Achilles' heel
Achilles' heel
From a post-Homeric myth transmitted by the Roman writer Hyginus (1st century BC). The oracle predicted the mythical hero Achilles (Greek - Achilles) to die under the walls of Troy, so his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, wanting to give her son immortality, dipped him into the sacred waters of the River Styx, while holding him by the heel. Thus, the boy's heel was left unwashed and therefore unprotected. And when the already adult Achilles fought under the walls of Troy, it was in this only vulnerable spot that Paris’ arrow hit, which caused the death of the hero.
Allegorically: a weak, vulnerable place.
Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.
Achilles' heel
IN Greek mythology Achilles (Achilles) is one of the strongest and bravest heroes; it is sung in Homer's Iliad. A post-Homeric myth, transmitted by the Roman writer Hyginus, reports that Achilles' mother, the sea goddess Thetis, in order to make her son's body invulnerable, dipped him in the sacred river Styx; while dipping, she held him by the heel, which did not touch the water, so the heel remained Achilles’s only vulnerable spot, where he was mortally wounded by Paris’s arrow. The expression “Achilles’ (or Achilles’) heel that arose from this is used in the meaning: a weak side, a vulnerable spot of something.
Dictionary of catch words. Plutex. 2004.
Synonyms:
See what "Achilles' heel" is in other dictionaries:
In a figurative sense: a person’s weak side; This saying comes from the following: according to Greek legends, the mother of Achilles, wanting to make her son immortal, immersed him in a magical spring, so that only the heel for which she took him... ... Dictionary foreign words Russian language
- (foreign) weak side (easily vulnerable). Wed. The absence of a clearly conscious goal is Achilles' heel all administrators who received training from Dussault and the establishment of artificial mineral waters. Saltykov. Pompadours. Wed. We have a lot of these... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)
Defect, roughness, flaw, gap, deficiency, flaw, slack, weak link, slack, complex, liability, flaw, imperfection, wormhole, shortcoming, weakness, minus, weakness, vulnerable spot, negative point, weakness,… … Synonym dictionary
Dictionary Ushakova
ACHILLES' HEEL. see heel. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 … Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
ACHILLES' HEEL- what is the only or most vulnerable place. This means that a position, plan, etc. (P) or a person or group of persons (X) has a disadvantage, a weakness (Z). speech standard. ✦ Z Achilles heel X a R. In the role of a nominal part of a tale, less often additional... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language
Achilles' heel- Book Units only Weak side, most vulnerable point. = Weak point. Achilles heel of whom? men, athlete, theories, programs...; Achilles heel who? the critic, he, we... And he had an Achilles heel, and he had weaknesses...... ... Educational phraseological dictionary
Achilles' heel- only units , stable combination, book. The weakest, most vulnerable place of someone. or what? What kind of person is this Nevelsky? This is the Achilles heel of Zavoika (Zadornov). Etymology: From the proper name Achilles, Achilles (Greek Achilleus) and the words... ... Popular dictionary of the Russian language
Statue "Dying Achilles" (Ernst Herter, 1884). Achilles' heel post-Homeric myth (transmitted by the Roman poet Hyginus ... Wikipedia
- (foreign) weak side (easily vulnerable) Wed. The absence of a clearly conscious goal is the Achilles heel of all administrators who were educated by Dussault and in the institution of artificial mineral waters. Saltykov. Pompadours. Wed. We have a lot of these Achilles... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary
Books
- The Achilles heel of intelligence, M. E. Boltunov. The author of this book, a military journalist and writer, having studied recently declassified archival documents, introduces readers to the stunning stories of the unsung heroes who provide communication...
Let's move on to one of the most famous phraseological units Ancient Greece.
"Achilles' heel" reminds us that even a demigod has a weak spot.Are given meaning, history and sources of phraseological units, as well as examples from literary works.
The meaning of phraseology
Achilles' heel is a weak point
Synonyms: weak point, flaw, disadvantage
IN foreign languages There are direct analogues of the phraseological unit “Achilles’ heel”:
- Achilles heel (English)
- die Ferse des Achilles (German)
- el talon de Aquiles (Spanish)
Achilles' heel: the origin of phraseological units
An ancient Greek myth tells that the mother of Achilles (Achilles), the sea goddess Thetis, was alarmed by the oracle's prediction that her son would die under the walls of Troy. So she dipped the baby Achilles in the Styx, whose waters give invulnerability. However, the waters of the river did not touch Achilles’ heel, by which Thetis held him.
