Acheron (ak′e-ron) (modern Fanarioticos), the ancient name of several rivers in Greece and Italy, all of which were connected by legend with the lower world. The principal was a river of Thesprotia in Epirus, which passes through Lake Acherusia and flows into the Ionian Sea. Homer speaks of Acheron as a river of the lower world, and late Greek writers use the name to designate the lower world.
Acheulian, a term applied by archæologists to the late stage of Chellean civilization in the Pleistocene Age. It is named after St. Acheul in the Somme valley, where relics of it were found. The geological horizon, according to Professor James Geikie, is late Second Interglacial and Third Glacial periods.
Ach′iar, or At′char, an Indian condiment made of the young shoots of the bamboo pickled.
Achievement (a-chēv′ment), in heraldry, a term applied to the shield of armorial bearings generally, or to a hatchment (q.v.).
Achill (ak′il), the largest island on the Irish coast, separated from the mainland of Mayo by a narrow sound, now bridged over. The chief occupation is fishing. The island is mountainous, has fine scenery, and is visited by many tourists, there being now a railway terminus here, and many recent improvements. Pop. nearly 7000.
Achillæ′a, the milfoil genus of plants.
Achilleion, famous castle at Corfu, which used to belong to the Empress Elizabeth of Austria. It was acquired by the ex-Kaiser William II, who bought it from the Archduchess Giséla, wife of Prince Leopold of Bavaria.
Achilles (a-kil′ēz), a Greek legendary hero, the chief character in Homer's Iliad. His father was Peleus, ruler of Phthia in Thessaly, his mother the sea-goddess Thetis. When only six years of age he was able to overcome lions and bears. His guardian, Cheiron the Centaur, having declared that Troy could not be taken without his aid, his mother, fearing for his safety, disguised him as a girl, and introduced him among the daughters of Lycomedes of Scyros. Her desire for his safety made her also try to make him invulnerable when a child by anointing him with ambrosia, and again by dipping him in the River Styx, from which he came out proof against wounds, all but the heel, by which she held him. His place of concealment was discovered by Odysseus (Ulysses), and he promised his assistance to the Greeks against Troy. Accompanied by his close friend, Patroclus, he joined the expedition with a body of followers (Myrmidons) in fifty ships, and occupied nine years in raids upon the towns neighbouring to Troy, after which the siege proper commenced. On being deprived of his prize, the maiden Briseïs, by Agamemnon, he refused to take any further part in the war, and disaster attended the Greeks. Patroclus now persuaded Achilles to allow him to lead the Myrmidons to battle dressed in his armour, and he having been slain by Hector, Achilles vowed revenge on the Trojans, and forgot his anger against the Greeks. He attacked the Trojans and drove them back to their walls, slaying them in great numbers, chased Hector, who fled before him three times round the walls of Troy, slew him, and dragged his body at his chariot-wheels, but afterwards gave it up to Priam, who came in person to beg for it. He then performed the funeral rites of Patroclus, with which the Iliad closes. He was killed in a battle at the Scæan Gate of Troy by an arrow from the bow of Paris which struck his vulnerable heel. In discussions on the origin of the Homeric poems the term Achilleid is often applied to those books (i, viii, and xi-xxii) of the Iliad in which Achilles is prominent, and which some suppose to have formed the original nucleus of the poem. See Iphigenia.
Achilles' Tendon, or Tendon of Achilles,
the strong tendon which connects the muscles of the calf with the heel, and which may be easily felt with the hand. The origin of the name will be understood from the above article.