Achilles

Achilles was the great hero of the Trojan War. His mother was the Nereid Thetis, who is known for her many interventions in the affairs of both gods and mortals. For example, when Hephaestus was cast by Zeus (or Hera, as some say) from Heaven, and fell into the sea, he was saved by Thetis. And when Dionysus was persecuted by King Lycurgus of the Edonians, he found refuge in the sea with her. And when the Argonauts, after having met the Sirens, encountered Charybdis and Scylla and the Wandering Rocks, Thetis, along with the other Nereids, put them out of danger by steering their ship through those threats.

Thetis helped even Zeus, the king of the Olympians - Once a palace revolt took place in Olympus and the deities Hera, Poseidon and Athena plotted against Zeus, planning to chain him, and taking away his awesome thunderbolts. Thetis averted it by calling to Mount Olympus the Hecatoncheire (One-Hundred-Handed) giant Briareus who squatting down by Zeus and displaying his force frightened the other gods away and undid Zeus's binds, freeing him.

Zeus and his brother Poseidon, the god of the sea, both were in love with Thetis and tried to win her hand in marriage. But the respected Titaness Themis made a prophecy that the son of Thetis would grow up to become mightier than his father, so quickly they changed their minds about her. Instead she married a man named Peleus.

Others say that Hera had raised Thetis as a child, and out of respect for her, Thetis herself refused the offer of Zeus, and to punish her he decided that she would not marry a god but instead a mortal man. Zeus did not stop pursuing Thetis until he learned the prophecy from Themis. And Hera in recognition for what Thetis had done, or rather not done, chose Peleus as Thetis' husband, for according to her, he was the best man on earth at that time.

Still, Thetis was not happy to wed a mere mortal and complained that it was an insult to her status. So when Peleus tried to claim his bride she...