born, she tried to dip him in the Styx. This is where the variation comes in. I learned that the father thought she was drowning him, so he stopped her from dipping in the second heel. Since this is the only part of his body that was not invincible, it makes sense that him dying would be related to the heel. Of course, I don’t know if that’s medically possible.
I’ll second the whole dipping in the river styx to make him invulnerable except for his second ankle. It would be possible to kill someone by slicing their Achilles tendon because it would make their foot useless and cause massize blood loss.
That, and any mostly invulnerable being can be killed by the slightest weakness in the legends. The Norse immortal was killed by the prick of a thorn, eventhough he should have medicaly had no problem with the small wound .
The Norse immortal was killed by the prick of a thorn, eventhough he should have medicaly had no problem with the small wound .
he was very immortal, wasn’t he?
I thought it was a lance made of mistletoe, not just a prick of thorn which killed Balder. It got through the heart of him.
I thought I’d chek in Apollodorus’ Library…so I skipped ahead to the second volume and found a quote from Apollodorus, and a GREAT footnote by J.G. Frazer (the translator for this LCL)
Apollodorus’ Quote: “Having chased the Trojans also, Achilles was shot with an arrow in the ankle by Alexander and Apollo at the Scaean gate.”
Frazer quote is as follows…"Tradition varied as to the agent of Achilles d3ath. Some writers like Arctinus and Apollodorus say that the hero was killed by Apollo and Paris jointly. Thus Homer (Il. xxii. 359 sq.) the dying Hector prophesies that Achilles will be slain by Paris and Apollo ant the Scaean gate; and the same prophecy is put by Homer more darkly into the mouth of the talking horse Xanthis, who, like Balaam’s a$$, warns his master of the danger that besets his path (Il. xix. 404 sq.). According to Virgil and Ovid, it was the hand of Paris that discharged the f@tal arrow, but the hand of Apollo that directed it to the mark. See Virgil, (Aen. vi. 56-58 ): Ovid, Metamorph xii. 598-609. According to Hyginus, it was Apollo in the guise of Paris who transfixed the mortal heel of Achilles with an arrow (Fab. 107). But in one passage (Il. xxi. 277 sq.) Homer speaks of the d3ath of Achilles as wrought by the shaft of Apollo alone; and this version was followed by Quintus Smyrnicus (iii. 60 sqq.) and apparently by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Horace. See Plato, republic, ii. 21, p. 383 A B : Sophocles, Philoctetes, 334 sq. ; Horace, Odes, iv. 6 1 sqq.
The footnote actually goes on for quite a bit more about other theories of Achilles d3ath, but I can only handle reading 6pt. font for so long before my eyes bug out 
If there is interest, I can finish the footnote, for the rest of the story. BTW, I got this from Apollodorus’ Library Volume 2 pg 214 in the LCL Series.
Hope this sheds a bit of light…I just love these old myths 
BTW…I these #$@%&@!! profanity filters!
I’d love to read his comments. Please go on.
(My damnation to the profanity filters, too. 
)
(Frazer must had something to say about the death of Achilles in connection to his masterpiece, “The Golden Bough”. The book has Balder as an example. Was Achilles mentioned, too? I don’t remember. I think I should look it up. )