In Homer's Iliad, the warrior Asteropaios grazed Achilles's elbow with a spear beside the River Scamander and drew blood. Homer did not describe Achilles as invulnerable everywhere except his heel. The earliest surviving account of his mother dipping him in the River Styx appears in Roman poet Statius's unfinished Achilleid from the first century AD. In that version, she held Achilles by one heel and left it vulnerable.
Previous Fact Next Fact