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a full proof disguise though as Achilles courted the daughter of Lycomedes, Deidamia, a courtship which produced a son, Neoptolemus. It was also a disguise that the Greek hero Odysseus saw through.

The Greek forces stopped off at the court of Lycomedes on their way to Troy, and Odysseus tricked Achilles into revealing himself. This was done by the placement of fine dress and jewellery by King Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces, amongst the women in the court, at the same time armour and weapons were also put on display. Achilles gave himself away by being the only "woman" in court more interested in armaments over finery. Upon his discovery though Achilles gladly joined the Greek forces as they sailed for Troy, and he was given command of a group of some of the finest soldiers, Myrmidons from his native Aegina.

Most sources about the early life of Achilles have him making a choice about how he would lead his life. The choice was to live a long life without glory or fame, or to have a short life that would see his name live forever. Perhaps as most young people would do, Achilles chose for him the life of glory.

It is after this point that Homer's Iliad becomes the main source of information about the life of Achilles. Upon the landing of the Greek forces in Trojan territory, Achilles immediately started to show himself to be the bravest and most courageous of all of the Greek forces, and he is credited with the capture of over twenty individual Trojan settlements. One of these settlements provided Achilles with a prize in the form of the beauty Briseis, it was though only a prize that Achilles owned briefly as King Agamemnon took her for himself, after the loss of one of his own prizes. This was a slight against Achilles, and so from that point on he refused to fight for the Greek forces again.

Without their greatest warrior the war started to go badly for the Greeks. As Achilles stayed by his tent, fight after fight, and battle after battle were lost, and slowly the Greek forces were diminished and pushed back to their original landing position. Despite the pleas of his fellow Greeks, Achilles though would not come to their rescue. His closest companion, Patroclus, though was allowed to make use of Achilles' armour to fight the advancing Trojans. Patroclus though was no Achilles and in his first battle Patroclus was killed by the Trojan prince Hector. Thinking that the great Achilles had been killed, Hector even stripped the body to take the armour as

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