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Achilles [SEP] Achilles' name can be analyzed as a combination of (') "distress, pain, sorrow, grief" and (') "people, soldiers, nation", resulting in a proto-form "*Akhí-lāu̯os" "he who has the people distressed" or "he whose people have distress". The grief or distress of the people is a theme raised numerous times in the "Iliad" (and frequently by Achilles himself).

Achilles [SEP] Achilles' role as the hero of grief or distress forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of him as the hero of "" ("glory", usually in war). Furthermore, "laós" has been construed by Gregory Nagy, following Leonard Palmer, to mean "a corps of soldiers", a muster.

Achilles [SEP] With this derivation, the name obtains a double meaning in the poem: when the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring distress to the enemy, but when wrongly, his men get the grief of war. The poem is in part about the misdirection of anger on the part of leadership.

Achilles [SEP] Another etymology relates the name to a Proto-Indo-European compound "*h₂eḱ-pṓds" "sharp foot" which first gave an Illyrian "*āk̂pediós", evolving through time into "*ākhpdeós" and then "*akhiddeús". The shift from "-dd-" to "-ll-" is then ascribed to the passing of the name into Greek via a Pre-Greek source.

Achilles [SEP] The first root part "*h₂eḱ-" "sharp, pointed" also gave Greek ἀκή ("akḗ" "point, silence, healing"), ἀκμή ("akmḗ" "point, edge, zenith") and ὀξύς ("oxús" "sharp, pointed, keen, quick, clever"), whereas ἄχος stems from the root "*h₂egʰ-" "to be upset, afraid". The whole expression would be comparable to the Latin "acupedius" "swift of foot".

Achilles [SEP] Compare also the Latin word family of "aciēs" "sharp edge or point, battle line, battle, engagement", "acus" "needle, pin, bodkin", and "acuō" "to make pointed, sharpen, whet; to exercise; to arouse" (whence "acute").

Achilles [SEP] Some topical epitheta of Achilles in the "Iliad" point to this "swift-footedness", namely ποδάρκης δῖος Ἀχιλλεὺς ("podárkēs dĩos Achilleús" "swift-footed divine Achilles") or, even more frequently, πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύς ("pódas ōkús Achilleús" "quick-footed Achilles"). Some researchers deem the name a loan word, possibly from a Pre-Greek language.

Achilles [SEP] Achilles' descent from the Nereid Thetis and a similarity of his name with those of river deities such as Acheron and Achelous have led to speculations about him being an old water divinity (see below Worship). Robert S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name, based among other things on the coexistence of "-λλ-" and "-λ-" in epic language, which may account for a palatalized phoneme /l/ in the original language.

Achilles [SEP] Achilles was the son of the Nereid Thetis and of Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons. Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals for the hand of Thetis until Prometheus, the fore-thinker, warned Zeus of a prophecy (originally uttered by Themis, goddess of divine law) that Thetis would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed Peleus.

Achilles [SEP] There is a tale which offers an alternative version of these events: In the "Argonautica" (4.760) Zeus' sister and wife Hera alludes to Thetis' chaste resistance to the advances of Zeus, pointing out that Thetis was so loyal to Hera's marriage bond that she coolly rejected the father of gods. Thetis, although a daughter of the sea-god Nereus, was also brought up by Hera, further explaining her resistance to the advances of Zeus.

Achilles [SEP] Zeus was furious and decreed that she would never marry an immortal. According to the "Achilleid", written by Statius in the 1st century AD, and to non-surviving previous sources, when Achilles was born Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx. However, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him: his left heel (see Achilles' heel, Achilles' tendon).

Achilles [SEP] It is not clear if this version of events was known earlier. In another version of this story, Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire in order to burn away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted by Peleus and abandoned both father and son in a rage. However, none of the sources before Statius make any reference to this general invulnerability.

Achilles [SEP] To the contrary, in the "Iliad" Homer mentions Achilles being wounded: in Book 21 the Paeonian hero Asteropaeus, son of Pelagon, challenged Achilles by the river Scamander. He cast two spears at once, one grazed Achilles' elbow, "drawing a spurt of blood".

Achilles [SEP] Also, in the fragmentary poems of the Epic Cycle in which one can find description of the hero's death (i.e. the "Cypria", the "Little Iliad" by Lesches of Pyrrha, the "Aithiopis" and "Iliou persis" by Arctinus of Miletus), there is no trace of any reference to his general invulnerability or his famous weakness at the heel; in the later vase paintings presenting the death of Achilles, the arrow (or in many cases, arrows) hit his torso.

