Achilles' weak spot
Alternative descriptionsA notch at the end of the arrow shaft for easy installation of the arrow on the string.
In technology, a shaft journal that carries axial load
The top stone (or series of stones) of a support on which an arch or vault rests
Back of human and bear foot
The end of the shaft of a polearm bladed weapon, to which the inflow is attached
The lower, supporting part of an arch or vault
Shaft journal supporting axial load
Unsharpened area at the blade hilt
Film by Vladimir Gardin "Iron..."
The story of the American writer D. London “Iron...”
The place where Achilles was held while bathing him in the Styx
Part of the foot
Achilles's...
Vulnerable at Achilles
Achilles weakness
Back of the foot
Achilles' weak point
The organ that killed Achilles
Shaft journal in technology
Weakness of Achilles
Achilles' weak spot
Bottom of the arch
Achilles is vulnerable
Back of the foot (obsolete)
Not the strongest point of Achilles
Achilles' weak point
Lower human support
The area at the blade hilt
Arch support top stone
Achilles' weakness
Failed Achilles
Paris target
Paris stung Achilles with it
Achilles weakness
Achilles's stable
. Achilles' "weak link"
Arch support
Standing beam support
Achilles' weak spot
Shaft journal supporting axial load
The lower supporting part of the arch, vault
Supporting stone under an arch or vault
In technology, a shaft journal that carries axial load
Achilles' heel is a phraseological unit denoting the weakness or vulnerability of an enterprise or person. This could be a personality trait, a feature that spoils life, or an imperfection in the organization of a business - everything that, one way or another, is a hidden flaw that can appear unexpectedly and confuse all the cards.
Let's talk about how this expression appeared and what its original meaning was.
The Myth of Achilles
The expression "Achilles' heel" originates in a myth of the post-Homeric era, transmitted by the Roman poet Hyginus. It talks about the fate of a great hero named Achilles, who was invulnerable to enemy arrows and swords. The secret of his magical protection was that when he was a child, his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, dipped him in the waters. She dreamed of making her son immortal and equal to the gods. However, the protection was not complete. While Achilles was washing in the eternal river, his mother held his heel, which remained dry. She was the hero’s hidden vulnerable spot.
During the siege of Troy, Achilles fought for ten men. It is not surprising, because the weapon could not cause him any harm. The Trojans were on the verge of complete defeat. But then Apollo stood up for them, angry at the insolence of a mere mortal. He directed the arrow fired by Paris directly at Achilles' heel, and the hero was defeated.
Since then, the Achilles heel has meant an unnoticeable and seemingly insignificant feature that may pose a threat to any business.
By the way, the Achilles tendon, named after the hero of the Greek myth, can withstand a load of 400 kg or more and is one of the most vulnerable places in the human body.
The Achilles heel of the modern enterprise
Let's take a closer look at the concept of hidden vulnerability using the example of modern enterprises.
Any company is a complex system, which means that there are flaws hidden somewhere that are not visible to the surface.
The Achilles heel of a company is a weak point from which the destruction of the entire enterprise can begin.
When an ordinary employee does not pay enough attention to his job responsibilities, he does not know that his carelessness can destroy the entire carefully built structure if his actions touch that very painful point.
In order to avoid such risks, most large Western and domestic companies pay a lot of attention to creating a corporate culture, which helps to increase discipline and motivation of employees.
Any owner of a successful large company needs to understand where this point is. If he cannot strengthen this place yet, then at least he should pay special attention to it.
Every industry has its weak link. For example, it is generally accepted that in aviation the main threat to safety is the human factor, that is, unreliable and unpredictable people on whom the control of complex machines depends.
Sometimes such a flaw can be a minor event, which along the chain can lead to complete collapse. It is almost impossible to predict the outcome; the only way to control such accidents is to introduce preventive measures. For example, creating rules of behavior in various situations and so on.
The Achilles heel is a myth familiar to many from childhood, warning of the danger that lies in carelessness and self-confidence. Any accident or ambiguity in contracts can become a weak link and turn into a threat to the life of the enterprise.
It says: “If trouble can happen, it will definitely happen.” This means that you cannot give this trouble a single chance, you need to be extremely vigilant.
This ancient Greek hero, who came with a hundred thousand army under the walls of Troy, and became the central character of Homer’s poem Iliad, had in abundance everything that from time immemorial has been the pride of a real man. The gods generously rewarded him with strength, courage, beauty and nobility. He was deprived of only one thing in life - happiness.
