What is an Achilles Heel Definition and Mythology

The common phrase Achilles heel refers to a surprising weakness or vulnerability in an otherwise strong or powerful person, a vulnerability that eventually leads to a downfall. What has become a cliche in the English language is one of several modern-day phrases that are left to us from ancient Greek mythology. Achilles was said to be a heroic warrior, whose struggles over whether to fight in the Trojan War or not are described in detail in several books of Homers poem ​The Iliad. The overall myth of Achilles includes the attempt by his mother, the nymph Thetis, to make her son immortal. There are various versions of this story in the ancient Greek literature, including her putting him in fire or water or anointing him, but the one version that has struck the popular imagination is the one with the River Styx and the Achilles Heel. Statius Achilleid The most popular version of Thetis attempt to immortalize her son survives in its earliest written form in Statius Achilleid 1.133-34, written in the first century AD. The nymph holds her son Achilles by his left ankle while she dips him in the River Styx, and the waters confer immortality on Achilles, but only on those surfaces that contact the water. Unfortunately, since Thetis dipped only once and she had to hold onto the baby, that spot, Achilles heel, remains mortal. At the end of his life, when the arrow of Paris (possibly guided by Apollo) pierces Achilles ankle, Achilles is mortally wounded. Imperfect invulnerability is a common theme in world folklore. For example, there is Siegfried, the Germanic hero in the Nibelungenlied who was vulnerable only between his shoulder blades; the Ossetian warrior Soslan or Sosruko from the Nart Saga who is dipped by a blacksmith into alternating water and fire to turn him into metal but missed his legs; and the Celtic hero Diarmuid, who in the Irish Fenian Cycle was pierced by a venomous boar bristle through a wound to his unprotected sole. Other Achilles Versions: Thetiss Intent Scholars have identified many different versions of the Achilles Heel story, as is true for most ancient history myths. One element with lots of variety is what Thetis had in mind when she dipped her son in whatever she dipped him in. She wanted to find out if her son was mortal.She wanted to make her son immortal.She wanted to make her son invulnerable. In the Aigimios (also spelled Aegimius, only a fragment of which still exists), Thetis--a nymph but the wife of a mortal--had many children, but she wanted to keep only the immortal ones, so she tested each of them by putting them in a pot of boiling water. They each died, but as she began to carry out the experiment on Achilles his father Peleus angrily intervened. Other versions of this differently crazy Thetis involve her unintentionally killing her children while attempting to make them immortal by burning off their mortal nature  or simply deliberately killing her children because they are mortal and unworthy of her. These versions always have Achilles saved by his father at the last minute. Another variant has Thetis trying to make Achilles immortal, not just invulnerable, and she plans to do that with a magical combination of fire and ambrosia. This is said to be one of her skills, but Peleus interrupts her and the interrupted magical procedure only changes his nature partially, making Achilles skin invulnerable but himself mortal.   Thetiss Method She put him in a pot of boiling water.She put him in a fire.She put him in a combination of fire and ambrosia.She put him in the River Styx. The earliest version of Styx-dipping (and youll need to blame or credit Burgess 1998 for this expression that will not leave my mind soon) is not found in the Greek literature until Statius version in the first century CE. Burgess suggests it was a Hellenistic period addition to the Thetis story. Other scholars think the idea may have come from the Near East, recent religious ideas at the time having included baptism. Burgess points out that dipping a child in the Styx to make it immortal or invulnerable echoes the earlier versions of Thetis dipping her children into boiling water or fire in an attempt to make them immortal. Styx dipping, which today sounds less painful than the other methods, was still dangerous: the Styx was the river of death, separating the lands of the living from the dead. How the Vulnerability was Severed Achilles was in battle at Troy, and Paris shot him through the ankle then stabbed him in the chest.Achilles was in battle at Troy, and Paris shot him in the lower leg or thigh, then stabbed him in the chest.Achilles was in battle at Troy and Paris shot him in the ankle with a poisoned spear.Achilles was at the Temple of Apollo, and Paris, guided by Apollo, shot Achilles in the ankle which kills him. There is considerable variation in the Greek literature about where Achilles skin was perforated. A number of Greek and Etruscan ceramic pots show Achilles being stuck with an arrow in his thigh, lower leg, heel, ankle or foot; and in one, he reaches calmly down to pull the arrow out. Some say that Achilles wasnt actually killed by a shot to the ankle but rather was distracted by the injury and thus vulnerable to a second wound. Chasing the Deeper Myth It is possible, say some scholars, that in the original myth, Achilles was not imperfectly vulnerable because of being dipped in the Styx, but rather because he wore armor--perhaps the invulnerable armor that Patroclus borrowed before his death--and received an injury to his lower leg or foot that was not covered by the armor. Certainly, a wound cutting or damaging what is now known as the Achilles tendon would hinder any hero. In that manner, Achilles greatest advantage--his swiftness and agility in the heat of battle—would have been taken away from him. Later variations attempt to account for the super-human levels of heroic invulnerability in Achilles (or other mythic figures) and how they were brought down by something ignominious or trivial: a compelling story even today. Sources Avery HC. 1998. Achilles Third Father. Hermes 126(4):389-397.Burgess J. 1995. Achilles Heel: The Death of Achilles in Ancient Myth. Classical Antiquity 14(2):217-244.Nickel R. 2002. Euphorbus and the Death of Achilles. Phoenix 56(3/4):215-233.Sale W. 1963. Achilles and Heroic Values. Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics 2(3):86-100.Scodel R. 1989. The Word of Achilles. Classical Philology 84(2):91-99.

