Achilles - The Greatest Warrior in Greek Mythology And his Greatest Love | Mixed Media Art Project for Cosmic Creations Theme (Mythology) - No 1

After completing the Cosmic Creations Contest theme "Mythology", I wanted to share with you another mixed media art project related to the theme. The theme for this project is "Achilles and his love for Briseis."

There's still time if you want to participate by checking out the contest post above.

I share below the mixed media art in my series for the "Mythology" Prompt.

ACHILLES and BRISEIS (Greek Mythology)

Theirs was a love story that was destined not to end well. He was from Greece. His name was Achilles. She was from Troy. Her name was Briseis. They met during the Trojan War. And they parted in the Trojan War. Tragically, his love for her lead to his demise. A mighty warrior who fell in love with a beautiful woman. She ended up being his weakness and ultimately led to his death, as he died saving her life.

The Greek Mythology story told through the epic poem The Iliad by Homer. The Trojan War was a large part of that poem. Power and pride were the themes that rose up and escalated throughout the fifty two days the poem covers. Today, Homer is regarded as the one of the greatest poets in the ancient world.

Achilles. Before he left for the war, his mother, who was gifted with foresight, warned him that he would not return to her. He calmly attempted to ease her worries by reminding her that he was the greatest warrior in Greece. No harm would come to him.

In the Iliad, Homer acquaints us with the Queen of the Gods, Hera, and her support of Achilles. She protects their voyage to Troy as best she can. She wants to see Troy destroyed because of Paris doubting her beauty and choosing others. Opposing her is Zeus, who favors Troy.

It would seem as though Hera would protect Achilles from being killed. But she allows the situation to play out. Her main goal is the destruction of Troy.

During the battle of Troy, Achilles is victorious in defeating the prince of Troy, Hector. However, he meets Briseis, and falls in love with her.

His words to her are telling in that I believe Achilles is growing weary when he says, "You give me peace in a time of war."

Briseis. She was the niece of King Priam of Troy. She was considered royalty, and she was beautiful. She's taken prisoner in one of Troy's temples as she worships the gods and given to King Agamemnon of Greece. Dissension between the king and Achilles over Briseis mounts until he relents and hands her over to Achilles.

Briseis' effect upon Achilles lies in the fact that she questions his motives for waging war. He frequently responds, reminding her that his name will live on and be remembered in history as the great warrior.

Shielding Briseis from the Greek Army attacking the Trojan palace who would have killed her upon sight, she and Achilles are discovered together in the garden. It is Paris, prince of Troy who sees them together. Paris mistakes Achilles' protection as harm.

He shoots an arrow into Achilles' heel and wounds him. He continues the arrow assault until Achilles falls. Briseis decides to stay with Achilles, but he urges her to leave for safety.

He dies inside the walls of Troy. His comrades fault his one weakness in his love for Briseis. Throughout history, they name given for anyone's weakness is his "Achilles' heel".

For this month's contest theme involving Mythology, my theme reflects on a young princess' effect upon the hero of the Trojan War, Achilles. In the project, I attempt to visually portray their differences, and at the same time show their love for each other with the butterfly. If you notice, a butterfly is placed at the Achilles' heel. Doing this signifies the well-known adage of "Achilles"Heel". His weak spot. Made famous by this epic poem, the words have been used throughout history as a person's weakness that may lead to their ultimate downfall.

From one of the popular stable diffusion programs I use, StarryAI, I retrieved four images; One for Achilles; one for Briseis, one for the background butterfly image; and one for the arrow that will penetrate Achilles' heel. I used a beautiful butterfly to signify their love for each other.

Below are my steps in the creation process:

Accompanying the stable diffusion images were several of my pure fractals I felt would enhance the scene. My intention was to surround them on the scene in various areas. But especially, the pure fractal I titled Yellow Turbine. This one I saved as the background of my scene.

With all images selected, blending them required a design program. The one I use regularly is Canva. I uploaded them to take advantage of the pro features, such as background removal, sizing, colorizing, and filters.

To a blank, white canvas, I added the stable diffusion butterfly image.

Resized the butterfly image, then duplicated it to fill the entire screen as a background.

Added the egg and shooting star fractals. Repositioned and resized them.

Added the Turbine fractal. Resized it to fit half the screen; then duplicated it to cover the butterfly. The effect was ethereal.

Added stable diffusion images for Achilles and Briseis.

Removed backgrounds from Achilles and Briseis. Repositioned and resized them.

Added the stable diffusion arrow image.

Removed the background from the arrow. Added the flowers. Removed their background. Then added the stepping stones fractal. This completed the project.

Below is the completed project.

Thanks for your visit. I hope you liked my mixed media art project entry for Alien Art Hive's Contest for the mythology theme - No. 1.