Achilles [SEP] Peleus entrusted Achilles to Chiron the Centaur, on Mount Pelion, to be reared. Thetis foretold that her son's fate was either to gain glory and die young, or to live a long but uneventful life in obscurity. Achilles chose the former, and decided to take part in the Trojan war. According to Homer, Achilles grew up in Phthia together with his companion Patroclus.

Achilles [SEP] According to Photius, the sixth book of the "New History" by Ptolemy Hephaestion reported that Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus; but when she had Achilles, Peleus noticed, tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot, and confided him to the centaur Chiron. Later Chiron exhumed the body of the Damysus, who was the fastest of all the giants, removed the ankle, and incorporated it into Achilles' burnt foot.

Achilles [SEP] Among the appellations under which Achilles is generally known are the following: Some post-Homeric sources claim that in order to keep Achilles safe from the war, Thetis (or, in some versions, Peleus) hid the young man at the court of Lycomedes, king of Skyros. There, Achilles is disguised as a girl and lives among Lycomedes' daughters, perhaps under the name "Pyrrha" (the red-haired girl).

Achilles [SEP] With Lycomedes' daughter Deidamia, whom in the account of Statius he rapes, Achilles there fathers a son, Neoptolemus (also called Pyrrhus, after his father's possible alias). According to this story, Odysseus learns from the prophet Calchas that the Achaeans would be unable to capture Troy without Achilles' aid. Odysseus goes to Skyros in the guise of a peddler selling women's clothes and jewellery and places a shield and spear among his goods.

Achilles [SEP] When Achilles instantly takes up the spear, Odysseus sees through his disguise and convinces him to join the Greek campaign. In another version of the story, Odysseus arranges for a trumpet alarm to be sounded while he was with Lycomedes' women; while the women flee in panic, Achilles prepares to defend the court, thus giving his identity away. According to the "Iliad", Achilles arrived at Troy with 50 ships, each carrying 50 Myrmidons.

Achilles [SEP] He appointed five leaders (each leader commanding 500 Myrmidons): Menesthius, Eudorus, Peisander, Phoenix and Alcimedon. When the Greeks left for the Trojan War, they accidentally stopped in Mysia, ruled by King Telephus. In the resulting battle, Achilles gave Telephus a wound that would not heal; Telephus consulted an oracle, who stated that "he that wounded shall heal".

Achilles [SEP] Guided by the oracle, he arrived at Argos, where Achilles healed him in order that he might become their guide for the voyage to Troy. According to other reports in Euripides' lost play about Telephus, he went to Aulis pretending to be a beggar and asked Achilles to heal his wound. Achilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. Alternatively, Telephus held Orestes for ransom, the ransom being Achilles' aid in healing the wound.

Achilles [SEP] Odysseus reasoned that the spear had inflicted the wound; therefore, the spear must be able to heal it. Pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound and Telephus was healed.

Achilles [SEP] According to the "Cypria" (the part of the Epic Cycle that tells the events of the Trojan War before Achilles' wrath), when the Achaeans desired to return home, they were restrained by Achilles, who afterwards attacked the cattle of Aeneas, sacked neighbouring cities (like Pedasus and Lyrnessus, where the Greeks capture the queen Briseis) and killed Tenes, a son of Apollo, as well as Priam's son Troilus in the sanctuary of Apollo Thymbraios.

Achilles [SEP] However, the romance between Troilus and Chryseis described in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde" and in William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida" is a medieval invention. In Dares Phrygius' "Account of the Destruction of Troy", the Latin summary through which the story of Achilles was transmitted to medieval Europe, as well as in older accounts, Troilus was a young Trojan prince, the youngest of King Priam's and Hecuba's five legitimate sons (or according other sources, another son of Apollo).

Achilles [SEP] Despite his youth, he was one of the main Trojan war leaders, a "horse fighter" or "chariot fighter" according to Homer. Prophecies linked Troilus' fate to that of Troy and so he was ambushed in an attempt to capture him. Yet Achilles, struck by the beauty of both Troilus and his sister Polyxena, and overcome with lust, directed his sexual attentions on the youth – who, refusing to yield, instead found himself decapitated upon an altar-omphalos of Apollo Thymbraios.

Achilles [SEP] Later versions of the story suggested Troilus was accidentally killed by Achilles in an over-ardent lovers' embrace. In this version of the myth, Achilles' death therefore came in retribution for this sacrilege. Ancient writers treated Troilus as the epitome of a dead child mourned by his parents. Had Troilus lived to adulthood, the First Vatican Mythographer claimed, Troy would have been invincible. Homer's "Iliad" is the most famous narrative of Achilles' deeds in the Trojan War.

