Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles into the River Styx by Peter Paul Rubens (c. 1625; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam)

Born to Peleus and Thetis in Phthia, northern Greece (the Mycenaean heartland). The Fates prophesied a choice: long obscurity or short glory. Thetis dipped the infant in the River Styx, making his entire body invulnerable — except the heel by which she held him. That heel would one day end his life.