Achilles Killing Hector (1875)
Achilles was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and the nymph Thetis, thus he was a mortal/divine hybrid. At his birth, his mother tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the River Styx in Hades, but he remained vulnerable at his heel, where she held him while he was immersed.
Anubis is the ancient Egyptian deity governing funerary rites, including embalming, and was a protector of graves. Depicted as a having a human form with the head of a jackal, Anubis was also instrumental as a guide of souls, assisting them across the threshold between life and death.
The Greek goddess of love, beauty and pleasure, Aphrodite was born of the blood and semen from her great-grandfather Cronos’ severed genitals, when they fell into the sea. Aphrodite emerged from the sea-foam fully grown, and floated ashore on a scallop shell.
Apophis is the ancient Egyptian personification of pure evil, depicted as a huge serpent with a head of flint, with no redeeming quality whatsoever. An enemy of the solar deity Ra, bringer of light, who supported the truth and order represented by Maat, Apophis was an embodiment of chaos and disorder, fundamentally opposed to all they stood for.
Arachne was a mortal, gifted in weaving, who boasted that her work was superior to that of the goddess Athena, patroness of crafts. Incensed, the goddess, disguised as an old woman, appeared to Arachne and counseled her to repent her pride and acknowledge Athena’s greater skill.
Asbolus was a centaur, a seer, augur, or prophet for his people, who read signs in the flight of birds. He anticipated the devastating battle with the Lapiths at the wedding of their king, where many centaurs died, and warned them against attending, but went unheeded.