Achilles [SEP] Achilles' wrath (μῆνις Ἀχιλλέως, "mênis Achilléōs") is the central theme of the poem. The first two lines of the "Iliad" read: The Homeric epic only covers a few weeks of the decade-long war, and does not narrate Achilles' death. It begins with Achilles' withdrawal from battle after being dishonoured by Agamemnon, the commander of the Achaean forces. Agamemnon has taken a woman named Chryseis as his slave.

Achilles [SEP] Her father Chryses, a priest of Apollo, begs Agamemnon to return her to him. Agamemnon refuses, and Apollo sends a plague amongst the Greeks. The prophet Calchas correctly determines the source of the troubles but will not speak unless Achilles vows to protect him. Achilles does so, and Calchas declares that Chryseis must be returned to her father. Agamemnon consents, but then commands that Achilles' battle prize Briseis, the daughter of Briseus, be brought to him to replace Chryseis.

Achilles [SEP] Angry at the dishonour of having his plunder and glory taken away (and, as he says later, because he loves Briseis), with the urging of his mother Thetis, Achilles refuses to fight or lead his troops alongside the other Greek forces. At the same time, burning with rage over Agamemnon's theft, Achilles prays to Thetis to convince Zeus to help the Trojans gain ground in the war, so that he may regain his honour.

Achilles [SEP] As the battle turns against the Greeks, thanks to the influence of Zeus, Nestor declares that the Trojans are winning because Agamemnon has angered Achilles, and urges the king to appease the warrior. Agamemnon agrees and sends Odysseus and two other chieftains, Ajax and Phoenix, to Achilles with the offer of the return of Briseis and other gifts. Achilles rejects all Agamemnon offers him and simply urges the Greeks to sail home as he was planning to do.

Achilles [SEP] The Trojans, led by Hector, subsequently push the Greek army back toward the beaches and assault the Greek ships. With the Greek forces on the verge of absolute destruction, Patroclus leads the Myrmidons into battle, wearing Achilles' armour, though Achilles remains at his camp. Patroclus succeeds in pushing the Trojans back from the beaches, but is killed by Hector before he can lead a proper assault on the city of Troy.

Achilles [SEP] After receiving the news of the death of Patroclus from Antilochus, the son of Nestor, Achilles grieves over his beloved companion's death. His mother Thetis comes to comfort the distraught Achilles. She persuades Hephaestus to make new armour for him, in place of the armour that Patroclus had been wearing, which was taken by Hector. The new armour includes the Shield of Achilles, described in great detail in the poem.

Achilles [SEP] Enraged over the death of Patroclus, Achilles ends his refusal to fight and takes the field, killing many men in his rage but always seeking out Hector. Achilles even engages in battle with the river god Scamander, who has become angry that Achilles is choking his waters with all the men he has killed. The god tries to drown Achilles but is stopped by Hera and Hephaestus.

Achilles [SEP] Zeus himself takes note of Achilles' rage and sends the gods to restrain him so that he will not go on to sack Troy itself before the time allotted for its destruction, seeming to show that the unhindered rage of Achilles can defy fate itself. Finally, Achilles finds his prey. Achilles chases Hector around the wall of Troy three times before Athena, in the form of Hector's favorite and dearest brother, Deiphobus, persuades Hector to stop running and fight Achilles face to face.

Achilles [SEP] After Hector realizes the trick, he knows the battle is inevitable. Wanting to go down fighting, he charges at Achilles with his only weapon, his sword, but misses. Accepting his fate, Hector begs Achilles, not to spare his life, but to treat his body with respect after killing him.

Achilles [SEP] Achilles tells Hector it is hopeless to expect that of him, declaring that "my rage, my fury would drive me now to hack your flesh away and eat you raw – such agonies you have caused me". Achilles then kills Hector and drags his corpse by its heels behind his chariot. After having a dream where Patroclus begs Achilles to hold his funeral, Achilles hosts a series of funeral games in his honour.

Achilles [SEP] At the onset of his duel with Hector, Achilles is referred to as the brightest star in the sky, which comes on in the autumn, Orion's dog (Sirius); a sign of evil. During the cremation of Patroclus, he is compared to Hesperus, the evening/western star (Venus), while the burning of the funeral pyre lasts until Phosphorus, the morning/eastern star (also Venus) has set (descended).

Achilles [SEP] With the assistance of the god Hermes (Argeiphontes), Hector's father Priam goes to Achilles' tent to plead with Achilles for the return of Hector's body so that he can be buried. Achilles relents and promises a truce for the duration of the funeral, lasting 9 days with a burial on the 10th (in the tradition of Niobe's offspring). The poem ends with a description of Hector's funeral, with the doom of Troy and Achilles himself still to come.

