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for rape and incest. the law, if enacted, would punish doctors who perform abortions with 10 to 99 years imprisonment and be the most restrictive abortion law in the country. however, on october 29, 2019, u.s. district judge myron thompson blocked the law from taking effect. economy the state has invested in aerospace, education, health care, banking, and various heavy industries, including automobile manufacturing, mineral extraction, steel production and fabrication. by 2006, crop and animal production in alabama was valued at $1.5billion. in contrast to the primarily agricultural economy of the previous century, this was only about one percent of the state's gross domestic product. the number of private farms has declined at a steady rate since the 1960s, as land has been sold to developers, timber companies,

and large farming conglomerates. non-agricultural employment in 2008 was 121,800 in management occupations; 71,750 in business and financial operations; 36,790 in computer-related and mathematical occupation; 44,200 in architecture and engineering; 12,410 in life, physical, and social sciences; 32,260 in community and social services; 12,770 in legal occupations; 116,250 in education, training, and library services; 27,840 in art, design and media occupations; 121,110 in healthcare; 44,750 in fire fighting, law enforcement, and security; 154,040 in food preparation and serving; 76,650 in building and grounds cleaning and maintenance; 53,230 in personal care and services; 244,510 in sales; 338,760 in office and administration support; 20,510 in farming, fishing, and forestry; 120,155 in construction and mining,

gas, and oil extraction; 106,280 in installation, maintenance, and repair; 224,110 in production; and 167,160 in transportation and material moving. according to the u.s. bureau of economic analysis, the 2008 total gross state product was $170billion, or $29,411 per capita. alabama's 2012 gdp increased 1.2% from the previous year. the single largest increase came in the area of information. in 2010, per capita income for the state was $22,984. the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.8% in april 2015. this compared to a nationwide seasonally adjusted rate of 5.4%. alabama has no minimum wage and in february 2016 passed legislation preventing municipalities from setting one. (a birmingham city ordinance would have raised theirs to $10.10.) , alabama has the sixth highest poverty rate among states

in the u.s. in 2017, united nations special rapporteur philip alston toured parts of rural alabama and observed environmental conditions he said were poorer than anywhere he had seen in the developed world. largest employers the five employers that employed the most employees in alabama in april 2011 were: the next twenty largest employers, , included: agriculture alabama's agricultural outputs include poultry and eggs, cattle, fish, plant nursery items, peanuts, cotton, grains such as corn and sorghum, vegetables, milk, soybeans, and peaches. although known as "the cotton state", alabama ranks between eighth and tenth in national cotton production, according to various reports, with texas, georgia and mississippi comprising the top three. aquaculture aquaculture is a large part of the economy of alabama.

alabamians began to practice aquaculture in the early 1960s. u.s. farm-raised catfish is the 8th most popular seafood product in america. by 2008, approximately 4,000 people in alabama were employed by the catfish industry and alabama produced 132 million pounds of catfish. in 2020, alabama produced of the united states' farm-raised catfish. the total 2020 sales of catfish raised in alabama equaled $307 million but by 2020 the total employment of alabamians fell to 2,442. from the early 2000s to 2020, the alabamian catfish industry has declined from 250 farms and 4 processors to 66 farms and 2 processors. reasons for this decline include increased feed prices, catfish alternatives, covid-19s impact on restaurant sales, disease, and fish size. industry alabama's industrial outputs include iron and steel products

(including cast-iron and steel pipe); paper, lumber, and wood products; mining (mostly coal); plastic products; cars and trucks; and apparel. in addition, alabama produces aerospace and electronic products, mostly in the huntsville area, the location of nasa's george c. marshall space flight center and the u.s. army materiel command, headquartered at redstone arsenal. a great deal of alabama's economic growth since the 1990s has been due to the state's expanding automotive manufacturing industry. located in the state are honda manufacturing of alabama, hyundai motor manufacturing alabama, mercedes-benz u.s. international, and toyota motor manufacturing alabama, as well as their various suppliers. since 1993, the automobile industry has generated more than 67,800 new jobs in the state. alabama currently ranks

4th in the nation for vehicle exports. automakers accounted for approximately a third of the industrial expansion in the state in 2012. the eight models produced at the state's auto factories totaled combined sales of 74,335 vehicles for 2012. the strongest model sales during this period were the hyundai elantra compact car, the mercedes-benz gl-class sport utility vehicle and the honda ridgeline sport utility truck. steel producers outokumpu, nucor, ssab, thyssenkrupp, and u.s. steel have facilities in alabama and employ more than 10,000 people. in may 2007, german steelmaker thyssenkrupp selected calvert in mobile county for a 4.65billion combined stainless and carbon steel processing facility. thyssenkrupp's stainless steel division, inoxum, including the stainless portion of the calvert plant, was sold

