Achilles

Achilles is presented in the assembled sources as the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia. He belongs to the heroic generation of the Trojan War (Bronze Age mytho‑historical setting). His upbringing includes a traditional heroic education (sources note his training by the centaur Chiron in later traditions), and he emerges as leader of the Myrmidons and foremost among the Achaean fighters at Troy.

Homeric and encyclopedic summaries characterize Achilles by epithets of heroic stature — speed (the epithet Podarkes, 'swift‑footed'), exceptional martial bearing, and the typical image of an armored Homeric hero. Later poetic tradition (beginning with Statius's references in the Roman period, as summarized in sources) introduces the motif that his body was invulnerable except for a single heel due to maternal action (Thetis dipping or otherwise protecting him), a detail not attested in Homeric narrative which depicts Achilles capable of being wounded.

Across sources Achilles' primary attributes are supreme martial skill and leadership: he commands the Myrmidons, is repeatedly called the greatest of the Greek warriors, and famously kills Hector outside the gates of Troy in the epic tradition. He is traditionally raised and trained by Chiron (heroic education). A central behavioral trait is overwhelming anger and sulking—his withdrawal from and later return to battle driven by wrath is the pivotal moral and narrative engine of the Iliad. Later accounts add an invulnerability motif (heel excepted) that conflicts with Homeric portrayals of a warrior susceptible to wounds.