What does someone mean when they say

[Sythe]

Achilles Heel I don't understand that term. Though I heard it so many times on TV.

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[Xen]

Well someone is vulnareble or weak.

[johnny]

That's someone's or something's weak spot.

Achilies was an ancient hero, whos mother made him invulnerable by dipping him in the river styx after he was born. The silly woman forgot to dip him twice so the heel he was being held by would get doused...so since that one part of him didn't gain the protection it was his weak spot.

err this is a greek myth I think...I believe he was slain by Ajax.....I could be wrong though...more than 30 years since I read the myth [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 06-26-2003, 08:23 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[B_part]

He was slain by Paris during the final days of the siege to Troy, by means of a poisoned arrow shot in his heel.

And I think the mother didn't dip him twice because once meant invulnerability, twice meant death. No mortal could have withstood the power of the waters of the Styx twice. I simply wonder why she didn't hold him with a rope or at worst by a finger which she could then have cut. I guess the myth wouldn't have been that interesting, just like playing a FPS in god mode

[Faceman]

/too late because I never can stop writing

Achilles was a semi-god fighting in the Trojan war.

His mother Thetis was a sea goddess while his father Peleus was human (this was arranged by Zeus who had an affair with Thetis when the oracle told him that "the son of Thetis would be more powerful than his father" fearing of a son that would overpower him => Zeus got Thetis and Peleus married and their son Achill being a semi-god was of course more powerful than his father. Tadaa!

The oracle also foresaw that Achill would die young and in glory. His mother concerned with her son dying early bathed him in Styx (one of the underworld's streams) to make him invulnerable. To do that however she had to hold him somewhere which was his heel that thus got not covered by the Styx and was therefore his only vulnerable point.
Achill was killed by an arrow (shot by Paris and guided by Apoll himself - other sources tell that he was hit by a spear from Zeus himself) hitting him directly in the heel.

There are similar stories about other heroes in other mythologies. For example Siegfried the Dragon Slayer (from the German "Nibelungenlied") who bathed in the Dragon's blood to make himself invincible when a leaf from a linden tree fell on his shoulder leaving him with one vulnerable spot.

[ 06-26-2003, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: Faceman ]

[johnny]

Hm...suddenly i feel the urge of playing Age of Mythology again.

[Kaltia]

Originally posted by johnny: Hm...suddenly i feel the urge of playing Age of Mythology again.

Really? I just have an urge to drop Classical Civilisations.

[dafan]

while we are discussing greek mythology... which is your favourite greekmyth?
Mine is the one about Odysseus

[Sythe]

Thanks guys!