The Hittite Origins of Achilles

A portion of the paper Elias K. Petropoulos, Homer and the East on Aegean Crossroads History Archaeology Mythology, 2018 was interesting, so I’m putting together some notes here.

Achilles, the hero of the Iliad, may have inherited a Hittite tradition. Ancient Greece and Asia had already been in contact since the late Bronze Age, back when the Hittite Empire was still going strong. Even after the fall of the Hittites, exchange between the Neo-Hittites and the Greeks continued. “Ullikummi,” who appears in the mythology of the Hurrians, the people who founded the Hittite kingdom, has much in common with Achilles.

1. Wrath and revenge are the main themes of the story. Even their names are expressions of wrath and revenge.
2. Each of their mothers is a goddess of the dark, cold Black Sea. Being associated with stone is another thing they share.
3. They were separated from their mother in infancy.
4. Raised in isolation, they received a strict education from a mentor and later became great warriors for the revenge they would one day carry out.
5. They died at a young age.
6. After death, they go to the underworld and the kingdom of the dead.

Homer surely knew about the mythology of the Asian region. The Iliad was written against this backdrop. Of course, the origins of these traditions reach not only to the Hittites but all the way to the Caucasus and the Altai Mountains. The mythological traditions of prehistory are still alive in our own time.

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