ACHILLES, in fabulous history, one of the greatest heroes of ancient Greece, was the son of Peleus and Thetis. He was a native of Phthia, in Thessaly; and, according to the poets, his mother fed him by day with ambrosia, and by night covered him with celestial fire. She dipped him also in the waters of the river Styx, by which his whole body became invulnerable, except that part of his heel by which she held him; and afterwards intrusted him to the care of the centaur Chiron, who, to give him the strength necessary for martial toil, fed him with honey, and the marrow of lions and wild boars, &c. To prevent his going to the siege of Troy, she disguised him in female apparel, and hid him among the maidens at the court of king Lycomedes: but Ulysses discovering him, persuaded him to follow the Greeks. Achilles distinguished himself by a number of heroic actions at the siege. Being disgusted, however, with Agamemnon for the loss of Briseis, he retired from the camp. But returning to avenge the death of his friend Patroclus, he slew Hector, fastened his corpse to his chariot, and dragged it round the walls of Troy. At last Paris, the brother of Hector, wounded him in the heel with an arrow, while he was in the temple treating about his marriage with Philoxena, daughter to king Priam. Of this wound he died, and was interred on the promontory of Sigeum; and after Troy was taken, the Greeks sacrificed Philoxena on his tomb. It is said, that Alexander, seeing this tomb, honoured it by placing a crown upon it; at the same time crying out, that "Achilles was happy in having, during his life, such a friend as Patroclus; and, after his death, a poet
Achilles "poet like Homer." Achilles is supposed to have died 1183 years before the Christian era.
Achillote. See TATIUS.
Tendo Achilles, in anatomy is a strong tendinous cord formed by the tendons of several muscles, and inserted into the os calcis*. It has its name from the fatal wound Achilles is said to have received in that part from Paris the son of Priam.
Achillini (Alexander), born at Bologna, and doctor of philosophy in that university. He flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries, and by way of eminence was styled the Great Philosopher. He was a steadfast follower and accurate interpreter of Averroes upon Aristotle, but most admired for his acuteness and strength of arguing in private and public disputations. He made a surprising quick progress in his studies, and was very early promoted to a professorship in the university, in which he acquitted himself with so much applause that his name became famous throughout all Italy. He continued at Bologna till the year 1506; when the university of Padua made choice of him to succeed Antonio Francatano in the first chair of philosophy, and his fame brought vast numbers of students to his lectures at Padua: but the war, wherein the republic of Venice was engaged against the league of Cambrai, putting a stop to the lectures of that university, he withdrew to his native country, where he was received with the same marks of honour and distinction as before, and again appointed professor of philosophy in Bologna. He spent the remainder of his life in this city, where he died, and was interred with great pomp in the church of St Martin the Great, which belongs to the Carmelite friars. Jovius, who knew Achillini, and heard his lectures, says, that he was a man of such exceeding simplicity, and so unacquainted with address and flattery, that he was a laughing-stock to the part and fancy young scholars, although esteemed on account of his learning. He wrote several pieces on philosophical subjects, which he published, and dedicated to John Bentivogli.
Achillini (Claudius), grandson of the former, read lectures at Bologna, Ferrara, and Parma; where he was reputed a great philosopher, a learned divine, an excellent lawyer, an eloquent orator, a good mathematician, and an elegant poet. He accompanied Cardinal Ludovino, who went as legate into Piedmont; but being afterward neglected by this cardinal, when he became pope under the name of Gregory XV. he left Rome in disgust, and retired to Parma; where the duke appointed him professor of law, with a good salary. He published a volume of Latin Letters, and another of Italian Poems, which gained him great reputation: he died in 1640, aged 66.
Achiotte, or Achiotti, a foreign drug, used in dying, and in the preparation of chocolate. It is the same with what the French commonly call Roseau, and the Dutch Orleans. It has been commonly esteemed a kind of argilla, or earth; but later observers find it a flower, or feed of a tree*, which grows chiefly in very hot countries, as Yucatan, or Campechy, and Guatemala. It is about the size of a plumb-tree, only more tufted; its branches being longer than the trunk. The fruit is inclosed in a rind like a chestnut, except that it is of an oval figure. It begins to open crosswise from the middle to the top; and subdivides
into four parts, having in the middle a beautiful carnation-coloured flower. The tree has no leaves; but instead thereof shoots out filaments like those of saffron, only bigger and longer. Between these grow little soft vermillion-coloured grains, about the size of pepper-corns; which the Indians, separating from the filaments, bake in cakes of about half a pound each; in which form the drug is brought into Europe. The poor people use Achiotte instead of saffron: others mix it as an ingredient in chocolate, during the grinding of the cocoa, the quantity of two drams to a pound, to give it a reddish colour, &c. though this practice was formerly more frequent than at present, the opinion of its being an earth, which even Mr Ray fell into, having discredited its use. Some also use it to dye wax of a vermillion colour. Physicians hold it a good cordial, and preservative against suppression of urine. F. Labat describes the achiotte somewhat differently; especially the preparation of it for dying. The tree, according to him, produces yearly its crops of flowers, of a carnation colour; not unlike wild roses. These are succeeded by a kind of rought pods, or fruit resembling chestnuts, full of small grains; which being fermented in water, and this water afterwards passed through a carribbe sieve, it contracts a red colour. It is then boiled, scummed, set on the fire again, and stirred; till at length it thickens, and will fall loose from the spatula; which is the Achiotte or Rocou in perfection; though to make it more beautiful, they have two further processes, which are described by F. Labat*. According to Savary, to procure the Achiotte, they shake out the grains in an earthen vessel, soak and then wash them in several repeated warm waters, till they have discharged all their vermillion colour: after which, letting the water stand to settle, the fecula at the bottom is taken and formed into little cakes and balls; which when pure, and not adulterated either with red earth, or fine brick-dust, are highly valued. Some also use fire to boil the Achiotte, and give it a farther consistency.