Drug Research Proposal - 882 Words

There are many different methods of dispersing and accumulating data from subject self-reports, but for the purpose of this research proposal we have elected to adopt a method used in relatively recent study published by the Journal of Drug Issues entitled: â€Å"Substance Use, Drug Treatment, and Crime: An Examination of Intra-Individual Variation in a Drug Court Population†. In order to measure illegal opioid use and its effects on theft rates, we will follow the framework guidelines set forth by Gottfredson, Karley, and Bushway (2008). The study will contain the measures listed, (a) criminal activity listed by type of crime, (b) if criminal activity was directly motivated by the desire to acquire additional drugs, and (c) substance abuse†¦show more content†¦If the same individual is interviewed again several months later while the subject is no longer attending rehabilitation or living on the street, the results may differ tremendously. Incarceration can influence the accessibility of drugs and the opportunity for a user to commit crime. Interviewers will only track and assess subjects in halfway houses, psychiatric facilities, individuals who are homeless, and other known areas of abundant drug circulation (streets). For research clarity, we would like to note that interviewers will not be assessing subjects in jail or prison, as both locations inhibit a subjects’ ability to obtain and/or use illegal substances, as well as their opportunity to partake in criminal activity. Criminal Activity Measures Interviewers will ask subjects to look at a calendar and state whether or not they had committed a series of different crimes for the previous 12 months. Crimes listed are to include: break-in, theft, auto-theft, fraud, forgery, shoplifting, robbery, selling of drugs, and or prostitution. Subjects are asked to respond â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† for each listed crime. 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Response to William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience Free Essays

INNOCENCE v EXPERIENCE 109 UWA 2012 William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience was combined in 1794. Having compiled Songs of Innocence in 1789, Blake intended that he was writing happy rhymes that all children may enjoy (Norton Anthology pg 118 footnote 1). Not all the poems reflect a happy stance, many incorporate injustice, evil and suffering. We will write a custom essay sample on Response to William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience or any similar topic only for you Order Now Blake represents these aspects of the world through the eyes of ‘innocence’. In contrary Blake’s Songs of Experience were written as ugly and terrifying versions of the same world. These poems were used to reflect a ghastly representation of the world as one of poverty, disease and war. The Songs of Innocence were penned around the end of the American Revolution and the start of the French Revolution, although Blake would have worked on them for years prior. The Songs of Experience were etched during the middle and toward the end of the revolution and reflect how the poet’s view of the world had been affected and changed by the horrific events. Blake’s work is a compilation of a number of ‘songs’. Although each can stand as an independent poem many from Songs of Innocence have a pair in Songs of Experience such as â€Å"Infant Joy† – â€Å"Infant Sorrow†, â€Å"The Lamb† – â€Å"The Tyger† and â€Å"The Ecchoing Green† – â€Å"The Earth’s Answer. † Taking â€Å"Infant Joy,† from Songs of Innocence, it is told from the perspective of a baby â€Å"but two days old. † The baby is perceived as happy and joyous through lines such as â€Å"joy is my name/Sweet joy befall thee! † and plays on the common ideology that infants are happy and loveable. Yet, its counterpart â€Å"Infant Sorrow,† from Songs of Experience, still told from the perspective of the new born, presents the harsh reality of child birth: â€Å"My mother groand! My father wept. /Into the dangerous world I leapt. † The organisation of the work in this way presents two contrasting views of the world from the same perspective. I believe that the main problem that motivates Blake appears to be the comparison between childhood innocence and what we really experience in the world. The modern idea of wearing ‘rose tinted glasses’ springs to mind, in the sense that as a child we view the world as this magnificent, beautiful nd happy place but as we grow and learn more about ourselves and the world our experiences begin to taint that ‘innocent’ view and the world becomes ugly, harsh and cruel. The primary focus of Blake’s work is to create contrast between the fanciful, innocent view of the unjust, evil and suffering world and the harsh reality that suffering, war, poverty and disease really bring. These songs would have been read to children and it can be presumed that it was Blake’s attempt to teach them something about the world in which they were living through engaging their imaginations with his use of poetry. How to cite Response to William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, Essay examples

