When the Greek king of Thessaly, Peleus, married, he was so enamored of his beautiful wife, it never occurred to him that the gods were meddling in his fate—and that the gods would cause the death of his son, Achilles, on the plains of Troy.
King Peleus' wife was Thetis, an immortal and beautiful sea nymph loved by Zeus, the most powerful of the gods. Thetis, however, had not returned Zeus' love, so he had sent her to earth to marry a mortal as punishment. Still, Thetis bore Peleus a son, whom they named Achilles. The Greek king was overjoyed.
A seer revealed to Thetis that Achilles would be a great war hero, but rather than celebrate the news, Thetis worried that her son would die young in battle. Desperate to protect him, she carried Achilles away to the underworld, where the River Styx ran deep. The infernal river had mysterious powers, so Thetis held the boy above the rushing water, grasping him by his heel, and dipped him into it headfirst. Immersing Achilles in the magical waters would protect him from harm, but Thetis failed to notice that the heel she held did not get wet. This one spot untouched by the river became the only vulnerable place on his body.
As Achilles was growing up, a war was brewing—its causes extending all the way back to Peleus' wedding. Thetis and Peleus had neglected to invite Eris, the goddess of discord, to their wedding banquet, and she arrived uninvited and incensed. She threw a golden apple among the guests with a message written on it: "For the fairest." Three goddesses—Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite—all reached for the apple at the same time, and an argument erupted among them. Zeus suggested that Paris, the young prince of Troy, should choose who was fairest to end the dispute.
The three goddesses all tempted Paris with rewards—Hera with the chance to rule all of Europe and Asia, and Athena with the gift of wisdom. But the young prince selected Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Her reward was the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. Unfortunately, Helen was already married to the king of the Greek city of Sparta, Menelaus. True to her word, Aphrodite arranged for Paris to be invited to Menelaus’ home, where he was introduced to the gorgeous queen. The moment the king left them alone, Paris abducted Helen and took her back to Troy. When Menelaus discovered what Paris had done, he called on his fellow Greek kings and, with his brother, Agamemnon, amassed a vast army that sailed for Troy in a thousand ships.
The Trojan War was the greatest conflict the ancient world had seen, but a seer named Calchas had prophesied its outcome years before it began. Troy would be taken by the Greeks, but not without the help of the great warrior Achilles. When Thetis had first heard the seer’s prediction, she was alarmed, and she sent her young son away to the court of King Lycomedes on the island of Skyros. There, Achilles disguised himself as a girl and lived peacefully for many years, but in secret, he taught himself to use a sword and shield and learned hand-to-hand combat.
Agamemnon also knew of Calchas' prophecy, and he sent Odysseus, the cleverest of the Greek kings, to look for Achilles. When the wily Odysseus arrived at Skyros with his men, he arranged a test to draw Achilles out from among the women. Odysseus ordered two carts to be set in the city plaza, one filled with fine clothes and perfume, the other with weapons of war. Achilles' interest in fighting betrayed him; all the women lunged for the clothes in the first cart, but Achilles went to the second. Odysseus recognized Achilles and convinced him to join the Greek expedition and lead an army against Troy.
When the Greeks arrived at Troy, they discovered the city was heavily fortified. The armies battled on the plains before the city walls, but the Greeks could not penetrate Troy’s defenses. Frustrated, the Greeks attacked and destroyed 23 towns surrounding Troy. In one of these, Lyrnessos, Achilles fell in love with a woman named Briseis and took her captive. But Agamemnon claimed Briseis for himself. Irate at losing Briseis, Achilles refused to fight, staying in his tent by the Greek ships and keeping his soldiers from the battle as well.
In the following days, the war went poorly for the Greeks, and the Trojans battled them back from the city walls. Hoping to turn the tide in the Greeks’ favor, Achilles' close friend Patroclus dressed himself in Achilles' armor and, carrying Achilles' sword and shield, led his soldiers into battle. Believing the mighty Achilles had returned, the Trojan soldiers fell back—except for one. Hector was Troy's great hero, and the brother of Paris. He boldly challenged Patroclus, thinking the young man in front of him was Achilles, and killed him. He stripped the corpse of Achilles' armor and weapons and triumphantly returned to Troy.
Achilles vowed to take revenge for the death of his friend. He asked Hephaestus to craft a new set of armor and weapons for him. Then, Achilles sent a message to Hector that he had killed the wrong man. Hector knew that his chances of winning against the powerful Achilles and his enchanted armor were slim, but he dutifully dressed for battle once again and strode out of the city gates.
The bloody clash between the two heroes left every soldier, Greek and Trojan alike, staring in awe. At last, Achilles killed Hector and avenged his slain friend. Achilles' grief, however, was undiminished. He fastened straps to Hector's body, attached them to his chariot, and dragged the fallen hero around the city walls. Priam, King of Troy and Hector's father, begged Achilles to stop, but to no avail. Finally, after Achilles had circled the city three times, he relented, and Priam took his son's remains away.
Achilles then returned to the battlefield and fought heroically through the long years of the war. However, the gods Poseidon and Apollo had been watching the war closely. They supported opposite sides, but they were both infuriated by Achilles' arrogant desecration of Hector's body. They decided to intervene. Even though the Greeks went on to win the war, Achilles did not survive to see victory. Poseidon informed Paris of Achilles' unprotected heel. From the high walls of Troy, the prince searched for Achilles in the battle below. He fired an arrow at Achilles' heel, and Apollo guided the arrow to the vulnerable spot. Achilles fell to the ground, writhing in pain, and moments later, the great warrior was dead.
Achilles' corpse was burned on a huge pyre and his ashes buried near his parents' home. Before his body was consumed in the flames, Thetis snatched her son's soul from the pyre and brought it to the island of Leuce. There, he rejoined his dead friends, including his beloved Patroclus.