Supriya Joshi asked Madeline Miller:

This question contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

Madeline Miller Thank you so much! And yes, I didn't go with the heel legend because I was using the Iliad as my primary source of inspiration, and it isn't mentioned there at all. In Homer, Achilles is simply an extraordinary warrior, not invulnerable. Our first surviving reference to the heel story is actually quite late. But it seemed like exactly the sort of legend that would grow up around a person like Achilles--someone so gifted that we can only describe them in magical terms. Especially when he's beating you in battle every day! I can just see the Trojans telling each other that of course they can't beat him, haven't you heard? He's invulnerable...

On a completely different note, I once had an orthopedic surgeon tell me that wounds to the heel are quite dangerous, particularly in the time before modern medicine. They are prone to bad infections (being close to the dirty ground), and it would have been quite easy for a warrior to die of one.

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