The Downtown Hotel

Question: Write about the Downtown Hotel. Answer: Downtonw Hotel is located at the CBD of Sydney city, which has captured the hearts of many people working around the city. Downtown Hotel is a classy, cool, and uniquely made hotel that offers traditional Australian dishes such as fish, the christmas shortbread, pavlova, prok meat,and some green vegetables. The interior of the restaurants' walls are pale blue coloured, furnished with leather L-shaped white coaches, chronologically arranged in congruence with classy round-shaped wooden tables. Interestingly, the restaurant is the dinner/lunch preferred destination with a very fast Wi-fi internet connection in Sydney, which attratcts so many customers. To sum it all, Downtown is one of a kind, which outstandingly meets many customer demands, with their meals and top-noth services being immersely outstanding. Honestly, i must credit Downtown hotel for its unique strucure and meals. Ultimately, any customer who has ever been at Downtown can ascertain that thevalue for money spent in the hotel is far much worth. In fact, Downtown makes every customer feel their value for their money, revolving aroud the tasty meals, the free internet connection, and the service rendered. Moreover, Downtown has enough space, romantic and cool environment, with cool music that plays in background. Apparently, the comfortable leather-couch sofas can accommodate more than 45 people at a go. Uniquely, Downtown hotel offers the traditional Australian dishes, which range from pork meat, kangaroo meat (though rarely), the meat pies, the green vegetables, as well as the seafood dominatng the resturants menu. Ultimately, having a dinner/lunch at Downtown is a decision that propels the customers' value for own money. On 24th Tuesday, in April, and on 3rd, Friday of May, i visited the restaurant for lunch and diner respectively. For the lucn I orderd fried chilly fish fillet, with some spiced Asian rice. The order was accompanied by some beef stew as a token of customers' visit. Comparig this meal to our (Fast Foods Restaurant) rice and fish meal, the Dowtowns meal has very standard spices, catchy smell, and the soup offered as a token of appreciation, Downtown dishes are more attractive and customers derive their value for their money. By contrast, Downtown Hotel has the best environment for private dates, private meals, relaxing, and getting the most tasty dishes in town, a notion that Fast foods has failed to achieve. After a careful scrutiny of the Downtowns Hotels' value for money derivation by customers, Fast foods widely lags behind the standards of the competitor, Dowtown Hotel. Clearly, Downtown remains a strong competitor and threat to Fast foods for its respect for customers' value for their money at large. MEMORANDUM TO: FOOD AND BEVARAGE MANAGER IMPERIAL RESTAURANT CC: FROM: DATE: 5/04/2017 SUBJECT: Evaluation process for Fast Foods Hotel Following the abrumpt decrease of customer base in our Hotel, Fast Foods Hotel,the Downtown Hotel has been a major threat to the scetor. Fast Foods Hotel has been experiencing low customer turn up as well as decreased sales volume. For instance, Fast Foods Hotel has been extensively advertising on Australian national TVs to increase sales purchases. For this reason, i have decided to posit this memo to the Fast Foods Manager, to employ some competitive measures in congruence to the Downtown competition edge to effectively compete favorably, and remain as a going concern as well as coping with the dynamic technological world, and the constantly changing consumer needs and preferences. Infact, the Down Town Hotel, pose as serious competition to Fast Foods Hotel, an issue that ought to be accommodated in the Fast Foods Hotel competitive edge. Due to the growth of the technological know-how and the changes in the norm of doing business, the Dowtown Hotel has captured the consumer needs a nd preferences value for money indexing. Therefore, Downtown has been the main reason, and competitor to our hotel, and thus strategic decisions should be drafted as soon as possible to curb the deteroriating Fast Foods Hotel. By adopting some strateties, the Fast Foods manager ought to compete favorably in the town; by offering meals and services that match the customers' value for their money in respect to meals offered, modern meals that satisfy the need of diverse consumers needs, as well as focusing on the decoration of the restaurant. I will be glad to share my observations with you, and very ready to as comply with any decision you make. Yours faithfully, Name