Your Achilles tendon is one of the strongest tendons in your body. The tendon is crucial in helping facilitate movement, running and a host of other activities on your feet. Since it’s such an important tendon, tearing your Achilles can be one of the most crippling foot injuries, which is followed by months and months of rehab.
But today, we’re not going to focus on Achilles tendon injury prevention or treatment techniques. Instead, we’re going to examine how the tendon got it’s name.
Greek Mythology
The answer to the question lies in Greek mythology. According to the story, Achilles was born to Peleus and Thetis. Achilles was raised by his mother, Thetis, who wanted to keep him safe for all eternity. In an effort to make Achilles immortal, Thetis dipped him in the River Styx, but she didn’t want him to get swept away by the current, so she held him by his heels. Because his feet never touched the water, he has only invincible above the heel.
Fast forward a few years. Achilles grew to be one of the largest men in the country, and he was a fierce and dominant warrior. The Trojan War broke out, and with the help of the Achilles, the Greeks ravaged several cities around Troy over the first nine years of the war. In the 10th year, a quarrel with the Greek commander Agamemnon led Achilles to stop fighting. Achilles’ closest friend, Patroclus, impersonated Achilles on the battlefield, but he was struck down by Hector, the eldest son of the King of Troy.
Saddened and enraged that Patroclus had been killed, Achilles challenged Hector to a battle, and the Greek warrior came out victorious. Despite felling Hector, the war was far from over. The war continued, and Achilles became public enemy number one for Paris, son of Priam and brother of Hector. As the legend goes, while the Greeks were attempting to take Troy, Paris saw an opportunity to exact his revenge. No other man had been able to strike down Achilles in battle, so Paris readied a poison tipped arrow and drew his bow. Guided by the god Apollo, the arrow struck Achilles in the heel, the spot where he was vulnerable. The poison took hold, and Achilles died a short while later.
The tendon was first credited to Achilles in writing in 1693 by Dutch anatomist Philip Verheyen. In his text Corporis Humani Anatomia, Verheyen referred to the cord of Achilles as “tendo achilles.”