Achilles [SEP] The "Aethiopis" (7th century BC) and a work named "Posthomerica", composed by Quintus of Smyrna in the fourth century AD, relate further events from the Trojan War. When Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares, arrives in Troy, Priam hopes that she will defeat Achilles. After his temporary truce with Priam, Achilles fights and kills the warrior queen, only to grieve over her death later.

Achilles [SEP] At first, he was so distracted by her beauty, he did not fight as intensely as usual. Once he realized that his distraction was endangering his life, he refocused and killed her. Following the death of Patroclus, Nestor's son Antilochus becomes Achilles' closest companion. When Memnon, son of the Dawn Goddess Eos and king of Ethiopia, slays Antilochus, Achilles once more obtains revenge on the battlefield, killing Memnon. Consequently, Eos will not let the sun rise, until Zeus persuades her.

Achilles [SEP] The fight between Achilles and Memnon over Antilochus echoes that of Achilles and Hector over Patroclus, except that Memnon (unlike Hector) was also the son of a goddess. Many Homeric scholars argued that episode inspired many details in the "Iliad"s description of the death of Patroclus and Achilles' reaction to it. The episode then formed the basis of the cyclic epic "Aethiopis", which was composed after the "Iliad", possibly in the 7th century BC.

Achilles [SEP] The "Aethiopis" is now lost, except for scattered fragments quoted by later authors. The exact nature of Achilles' relationship with Patroclus has been a subject of dispute in both the classical period and modern times. In the "Iliad", it appears to be the model of a deep and loyal friendship. Homer does not suggest that Achilles and his close friend Patroclus were lovers.

Achilles [SEP] Despite there being no direct evidence in the text of the "Iliad" that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers, this theory was expressed by some later authors. Commentators from classical antiquity to the present have often interpreted the relationship through the lens of their own cultures. In 5th-century BC Athens, the intense bond was often viewed in light of the Greek custom of "paiderasteia".

Achilles [SEP] In Plato's "Symposium", the participants in a dialogue about love assume that Achilles and Patroclus were a couple; Phaedrus argues that Achilles was the younger and more beautiful one so he was the beloved and Patroclus was the lover. But ancient Greek had no words to distinguish heterosexual and homosexual, and it was assumed that a man could both desire handsome young men and have sex with women. Many pairs of men throughout history have been compared to Achilles and Patroclus to imply a homosexual relationship.

Achilles [SEP] The death of Achilles, even if considered solely as it occurred in the oldest sources, is a complex one, with many different versions. In the oldest one, the Iliad, and as predicted by Hector with his dying breath, the hero's death was brought about by Paris with an arrow (to the heel according to Statius). In some versions, the god Apollo guided Paris' arrow. Some retellings also state that Achilles was scaling the gates of Troy and was hit with a poisoned arrow.

Achilles [SEP] All of these versions deny Paris any sort of valour, owing to the common conception that Paris was a coward and not the man his brother Hector was, and Achilles remained undefeated on the battlefield. His bones were mingled with those of Patroclus, and funeral games were held. He was represented in the "Aethiopis" as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the river Danube.

Achilles [SEP] Another version of Achilles' death is that he fell deeply in love with one of the Trojan princesses, Polyxena. Achilles asks Priam for Polyxena's hand in marriage. Priam is willing because it would mean the end of the war and an alliance with the world's greatest warrior. But while Priam is overseeing the private marriage of Polyxena and Achilles, Paris, who would have to give up Helen if Achilles married his sister, hides in the bushes and shoots Achilles with a divine arrow, killing him.

Achilles [SEP] In the "Odyssey", Agamemnon informs Achilles of his pompous burial and the erection of his mound at the Hellespont while they are receiving the dead suitors in Hades. He claims they built a massive burial mound on the beach of Ilion that could be seen by anyone approaching from the Ocean. Achilles was cremated and his ashes buried in the same urn as those of Patroclus. Paris was later killed by Philoctetes using the enormous bow of Heracles.

Achilles [SEP] In Book 11 of Homer's "Odyssey", Odysseus sails to the underworld and converses with the shades. One of these is Achilles, who when greeted as "blessed in life, blessed in death", responds that he would rather be a slave to the worst of masters than be king of all the dead. But Achilles then asks Odysseus of his son's exploits in the Trojan war, and when Odysseus tells of Neoptolemus' heroic actions, Achilles is filled with satisfaction.

Achilles [SEP] This leaves the reader with an ambiguous understanding of how Achilles felt about the heroic life. According to some accounts, he had married Medea in life, so that after both their deaths they were united in the Elysian Fields of Hades – as Hera promised Thetis in Apollonius' "Argonautica" (3rd century BC). Achilles' armour was the object of a feud between Odysseus and Telamonian Ajax (Ajax the greater).

