The meaning for Achilles Heel is literally related to the heel of Achilles, which lead to his death. First let's know a little about Achilles, the Greek hero.
In Greek mythology, it's believed that when Achilles was a baby, his mother dipped him in the River Styx holding him by the heel. Since the river had miraculous powers, Achilles' whole body turned powerful and invincible; except for the heel which was held by his mother and so did not get dipped in the waters. His heel turned out to be the most vulnerable / weakest part in his body, despite him being the strongest warrior.
During the time of Trojan War (not exactly in the war), Achilles, the strongest warrior was killed by a fatal wound to his heel by Paris's arrow (probably poisoned).
So Achilles heel means a weakness or a vulnerable part.
Now, if you want to know a little more about the story of the Trojan War & why exactly Achilles was not killed in the war - Here it goes:
Achilles killed Hector (a Trojan prince) but even after killing, he does not return the body. Instead tied Hector's body to his chariot and dragged it around the battlefield for nine days. Finally, there was a divine intervention by two messengers and he agrees to return the body to Priam (King of Troy, Hector's father) for a heavy ransom to perform the funeral rites. After this, Paris (Hector's brother, Priam's son), who was unskilled and cowardly wounded Achilles' heel with an arrow from behind.
~ ~ ~
In Greek mythology, it's believed that when Achilles was a baby, his mother dipped him in the River Styx holding him by the heel. Since the river had miraculous powers, Achilles' whole body turned powerful and invincible; except for the heel which was held by his mother and so did not get dipped in the waters. His heel turned out to be the most vulnerable / weakest part in his body, despite him being the strongest warrior.
During the time of Trojan War (not exactly in the war), Achilles, the strongest warrior was killed by a fatal wound to his heel by Paris's arrow (probably poisoned).
So Achilles heel means a weakness or a vulnerable part.
Now, if you want to know a little more about the story of the Trojan War & why exactly Achilles was not killed in the war - Here it goes:
Achilles killed Hector (a Trojan prince) but even after killing, he does not return the body. Instead tied Hector's body to his chariot and dragged it around the battlefield for nine days. Finally, there was a divine intervention by two messengers and he agrees to return the body to Priam (King of Troy, Hector's father) for a heavy ransom to perform the funeral rites. After this, Paris (Hector's brother, Priam's son), who was unskilled and cowardly wounded Achilles' heel with an arrow from behind.
~ ~ ~
Comments
Post a Comment