to finnish stainless steel company outokumpu in 2012. the remaining portion of the thyssenkrupp plant had final bids submitted by arcelormittal and nippon steel for $1.6billion in march 2013. companhia siderurgica nacional submitted a combined bid for the mill at calvert, plus a majority stake in the thyssenkrupp mill in brazil, for $3.8billion. in july 2013, the plant was sold to arcelormittal and nippon steel. the hunt refining company, a subsidiary of hunt consolidated, inc., is based in tuscaloosa and operates a refinery there. the company also operates terminals in mobile, melvin, and moundville. jvc america, inc. operates an optical disc replication and packaging plant in tuscaloosa. the goodyear tire and rubber company operates a large plant in gadsden which employs about 1,400 people. it has been in

operation since 1929. construction of an airbus a320 family aircraft assembly plant in mobile was formally announced by airbus ceo fabrice bregier from the mobile convention center on july 2, 2012. the plans include a $600million factory at the brookley aeroplex for the assembly of the a319, a320 and a321 aircraft. construction began in 2013, with plans for it to become operable by 2015 and produce up to 50 aircraft per year by 2017. the assembly plant is the company's first factory to be built within the united states. it was announced on february 1, 2013, that airbus had hired alabama-based hoar construction to oversee construction of the facility. tourism and entertainment according to business insider, alabama ranked 14th in most popular states to visit in 2014. an estimated 26 million tourists visited

the state in 2017 and spent $14.3 billion, providing directly or indirectly 186,900 jobs in the state, which includes 362,000 international tourists spending $589 million. the state is home to various attractions, natural features, parks and events that attract visitors from around the globe, notably the annual hangout music festival, held on the public beaches of gulf shores; the alabama shakespeare festival, one of the ten largest shakespeare festivals in the world; the robert trent jones golf trail, a collection of championship caliber golf courses distributed across the state; casinos such as victoryland; amusement parks such as alabama splash adventure; the riverchase galleria, one of the largest shopping centers in the southeast; guntersville lake, voted the best lake in alabama by southern living magazine

readers; and the alabama museum of natural history, the oldest museum in the state. mobile is known for having the oldest organized mardi gras celebration in the united states, beginning in 1703. it was also host to the first formally organized mardi gras parade in the united states in 1830, a tradition that continues to this day. mardi gras is an official state holiday in mobile and baldwin counties. in 2018, mobile's mardi gras parade was the state's top event, producing the most tourists with an attendance of 892,811. the top attraction was the u.s. space & rocket center in huntsville with an attendance of 849,981, followed by the birmingham zoo with 543,090. of the parks and natural destinations, alabama's gulf coast topped the list with 6,700,000 visitors. alabama has historically been a popular region

for film shoots due to its diverse landscapes and contrast of environments. movies filmed in alabama include: close encounters of the third kind, get out, 42, selma, big fish, the final destination, due date, need for speed and many more. healthcare uab hospital, usa health university hospital, huntsville hospital, and children's hospital of alabama are the only leveli trauma centers in alabama. uab is the largest state government employer in alabama, with a workforce of about 18,000. a 2017 study found that alabama had the least competitive health insurance market in the country, with blue cross and blue shield of alabama having a market share of 84% followed by unitedhealth group at 7%. banking regions financial corporation is the largest bank headquartered in or operating in alabama. pnc financial services

and wells fargo also have a major presence in alabama. wells fargo has a regional headquarters, an operations center campus, and a $400million data center in birmingham. many smaller banks are also headquartered in the birmingham area, including servisfirst and new south federal savings bank. birmingham also serves as the headquarters for several large investment management companies, including harbert management corporation. electronics and communications telecommunications provider at&t, formerly bellsouth, has a major presence in alabama with several large offices in birmingham. many technology companies are headquartered in huntsville, such as adtran, a network access company; intergraph, a computer graphics company; and avocent, an it infrastructure company. construction brasfield & gorrie, be&k, hoar

construction, and b.l. harbert international, based in alabama and subsidiaries of urs corporation, are all routinely are included in the engineering news-record lists of top design, international construction, and engineering firms. law and government state government the foundational document for alabama's government is the alabama constitution, which was ratified in 1901. with over 850 amendments and almost 87,000 words, it is by some accounts the world's longest constitution and is roughly forty times the length of the united states constitution. there has been a significant movement to rewrite and modernize alabama's constitution. critics argue that alabama's constitution maintains highly centralized power with the state legislature, leaving practically no power in local hands. most counties do not have

home rule. any policy changes proposed in different areas of the state must be approved by the entire alabama legislature and, frequently, by state referendum. one criticism of the current constitution claims that its complexity and length intentionally codify segregation and racism. alabama's government is divided into three coequal branches. the legislative branch is the alabama legislature, a bicameral assembly composed of the alabama house of representatives, with 105 members, and the alabama senate, with 35 members. the legislature is responsible for writing, debating, passing, or defeating state legislation. the republican party currently holds a majority in both houses of the legislature. the legislature has the power to override a gubernatorial veto by a simple majority (most state legislatures require

