Both Uses
Achilles
in
A Brief History of the World
(Edited)
- One myth says that the mother of Achilles dipped him in the river Styx until he became intolerable.
Achilles = mythical Greek hero of the Iliad; central character and foremost Greek warrior at the siege of Troy
- Achilles appears in the Iliad, by Homer.
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Definitions:
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(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 common or too rare to warrant focus) More commonly, Achilles is also used as a shortened way to identify an Achilles tendon or heel cord at the back of the lower leg.