ABSTRACT

This chapter presents the controversy over the relationship between the Iliad and the Epic Cycle poems, and more specifically, the relationship between the Iliad and the Aethiopis. The death of Achilles is recounted in the Aethiopis, a poem attributed to Arctinus of Miletus that in five books and around 2,500 to 3,000 verses continues the story of the Trojan War from the point where Homer concluded the Iliad. The poem related the Amazon Penthesilea's arrival in Troy, and her successful combat on the side of the Trojans until she is killed by Achilles. The cult of Achilles is attested in many parts of the Greek world and it continued throughout antiquity, especially in the northern Black Sea area. In the Romance languages, the word for "heel" is derived from talus, the Latin word for ankle, leading to the erroneous belief that it is Achilles' heel that is vulnerable.