THE STORY: (38 minutes) A miraculous child survives not only the homicidal raging of an angry demi-god, but also an icy immersion in a magic river and the venomous bite of a deadly snake. Then the child turns two, and his real adventures begin.
THE COMMENTARY: THE ACHILLES STORIES THAT I DID NOT TELL YOU (16 minutes; begins at 38:00) I begin this episode of post-story commentary by discussing the reasons for the popularity of “Achilles stories” in the Bronze Age and Classical Greek world. I then briefly review some of the “birth of Achilles” stories that I chose to leave out of my account of Achilles’ early life. Following that, I review one particular major point of difference between Achilles as I present him in my story, versus Achilles as Homer chooses to portray him in The Iliad. This leads to a discussion of what “Achilles stories” were actually available and known to Homer when he wrote his epic, circa 700 BCE..
Have fun!
Jeff
RELATED IMAGES
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- BOOK A LIVE TELLING or “EDU-TAINMENT” (click here)
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- THE EDUCATION OF ACHILLES, Jean Baptiste de Chaimpaigne c 1650 (child Achilles taking on men twice his size; check out Chiron’s hooves!)
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- THE EDUCATION OF ACHILLES, James Barry 1772 (does anybody else think this scene is totally implausible?)
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- THE BAPTISM OF ACHILLES, Honore Daumier 1842
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- THETIS IMMERSES SON ACHILLES, Antoine Borel 1743-1810
Jeff,
“A gender defect”; nice euphenism..
I never heard the version, where Thetis drown the first six boys. I thought they died in an nectar and fire attempt at immortalization.
Fun as usually
Bill
I think it’s a mistake to make Achilles like supeman. A side note: Alexander the Great was tutored by Aristotle.
I think it’s a funny coincidence to your after thoughts.
Once you arrive at Episode 17: ACHILLES’ HEEL, you will note that I devote the full post-story commentary to the question of how to “tell” Achilles: as fully mortal, or as Styx-protected. I review the various arguments (and sources) for each perspective, then offer a rationale for the story line I eventually settled on. Did I make a “mistake”? Possibly. Storytellers since the Bronze Age have confronted the “problem” of how to portray Achilles.
Thanks for offering your perspective.
Jeff
I am thoroughly enjoying these podcasts. Discovered recently after a comment you wrote in The Guardian newspaper re. the release of the BBC /Netflix release of ‘Troy Fall of a City’.I have listened to all of the WTF podcasts and now I am on to these. I too had never heard the version of Thetis’s 6 drowned babies. As a kid , the version my father read to me had Thetis burning the baby Achilles’s flesh and then immediately dipping him into water from the river Styx . Peleus heard the baby’s screams and discovered Thetis in the process of doing this. He banished her from the palace and so she was not able to complete her work , leaving Achilles vulnerable at both heels from which she held him.
By the way , Mount Pelion in Greece where Achilles was tutored by Cheiron is a gorgeous place to visit . I would recommend a holiday there any time. My Greek grandma grew up there and it is a wild and beautiful part of Greece.
Best wishes,
Diana Patel