Further, according to the “Myths” of Hyginus, Thetis, wanting to save her son from participating in the fatal campaign against Troy for him, hid him with Lycomedes, king of the island of Skyros, where Achilles, dressed as a woman, was among the royal daughters. But she failed to deceive fate. Odysseus used a cunning trick, under the guise of a merchant, laying out women's jewelry in front of the girls and mixing weapons with them. Suddenly he ordered a battle cry and noise to be raised, and Achilles, who immediately grabbed his weapon, was discovered. As a result, the exposed Achilles was forced to join the Greek campaign.
In the battles near the walls of Troy, Achilles defeated 72 enemy soldiers. However, an arrow shot from the bow of Paris, the son of the ruler of Troy, Priam, and directed by the hand of Apollo himself, hit Achilles in the heel, and he died. Before this, Achilles had the imprudence to insult Apollo.
Sources
The legend of the Achilles heel is set out in the “Myths” of the Roman writer Hyginus (64 BC - 17 AD).
However, there is an earlier image on a 6th century amphora. BC e., where Achilles is depicted wounded in the leg.
Examples from the works of writers
The absence of a clearly conscious goal is the Achilles heel of all administrators who were educated by Dussault and in the establishment of artificial mineral waters. (M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, “Pompadours”)
We...found the weak side of this Achilles... his intrigue with the Moldovan princess... he can be confused in these snares... (I. I. Lazhechnikov, “Ice House”)
- Follow me and see what happens. - Why do you need me? - I sighed. However, it was already clear to me that I would go: curiosity is my Achilles heel. (M. Fry, “Volunteers of Eternity”)
So, the example with the Achilles heel is good shows us, how one small vulnerability can lead to the downfall of a seemingly invincible demigod. This also happens regularly in everyday life. This is probably why this phraseological unit is so well preserved in our language.
By the way, you can look at the Achilles heel and on the other hand: if it had not been there, then all the drama of Achilles’ heroic life would have disappeared, and only predetermined victories would have remained. It would be quite boring.
In Greek mythology, Achilles (Achilles) is one of the strongest and bravest heroes; it is sung in Homer's Iliad. The post-Homeric myth "Achilles' Heel", transmitted by the Roman writer Hyginus, reports that Achilles' mother, the sea goddess Thetis, in order to make her son's body invulnerable, dipped him in the sacred river Styx; while dipping, she held him by the heel, which was not touched by the water, so the heel remained Achilles’s only vulnerable spot, where he was mortally wounded by Paris’s arrow. The expression “Achilles’ (or Achilles’) heel that arose from this is used in the meaning: a weak side, a vulnerable spot of something.
"Achilles' heel" quote:
Perhaps, if his reproach had revealed regret for the past, a desire to please her again, she would have been able to respond to him with caustic ridicule and indifference, but it seemed that only his pride was insulted, and not his heart, the weakest part of a man, like the heel Achilles, and for this reason it remained outside her shots in this battle (M. Yu. Lermontov, Princess of Lithuania, 6).
The Achilles heel of Owen [one of the utopian socialists of the 19th century] is not in the clear and simple foundations of his teaching, but in the fact that he thought that it was easy for society to understand his simple truth (A. I. Herzen, Past and Thoughts, b, 9, 2. Robert Owen).
“Everyone has their own Achilles’ heel,” continued Prince Andrei (L.N. Tolstoy, War and Peace, 1, 1, 24).
The unsuitability of Comrade's formula. Martov’s idea is that anyone and everyone can declare themselves a member of the party, every opportunist, every idle chatterer, every “professor” and every “high school student.” This Achilles heel of his formulation Comrade. Martov tries in vain to speak through such examples when there can be no question of self-enrollment as a member, of declaring oneself a member (V.I. Lenin, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, Complete collection works, vol. 8, p. 257).
The phraseology Achilles heel is known to most of us, but, nevertheless, not everyone knows the meaning of Achilles heel. So where did this expression come from and what is the meaning of the Achilles heel? The legend about Achilles became famous thanks to the Roman writer Gaius Julius Hyginus.