Achilles [SEP] They competed for it by giving speeches on why they were the bravest after Achilles to their Trojan prisoners, who after considering both men, decided Odysseus was more deserving of the armour. Furious, Ajax cursed Odysseus, which earned him the ire of Athena. Athena temporarily made Ajax so mad with grief and anguish that he began killing sheep, thinking them his comrades. After a while, when Athena lifted his madness and Ajax realized that he had actually been killing sheep, Ajax was left so ashamed that he committed suicide.

Achilles [SEP] Odysseus eventually gave the armour to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. A relic claimed to be Achilles' bronze-headed spear was for centuries preserved in the temple of Athena on the acropolis of Phaselis, Lycia, a port on the Pamphylian Gulf. The city was visited in 333 BC by Alexander the Great, who envisioned himself as the new Achilles and carried the "Iliad" with him, but his court biographers do not mention the spear.

Achilles [SEP] However, it was shown in the time of Pausanias in the 2nd century AD. Numerous paintings on pottery have suggested a tale not mentioned in the literary traditions. At some point in the war, Achilles and Ajax were playing a board game ("petteia"). They were absorbed in the game and oblivious to the surrounding battle. The Trojans attacked and reached the heroes, who were saved only by an intervention of Athena.

Achilles [SEP] The tomb of Achilles, extant throughout antiquity in Troad, was venerated by Thessalians, but also by Persian expeditionary forces, as well as by Alexander the Great and the Roman emperor Caracalla.

Achilles [SEP] Achilles' cult was also to be found at other places, e. g. on the island of Astypalaea in the Sporades, in Sparta which had a sanctuary, in Elis and in Achilles' homeland Thessaly, as well as in the Magna Graecia cities of Tarentum, Locri and Croton, accounting for an almost Panhellenic cult to the hero. The cult of Achilles is illustrated in the 500 BC Polyxena sarcophagus, where the sacrifice of Polixena near the tumulus of Achilles is depicted.

Achilles [SEP] Strabo (13.1.32) also suggested that such a cult of Achilles existed in Troad: The spread and intensity of the hero's veneration among the Greeks that had settled on the northern coast of the Pontus Euxinus, today's Black Sea, appears to have been remarkable. An archaic cult is attested for the Milesian colony of Olbia as well as for an island in the middle of the Black Sea, today identified with Snake Island (Ukrainian Зміїний, "Zmiinyi", near Kiliya, Ukraine).

Achilles [SEP] Early dedicatory inscriptions from the Greek colonies on the Black Sea (graffiti and inscribed clay disks, these possibly being votive offerings, from Olbia, the area of Berezan Island and the Tauric Chersonese) attest the existence of a heroic cult of Achilles from the sixth century BC onwards.

Achilles [SEP] The cult was still thriving in the third century AD, when dedicatory stelae from Olbia refer to an "Achilles Pontárchēs" (Ποντάρχης, roughly "lord of the Sea," or "of the Pontus Euxinus"), who was invoked as a protector of the city of Olbia, venerated on par with Olympian gods such as the local Apollo Prostates, Hermes Agoraeus, or Poseidon.

Achilles [SEP] Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) in his "Natural History" mentions a "port of the Achæi" and an "island of Achilles", famous for the tomb of that "man" (portus Achaeorum, insula Achillis, tumulo eius viri clara), situated somewhat nearby Olbia and the Dnieper-Bug Estuary; furthermore, at 125 Roman miles from this island, he places a peninsula "which stretches forth in the shape of a sword" obliquely, called "Dromos Achilleos" (Ἀχιλλέως δρόμος, "Achilléōs drómos" "the Race-course of Achilles") and considered the place of the hero's exercise or of games instituted by him.

Achilles [SEP] This last feature of Pliny's account is considered to be the iconic spit, called today "Tendra" (or "Kosa Tendra" and "Kosa Djarilgatch"), situated between the mouth of the Dnieper and Karkinit Bay, but which is hardly 125 Roman miles (c. 185 km) away from the Dnieper-Bug estuary, as Pliny states. (

Achilles [SEP] To the "Race-course" he gives a length of 80 miles, c. 120 km, whereas the spit measures c. 70 km today.) In the following chapter of his book, Pliny refers to the same island as "Achillea" and introduces two further names for it: "Leuce" or "Macaron" (from Greek [νῆσος] μακαρῶν "island of the blest").

