Achilles.
Achilles · Greek warrior at Troy
The greatest of the Greek warriors at Troy — invulnerable everywhere but the heel his mother held him by.
Son of Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis. Greatest warrior of the Greek camp in the Trojan War. No constellation, but central to the Iliad and the entire epic cycle.
Achilles · Achilles · Greek warrior at Troy
Son of Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis. Greatest warrior of the Greek camp in the Trojan War. No constellation, but central to the Iliad and the entire epic cycle.
Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis. His mother, knowing he was fated either to die young in glory or live long without it, dipped him in the river Styx as an infant — making him invulnerable everywhere except the heel by which she held him. He was raised in the palaces of Phthia and tutored by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and music.
When the Trojan War began, Thetis tried to hide him on the island of Skyros disguised as a girl among the daughters of the king. Odysseus, cunning, came as a peddler with a tray of trinkets and a sword among them; Achilles was the one who reached for the sword. He sailed to Troy at the head of the Myrmidons. For nine years he was the spear of the Greek army, killing kings of Troy's allies one after another — until Agamemnon took the prize-girl Briseis from his tent and Achilles withdrew from the fight in fury.
"His friend Patroclus borrowed Achilles's armour and was killed by Hector. Achilles returned to battle and killed Hector in revenge."
His friend Patroclus borrowed his armour to rally the Greeks and was killed by Hector. Achilles returned to battle, killed Hector, dragged his body around the walls of Troy, and only relented when Hector's father King Priam came to him alone in the night to beg for the body. Achilles himself was killed not long after — shot in the heel by an arrow from Paris, guided by Apollo. He was burned on a great pyre and his bones laid in the same urn as Patroclus's.
Where this comes from.
Mythology
- Homer Iliad
- Apollodorus Epitome 3.20–5.4
- Hyginus Fabulae 96, 107, 112
Paintings & illustrations
- Achilles killing Penthesilea — Attic black-figure amphora, Exekias (c. 540–530 BCE) · Wikimedia · PD
- Achilles Slays Hector — Peter Paul Rubens (1630–1635) · Wikimedia · PD
- The Death of Achilles — Peter Paul Rubens (1630–1635) · Wikimedia · PD
For fun · sources cited. We don’t publish horoscopes, personality readings, or compatibility takes — just astronomy + classical mythology, with public-domain art where available. See all 88 constellations.