Pride can lead to excess

Achilles was a man of great pride, and so a man of great excess.

Notice his character was given the extremes of being the most handsome, most skilled, the bravest, etc… of all the Greeks.

With that came excessive pride. It was this excess that caused him to refuse to budge when it came to Agamemnon. As a result, many Greeks died in the battle that might otherwise not have. Including his great friend Patroclus. It is Patroclus death that is the impetus for Achilles great rage which we see in this instalment.

On another note, you will meet the Roman god ‘Vulcan’ today. We’re not talking about Mr Spock, we’re talking about the lame son of Zeus and Hera. He is the forger of all things required by the gods. He is also with us today in language as the origin of something we are all familiar with hearing about.

You see Vulcan works in a cave with molten metal and rock. While in times past it may have been seen as a workshop to the gods, today we see this place as a ‘Volcano’.

There is another name of note that we can take a look at. That of ‘Achilles’ himself. The story goes that Achilles was dipped in the river Styx when he was an infant, so making him invulnerable to all harm. However, he must have been held somewhere while this was being done or he would have been lost at that time. Turns out he was held near the ankle. Today we call the tendon that runs from the heel bone to the calf the ‘Achilles’ Tendon’

Come, “once more unto the breach dear friends…”

As read from: Classic Myths to Read Aloud

by William F. Russell

Tim R.

It is a privilege to read to the world.