Heels

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 silly 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.

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 of his mother's conniving attempts to protect her son from harm emerge.
One of the strangest, and I've taken it in part as the catalyst for my latest poem, 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 persuaded him to join the campaign against the Trojans. 
Achilles' HeelsOh dear.What have we here?A princess with an appleand a spear totteringon Achilles' heels.
Time to dispensewith maiden's dresses,shed the chestnut tressesmummy's boy! There'sman's work to be done.
Here's armour for the fight, a helmet,shield and flashing sword.Make what farewellsyou must on Skyros,
we leave for Troy at first light. Your fateto help us wage a war towin back Menelaus' whoreand claim 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 AchillesThanks for reading, S ;-) Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook