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Genealogy of Achilles
Genealogy of Achilles

Genealogy of Achilles

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For more on the genealogy of Achilles, see Achilles Family Tree. Among other notables on the tree, Tantalus may have been the great-great-great grandfather of Achilles, through his son Pelops, since Pelops was, perhaps, the father of Sciron. However, Sciron is best known for coming to the attention of the crime-fighter Theseus*. Another genealogy puts Chiron in Sciron's place, so when Achilles is fostered out to the centaur, Achilles is being kept within the extended family.
[E.1.2] Fourth, he slew Sciron, the Corinthian, son of Pelops, or, as some say, of Poseidon. He in the Megarian territory held the rocks called after him Scironian, and compelled passers-by to wash his feet, and in the act of washing he kicked them into the deep to be the prey of a huge turtle.

[E.1.3] But Theseus seized him by the feet and threw him into the sea.
Apollodorus Epitome

Relationship Between Achilles and Patroclus

Peleus' grandmother, Aegina, is the ancestor of Achilles' friend Patroclus. By some accounts, Patroclus is the son of Menoetius, son of Actor and Aegina. This makes Peleus, who is the son of Aeacus, son of Zeus and Aegina, and Patroclus half cousins, and Achilles and Patroclus half cousins once removed.

As for most of Greek mythology, Timothy Gantz is a great source. According to Gantz, Pindar makes Aegina the mother of Aeacus and fragments of the Hesiodic corpus make Aeacus grandfather of Patroclus.

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