|
Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 20 general entries.
|
 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Achilles
| At his birth, the ancient Greek warrior Achilles was dipped into a river in Hades by his mother Thetis in order to make him invulnerable. In which hellish stream did Achilles receive this somewhat incomplete baptism? | Achilles, Mighty Greek Warrior
|
Styx. Thetis made the unfortunate error, as I'm sure you're all aware, of not dipping Achilles entirely into the infernal waters of the Styx. His heel, where Thetis grasped her son, was left vulnerable...apparently mom did not want to get her fingers wet!
| Thetis was the mother of this fierce Greek champion, but who was her husband and the father of the hero of the 'Iliad'? | Achilles, Mighty Greek Warrior
|
Peleus. Peleus was of relatively low birth, being only the king of Thessaly. The lucky chap was fortunate to marry Thetis, who was a Nereid (a sea nymph), and a beautiful one at that, so gorgeous in fact that Zeus himself came after her (but then again, who didn't he come after?) Peleus was not without accomplishment, however...he was a member of Jason's Argonauts, and took part in the hunt for the Calydonian boar alongside Atalanta. No doubt some mention should be made here of their wedding...at which Eris (Strife) challenged Paris to choose the most beautiful goddess by handing out a golden apple, thus putting into play events that would lead to the Trojan War.
| For a time as a child, Achilles was handed over by Thetis (who wanted to hide Achilles away) to Chiron, who was to be his overseer and mentor during his youthful years. What type of mythical creature was this Chiron? | Achilles, Mighty Greek Warrior
|
Centaur. Half man, half horse, the centaurs were gentle and wise creatures with a penchant for drinking, who paradoxically were quite adept at making war. Chiron, the wisest and most pious of these creatures, agrees to care for Achilles, but soon loses control of the rambunctious child. Achilles' mischief provokes Chiron to insist that Thetis take her child back, much to her chagrin. You see, she left Achilles with Chiron in the hopes that he would stay out of trouble, and to avoid his eventual fate (to die in battle.)
| After the failure of Chiron to rein in and control young Achilles, Thetis decides to dress the poor boy as a girl, in hopes that he would not be noticed by the developing armies of Greece. Which Greek hero cleverly sees through this ruse? | Achilles, Mighty Greek Warrior
|
Odysseus. Achilles initially finds being disguised as a female quite repulsive, but learns to find new love for the situation when he manages to develop a relationship with King Lycomedes' daughter Deidamia, with whom he eventually marries and impregnates. His son and only offspring Neoptolemus is born of this union. Odysseus, the ever clever hero of his own sequel to the 'Iliad', finds Achilles out by way of a clever plot...blowing a horn that only a warlike male would answer. War approaches.
| Our hero Achilles eventually becomes king of a certain group of 'ant men', mentioned in Homer's 'Iliad'. By what term are these ant warriors known?
| Achilles, Mighty Greek Warrior
|
Myrmidons. The Myrmidons were warriors of Thessaly, from whence Achilles came. Achilles was king of these warriors, who were said to have originated as ants, but were morphed into warriors by the gods to serve as an army for Achilles' grandfather Aeacus.
| Entering the Trojan War as a general, Achilles established himself as one of the most able leaders of the Greek army, administering defeat after defeat upon his weary enemies. Despite this great success, Achilles feuds with the Achaean king and commander of all Greek forces...namely, whom? | Achilles, Mighty Greek Warrior
|
Agamemnon. Agamemnon was the King of Achaea, a stalwart man no doubt, but this fellow really overstepped his boundaries at times...sacrificing his own daughter Iphigenia, and threatening to steal Achilles' new girlfriend (see next question!)
| And naturally, the feud between the Achaean king and Achilles was instigated over a woman, with whom our hero had fallen deeply in love. Who was the object of Achilles' deepest affections?
