Q 01/05

According to the famous legend, which part of Achilles's body was his only vulnerable spot?

A) His heel

B) His knee

C) His neck

D) His wrist

Answer · why

A) His heel

His heel is a later addition to the story: Homer's Achilles has no weak spot at all, and in the Iliad an enemy spear grazes his arm and draws blood li...

Q 02/05

Who plays Achilles in the 2004 film Troy?

A) Brad Pitt

B) Eric Bana

C) Orlando Bloom

D) Sean Bean

Answer · why

A) Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt injured his own Achilles tendon landing a leap in a fight scene, and the film's final duel had to be finished months later, once he had heal...

Q 03/05

Who is Achilles's mother, a sea nymph?

A) Thetis

B) Calypso

C) Amphitrite

D) Galatea

Answer · why

A) Thetis

Thetis did not marry willingly: her mortal suitor had to keep hold of her while she turned herself into fire, water and wild beasts, and only then did...

Q 04/05

Who is Achilles's father, a king in Thessaly and a former Argonaut?

A) Peleus

B) Telamon

C) Nestor

D) Aeacus

Answer · why

A) Peleus

Peleus reached Thessaly as an exile, driven out of Aegina over the killing of his half-brother; he then killed his new host by accident with a spear m...

Q 05/05

Into which river does Achilles's mother dip him as an infant?

A) Lethe

B) Styx

C) Acheron

D) Cocytus

Answer · why

B) Styx

The Styx was the river the gods swore their oaths by: in Hesiod, a god who broke one lay in a trance for a year and was shut out of their feasts for n...