How tall is achilles

Achilles was considered to be one of the greatest Greek warriors who ever lived, sometimes said to be the "shield of an army.

He was killed in the Trojan War by Paris of Troy, when the latter shot him in the heel with an arrow. As such, the term " Achilles' heel " had come to mean a fatal weakpoint, and the Achilles tendon is a tendon located at the back of the calf, just above the heel. Achilles was the son of the Nereid Thetis, and the mortal hero and king of Phthia; Peleus. It is claimed that Thetis attempted to make Achilles invulnerable by dipping him into the River Styx, however she held him by the left heel, so it was not exposed to the magic of the river, so he had that one place as his vulnerable spot.

Achilles' mother, Thetis, foresaw his death in Troy, so she disguised Achilles as a girl among the daughters of King Lycomedes of Scyros, so he wouldn't have to battle in the war.

He hid as a girl for years until Agamemnon found him. Odysseus devised a trick to procure the identity of Achilles by appearing as a merchant, selling many wares, and of these objects, a sword was included.

The daughters of Lycomedes went to see the beautiful clothing and jewelry, but Achilles took up the sword; with this trick, Odysseus uncovered Achilles. Initially he refused to fight in the war, but after a convincing speech, he agreed. Achilles was the most prominent soldier in the Trojan War, even being called Aristos Achaion , meaning Best of the Greeks.

He arrived at Troy with fifty ships, each containing 50 Myrmidons. The Achaeans not knowing their way to Troy at first, landed on Mysia, ruled by Telephus, who Achilles wounded in battle.

The wound would not heal, so Telephus consulted an oracle, who told him that the one who wounded him would heal him. Telephus then showed the Achaeans the way to Troy. Achilles sacked many cities there he conquered 11 cities and 12 islands, according to Homer , and killing many, and gaining the maid Briseis as his spoil of war and new bride. He killed Cycnus, a son of Poseidon, who according to Ovid, slew one thousand warriors.

He was also invulnerable to all sword and spear attacks, so Achilles crushed him with a boulder. In the ninth year of the war, he withdrew from battle after he felt he was dishonored by Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek forces. Agamemnon had taken a woman named Chryseis as his slave.

Her father Chryses, a priest of Apollo , begged Agamemnon to return her to him. Agamemnon refused and threatened him, and thus an enraged Apollo unleashed a devastating plague upon the Greeks, killed many mighty soldiers and made them a feast for dog and vultures.

The prophet Calchas knew the source of the troubles, but would not speak unless Achilles vowed to protect him. Achilles did so and Calchas declared Chryseis must be returned to her father.

Agamemnon consented, but then commanded that Achilles' war prize, Briseis, be brought to replace Chryseis. Wroth at the dishonor and at the urging of his mother Thetis, Achilles refused to fight or lead his troops alongside the other Greek forces. At this same time, burning with rage over Agamemnon's theft, Achilles prayed to Thetis to convince Zeus to help the Trojans gain ground in the war, so that he may regain his honor.

War was not about justice, security, or economics but rather about relations between kings and, in particular, about the respect or lack thereof they showed each other. To the ordinary Greek at Troy, one Achilles was worth a thousand fresh troops.

In the Iliad , every Greek kingdom sends a contingent to fight at Troy. Most of them are led by a king; the men from Phthia are led by a royal prince, Achilles. But as a superb soldier, Achilles earned the respect of his men. Of all the Greek units, his is the only one to have a special name: the Myrmidons.

When they went into battle, the Myrmidons shouted their war cries and then fought like hungry wolves or angry hornets. They spent their free time working out, so we would expect that they were strong and fit. Achilles fired their spirits by pouring an offering of wine and praying to the gods before they went into a fight.

Rather it was unit cohesion. The leadership of these battalion commanders might have made the difference because the Myrmidons were one of the only units at Troy that was able to fight as a closely massed force. Unlike the loose and unstructured groups that seem to make up most of the armies in Homer, the Myrmidons were solidity itself when they took the field:. Ranks wedged in ranks; of arms a steely ring Still grows, and spreads, and thickens round the king.

Patroclus was no mean commander in his own right. He was murderous on the battlefield but gentle away from it, having learned a thing or two since boyhood, when he killed a playmate in a fit of rage during a game of dice. Some ancient sources say they were lovers. Now the Myrmidons will be led by Achilles. After patching up his quarrel with the other Greek generals, Achilles prepares for combat.