The legend describes the life of the famous Achilles, who subsequently performed a large number of feats. According to the myth, at the birth of Achilles, his mother was predicted that her son would either live a long but inglorious life and die in old age, or he would become a hero, but die tragically in his youth at the walls of Troy. Thetis, the mother of Achilles, was worried about the life of her son and decided to make him invulnerable. To do this, she took the child by the heel and plunged him headlong into the waters of the River Styx, which, according to legend, was sacred and flowed through the underworld of Hades (the god of the underworld of the dead in ancient Greek mythology). But Achilles' heel was the only one that did not touch the sacred waters.
Many years later, Achilles went on a military campaign with like-minded people to Troy, where he died from an enemy wound who hit his heel with an arrow. Since then, the expression Achilles heel has the meaning of the weakest and most vulnerable place in a person, just as Achilles’ heel was.
How is the expression Achilles heel used today?
The significance of Achilles' heel emerges from this beautiful legend. Every person has a place where he will take a blow, both literally and figuratively, most painfully. This is one of the most weaknesses a person through which it is possible to influence and influence him in pursuit of his goals.
We hope that this article helped you quickly and easily understand the essence of the expression Achilles heel.
The meaning of the phraseological unit “Achilles' heel” is a weak, vulnerable spot in someone or something. If this expression is used in relation to a person, it can characterize both his moral and physical appearance. Moreover, as a rule, the expression “Achilles’ heel” has an ironic and mocking connotation.
We owe the origin of the phraseological unit “Achilles’ heel” to the myths of Ancient Greece, or more precisely, to the myth of the ancient Greek legendary hero Achilles or Achilles. Heroes were born from the marriages of gods with mortals and had some supernatural qualities for mortal people, but were not immortal. Carrying out the will of the gods, they performed various feats, for which people created legends about them. This is what happened with Achilles.
His parents were Thetis, the sea nymph, and Peleus, the son of the Aeginetan king Aeacus. According to the prediction, their son together will live long life or he will become a hero and die at the walls of Troy.
Therefore, Thetis, wanting to find out whether her child was immortal or not, dipped the newborn into boiling water. This is how six children of Thetis died. When the seventh child was born, Peleus insisted that Thetis not perform her inhuman experiments on him. As you guessed, this child was Achilles. However, Thetis, wanting to make her son invulnerable, according to one version, put Achilles in the divine furnace of the god of fire and patron of the blacksmith's craft, Hephaestus, while holding him by the heel. According to another version, Thetis dipped Achilles into the sacred waters of the underground river Styx in the kingdom of the dead Hades. Thus, Achilles had one weak spot - his heel. Hence the expression “Achilles' heel”, meaning a weak, unprotected place.
When the Greeks were about to attack the Trojans, the king of Ithaca Odysseus and the king of Pylos Nestor wished to see Achilles in the ranks of their army. Having received a blessing from his father, Achilles joined the campaign against Troy.
Thetis, remembering the prophecy and wanting to save her son, created a storm, and Achilles' ship ended up near the island of Skyros. There, with King Lycomedes, Thetis hoped to hide Achilles so that he could not take part in the fatal war. To do this, she dressed her son in women's clothing and hid him among the daughters of King Lycomedes. But the cunning and clever Odysseus found out about this. He appeared on the island disguised as a merchant. Odysseus displayed not only dresses, jewelry, but also weapons for the princesses to review. Suddenly, at his order, a noise and a battle cry arose and, by inertia, Achilles took up arms. So the exposed “deserter” had to go on his last campaign.
Achilles accomplished many feats in war, and he defeated many enemies in battles. No one could cope with the hero. But the prediction nevertheless came true. The arrow, fired by the son of the king of Troy, Paris, and directed by the god of light and patron of the arts, Apollo, hit Achilles's only unprotected place - in the heel. Although the wound was not significant, Achilles died.
So every living being, every object is imperfect. And it doesn’t matter whether he hides his shortcomings and shortcomings or not, they are there. According to scientists, even the sun has spots. So this myth suggests that no matter how ideal and invulnerable you may seem, you should not delude yourself and be careless and self-confident, you should beware of chance and be vigilant. After all, as Murphy's law says:
“If there is a chance that something bad could happen, it will happen.”
In Greece, on the island of Corfu, in the Achilleion Palace, a statue of Ernst Gustav Harter “The Dying Achilles”, created by him in 1884, is exhibited. It depicts Achilles trying to remove an arrow from his heel. This statue was made by order of Empress Elizabeth.
And a little anatomy. The origin of the name “Achilles tendon” is the myth of the “Achilles heel”. By the way, this heel tendon is the strongest and most powerful in the human body.
