The first thought that sprang to mind when I saw this week's theme of heels was Achilles, Greek hero of the Trojan war. Legend has it that his mother, the water goddess Thetis, wanted to make her demi-god infant son (i.e. sired by a human father) immortal, so she dipped the baby in the river Styx, holding him by his left heel, to confer invulnerability on him. As a result, the only place where he was vulnerable was that part of him that didn't get immersed. The careless goddess should have swapped hands/feet and made sure his left heel got dipped as well!
Of course, as everyone was taught in school (at least in my day), inevitably Achilles eventually met his death when he was wounded in that left heel by a divine arrow fired from the bow of Paris (see below) and Achilles' heel subsequently entered common usage as a metaphor for the weak spot in an otherwise strong person.
 |
| Achilles mortally wounded in the heel |
The story of heroic Achilles is told in Homer's 'Iliad', though not the manner of his death; that was left to other writers (including Euripides). And dig around in some other works of Ancient Greek folklore, as I have done, and further, different and intriguing stories emerge of his mother's conniving attempts to protect her son from harm.
One of the strangest, and I've taken it as the catalyst for my latest monologue poem (spoken by Odysseus), runs as follows: In order to keep Achilles safe from involvement in the Trojan War, Thetis had her son disguise himself as a young woman and sent him/her to live at court among the daughters of King Lycomedes of Skyros (an island in the Sporades). There Achilles apparently made a very presentable princess, with flowing chestnut hair and shapely legs.(S)he also fathered two children with Lycomedes' daughters; (in one account rape was alleged). Odysseus had been warned by the prophet Calchas that Troy could only be defeated with the help of Achilles, so Odysseus disguised himself as a merchant selling women's clothes and went to Skyros to 'out' the hideaway. By subterfuge he tricked Achilles into revealing his true identity and then flattered him into joining the campaign against the Trojans, promising him everlasting fame (QED).
Achilles' Heels
Oh dear.
What have we here?
A princess with an apple
and a spear tottering
on Achilles' heels.
Time to dispense
with maiden's dresses,
shed the chestnut tresses
mummy's boy! There's
man's work to be done.
Here's armour
for the fight, a helmet,
shield and flashing sword.
Make what farewells
you must on Skyros,
we leave for Troy
at first light. Your fate
to help us wage a war to
win back Menelaus' whore
then taste eternal dust.
Because this has been a shortish blog and because I like Bob Dylan, although the connection is tenuous I'm linking in a YouTube clip of a Dylan song from his 'Blonde On Blonde' LP: Temporary Like Achilles
Thanks for reading, S ;-)