The Ghost of Achilles on Snake Island

By this point, I imagine that most of my readers have probably already heard that, on 24 February 2022, the first day of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, a pair of heavily armed Russian warships attacked Snake Island, snip...

One thing that many of my readers may not know is that Snake Island... Λευκή, Leukḗ which means “White Island.” This island is prominent in Greek literature, mythology, and folklore, chiefly because the Greeks believed that Achilles’s mother, the immortal goddess Thetis, transposed his mortal remains, along with those of Patroklos, and interred them in a hero shrine on this island, making it their final resting place.

Several classicists have already written posts about Snake Island’s classical connections, including Mateusz Stróżyński in the online open-access journal Antigone, Peter Gainsford on his blog Kiwi Hellenist, and Christopher Stedman Parmenter on the Society for Classical Studies blog. All of these posts, though, overlook what are, in my personal opinion, the most fascinating stories about the island, which are told by the Greek sophist Philostratos of Athens (lived c. 170 – c. 250 CE) in his dialogue Heroïkos, chapters 54–57. According to Philostratos, the ghosts of Achilles and Helene of Sparta haunt the island together as lovers. (Yes, you read that right; I said Helene, not Patroklos.) The stories he tells about their hauntings on the island are simultaneously captivating and bizarre.

A little background about ancient Greek hero cults

Before I say anything more about Snake Island or Achilles, I feel it is very important to clarify exactly what the word hero means in an ancient Greek context. Snip.... Properly speaking, the Greek word hḗrōs refers to a person who has died and become a supernatural being to whom people can make offerings.

The ancient Greeks believed that human beings who had done big and important deeds while they were alive on earth as mortals could sometimes retain the ability to accomplish big things after their deaths as hḗrōes. Like deities, hḗrōes were believed to possess the power to intervene in the affairs of living humans for better or worse. The Greeks believed that they could make hḗrōes favorably disposed to them by giving them offerings. By extension, they believed that, with the right offerings, they could persuade hḗrōes to do things that they wanted.

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More: https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2022/03/05/the-ghost-of-achilles-on-snake-island/