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Achilles
Achilles
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
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2006
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© The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information)
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Achilles in Greek mythology, a hero of the
Trojan War, son of Peleus and
Thetis. During his infancy his mother plunged him in the Styx, thus making his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him: this was where in the end he was to be mortally wounded. The term
Achilles' heel, for a person's only vulnerable spot, comes from this story, as does the name
Achilles tendon for the tendon attaching the calf to the heel muscle.
When the expedition to Troy was mounted, Thetis tried to protect her son by putting him in the charge of the centaur
Chiron on the island of Scyros. Odysseus, visiting the island in search of him, found only what appeared to be a group of women, but when a battle-cry was heard one of the girls, the disguised Achilles, revealed himself by seizing sword and shield.
During the Trojan War Achilles withdrew from fighting following a bitter quarrel with
Agamemnon. After his friend Patroclus was killed by Hector, Achilles re-entered the battle and killed Hector but was later wounded in the heel by an arrow shot by Paris and died. His armour was seen as an emblem of valour; when it was awarded to
Odysseus,
Ajax committed suicide.
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Achilles' heel
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to the Body
Achilles' heel The ‘Achilles' heel’ is one's weak point, and is named for the only part of the body of the Greek hero Achilles which was vulnerable. The son of King Peleus of Thessaly and...
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Achilles
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Achilles , in Greek mythology, foremost Greek...uncontrollable anger. Thetis, knowing that Achilles was fated to die at Troy, disguised him...Lycomedes' daughters, Deidamia, bore Achilles a son, Neoptolemus. According to Homer...
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Achilles' tendon
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Achilles' tendon ( tendo calcaneus ) , sinew prominent...musculature contracts, the pull on the Achilles' tendon elevates the heel in the springy...severely adverse leverage ratio, the Achilles' tendon by necessity is the toughest...
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Achilles Painter
Book article from: The Oxford Dictionary of Art
Achilles Painter. Greek vase painter, active in Athens in the mid-5th century bc , named after a red-figure amphora decorated with a figure of Achilles (Vatican Mus.). He was a contemporary of Phidias and his paintings have...
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Richard Achilles Ballinger
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Richard Achilles Ballinger , 1858-1922, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1909-11), b. Boonesboro (now in Boone), Iowa. He was mayor...
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