Achilles

Achilles (Ancient Greek: Ἀχιλλεύς, Akhilleus) was a hero of the Trojan War and is the main character of Homer's Iliad. The son of the mortal hero Peleus and the Nereid Thetis, he is the leader of the Myrmidons, and is described as the greatest of all the Achaean warriors. The Iliad, which is set in the ninth year of the Trojan War, starts with an argument between Achilles and Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek forces.^[1]

Achilles' most notable feat during the Trojan War was his slaying the Trojan prince Hector outside the gates of Troy, as revenge against Hector for killing his friend, Patroclus.^[1]p53 While Achilles' death is not presented in the Iliad (as the poem ends with Hector's funeral), other sources say that he was killed near the end of the war by Paris, who shot him in the heel with an arrow.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Fagles, Robert (transl) 1990. The Iliad. Introduction and notes by Bernard Knox. Penguin: Book One: The rage of Achilles. ISBN 0-14-027536-3