Achilles [SEP] The "present day" measures, he gives at this point, seem to account for an identification of "Achillea" or "Leuce" with today's Snake Island. Pliny's contemporary Pomponius Mela (c. 43 AD) tells that Achilles was buried on an island named "Achillea", situated between the Borysthenes and the Ister, adding to the geographical confusion. Ruins of a square temple, measuring 30 meters to a side, possibly that dedicated to Achilles, were discovered by Captain Kritzikly in 1823 on Snake Island.

Achilles [SEP] A second exploration in 1840 showed that the construction of a lighthouse had destroyed all traces of this temple. A fifth century BC black-glazed lekythos inscription, found on the island in 1840, reads: "Glaukos, son of Poseidon, dedicated me to Achilles, lord of Leuke."

Achilles [SEP] In another inscription from the fifth or fourth century BC, a statue is dedicated to Achilles, lord of Leuke, by a citizen of Olbia, while in a further dedication, the city of Olbia confirms its continuous maintenance of the island's cult, again suggesting its quality as a place of a supra-regional hero veneration.

Achilles [SEP] The heroic cult dedicated to Achilles on "Leuce" seems to go back to an account from the lost epic "Aethiopis" according to which, after his untimely death, Thetis had snatched her son from the funeral pyre and removed him to a mythical Λεύκη Νῆσος ("Leúkē Nêsos" "White Island").

Achilles [SEP] Already in the fifth century BC, Pindar had mentioned a cult of Achilles on a "bright island" (φαεννά νᾶσος, "phaenná nâsos") of the Black Sea, while in another of his works, Pindar would retell the story of the immortalized Achilles living on a geographically indefinite Island of the Blest together with other heroes such as his father Peleus and Cadmus.

Achilles [SEP] Well known is the connection of these mythological Fortunate Isles (μακαρῶν νῆσοι, "makárôn nêsoi") or the Homeric Elysium with the stream Oceanus which according to Greek mythology surrounds the inhabited world, which should have accounted for the identification of the northern strands of the Euxine with it.

Achilles [SEP] Guy Hedreen has found further evidence for this connection of Achilles with the northern margin of the inhabited world in a poem by Alcaeus, speaking of "Achilles lord of Scythia" and the opposition of North and South, as evoked by Achilles' fight against the Aethiopian prince Memnon, who in his turn would be removed to his homeland by his mother Eos after his death.

Achilles [SEP] The "Periplus of the Euxine Sea" (c. 130 AD) gives the following details: The Greek geographer Dionysius Periegetes, who lived probably during the first century AD, wrote that the island was called "Leuce" "because the wild animals which live there are white.

Achilles [SEP] It is said that there, in Leuce island, reside the souls of Achilles and other heroes, and that they wander through the uninhabited valleys of this island; this is how Jove rewarded the men who had distinguished themselves through their virtues, because through virtue they had acquired everlasting honour". Similarly, others relate the island's name to its white cliffs, snakes or birds dwelling there. Pausanias has been told that the island is "covered with forests and full of animals, some wild, some tame.

Achilles [SEP] In this island there is also Achilles' temple and his statue". Leuce had also a reputation as a place of healing. Pausanias reports that the Delphic Pythia sent a lord of Croton to be cured of a chest wound. Ammianus Marcellinus attributes the healing to waters ("aquae") on the island. A number of important commercial port cities of the Greek waters were dedicated to Achilles.

Achilles [SEP] Herodotus, Pliny the Elder and Strabo reported on the existence of a town "Achílleion" (Ἀχίλλειον), built by settlers from Mytilene in the sixth century BC, close to the hero's presumed burial mound in the Troad. Later attestations point to an "Achílleion" in Messenia (according to Stephanus Byzantinus) and an "Achílleios" (Ἀχίλλειος) in Laconia.

Achilles [SEP] Nicolae Densuşianu recognized a connection to Achilles in the names of Aquileia and of the northern arm of the Danube delta, called Chilia (presumably from an older "Achileii"), though his conclusion, that Leuce had sovereign rights over the Black Sea, evokes modern rather than archaic sea-law. The kings of Epirus claimed to be descended from Achilles through his son, Neoptolemus.

Achilles [SEP] Alexander the Great, son of the Epirote princess Olympias, could therefore also claim this descent, and in many ways strove to be like his great ancestor. He is said to have visited the tomb of Achilles at Achilleion while passing Troy. In AD 216 the Roman Emperor Caracalla, while on his way to war against Parthia, emulated Alexander by holding games around Achilles' tumulus. The Greek tragedian Aeschylus wrote a trilogy of plays about Achilles, given the title "Achilleis" by modern scholars.

