All 6 Uses of
Achilles
in
War and Peace
- "Everyone has his Achilles' heel," continued Prince Andrew.
Chpt 1Achilles = mythical Greek hero of the Iliad; central character and foremost Greek warrior at the siege of Troy
- There is a well known, so-called sophism of the ancients consisting in this, that Achilles could never catch up with a tortoise he was following, in spite of the fact that he traveled ten times as fast as the tortoise.
Chpt 11 *
- By the time Achilles has covered the distance that separated him from the tortoise, the tortoise has covered one tenth of that distance ahead of him: when Achilles has covered that tenth, the tortoise has covered another one hundredth, and so on forever.
Chpt 11
- By the time Achilles has covered the distance that separated him from the tortoise, the tortoise has covered one tenth of that distance ahead of him: when Achilles has covered that tenth, the tortoise has covered another one hundredth, and so on forever.
Chpt 11
- The absurd answer (that Achilles could never overtake the tortoise) resulted from this: that motion was arbitrarily divided into discontinuous elements, whereas the motion both of Achilles and of the tortoise was continuous.
Chpt 11
- The absurd answer (that Achilles could never overtake the tortoise) resulted from this: that motion was arbitrarily divided into discontinuous elements, whereas the motion both of Achilles and of the tortoise was continuous.
Chpt 11
Definitions:
-
(1)
(Achilles in Greek mythology) mythical Greek hero of the Iliad; central character and foremost Greek warrior at the siege of TroyAchilles was seen as semi-divine. His mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river when he was a baby, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable--his "Achilles' heel."
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Achilles is also used as a shortened way to identify an achilles tendon or heel cord at the back of the lower leg.