Wiktionary
n. (plural of Achaean English)
n. (Achæan English)
Wikipedia
The Achaeans (; Akhaioí) constitute one of the collective names for the Greeks in Homer's Iliad (used 598 times) and Odyssey. The other common names are Danaans (; Danaoi; used 138 times in the Iliad) and Argives (; ; used 182 times in the Iliad) while Panhellenes ( Panhellenes) and Hellenes (; Hellenes) both appear only once; all of the aforementioned terms were used synonymously to denote a common Greek civilizational identity. In the historical period, the Achaeans were the inhabitants of the region of Achaea, a region in the north-central part of the Peloponnese. The city-states of this region later formed a confederation known as the Achaean League, which was influential during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.
Achaeans are the inhabitants of Achaea in Greece. However, the meaning of Achaea changed during the course of Ancient history, and thus Achaeans may refer to:
- Achaeans (Homer), a name used by Homer in the Iliad for Mycenaean-era Greeks in general
- Achaeans (tribe), one of the major tribes of Greece according to the Hesiodic foundation myth
- Achaea (ancient region), historical inhabitants, during the Archaic and Classical periods, of the Peloponnesian region of Achaea
- Achaea Phthiotis, a region of ancient Thessaly
- Achaean League
- Achaea, the modern Greek administrative unit
The Achaeans (; , Achaioi) were one of the four major tribes into which the people of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Ionians and Dorians). According to the foundation myth formalized by Hesiod, their name comes from Achaeus, the mythical founder of the Achaean tribe, who was supposedly one of the sons of Xuthus, and brother of Ion, the founder of the Ionian tribe. Xuthus was in turn the son of Hellen, the mythical patriarch of the Greek ( Hellenic) nation.
Historically, the members of the Achaean tribe inhabited the region of Achaea in the northern Peloponnese. The Achaeans played an active role in the Greek colonization of southern Italy, founding the city of Kroton in 710 BC. The city was to gain fame later as the place where the Pythagorean School was founded. Unlike the other major tribes (Ionians, Dorians and Aeolians), the Achaeans did not have a separate dialect in the Classical period, instead using a form of Doric.
Usage examples of "achaeans".
Trojans in this battle, and if Apollo were to have his way, the Achaeans would be wiped out.
This captain, unless I am mistaken, is named Orus and will be killed by Hector in a few weeks when the Trojan hero begins massacring Achaeans by the gross.
Argives, still another name for the Achaeans, the Danaans, the damned Greeks with so many names, were in no position to hand over more booty to their leader now.
Holograms of Achaeans and Trojans flicker here and there, many of them showing life-sized, full-color, three-dimensional images of the men and women as they argue or eat or make love or sleep.
Thetis to punish his fellow Achaeans for the shame that Agamemnon has heaped on him?
Diomedes steps forth, body and face and shield blazing, the light evidently apparent even to the other mortals, visible to his fellow Achaeans and the opposing Trojans.
Invisible to the Achaeans, Apollo is pointing at the panting and recovering Diomedes.
I can barely keep Hera in her place, especially when she decides on some little pet project close to her heart, such as slaughtering the Achaeans to a man.
But then again, with Helen removed as the prize for Agamemnon and Menelaus, and Achilles still sulking in his tent, would mere plunder be enough to keep the tens and tens of thousands of other Achaeans in the fight?
Book Seven has the Achaeans building their defensive wall and trench near the shore, but you and I know that those defenses have been there since the first month after they arrived.
I was the stealthiest and craftiest of all the Achaeans, and also, because I had been within the walls of Troy before, more then ten years earlier, sent there to lead a delegation tasked with peacefully negotiating the release of Helen before our black ships arrived in force and a war began.
Nightenhelser is shocked by my unprofessional behavior and by the reaction of other Achaeans nearby.
Trojans or Achaeans the way I have seen this month, back that god or goddess comes to Olympos, whipped on by my lightning and scourged by my thunder, eternally disgraced, banned henceforth from Olympos.
His followers obey, the entire Trojan army and allies shouting as if from a single throat and surging forward en masse, rolling over the retreating Achaeans like a bronze-and-leather tsunami.
When Achaeans manage to rally against the Trojan onslaught in a brave clump of resistance here or there, a bolt of blue energy from the roiling clouds explodes among them like a cosmic grenade and the thunder that follows mixes with the cries of dying men.