Achilles [SEP] The tragedies relate the deeds of Achilles during the Trojan War, including his defeat of Hector and eventual death when an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo punctures his heel. Extant fragments of the "Achilleis" and other Aeschylean fragments have been assembled to produce a workable modern play.

Achilles [SEP] The first part of the "Achilleis" trilogy, "The Myrmidons", focused on the relationship between Achilles and chorus, who represent the Achaean army and try to convince Achilles to give up his quarrel with Agamemnon; only a few lines survive today.

Achilles [SEP] In Plato's "Symposium", Phaedrus points out that Aeschylus portrayed Achilles as the lover and Patroclus as the beloved; Phaedrus argues that this is incorrect because Achilles, being the younger and more beautiful of the two, was the beloved, who loved his lover so much that he chose to die to revenge him. The tragedian Sophocles also wrote "The Lovers of Achilles", a play with Achilles as the main character. Only a few fragments survive.

Achilles [SEP] Towards the end of the 5th century BC, a more negative view of Achilles emerges in Greek drama; Euripides refers to Achilles in a bitter or ironic tone in "Hecuba", "Electra", and "Iphigenia in Aulis".

Achilles [SEP] The philosopher Zeno of Elea centred one of his paradoxes on an imaginary footrace between "swift-footed" Achilles and a tortoise, by which he attempted to show that Achilles could not catch up to a tortoise with a head start, and therefore that motion and change were impossible. As a student of the monist Parmenides and a member of the Eleatic school, Zeno believed time and motion to be illusions. The Romans, who traditionally traced their lineage to Troy, took a highly negative view of Achilles.

Achilles [SEP] Virgil refers to Achilles as a savage and a merciless butcher of men, while Horace portrays Achilles ruthlessly slaying women and children. Other writers, such as Catullus, Propertius, and Ovid, represent a second strand of disparagement, with an emphasis on Achilles' erotic career.

Achilles [SEP] This strand continues in Latin accounts of the Trojan War by writers such as Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius and in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's "Roman de Troie" and Guido delle Colonne's "Historia destructionis Troiae", which remained the most widely read and retold versions of the Matter of Troy until the 17th century.

Achilles [SEP] Achilles was described by the Byzantine chronicler Leo the Deacon, not as Hellene, but as Scythian, while according to the Byzantine author John Malalas, his army was made up of a tribe previously known as Myrmidons and later as Bulgars. Achilles has been frequently the subject of operas, ballets and related genres. In films Achilles has been portrayed in the following films and television series: In 1890, Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria, had a summer palace built in Corfu.

Achilles [SEP] The building is named the "Achilleion", after Achilles. Its paintings and statuary depict scenes from the Trojan War, with particular focus on Achilles.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] Godfrey of Bouillon (, , , ; 18 September 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a Frankish knight and one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 1096 until its conclusion in 1099. He was the Lord of Bouillon, from which he took his byname, from 1076 and the Duke of Lower Lorraine from 1087. After the successful siege of Jerusalem in 1099, Godfrey became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] He refused the title of King, however, as he believed that the true King of Jerusalem was Jesus Christ, preferring the title of Advocate (i.e., protector or defender) of the Holy Sepulchre (Latin: "Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri"). He is also known as the "Baron of the Holy Sepulchre" and the "Crusader King".

