A·chil·les

(ə-kĭl′ēz)

n. Greek Mythology

The hero of Homer's Iliad, the son of Peleus and Thetis and slayer of Hector.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Achilles

(əˈkɪliːz)

(Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth Greek hero, the son of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis: in the Iliad the foremost of the Greek warriors at the siege of Troy. While he was a baby his mother plunged him into the river Styx making his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him. After slaying Hector, he was killed by Paris who wounded him in the heel

Achillean adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

A•chil•les

(əˈkɪl iz)

n.

the greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War and hero of the Iliad, killed when Paris wounded him in the heel, his one vulnerable spot.

Ach•il•le•an (ˌæk əˈli ən, əˈkɪl i-) adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

Achilles - a mythical Greek hero of the Iliad; a foremost Greek warrior at the siege of Troy; when he was a baby his mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable--his `Achilles' heel'

Translations

Achilleus

Αχιλλέας

Aquiles

Achilleus

AkhilleusAkilles

Achille

AhilAhilej

Akhilleusz

Achilles

Achille

アキレウスアキレス

Achilles

Achilles

Achilles

Aquiles

Ахилл Ахиллес

Ahil

Akilles

Achilles

[əˈkɪliːz]

A. N → Aquiles

B. CPD Achilles heel N → talón m de Aquiles
Achilles tendon N → tendón m de Aquiles

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Achilles

n → Achill(es) m; Achilles heel (fig) → Achillesferse f; Achilles tendon → Achillessehne f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Achilles

[əˈkɪliːz] n → Achille m

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.

For nine whole days he shot his arrows among the people, but upon the tenth day Achilles called them in assembly--moved thereto by Juno, who saw the Achaeans in their death-throes and had compassion upon them.

"Achilles, loved of heaven, you bid me tell you about the anger of King Apollo, I will therefore do so; but consider first and swear that you will stand by me heartily in word and deed, for I know that I shall offend one who rules the Argives with might, to whom all the Achaeans are in subjection.

Achilles drew a deep sigh and said, "You know it; why tell you what you know well already?

But Achilles abode at his ships and nursed his anger.

I believe, therefore, that you have been promising her to give glory to Achilles, and to kill much people at the ships of the Achaeans."

And Achilles answered, "Fear not, but speak as it is borne in upon you from heaven, for by Apollo, Calchas, to whom you pray, and whose oracles you reveal to us, not a Danaan at our ships shall lay his hand upon you, while I yet live to look upon the face of the earth--no, not though you name Agamemnon himself, who is by far the foremost of the Achaeans."

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Croiset remark, the abusive Thersites in the "Aethiopis" is clearly copied from the Thersites of the "Iliad"; in the same poem Antilochus, slain by Memnon and avenged by Achilles, is obviously modelled on Patroclus.

The "Aethiopis" thus included the coming of the Amazon Penthesilea to help the Trojans after the fall of Hector and her death, the similar arrival and fall of the Aethiopian Memnon, the death of Achilles under the arrow of Paris, and the dispute between Odysseus and Aias for the arms of Achilles.

His work included the adjudgment of the arms of Achilles to Odysseus, the madness of Aias, the bringing of Philoctetes from Lemnos and his cure, the coming to the war of Neoptolemus who slays Eurypylus, son of Telephus, the making of the wooden horse, the spying of Odysseus and his theft, along with Diomedes, of the Palladium: the analysis concludes with the admission of the wooden horse into Troy by the Trojans.

Then follow the incidents connected with the gathering of the Achaeans and their ultimate landing in Troy; and the story of the war is detailed up to the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon with which the "Iliad" begins.

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There is a well known, so-called sophism of the ancients consisting in this, that Achilles could never catch up with a tortoise he was following, in spite of the fact that he traveled ten times as fast as the tortoise.

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