Mortal descendants of the inhabitants of Olympus
We know who Achilles is from the works of many ancient authors, the most famous and authoritative of which is Homer. From the pages of his immortal poem we learn that those who inhabited the top of Olympus used to descend to earth and marry mortal people who had earned this honor in one way or another.
If you believe the ancient legends, only heroes were born from such unions, combining an endless list of virtues that placed them above all other inhabitants of the earth, into whose lives they brought order and harmony. And only one problem deprived them of complete happiness - they were born mortals.
Son of the earthly king and the sea goddess
It so happened that the Phthian king Peleus once turned the head of the sea goddess Thetis. He found his way to the heart of the queen of the depths, and the fruit of her momentary weakness became the legendary Achilles, who inherited from his mother all the virtues inherent in the gods, but remained mortal through his father.
Wanting to fill this gap, Thetis resorted to an old and proven remedy, lowering him immediately after birth into the waters flowing in the underworld. As a result, the baby’s entire body was covered with an invisible but impenetrable shell that no weapon could hit. The only exception was his heel, by which his mother held him, lowering him into the water.
She became his only weak point, and it was kept secret. But looking ahead, it should be said that the one who killed Achilles, and he ended his life, despite all the efforts of Thetis, like a mere mortal, knew about this. The name of the killer will be named only at the end of the story, so as not to violate the laws of the genre and not reduce the severity of the plot intrigue.
Mentors of the young prince
To raise the future hero, his father selected two mentors for him. One of them was the old and wise Phoenix, who taught the boy decent manners, medicine and the composition of poems, without which in those days one could be considered an ignoramus and a boor. The second was a centaur named Chiron.
Unlike his fellow tribesmen - cunning and treacherous creatures, he was distinguished by his openness and friendliness. His whole pedagogy, however, boiled down to the fact that he fed Achilles bear brains and roasted lions. But such a diet clearly benefited the boy, and at the age of ten he could easily kill wild boars with his bare hands and overtake deer.
Escape to Skyros Island
When the war began, in which the Greeks with their many allies approached the walls of Troy, where Queen Helen reigned, recognized as the most beautiful woman of all times and peoples, our hero was fifteen years old. By the way, this detail allows us to determine with certain accuracy what year Achilles lived. Historians date the beginning to the turn of the 13th and 12th centuries BC, which means he was born around 1215 BC. uh or so.
The goddess Thetis, despite the fact that by lowering her son into the waters of Six, made him almost immortal, nevertheless allowed the possible death of Achilles. She decided not to take risks and protect him from the campaign in which he was obliged to take part. For this purpose, the goddess, by the power of magic, transported her son to the island of Skyros, where he, in women's clothing, hid from being drafted into the army among the daughters of the local king Lycomedes, who naively trusted in his chastity.
Odysseus's trick
However, soon the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, learned the whereabouts of Achilles and sent Odysseus after him. His envoy was faced with a rather piquant task - to recognize among the young beauties the one who hid his masculine nature under a woman's attire. And Odysseus coped with it brilliantly.
Disguised as a merchant, he laid out luxurious fabrics, jewelry, and other things for which women have always had a weakness in front of the princesses, and between them, as if by chance, he left a sword. When, at his command, the servants issued a battle cry, all the girls ran away screaming, and only one of them grabbed a weapon, revealing herself to be a man and a warrior.
They escorted the new recruit on a hike throughout the island. King Lycomedes sincerely grieved, and his young daughter Diedamia shed tears, in whose womb the son of Achilles (a hero is a hero in everything) had been gaining strength for the sixth month.
A hero who brings terror to the enemy
Achilles arrived at the walls of Troy not alone, but accompanied by a hundred thousand army sent with him by his father, King Peleus, who, due to his old age, was deprived of the opportunity to personally take part in the siege of the city. He gave his son his armor, which had once been forged for him and had magical properties. A warrior dressed in them became invincible.
In his poem “The Iliad,” Homer tells how, taking advantage of his father’s gift, his son fought for nine years, terrifying the Trojans and capturing one city after another. Thanks to the magical powers bestowed on him by the waters of the Styx, as well as his father’s armor, he was invulnerable to the enemy, but the one who killed Achilles in the Trojan War (which will be discussed below) knew his weak point, and until time remained in the shadows.
Envy that captivated the warrior's soul
The countless feats performed by Achilles earned him great fame among ordinary warriors and became the reason for the envy that consumed their commander-in-chief Agamemnon. It is known that this low feeling has always pushed people to meanness, and sometimes even to crimes. The Greek military leader was no exception.
One day, returning from another raid, Achilles, among other booty, brought a beautiful captive, whose father Chris was a priest of Apollo. Agamemnon, taking advantage of his position, took her away from Achilles, to which he did not object, since he was then carried away by another slave named Briseis.
