History Literature / TheAchilleid

* BatmanGambit: Ulysses tricks Achilles into revealing himself by putting a shield and spear in front of him and having a soldier blow a war horn. As a young warrior eager for battle, Achilles instinctively throws off his [[DisugisedInDrag dress and wig]] and takes up arms, forcing him out of hiding and setting him on the path to join the Trojan War.

* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Amphibious people called "tritons" are seen following Neptune as he rides through the ocean, managing to sing underwater despite lacking air and being surrounded on all sides by horrifying {{Sea Monster}}s

* UnwillinglyGirlyGirl: Thetis presents Achilles to Lycomedes as one of these. According to Thetis, Girl!Achilles is a daughter of hers who needs to be taught to carry baskets and look forward to marriage rather than hunt like an Amazon. By selling the demigod as a tomboy who needs to be taught to act femininely, Thetis deftly convinces Lycomedes to rationalize Achilles' obvious masculinity and to keep him away from the soldiers and armories Thetis knows will drive him to join the Trojan War.

* RealMenWearPink: Thetis tries to get Achilles on-board with [[DisguisedInDrag pretending to be a girl]] by appealing to other Greek heroes and gods who took on feminine traits. She mentions that Hercules [[TextileWorkIsFeminine worked as a seamstress]], Bacchus wore fashionable robes, Jupiter shapeshifted into a woman, and the great hero Caenus was [[GenderBender both a man and a woman]]. It doesn't end up convincing Achilles, who inherited a pretty traditional idea of masculinity from his father and his [[TokenHeroicOrc centaur mentor]].

* ParentalNeglect: Even though Thetis only acts to preserve her son's life, she didn't raise him, took him from his father's palace to be raised by a centaur in the wild, and when he does see her again, it's been so long the he takes a moment to even recognize her.

* TokenHeroicOrc: Chiron is described as lacking everything awful about other centaurs. His home has no blood-soaked spears, broken trees, or signs of [[CainAndAbel familial in-infighting]] like all other centaurs have, and instead serves as a place of healing and rest.

* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: When Thetis finds Neptune relaxing, a school of sea monsters are by his side saluting him and peacefully swimming alongside a bunch of dolphins and a choir of [[OurMerfolkAreDifferent tritons]]. Thetis doesn't so much as bat an eye at this and the horrible monsters of the deep cause her no trouble as she politely chats with Neptune.

* TheMuse: As is standard for epic poems, the ''Achilleid
'' begins with the author praying for inspiration from a god. In this case, Statius asks Apollo himself to inspire him and does so by appealing to his previous experience writing poetry.

* SuperToughness: Thanks to being fortified by the River Styx as a child, the narrator states that Achilles' limbs can't be pierced by steel. Since the book ends before Achilles can get into a fight, this remains an InformedAttribute.

* SuperToughness: Thanks to being fortified by the River Styx as a child, the narrator states that Achilles' limbs can't be pierced by steel. Since the book ends before Achilles arrives at Troy, this remains an InformedAttribute.

* {{Prequel}}: The book is set ten years before ''Literature/TheIliad'' and promises to explain how Achilles became the hero of legend. We see how he learned to fight, run, and even practice medicine under Charon, Thetis' early attempts to save him from his fateful death, and even the first meeting of Achilles and the HeroOfAnotherStory, Ulysses.

Despite being short, incomplete, and rarely remembered, the ''Achilleid'' has had a profound effect on later depictions of Achilles and Greek heroes in general. Statius appears to be the inventor of Achilles' famous invulnerability, his origin of being dunked in the River Styx as a child, and the fact that his heel was, well, an AchillesHeel. Like most of Statius' works, it was incredibly popular in the Medieval Europe and he was considered an equal to the likes of Creator/{{Virgil}} and Creator/{{Ovid}}. It's influence is particularly pronounced on later examples of epic poetry like ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' and ''Literature/TheFaerieQueen''.