Editing Achilles (section)

== Reception during antiquity ==

=== In Greek tragedy ===
{{Main|Achilleis (trilogy)}}
The Greek tragedian [[Aeschylus]] wrote a trilogy of plays about Achilles, given the title ''Achilleis'' by modern scholars. The tragedies relate the deeds of Achilles during the Trojan War, including his defeat of Hector and eventual death when an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo punctures his heel. Extant fragments of the ''Achilleis'' and other Aeschylean fragments have been assembled to produce a workable modern play. The first part of the ''Achilleis'' trilogy, ''The Myrmidons'', focused on the relationship between Achilles and chorus, who represent the Achaean army and try to convince Achilles to give up his quarrel with Agamemnon; only a few lines survive today.<ref>Pantelis Michelakis, ''Achilles in Greek Tragedy'', 2002, p. 22</ref> In Plato's ''Symposium'', Phaedrus points out that Aeschylus portrayed Achilles as the lover and Patroclus as the beloved; Phaedrus argues that this is incorrect because Achilles, being the younger and more beautiful of the two, was the beloved, who loved his lover so much that he chose to die to avenge him.<ref>Plato, ''Symposium'', translated Benjamin Jowett, Dover Thrift Editions, page 8</ref>

The tragedian [[Sophocles]] also wrote ''The Lovers of Achilles'', a play with Achilles as the main character. Only a few fragments survive.<ref>S. Radt. ''Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta'', vol. 4, (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977) frr. 149–157a.</ref>

Towards the end of the fifth century&nbsp;BCE, a more negative view of Achilles emerges in Greek drama; [[Euripides]] refers to Achilles in a bitter or ironic tone in ''[[Hecuba (play)|Hecuba]]'', ''[[Electra (Euripides)|Electra]]'', and ''[[Iphigenia in Aulis]]''.<ref name="Latacz 2010">Latacz 2010</ref>

Other contemporary tragedians, such as [[Astydamas]], wrote works on Achilles that are completely lost today.

=== In Greek philosophy ===

==== Zeno ====
The philosopher [[Zeno of Elea]] centred one of [[Zeno's paradoxes|his paradoxes]] on an imaginary footrace between "[[Epithets in Homer#Individuals|swift-footed]]" [[Achilles and the tortoise|Achilles and a tortoise]], by which he attempted to show that Achilles could not catch up to a tortoise with a head start, and therefore that motion and change were impossible. As a student of the monist Parmenides and a member of the Eleatic school, Zeno believed time and motion to be illusions.

==== Plato ====
In ''[[Hippias Minor]]'', a [[Socratic dialogue]] attributed to [[Plato]], an arrogant man named Hippias argues with [[Socrates]]. The two get into a discussion about lying. They decide that a person who is intentionally false must be "better" than a person who is unintentionally false, on the basis that someone who lies intentionally must understand the subject about which they are lying.<ref name="hm">{{cite web |last1=Jowett |first1=Benjamin |author2=Plato |title=Lesser Hippias |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1673/1673-h/1673-h.htm |publisher=Project Gutenberg |date=January 15, 2013}}</ref> Socrates uses various analogies, discussing athletics and the sciences to prove his point. The two also reference Homer extensively. Socrates and Hippias agree that [[Odysseus]], who concocted a number of lies throughout the ''Odyssey'' and other stories in the Trojan War Cycle, was false intentionally. Achilles, like Odysseus, told numerous falsehoods. Hippias believes that Achilles was a generally honest man, while Socrates believes that Achilles lied for his own benefit. The two argue over whether it is better to lie on purpose or by accident. Socrates eventually abandons Homeric arguments and makes sports analogies to drive home the point: someone who does wrong on purpose is a better person than someone who does wrong unintentionally.

=== In Roman and medieval literature ===
The Romans, who traditionally traced their lineage to Troy, took a highly negative view of Achilles.<ref name="Latacz 2010" /> [[Virgil]] refers to Achilles as a savage and a merciless butcher of men,<ref>''Aeneid'' 2.28, 1.30, 3.87.</ref> while [[Horace]] portrays Achilles ruthlessly slaying women and children.<ref>''Odes'' 4.6.17–20.</ref> Other writers, such as [[Catullus]], [[Propertius]], and [[Ovid]], represent a second strand of disparagement, with an emphasis on Achilles' erotic career. This strand continues in Latin accounts of the Trojan War by writers such as [[Dictys Cretensis]] and [[Dares Phrygius]] and in [[Benoît de Sainte-Maure]]'s {{lang|fr|[[Roman de Troie]]}} and [[Guido delle Colonne]]'s ''[[Historia destructionis Troiae]]'', which remained the most widely read and retold versions of the [[Matter of Troy]] until the seventeenth&nbsp;century.

Achilles was described by the Byzantine chronicler [[Leo the Deacon]], not as [[Hellenes|Hellene]], but as [[Scythians|Scythian]], while according to the Byzantine author [[John Malalas]], his army was made up of a tribe previously known as Myrmidons and later as [[Bulgars]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ekonomou |first1=Andrew |title=Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes |date=2007 |publisher=Lexington Books |location=UK |page=123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zomZk6DbFTIC&q=john+malalas+myrmidons+achilles&pg=PA123 |access-date=14 September 2015 |isbn=978-0-7391-1977-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jeffreys |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Croke |first2=Brian |title=Studies in John Malalas |publisher=Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, Department of Modern Greek, University of Sydney |location=Sydney |page=206 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p55mAAAAMAAJ&q=john+malalas+myrmidons+achilles |access-date=14 September 2015 |isbn=978-0-9593626-5-7 |year=1990}}</ref>