a two-thirds majority to override a veto). until 1964, the state elected state senators on a geographic basis by county, with one per county. it had not redistricted congressional districts since passage of its constitution in 1901; as a result, urbanized areas were grossly underrepresented. it had not changed legislative districts to reflect the decennial censuses, either. in reynolds v. sims (1964), the u.s. supreme court implemented the principle of "one man, one vote", ruling that congressional districts had to be reapportioned based on censuses (as the state already included in its constitution but had not implemented.) further, the court ruled that both houses of bicameral state legislatures had to be apportioned by population, as there was no constitutional basis for states to have geographically based

systems. at that time, alabama and many other states had to change their legislative districting, as many across the country had systems that underrepresented urban areas and districts. this had caused decades of underinvestment in such areas. for instance, birmingham and jefferson county taxes had supplied one-third of the state budget, but jefferson county received only 1/67th of state services in funding. through the legislative delegations, the alabama legislature kept control of county governments. the executive branch is responsible for the execution and oversight of laws. it is headed by the governor of alabama. other members of the executive branch include the cabinet, the lieutenant governor of alabama, the attorney general of alabama, the alabama secretary of state, the alabama state treasurer, and

the state auditor of alabama. the current governor is republican kay ivey. the members of the legislature take office immediately after the november elections. statewide officials, such as the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and other constitutional officers, take office the following january. the judiciary is responsible for interpreting the constitution of alabama and applying the law in state criminal and civil cases. the state's highest court is the supreme court of alabama. alabama uses partisan elections to select judges. since the 1980s judicial campaigns have become increasingly politicized. the current chief justice of the alabama supreme court is republican tom parker. all sitting justices on the alabama supreme court are members of the republican party. there are two intermediate

appellate courts, the court of civil appeals and the court of criminal appeals, and four trial courts: the circuit court (trial court of general jurisdiction), and the district, probate, and municipal courts. some critics believe the election of judges has contributed to an exceedingly high rate of executions. alabama has the highest per capita death penalty rate in the country. in some years, it imposes more death sentences than does texas, a state which has a population five times larger. however, executions per capita are significantly higher in texas. some of its cases have been highly controversial; the u.s. supreme court has overturned 24 convictions in death penalty cases. it was the only state to allow judges to override jury decisions in whether or not to use a death sentence; in 10 cases judges overturned

sentences of life imprisonment without parole that were voted unanimously by juries. this judicial authority was removed in april 2017. taxes taxes are collected by the alabama department of revenue. alabama levies a 2%, 4%, or5% personal income tax, depending on the amount earned and filing status. taxpayers are allowed to deduct their federal income tax from their alabama state tax, even if taking the standard deduction; those who itemize can also deduct fica (the social security and medicare tax). the state's general sales tax rate is 4%. sales tax rates for cities and counties are also added to purchases.</ref> for example, the total sales tax rate in mobile county, alabama is 10% and there is an additional restaurant tax of 1%, which means a diner in mobile county, alabama would pay an 11% tax on a meal. in

2020, sales and excise taxes in alabama accounted for 38% of all state and local revenue. only alabama, mississippi, and south dakota tax groceries at the full state sales tax rate. the corporate income tax rate in alabama is 6.5%. the overall federal, state, and local tax burden in alabama ranks the state as the second least tax-burdened state in the country. property taxes of .40% of assessed value per year, are the second-lowest in the u.s., after hawaii. the current state constitution requires a voter referendum to raise property taxes. county and local governments alabama has 67 counties. each county has its own elected legislative branch, usually called the county commission. it also has limited executive authority in the county. because of the constraints of the alabama constitution, which centralizes

power in the state legislature, only seven counties (jefferson, lee, mobile, madison, montgomery, shelby, and tuscaloosa) in the state have limited home rule. instead, most counties in the state must lobby the local legislation committee of the state legislature to get simple local policies approved, ranging from waste disposal to land use zoning. the state legislature has retained power over local governments by refusing to pass a constitutional amendment establishing home rule for counties, as recommended by the 1973 alabama constitutional commission. legislative delegations retain certain powers over each county. united states supreme court decisions in baker v. carr (1964) required that both houses have districts established on the basis of population, and redistricted after each census, to implement the

principle of "one man, one vote". before that, each county was represented by one state senator, leading to under-representation in the state senate for more urbanized, populous counties. the rural bias of the state legislature, which had also failed to redistrict seats in the state house, affected politics well into the 20th century, failing to recognize the rise of industrial cities and urbanized areas. "the lack of home rule for counties in alabama has resulted in the proliferation of local legislation permitting counties to do things not authorized by the state constitution. alabama's constitution has been amended more than 700 times, and almost one-third of the amendments are local in nature, applying to only one county or city. a significant part of each legislative session is spent on local legislation,

