Achilles in National Museums and Palaces of Portugal

This work is financed with National Funds through FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology), through the project Project LACC: Late Achilles in the Classroom and Court (PTDC/LLT-LES/30930/2017).

The helmet that Achilles holds may recall his main adversary, the Trojan "Hector, helmet flashing" (Iliad 8.371).

Having received a prophecy that Achilles would not enjoy a long life, Thetis submerged him in the river Styx, which would make him immortal. She held him by the ankle, which therefore remained vulnerable.  

After trying in vain to grab and hold onto Thetis, whose body kept changing shapes, Peleus ties down the goddess with a rope and waits until she assumes her original form. Achilles was born from the union of Thetis and Peleus.

"She took the form of a bird, but he still held on to the bird./ She changed to a sturdy tree, and he clung to the trunk like ivy". 
(Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.243-244)

 Ironically, it will be an arrow shot from a bow that will kill the hero. In the epic poem Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes (III BCE), young Achilles is in the company of Chiron when he sees his father Peleus depart in the expedition to find the golden fleece.

"From his/ mountain summit Cheiron, Phílyra's son, came down to the seashore (...)/ beside him his wife bore Achilles, Peleus's son, firm-cradled/ in the crook of her arm, held him up to his dear father." 
(Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.551-559)

Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, is asked by Thetis to forge arms for Achilles. His creation is divine. Achilles’ shield, described in Iliad 18, shows the earth, heavens, cities, fields, and even the river Ocean. Most amazingly, this shield exhibits movement and sound.

"But I, to excite his masculine interest, inserted some arms/ amongst our feminine wares. He still was dressed/ in the clothes of a girl when I caught him holding a spear and shield." 
(Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.165-167)

Achilles’ greatest Trojan rival was Hector. In the Iliad, he was the last of Priam’s sons to die, the best of the Trojan warriors, and Troy’s last hope. Divine Achilles distinguishes himself for his excellence—Hector touches us through his humane character. 

In his duel with Achilles, Hector falls down. With his last breath he begs Achilles to return his corpse to his family and to Troy. Achilles, however, ignores this request and desecrates the dead body by dragging it around the walls of Troy. 

"Piercing the tendons, ankle to heel behind both feet,/ he knotted straps of rawhide through them both,/ lashed them to his chariot, left the head to drag..." 

 (Iliad 22.468-470)

"he pointed the hero out, still hacking the Trojans/ down; then turning Paris’ bow in the same direction he guided an arrow/with deadly aim at Achilles’ heel." (Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.604-606)

"Furthermore, the gravestone of Achilles he anointed with oil, (...) crowned it with garlands, pronouncing the hero happy in having, while he lived, a faithful friend, and after death, a great herald of his fame." 
(Plutarch, Life of Alexander 15.8)