Homer says:. The word that best describes Achilles in battle is relentless. Although immensely strong, he was probably only the second strongest of the Greeks. At least some doubted whether Achilles could defeat his gigantic cousin Ajax in a hand-to-hand fight.

He could outrun any enemy and catch him. He could fight two men in the time it took others to fight one. What makes this even more impressive is that Achilles achieved his speed while wearing heavy armor. He was a human tank that moved at the speed of a sports car. Consider for a moment just how he was outfitted. The first suit is lost in battle; the second is manufactured specially for the hero by Hephaestus, god of the forge.

Homer says that both suits were made of bronze, and archaeologists know that Mycenaeans did in fact wear bronze armor. Based on archaeological evidence, we would expect Achilles to have worn a bronze breastplate, possibly strengthened by a linen lining; bronze shoulder, upper arm, and neck guards; and bronze girdle plates to protect his lower abdomen.

The various parts were laced together via thongs. Homer says that bronze shinguards with silver ankle clips completed the outfit. In the Iliad , Achilles has two bronze helmets, each with a horsehair crest; the second helmet has golden plumes too. Some late Mycenaean helmets had cheek guards as well. The shield that Hephaestus famously made for Achilles was round.

Round shields are well attested to in Mycenaean times, some made of ox hide and some perhaps fashioned of or reinforced with bronze as central and northern European shields were in this era.

Achilles uses his sword often in the Iliad. He belonged to just about the first generation of Greeks who could rely on this sword, due to the introduction of a new type of weapon of central European origin shortly before B.

The so-called Naue II sword was much more efficient at inflicting slashing wounds than its predecessor. Because the blade had roughly parallel edges for most of its length, rather than the tapered edges of a dagger, this sword was good at cutting.

And with a single piece of metal for both blade and hilt, it was less likely to break than its forerunner. So this two-and-a-half-foot sword could do real damage. The Mycenaeans used a thrusting spear rather than a throwing spear. Yet Homer gives Achilles the strength and power to use his heavy spear as a javelin as well as a lance.

This was not likely to happen in the real world. Its wood came from Mount Pelion, home of the savage and warlike centaurs. Peleus eventually passed the spear on to his son Achilles. Another poet says that the spear had a gold ring binding the socket to the shaft as well as a double point.

Because of its strength and resilience, ash wood was the most desirable material for spears and other weapons and tools. To judge from art, the late Mycenaean spear was typically about five to six feet long. It could cause an extensive wound, especially if a man put his legs and back into thrusting it into an enemy.

And the best of the Greeks knew how to get the most out of his powerful body. We can take it for granted that Achilles had mastered the various techniques needed to use his arms and armor to his bloody advantage. The support of the Myrmidons and his reputation alone were enough to panic most enemies.

But those who remained had to face a man whom they could neither outrun nor outfight. And a lot of them would have to fight Achilles face to face. Single combat loomed large on the Bronze Age battlefield, either as an accidental encounter or as a prearranged duel. The Iliad is full of such contests; Homer surely exaggerates their number, but their existence is not in doubt. Cohesive units like the Myrmidons were rare, which meant that individual encounters were common on the battlefield. And the personal nature of war in the Bronze Age added incentive for individual warriors to prove themselves against a single enemy.

The agreement to decide a conflict by one or a series of champion battles served practical purposes. This is hinted at in Bronze Age documents, but it is made clear in later periods of ancient history, during which champion battles are well documented. For example, a Hittite text of about B. The focus on these two men suggests a champion battle or—more likely, since both men died—a series of champion battles. Whoever won brought a wide range of benefits to his country.

For a treasurer, a champion battle was a blessing, since it checked the risk of losing an entire army, which was costly to train, outfit, and feed.

For the common soldier, victory by a hero in single combat was an inspiration to fight harder. This happened in northwest Greece in B. And so Achilles led his men into battle. The Greeks struck so hard and the enemy ran so fast that as soon as a Trojan found safety behind the walls, his first thought was not relief but thirst. Most Trojans fled at the mere sight of Achilles; of those who stood their ground, only a rare few like Aeneas lived to tell the tale, and then only thanks to divine intervention.

This sees Hippodamas, and seized with fright, Deserts his chariot for a swifter flight: The lance arrests him: an ignoble wound The panting Trojan rivets to the ground. This is no doubt an exaggeration, but the Bronze Age liked its heroes hot.

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