According to myth, Achilles had been dipped in magical waters as a babe rendering him invincible to harm by any weapon wielded by human arm. But when he was submerged in the magic waters, there was one place where the waters failed to cover; the heel that was held by the hand of the one dunking him. Thus the one place that Achilles could be harmed was his heel.
Today when we speak of a person's weakness, or a point at which they are particularly vulnerable, we refer to it as their Achilles' heel, in memory of the myth. But Achilles was one of the greatest of the warriors who fought for Greece in the Trojan War. Flamboyant with his golden armour, he was headstrong and bold in battle and captured the imaginations of his soldiers.
For a soldier to be christened Achilles by public acclaim, in honour of his exploits on the battlefield, implies that he too is dashing and bold. It would have no place on the battlefields of today, where generals serve safely in the rear, spending the lives of their countrymen with minimal risk to themselves. But in 19th-century Russia, when generals led the charge into the teeth of cannon fire, they were still the stuff Romantic heroes were made from and more apt to capture the public's imagination.
In Boris Akunin's fourth book translated into English, recounting the adventures of Erast Fandorin, The Death Of Achilles, six years have passed since our hero was last in Moscow, and by the time of his return from his posting in Japan, the annual clock has struck 1882. Any gains that the Holy Russian Empire made in her wars with the Turks have been rolled back by a Europe unified in its wish to contain her power and sphere of influence. But to the populace of Russia, General Michel Sobolev, the dashing hero of the earlier book The Turkish Gambit is still their Achilles.
Erast's delight upon finding that his old friend the general is staying in the hotel that he had just checked into is quickly tempered upon his reporting for work in his new capacity of special assistant to the governor-general of Moscow for special cases. His first investigation turns out to be an inquiry into the death of the hero of the Empire.
Although "Achilles" is found in his room, sitting in a chair, having been felled apparently by a heart attack. Erast is quick to realize there is something amiss. First of all the good general had not died in situ, and what they found in his chambers had been carefully staged in the hopes of creating that impression. In spite of the general's staff's attempts to deter Fandorin from investigating further, by one after another challenging him to duels, he perseveres and traces the generals movements of the night in question.
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