Achilles (Greek Ἀχιλλεύς, transliterated Akhilleus or Achilleus) was a hero of the Greeks (Achaeans) in the legends of the Trojan War, i.e. the Epic Cycle, and the principal character of Homer's 8th century BC epic poem the Iliad.
The son of Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis, Achilles was a fearsome warrior who chose a short, glorious life over a long and undistinguished one. During the Trojan War, in his wrath over the death of his companion Patroclus, he killed the Trojan hero and defender Hector. According to later traditions he was ambushed and killed by an arrow to the heel shot by Paris (under the guidance of Apollo, who supported Troy against the Greeks), the only part of him not invulnerable.