Achilles

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A·chil·les

(ă-kil'ēz),

Mythic Greek warrior, vulnerable to wounding only in his heel. See: Achilles bursa, Achilles reflex, Achilles tendon.

Achilles,

mythical Greek warrior who was vulnerable only in the heel.

Achilles bursa - bursa between the tendo calcaneus and the upper part of the posterior surface of the calcaneum. Synonym(s): bursa of tendo calcaneus

Achilles reflex - a contraction of the calf muscles when the tendo calcaneus is sharply struck. Synonym(s): ankle jerk; ankle reflex; tendo Achillis reflex; triceps surae reflex

Achilles tendon - the tendon of insertion of the triceps surae (gastrocnemius and soleus) into the tuberosity of the calcaneus. Synonym(s): tendo calcaneus

References in periodicals archive ?

With that Homeric source in mind, we are able to see the associated 'marvel' of the two miniature 'Achillean shields'.

Tablet editions: the 'Iliac tablets', which compress entire epic poems into hand-held objects, offer a remarkable insight into the Roman fascination with concepts of scale. With their complex interplay between images and texts, these tiny objects raise much larger questions about visual and verbal representation in the classical world

Approaching Rome, Servain confronts his own Achillean wrath: the revenge-fueled knife murder and decapitation of a Muslim prisoner.

Mathias Enard. Zone

Not only does De Quincey inappropriately take his voice from a dated text he has backhandedly labeled "literature of power" in other writings (by way of Pope's translation), but he cannot even reach the standard of the non-existent Achillean shout, needing to shout twice and shouting a lesser shout.

Keeping time with the mail-coach: anachronism and De Quincey's "The English Mail-Coach"

The Achillean Hero in the Plays of Tirso De Molina.

Books received

(10) His new Achillean epic, Statius pronounces, will not only be a supplement to Homer's version (plura vacant, 4), "filling in the gaps" in the story of Achilles' life, but also, more ambitiously, that it will "lead the youth through the whole story of Troy" (tota iuvenem deducere Troia, 7), and this claim sets his projected epic up for a head-on collision with the Iliad, the epic paradigm that officially could not be surpassed.

Ambiguus sexus: epic masculinity in transition in statius' Achilleid

The elemental force motivating the two protagonists is an Achillean anger powerful enough to annihilate even the stain, itself an elemental imprint on human nature prior to the mark.

The stain and the sign. Poetics in Philip Roth's The human stain

Though Philostratus did not have the benefit of statistical analyses of Homeric and Achillean language, he did of course have a native speaker's knowledge of ancient Greek, and seems to have come to a similar view of Achilles and his language.

Music and immortality: the afterlife of Achilles in Philostratus' Heroicus

Technically, it is like those Byzantine icons described by the painter John Craxton that make a "fascinating and sophisticated use of reverse perspective where the viewer becomes the vanishing point." (32) It reveals to us, through Manos, in each detail, from the rusted lock and the scents arising from the darkling fields, the distant music and lights, an Egypt that we can recognize as one we know; and it also shows us in Manos himself a generosity of spirit that understands the irrelevance of self-sacrifice, foresees futility, betrayal and death, and nevertheless perseveres in what he believes to be a heroic course, without even the Achillean promise of future fame.