AkhilleusAchilles

The most beautiful and bravest warrior in the Greek army at the siege of the city of Troy; he was the son of king Peleus and the Nereid, Thetis.

After Akhilleus was born, Thetis tried to make him immortal by cleansing him with nektar (nectar) and bathing him in fire but Peleus caught her putting the infant Akhilleus in the fire and, in his ignorance of Immortal affairs, went into a rage; Thetis, in frustration, threw Akhilleus to the ground, deserted Peleus and returned to her home under the Aegean Sea.

Akhilleus was contentious and proud because of his obvious skill as a warrior and his semi-divine parentage; he acknowledged the authority of Agamemnon as the captain of the Greek army but refused to fight because he felt that he had been wronged in the division of the spoils of war.

When his lifelong companion, Patroklos (Patroclus), was killed by the Trojans, Akhilleus went into a rage that only the blood of countless Trojans would quell; he killed Hektor (Hector), the leader of the Trojan army, and defiled his corpse as revenge for Patroklos’ death but, at the command of Zeus, returned the dead body to Hektor’s father, king Priam.

Akhilleus was killed before the fall of Troy and the rivalry for his armor between Aias (Ajax) and Odysseus caused Aias to go insane and die in disgrace.