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Achilles' heel

This article is about the phrase. For the anatomical part, see Achilles tendon. For other uses, see Achilles Heel (disambiguation).
Statue of Achilleas Thniskon (Dying Achilles) at the Corfu Achilleion.

An Achilles' heel[1] (or Achilles heel[2][3]) is a weakness despite overall strength, which can lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common.

Oil painting (c. 1625) by Peter Paul Rubens of the goddess Thetis dipping her son Achilles in the River Styx, which runs through Hades. In the background, the ferryman Charon rows the dead across the river in his boat.

Although the death of Achilles was predicted by Hector in Homer's Iliad, it does not actually occur in the Iliad, but was described in later Greek and Roman poetry and drama[4] concerning events after the Iliad, later in the Trojan War. In the myths surrounding the war, Achilles was said to have died from a wound to his heel,[5][6] ankle,[7] or torso,[5] which was the result of an arrow—possibly poisoned—shot by Paris.[8] The Iliad may purposefully suppress the myth to emphasise Achilles' human mortality and the stark chasm between gods and heroes.[9]

Classical myths attribute Achilles's invulnerability to his mother Thetis having treated him with ambrosia and burned away his mortality in the hearth fire except on the heel, by which she held him. Peleus, his father, discovered the treatment and was alarmed to see Thetis holding the baby in the flames, which offended him and made her leave the treatment incomplete.[10] According to a myth arising later, his mother had dipped the infant Achilles in the river Styx, holding onto him by his heel, and he became invulnerable where the waters touched him—that is, everywhere except the areas of his heel that were covered by her thumb and forefinger.[11]

  1. ^ "Achilles' heel | Merriam-Webster".
  2. ^ "Achilles heel | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary". dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  3. ^ "Achilles heel | Definition of Achilles heel by Lexico". Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  4. ^ E.g. Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.580–619.
  5. ^ a b "Who was Achilles?". The British Museum Blog. 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
  6. ^ "Ancient History". HISTORY. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
  7. ^ "Apollodorus, Epitome, book e, chapter 5, section 3".
  8. ^ See P. J. Heslin, The Transvestite Achilles: Gender and Genre in Statius’ Achilleid, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2005, 166–169.
  9. ^ Nelson, Thomas J. (2021). "Achilles' Heel: (Im)mortality in the Iliad". Omnibus. 82: 7–9.
  10. ^ Apollonius, Argonautica 4.869–872
  11. ^ Statius, Achilleid 1.122f., 269f., 480f.

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