Achilles, according to Greek mythology, was half-immortal (from his mother Thetis, a sea-nymph) and half-mortal (from his father Peleus, the King of Phthia, in Thessaly).
To make her child completely immortal, Thetis tried various things - like totally immersing her son into the water of the Styx, river of the Underworld. If the water totally covered her baby, Thetis believed he would live forever.
There was a slight problem, however. Thetis could not completely bathe her son in the water. To do so, she would have had to let go of him.
In the end, Achilles was protected by the river everywhere on his body except for the heel where his mother held him. Because of that vulnerable heel, which would prove to be her son’s undoing, Thetis failed in her efforts to insure her son would never die.
When Thetis could not make Achilles fully immortal, she was afraid for him and left the boy with Peleus, her husband. Achilles’ father then brought his young son to study with Chiron, the mythological father of Greek medicine.
Chiron, an immortal Centaur (that is, half-man, half-horse), could teach the young lad much about life. But even he could not protect the child from his potentially fatal Achilles' Heel.
To make her child completely immortal, Thetis tried various things - like totally immersing her son into the water of the Styx, river of the Underworld. If the water totally covered her baby, Thetis believed he would live forever.
There was a slight problem, however. Thetis could not completely bathe her son in the water. To do so, she would have had to let go of him.
In the end, Achilles was protected by the river everywhere on his body except for the heel where his mother held him. Because of that vulnerable heel, which would prove to be her son’s undoing, Thetis failed in her efforts to insure her son would never die.
When Thetis could not make Achilles fully immortal, she was afraid for him and left the boy with Peleus, her husband. Achilles’ father then brought his young son to study with Chiron, the mythological father of Greek medicine.
Chiron, an immortal Centaur (that is, half-man, half-horse), could teach the young lad much about life. But even he could not protect the child from his potentially fatal Achilles' Heel.