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] Godfrey of Bouillon was born around 1060 as the second son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida, daughter of the Lotharingian duke Godfrey the Bearded by his first wife, Doda. His birthplace was probably Boulogne-sur-Mer, although one 13th-century chronicler cites Baisy, a town in what is now Walloon Brabant, Belgium. As second son, he had fewer opportunities than his older brother and seemed destined to become just one more minor knight in service to a rich landed nobleman.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] However his maternal uncle, Godfrey the Hunchback, died childless and named his nephew, Godfrey of Bouillon, as his heir and next in line to his Duchy of Lower Lorraine. This duchy was an important one at the time, serving as a buffer between the kingdom of France and the German lands.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] In fact, Lower Lorraine was so important to the German kingdom and the Holy Roman Empire that Henry IV, the German king and future emperor (reigned 1084–1105), decided in 1076 that he would place it in the hands of his own son and give Godfrey only Bouillon and the Margraviate of Antwerp as a test of Godfrey's abilities and loyalty. Godfrey served Henry IV loyally, supporting him even when Pope Gregory VII was battling the German king in the Investiture Controversy.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] Godfrey fought alongside Henry and his forces against the rival forces of Rudolf of Swabia and also took part in battles in Italy when Henry IV actually took Rome away from the pope. A major test of Godfrey’s leadership skills was shown in his battles to defend his inheritance against a significant array of enemies. In 1076 he had succeeded as designated heir to the Lotharingian lands of his uncle, Godfrey the Hunchback, and Godfrey was struggling to maintain control over the lands that Henry IV had not taken away from him.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] Claims were raised by his aunt Margravine Matilda of Tuscany, cousin Count Albert III of Namur, and Count Theoderic of Veluwe. This coalition was joined by Bishop Theoderic of Verdun, and two minor counts attempting to share in the spoils, Waleran I of Limburg and Arnold I of Chiny. As these enemies tried to take away portions of his land, Godfrey's brothers, Eustace and Baldwin, both came to his aid.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] Following these long struggles and proving that he was a loyal subject to Henry IV, Godfrey finally won back his duchy of Lower Lorraine in 1087. Still, Godfrey's influence in the German kingdom would have been minimal if it had not been for his major role in the First Crusade. In 1095 Pope Urban II called for a Crusade to liberate Jerusalem from Muslim forces and also to aid the Byzantine Empire which was under Muslim attack.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] Godfrey took out loans on most of his lands, or sold them, to the bishop of Liège and the bishop of Verdun. With this money he gathered thousands of knights to fight in the Holy Land as the Army of Godfrey of Bouillon. In this he was joined by his older brother, Eustace, and his younger brother, Baldwin, who had no lands in Europe. He was not the only major nobleman to gather such an army.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, also known as Raymond of Saint-Gilles, created the largest army. At age 55, Raymond was also the oldest and perhaps the best known of the Crusader nobles. Because of his age and fame, Raymond expected to be the leader of the entire First Crusade. Adhemar, the papal legate and bishop of Le Puy, travelled with him. There was also the fiery Bohemond, a Norman knight from southern Italy, and a fourth group under Robert II, Count of Flanders.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] Each of these armies travelled separately: some went southeast across Europe through Hungary and others sailed across the Adriatic Sea from southern Italy. Pope Urban II's call for the crusade had aroused the Catholic populace and spurred antisemitism. In the People's Crusade, beginning in the spring and early summer of 1096, bands of peasants and low-ranking knights set off early for Jerusalem on their own, and persecuted Jews during the Rhineland massacres.

Godfrey of Bouillon [SEP] Godfrey, along with his two brothers, started in August 1096 at the head of an army from Lorraine (some say 40,000 strong) along "Charlemagne's road", as Urban II seems to have called it (according to the chronicler Robert the Monk)—the road to Jerusalem. A Hebrew text known to modern scholars as the Solomon bar Simson Chronicle, which seems to have been written more than 50 years after the events, says apparently of the Duke:

Clausthal-Zellerfeld [SEP] Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The City is the location of the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort is located in the Upper Harz at an altitude between 390 and 821 m above sea level. Clausthal-Zellerfeld is located on the Upper Harz Plateau. The environment is less mountainous compared to most of the Harz, but only hilly.

Clausthal-Zellerfeld [SEP] As a result, the immediate surrounding area is less wooded and there are more meadow areas. Scattered in and around Clausthal-Zellerfeld are numerous dams and streams of the Upper Harz Water Regale. The depression between Clausthal and Zellerfeld marks a natural "borderline". Southwest extends the "Small Clausthal valley". Clausthal-Zellerfeld originally consisted of two towns which were merged in 1924 to form an administrative unit.

Clausthal-Zellerfeld [SEP] Clausthal is well known for the old Clausthal University of Technology and its magnificent buildings, while Zellerfeld is a typical tourist resort for hikers and winter sportsmen. Clausthal-Zellerfeld is the largest town in the area that is situated in the mountains rather than on the edge. Mining in the area began in the 16th century. Modern wire rope was invented to service the iron mines in the 1830s by the German mining engineer Wilhelm Albert in the years between 1831 and 1834 for use in mining in the Harz Mountains in Clausthal.

Clausthal-Zellerfeld [SEP] It was quickly accepted because it proved superior to ropes made of hemp or to metal chains, such as had been used before and soon found its way into diverse applications, including most notably, suspension bridges. The Innerste Valley Railway was inaugurated in 1877 and extended to Altenau in 1914. The large station building and 70 other buildings in the town were destroyed in an air raid on 7 October 1944. 92 people lost their lives. Mining activity halted in 1930 because the ore deposits were exhausted.

Clausthal-Zellerfeld [SEP] Today, there are large remains of mines in the surrounding Harz region, some of which are now museums. The railway line was closed in 1976. The former railway station, which was rebuilt from 1961-1963 after being destroyed in 1944, houses the tourist information and the municipal library today. The Clausthal University of Technology was established in 1775 for the education of mining engineers. Today, it is a technical university for teaching engineering, natural science (especially chemistry, materials science and physics) and business studies.