Soon the unfortunate priest appeared at the Greek camp and offered a rich ransom for his daughter, but was refused. In desperation, he called on Apollo himself for help, and he, taking the position of his servant, sent a pestilence to the offenders of his daughter. The Greeks did not have time to bury the dead. The soothsayer Kalkhant, who was among them, communicated with the gods and said that death would not recede until Chris received his daughter, and Apollo received rich sacrifices.
Agamemnon had to obey, but in revenge, he took his beloved Briseis from Achilles and sacrificed her to the deity. The hero himself was vilely cursed and insulted in the presence of the soldiers subordinate to him. This act came as a surprise to everyone, since previously the commander-in-chief had a reputation not only as a brave, but also as a completely noble man. There is no doubt that there was some magic here too. Moreover, it is possible that the evil spell was cast on him by the very one who killed Achilles at the end of the poem we are retelling. But his name will be named a little later.
The shamed envious man
Innocently insulted and deprived of his best slave, Achilles refused to continue participating in the war, which brought incredible joy to the Trojans, who trembled at the very sight of him. Appearing on the seashore, he summoned his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, from its depths, and, having heard his story, she begged the supreme god Zeus to help the Trojans defeat the army of Agamemnon and show him that without Achilles, inevitable death awaited them.
That's how it all happened. The accommodating Zeus gave strength to the Trojans, and they began to mercilessly crush their enemies. The catastrophe seemed inevitable, and the vile envious man had no choice but to publicly, in the presence of the same soldiers, apologize to Achilles and, as compensation for the ruined Briseis, give him several beautiful slaves.
The Last Labors of Achilles
After this, the magnanimous Achilles forgave his offender and, with even greater frenzy, began to smash the defenders of the city. One of his most famous feats dates back to this period - victory in a duel with the leader of the Trojans, Hector. Achilles not only managed to put him to flight, but forced him to run around the walls of Troy three times, and only after that he pierced him with a spear.
But the gods did not want to make Achilles a witness to the fall of Troy, and it was their will that was carried out by the one who killed Achilles. Shortly before his death, he accomplished his last feat - he defeated an army of beautiful, but treacherous and evil Amazons, who came to the aid of the Trojans, led by their leader Penthesilea.
Death of Achilles
Ancient authors, who contradict each other in many ways, in their biography of Achilles are nevertheless unanimous in their depiction of his last hour. According to their testimony, one day he tried to break into the besieged city through its main gate. Unexpectedly, his path was blocked by none other than Apollo himself, who had not yet fully reconciled with the Greeks after the story with the daughter of his priest.
Apollo, of course, knew who Achilles was. The fact is that, crowned with the glory of the most beautiful of the celestial beings, he harbored shameful envy and jealousy towards a mortal man, who, like him, was considered the standard of beauty. The harmfulness of this low feeling among people has already been discussed in our story, but in this case the name of the deity was tarnished by it.
Having blocked Achilles's path, but, nevertheless, expecting respectful treatment, he instead received a rude shout and a threat of being pierced with a spear if he did not get out of the way immediately. Insulted, Apollo stepped aside, but only to immediately take his revenge.
Further, the authors differ somewhat in their description of what happened. According to one version, Apollo himself fired the fatal arrow after the offender, and it was he who killed Achilles. According to another, an envious god entrusted this vile deed to Paris, the son of the Trojan king, who happened to be nearby. But since the arrow hit Achilles in his only vulnerable spot, which only Apollo knew about, there is no doubt that it was he who directed its flight. The one who killed Achilles in the heel could not have known his secret. Therefore, the murder of the hero is attributed to Apollo - the most beautiful of the gods, but who was unable to overcome his low and petty feelings.
The story of Achilles inspired a whole galaxy of ancient poets who dedicated their works to him, some of which have survived to this day. Many of them are recognized as the best examples of ancient Greek poetry. There is no doubt that Homer gained the greatest fame among them with his famous poem “The Iliad.” The very death of Achilles gave rise to the popular expression “Achilles’ heel,” meaning a weak, vulnerable spot.
Achilles' weak point
Alternative descriptionsA notch at the end of the arrow shaft for easy installation of the arrow on the string.
In technology, a shaft journal that carries axial load
The top stone (or series of stones) of a support on which an arch or vault rests
Back of human and bear foot
The end of the shaft of a polearm bladed weapon, to which the inflow is attached
The lower, supporting part of an arch or vault
Shaft journal supporting axial load
Unsharpened area at the blade hilt
Film by Vladimir Gardin "Iron..."
