From Hero to Heel

The Unintended Legacy of Achilles

A black-figured amphora depicting Achilles slaying Penthesilea, circa 540 BC, made in Greece, found in Viterbo, Italy, now in the British Museum

Historical memory is a very tricky thing. Achiles, Alexander, Julius Caesar and Napoleon all wanted to be remembered, and they were. But just not in the way they had wished they would.

In Homer’s Iliad, Achilles …