Talk:Achilles

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Semi-protected edit request on 16 April 2025

Under consorts, add "Medea (in the Elysian Fields)" if needed, see Medea's wiki page and reference n#13 (Apollonius of Rhodes. Jason and the Argonauts. Translated by Poochigian. Penguin Classics. p. 179. ISBN 978-0143106869) Theban Prophetess (talk) 15:35, 16 April 2025 (UTC)

 Done Szmenderowiecki (talk) 12:46, 21 June 2025 (UTC)

That primary source, an epic poem, says only that Hera, in persuading Thetis (the mother of Achilles), told her that Achilles was fated to marry Medea. No primary source is offered now or at Medea that says they did marry, and no secondary source provided saying that this was attested in Greek mythology. See also WP:GRECOROMAN.  Undone NebY (talk) 13:39, 21 June 2025 (UTC)

NebY Well, I checked the text of Medea and I thought this adequately supported the edit request. Besides, Achilles is in Medea's infobox. You may want to change it if it is undeed untrue Szmenderowiecki (talk) 13:43, 21 June 2025 (UTC)

Yes, I went on to tag the statement in the body of our Medea article and now that you've pointed it out, I've removed him from her infobox too - thank you. Sadly, our Greek mythology articles are too often another example of Wikipedia not being a reliable source, particularly the infoboxes. NebY (talk) 13:51, 21 June 2025 (UTC)

I've reworked the sentence, citing a secondary source and a relevant primary source (Apollodorus). I don't see that this information needs to be placed in the infobox, though: is this a "key fact" (see MOS:IBP) about Achilles? She is one of a handful of figures described (in post-Homeric sources) as the consort of Achilles after his death – others include Helen, Polyxena, and Iphigenia – and I would certainly oppose adding all of these to the infobox. – Michael Aurel (talk) 02:45, 22 June 2025 (UTC)

if only Nestor's page could have the same treatment. ~2025-43489-13 (talk) 16:56, 28 December 2025 (UTC)

Request for new namesake

I want to request an addition to the "namesakes" section with the addition of the M-10 QF 17-pounder "Achilles" tank destroyer. Dinofrog10 (talk) 02:05, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

That's in Achilles (disambiguation), linked in the hatnote at the top of the article. There are many such uses of "Achilles", as you'll see there. Broadly speaking, for any article we want content that has sources establishing te content's relevance and significance with respect to the article's subject. The principles in MOS:CULTURALREFS are useful here too. NebY (talk) 16:38, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

ohhhhhhhh, thank you that makes sense its just because since I saw ships in the namesakes and thought it was on the line of military hardware relating to the name Dinofrog10 (talk) 00:37, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Requesting Removal of Line About Achilles' Heel

Under Reception during antiquity > In Greek tragedy, I suggest removing the line "eventual death when an arrow shot by Paris and guided by Apollo punctures his heel". The current fragments of Aeschylus' play didn't make mention of this at all (at least, that I could find). My research comparing Aeschylus' contemporaries who also wrote about Achilles also do not mention his vulnerable heel. From what I can find, the heel story is a later Roman addition, mainly from Statius' Achilleid. Juliahuth (talk) 04:34, 11 June 2026 (UTC)

Yes, it sit does sit oddly after all our material on the late mentions of the heel. It was first added without a source in 2006 as "eventually gets killed by Paris when an arrow punctures his heel". Since then, Pantelis Michelakis, Achilles in Greek Tragedy, 2002 has been added as a source for some following text. I don't have access to that and it's not clear that it's a reference for everything preceding. I don't think we lose much by trimming that brief overview to "The tragedies relate the deeds of Achilles during the Trojan War, including his defeat of Hector and eventual death." I'll do it now. NebY (talk) 11:16, 11 June 2026 (UTC)

Apparent contradiction within paragraph

It appears there is a contradiction in the paragraph I will paste below from the wiki:

"Penthesilea and Memnon Later works, including the Aethiopis (seventh century BCE) and a work named Posthomerica, composed by Quintus of Smyrna in the fourth century CE, relate further events from the Trojan War. When Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares, arrives in Troy, Priam hopes that she will defeat Achilles. After his temporary truce with Priam, Achilles fights and kills the warrior queen, only to grieve over her death later. Initially taken aback, he did not fight as intensely as usual. Once he realized that his distraction was endangering his life, he refocused and killed her."

Achilles seems to kill Penthesilea twice and not in two retellings of the event. It seems that Achilles kills her, regrets it, then kills her again after resolving an internal conflict.

I am familiar with Homer but not this particular story. Any clarification or more concrete revision would be highly appreciated. ~2026-35426-79 (talk) 02:51, 17 June 2026 (UTC)

Good catch. The text after "grieve over her death later" is an extended retelling of the same story. It was added in 2009 and has since been trimmed but never integrated into the text, and it still doesn't add anything very substantial for readers of this long article. I'll remove it. NebY (talk) 10:03, 17 June 2026 (UTC)