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ACHILLE, ACHILLES was the son of Peleus, grandson of Aeacus, and the leader of the Myrmidons against the Trojans in Homer's Iliad. The oracle foretold that he would be celebrated but would die young. So his mother Thetis dipped him in the Styx, holding him by the heel, to make him immortal (Statius, Achilleid, I.134). During his youth Chiron was his schoolmaster. Thetis, knowing that he would be killed at Troy, hid him among the daughters of Lycomedes, king of Skyros. Here Odysseus identified him and persuaded him to join Agamemnon's forces. Homer presents him as a warrior of ungovernable and implacable temper. The very first lines of the Iliad announce the poem's theme: the wrath of Achilles and the devastation it works. Ovid calls him fierce and bloodier than war (ferox belloque cruentior, Met XII.592-593). His death by Paris and Apollo is foretold in Iliad XXII.359-360.

Dictys of Crete, in Ephemeridos belli Troiani (A Journal of the Trojan War) I.14, and Guido delle Colonne, in Historia destructionis Troiae (A History of the Destruction of Troy) XXVII, emphasize Achilles's anger and cruelty. The prophecy that he would be killed either by Apollo or by Paris is treated vividly: Achilles falls in love with Polyxena, Priam's daughter, and arranges to meet Hecuba and Paris in the temple of Apollo Thrymbraeus in Troy. Paris and Deiphebus ambush him when he arrives, and they kill him. Fulgentius associates the incident with Achilles's lust, Mythologies III.7; Dante places Achilles in the Circle of the Lustful, Inf V.65-66.

The stars foretell the death of Achilles, MLT 198. The wonderful sword of the strange knight is compared with Achilles's spear, which wounded and healed King Telephus, SqT 236-240. On the way to Troy the Greeks attacked Mysia, and in the battle Achilles wounded the king, Telephus. When his wound would not heal, Telephus sought out Achilles in the camp at Aulis, for the oracle had said that the wounder would be the healer. Achilles and the sons of Aesculapius healed the king (Dictys Cretensis, Ephemeridos belli Troiani II.1-10). Later tradition added that the rust from the spear healed Telephus; Dante uses this part of the story in Inf XXXI.4-6. Andromacha's dream, a visio that foretells coming events, shows her Hector's death by Achilles, NPT 3142-3148. This dream appears in Dares, De excidio Troiae historia (The Fall of Troy, a History) 24, but Chauntecleer's account follows Renart le Contrefait 31323-31340. The story of Achilles at Troy is painted on the walls of the temple of glass, BD 329. The hardiness of Achilles, slain for love, BD 1067, is a medieval topos or commonplace topic. Beno”t's account appears in Roman de Troie 21838-22334. Achilles appears in the catalogue of false lovers, HF I.397-398; Breseida bewails his treachery in Ovid's Heroides III. Statius (in his Achilleid) holds up the fame of cruel Achilles, HF III.1460-1463. Achilles is among love's martyrs, PF 290. Criseyde says she had trusted that Pandarus would have had no mercy on her had she loved either Hector or Achilles, Tr II.416. Troilus says that, if he lie, may Achilles's spear cleave his heart, Tr III.374-375. Achilles slays Hector, Tr V.1559-1561, and kills Troilus, Tr V.1806. [Eacides: Ector: Polixena: Thelopus: Thetis: Troilus]

Achille occurs once, in final rhyming position, Tr V.1806; Achilles occurs five times in medial positions, SqT 239; BD 329, 1066; Tr III.374; Tr V.1559; six times in final rhyming position, MLT 198; NPT 3148; PF 290; Tr II.416; HF I.398; HF III.1463.


Dares Phrygius, De excidio Troiae historia, ed. F. Meister, 28-30; Dictys Cretensis, Ephemeridos belli Troiani libri, ed. W. Eisenhut, 3-29; Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis, The Trojan War, trans. R.M. Frazer, 30, 152; Fulgentius, Fulgentius the Mythographer, trans. L. Whitbread, 91; Guido de Columnis, HDT, ed. N.E. Griffin, 206-208; Guido delle Colonne, HDT, trans. M.E. Meek, 198-203; Ovid, Her, ed. and trans. G. Showerman, 32-43; ibid., Met, ed. and trans. F.J. Miller, II: 222-223; Benoît, Roman de Troie, ed. L. Constans, III: 373-399.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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