| Achilles, Mighty Greek Warrior
|
Briseis. Like many other women of Greek myth (see Helen, Medea, Clytemnestra, etc. etc.), Briseis was at the center of a controversy that cost lives. Briseis was captured by Achilles during one of his raids, and soon became a willing captive when the Greek warrior fell enthralled by her beauty. Soon, however, Agamemnon decided to claim Briseis for his own, infuriating the smitten Achilles to the point where the latter retired to his tent, refusing to further take part in the war. For her part, Achilles mother Thetis enjoined Zeus to rain failure upon Agamemnon's army until the object of her son's affection was returned to him.
| Without adequate resolution of the controversy involving his lady love, Achilles continues to resist re-entering the hostilities against Troy. Unwilling himself to lead an army, his best friend decides to lead Achilles' followers in his stead. Who was Achilles' best friend, a victim of tragedy in his own right? | Achilles, Mighty Greek Warrior
|
Patroclus. Patroclus leads the Myrmidons at their vanguard, and suffers cruel death at the hands of the powerful Trojan warrior Hector for his troubles. Nothing works in tragedies more powerfully than a reason for revenge...
| The plan of concealing Achilles on the island of Scyros is fomented by whom? | Achilles on Scyros
|
Thetis. Thetis the sea-nymph was Achilles' divine mother. Peleus was his mortal father. Chiron tutored Achilles in Thessaly and in Statius' "Achilleid", Patroclus accompanies the boy.
| Achilles' concealment is to prevent him from being drafted into what significant event? | Achilles on Scyros
|
The Trojan War. Being hidden on the island of Scyros prevented Achilles from maturing into the manly warrior which he was destined to become and this state in itself was also destined to engender the fall of Troy in the context of the famous 'wrath of Achilles.'
A girl. Thetis' machinations attempt to persuade Achilles to take on a womanish disguise. The real deciding factor however is the appearance of Deidamia, Lycomedes' daughter, on the shores of Scyros and the potential of the consummation of a first love.
Her nurse. Deidamia somehow manages to keep the secret of her pregnancy from her father, something which Statius' text is silent on.
| The Greeks, gathered at Aulis prior to the departure for Troy, seek and wait for Achilles. The location of his concealment is eventually revealed to them. How does this occur? | Achilles on Scyros
|
Through the prophet Calchas, inspired by Apollo. When Calchas has revealed that the sought location is Scyros, Odysseus and Diomedes are chosen to travel there to urge Achilles to Troy.
| The bestowal of which object as a gift to Lycomedes and his household rouses Achilles from his womanly disguise into manliness, enacting his transcendence from a period of liminality into the great warrior he is destined to be? | Achilles on Scyros
|
Shield. The bestowal of armour to a hero is a typical device of ancient epic, although it here occurs in a subverted context where the hero is parading as a woman. Achilles' reaction to the shield, of frenzy and of blushing, encapsulates this ambiguity of gender interactions.
Neoptolemus. Neoptolemus, also known as Pyrrhus, makes an appearance in Book Two of the "Aeneid" in which he beheads King Priam of Troy. The typical epic feature of the fluidity of the maturation process is employed so that Pyrrhus can be made to fight at Troy as a fully developed warrior.
| Achilles, having seen the shield, recognises his manly destiny and is revealed to Lycomedes' household, along with his child Neoptolemus. Achilles' and Deidamia are denoted as married and converse prior to his departure for Troy. The "Achilleid" then breaks off unfinished in Book 2 as the Greeks sail away from Scyros. What is the final word of Book 2? | Achilles on Scyros
|
Mater. It is apt that Thetis, whose efforts to shield her son from his fated death at Troy have motivated the events of the "Achilleid", is evoked in the final word of mater- mother.
Domitian. Statius' poem in the "Achilleid" is highly laudatory on the subject of Domitian, describing the poem as a mere prelude to an even greater epic on Domitian's many accomplishments.
|
Fun Trivia | 
Quizzes | 
Games
| 
People | 
Services | 
Help | 
Me