The story of the American writer D. London “Iron...”
The place where Achilles was held while bathing him in the Styx
Part of the foot
Achilles's...
Vulnerable at Achilles
Achilles weakness
Back of the foot
Achilles' weak point
The organ that killed Achilles
Shaft journal in technology
Weakness of Achilles
Achilles' weak spot
Bottom of the arch
Achilles is vulnerable
Back of the foot (obsolete)
Not the strongest point of Achilles
Lower human support
The area at the blade hilt
Arch support top stone
Achilles' weakness
Failed Achilles
Paris target
Paris stung Achilles with it
Achilles weakness
Achilles's stable
. Achilles' "weak link"
Arch support
Achilles' weak spot
Standing beam support
Achilles' weak spot
Shaft journal supporting axial load
The lower supporting part of the arch, vault
Supporting stone under an arch or vault
In technology, a shaft journal that carries axial load
The phraseology "Achilles' heel" was given to the world by the ancient Greeks. The legend about the youngest hero of the Trojan War, Achilles, gave rise to the myth of his extraordinary courage and strange death due to an arrow hitting his heel. Over the centuries, this phraseological unit has acquired new interpretations and additions; today its explanation involves several versions.
What is "Achilles' heel"?
What does "Achilles' heel" mean? Initially, this aphorism was deciphered as “the weak side, the vulnerable spot” of a person, meaning both morally and physically. Over time, the expression acquired several more meanings:
- A character trait that ruins the lives of others.
- Imperfections in business management.
- A hidden flaw that appears at the most unexpected moment.
- A minor feature that can become a threat to the overall important cause.
Sociologists have even developed such a stereotype as “The Achilles heel of the modern enterprise.” At first, only the company's shortcomings were considered in this sense. In the modern format "Achilles' heel" - the meaning of phraseological units includes the following concepts:
- A weak point that may cause the liquidation of the enterprise.
- Bad employees or managers whose actions jeopardize the work of the team and the activities of the entire structure.
Where is the Achilles heel?
In the medical reference book, this expression also found its place as a term. The Achilles heel is one of the strongest tendons in the human body, located above the heel. With its help, the triceps surae muscle is attached to the heel bone and is one of the most injured areas. Doctors associate the occurrence of pain in the Achilles heel with:
Who is Achilles?
Who is Achilles in Ancient Greece? The myth calls him the son of the sea goddess Thetis, who made the boy invulnerable thanks to the fire and waters of the Styx. The hero's father was the Marmidonian king Peleus, who forbade his wife to temper his son in this way, and the goddess, in revenge, gave the child to be raised by the centaur Chiron. When the war with Troy began, Thetis knew that Achilles would not return alive, she tried to hide him, but the Greeks managed to lure the young man out, knowing that they could not win without him.
In the Trojan War, Achilles became famous in many battles, single-handedly defeating the cities of Lyrnessos, Pedas and the homeland of Andromache Thebes, Methymne on Lesbos. He defeated one of the main defenders of Troy, Hector, although this victory, as predicted by the gods, was a harbinger of his own death. The absurd death of Achilles created the expression “Achilles’ heel,” which turned into a symbol of a vulnerable spot.
Myths of Ancient Greece - Achilles' heel
What myth of the ancient Greeks gave birth to this idiom? We are talking about the legend about one of the great heroes Achilles, who became famous for his invulnerability. His mother Thetis, according to one version, kept the baby in the fire at night to harden him, and rubbed ambrosia during the day. According to the second version, the goddess dipped the baby into the immortal waters of the Styx, holding him by the heel; this place remained unprotected from mortal wounds. Achilles was one of the youngest heroes of the Battle of Troy, famous for his great courage.
When the Trojans began to suffer defeat, Apollo stood up for them and sent an arrow from the defender of Troy, Paris, into the heel of Achilles when he was shooting from a bow, standing on one knee. This wound to the only weak point became fatal for the hero. The Achilles heel is a myth that also warns that excessive carelessness and self-confidence can be fraught with dire consequences.
Who defeated Achilles?
Myths have preserved the name of the one who killed Achilles, one of the famous heroes of the Trojan War. Paris was the son of Hecuba and the king of Troy, Priam, who became famous for his bravery. His birth promised the death of Troy, and the father abandoned the baby on Mount Ida, but the baby did not die, he was raised by shepherds. When he grew up, he returned to his home, having previously managed to conquer her, recognizing her as the most beautiful. The prince started the Trojan War by kidnapping Menelaus' wife Helen. He fought bravely on the walls of Troy. He was the one who hit Achilles in the heel and managed to defeat the greatest hero of the Greeks.
