Achilles Heel - Trojan War

       The war itself is complex, but most of the violent issues began with hatred. Hatred devours the one who hates. There were a lot of tangled strings and twists of the war but it taught most of the readers, including me, one thing, that you should not be lead by hatred or hunger for power. Achilles' hunger for honor and his hatred when his dear friend dies sent him to blindness. According to History.com, "Achilles was vengeful and quick to anger and could be petulant when he did not get his way." According to the Iliad, when Hector died, he pleaded for a noble funeral in Troy, however, Achilles which was blinded by hatred was determined to humiliate his foe even in death. The legends then said that after returning Hector's body to his father, he then continued his revenge for Patroclus death, however, the also spiteful Apollo told Paris that the warrior was coming. Paris then shot Achilles with an arrow on the heel, where he was vulnerable. Noticing that these brave warriors were blinded with hatred, which led them to Hades. 

       As I've stated above, the story is in deep twists and turns, you could not expect what's going to happen next, because of this, I've done my research. Searching to do any of these did happen? The Homeric works are known as The Iliad and The Odyssey are among the most well-known works of literature. According to History.com, "A Germn archaeologist uncovered a site, known as Hisarlik, which many experts believe is the fabled city of Troy.". The city was destroyed sometime in the Bronze Age. Nevertheless, the question of whether or not that damage was the work the greeks is unsolved. According to the same article, "Sources are limited and experts are still divided over whether the story in the Illiad represents an actual war." Despite the uncertainty of its existence, the war taught a lot of readers a great lesson. I started reading the war when I was in eighth grade when someone close to me asked me to read it. 

       The Iliad is a piece of literature that has driven a lot of readers to the ends of their dilemmas. We saw the lesson in different ways. My perception of the lesson was that you should ever be led by your pride and hatred, for it only devours you alive. 

       The death of many in the war was the cost of pride. For me, the reason why the term, "Achilles' heel" in the modern age means weakness, because maybe Achilles was a great warrior but he did not think enough of the outcomes of his actions, and it resulted to him dying with his heel shot, (even though a prophecy already told his mother about that.) And this would be a reminder in the modern era that a great hero of Greece has fallen because his weakness was not his heel but his mind because of pridefulness and hatred. That the one who hates will be consumed by hatred itself.