With Achilles refusing to take any part in the war against Troy, defeat is looming for the Greeks. His close friend Patroclus drives the Trojans back, but is killed by Hector. Achilles is thrown into deep grief.
myth
Achilles, leading his Myrmidons, is key to the Greek successes in capturing the Troad outside the city of Troy. But when Agamemnon takes his concubine, Achilles is angry and withdraws from the fighting.
The son of Thetis, he was dipped in the water of the River Styx to make him invulnerable, apart from his left heel. He went missing from the thousand ships, when he went into hiding, but was recovered by Ulysses.
After killing the usurper Pelias, Jason and Medea flee to live in Corinth. But he is offered the hand of Glauce, so abandons Medea, and their lives fall apart.
Brought up by the centaur Chiron, he challenged Pelias for his throne, so was sent to get the Golden Fleece with his Argonauts. He married Hypsipyle and they had twins before he abandoned her and promised to marry Medea in return for her help.
After feasting with Achelous, he got involved in the battle between Lapiths and centaurs. then struck disaster with incest, suicide and violent death, before abducting Helen, and being thrown from a cliff.
In the early 1920s, he painted myths, then developed his near-Surrealist fantasies with fruit, flowers and birds. The spent much of the next decade back in Europe, before returning to settle in the Bronx.
To enable Theseus to retrace his steps out of the Labyrinth, Ariadne gives him a ball of thread, in return for which he promises to marry her. Once the couple escape to the island of Naxos, Theseus abandons her and sails back to Athens.
Do you know the difference between a caduceus and the rod of Asclepius, what each means? Paintings by William Blake, Renoir, and others explain.
Born son of the King of Athens, the god Poseidon, and Princess Aethra, his first task was to find his father’s sandals and sword, and take them to Athens, where Medea tried to poison him.