taking away time and attention of legislators from issues of statewide importance." alabama is an alcoholic beverage control state, meaning the state government holds a monopoly on the sale of alcohol. the alabama alcoholic beverage control board controls the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages in the state. a total of 25 of the 67 counties are "dry counties" which ban the sale of alcohol, and there are many dry municipalities in counties which permit alcohol sales. politics during reconstruction following the american civil war, alabama was occupied by federal troops of the third military district under general john pope. in 1874, the political coalition of white democrats known as the redeemers took control of the state government from the republicans, in part by suppressing the black vote through

violence, fraud, and intimidation. after 1890, a coalition of white democratic politicians passed laws to segregate and disenfranchise african american residents, a process completed in provisions of the 1901 constitution. provisions which disenfranchised blacks resulted in excluding many poor whites. by 1941 more whites than blacks had been disenfranchised: 600,000 to 520,000. the total effects were greater on the black community, as almost all its citizens were disfranchised and relegated to separate and unequal treatment under the law. from 1901 through the 1960s, the state did not redraw election districts as population grew and shifted within the state during urbanization and industrialization of certain areas. as counties were the basis of election districts, the result was a rural minority that dominated

state politics through nearly three-quarters of the century, until a series of federal court cases required redistricting in 1972 to meet equal representation. alabama state politics gained nationwide and international attention in the 1950s and 1960s during the civil rights movement, when whites bureaucratically, and at times violently, resisted protests for electoral and social reform. governor george wallace, the state's only four-term governor, was a controversial figure who vowed to maintain segregation. only after passage of the federal civil rights act of 1964 and voting rights act of 1965 did african americans regain the ability to exercise suffrage, among other civil rights. in many jurisdictions, they continued to be excluded from representation by at-large electoral systems, which allowed the majority

of the population to dominate elections. some changes at the county level have occurred following court challenges to establish single-member districts that enable a more diverse representation among county boards. in 2007, the alabama legislature passed, and republican governor bob riley signed a resolution expressing "profound regret" over slavery and its lingering impact. in a symbolic ceremony, the bill was signed in the alabama state capitol, which housed congress of the confederate states of america. in 2010, republicans won control of both houses of the legislature for the first time in 136 years. , there are a total of 3,589,839 registered voters, with 3,518,285 active, and the others inactive in the state. elections in a 2020 study, alabama was ranked as the 12th most difficult state for citizens

to vote. state elections with the disfranchisement of blacks in 1901, the state became part of the "solid south", a system in which the democratic party operated as effectively the only viable political party in every southern state. for nearly a hundred years local and state elections in alabama were decided in the democratic party primary, with generally only token republican challengers running in the general election. since the mid- to late 20th century, however, white conservatives started shifting to the republican party. in alabama, majority-white districts are now expected to regularly elect republican candidates to federal, state and local office. members of the nine seats on the supreme court of alabama and all ten seats on the state appellate courts are elected to office. until 1994, no republicans

held any of the court seats. in that general election, the then-incumbent chief justice, ernest c. hornsby, refused to leave office after losing the election by approximately 3,000 votes to republican perry o. hooper sr. hornsby sued alabama and defiantly remained in office for nearly a year before finally giving up the seat after losing in court. the democrats lost the last of the nineteen court seats in august 2011 with the resignation of the last democrat on the bench. in the early 21st century, republicans hold all seven of the statewide elected executive branch offices. republicans hold six of the eight elected seats on the alabama state board of education. in 2010, republicans took large majorities of both chambers of the state legislature, giving them control of that body for the first time in 136 years.

the last remaining statewide democrat, who served on the alabama public service commission, was defeated in 2012. only three republican lieutenant governors have been elected since the end of reconstruction, when republicans generally represented reconstruction government, including the newly emancipated freedmen who had gained the franchise. the three gop lieutenant governors are steve windom (19992003), kay ivey (20112017), and will ainsworth (2019present). local elections many local offices (county commissioners, boards of education, tax assessors, tax collectors, etc.) in the state are still held by democrats. many rural counties have voters who are majority democrats, resulting in local elections being decided in the democratic primary. similarly many metropolitan and suburban counties are majority-republican

and elections are effectively decided in the republican primary, although there are exceptions. alabama's 67 county sheriffs are elected in partisan, at-large races, and democrats still retain the narrow majority of those posts. the current split is 35 democrats, 31 republicans, and one independent fayette. however, most of the democratic sheriffs preside over rural and less populated counties. the majority of republican sheriffs have been elected in the more urban/suburban and heavily populated counties. , the state of alabama has one female sheriff, in morgan county, alabama, and ten african-american sheriffs. federal elections the state's two u.s. senators are republican richard c. shelby and republican tommy tuberville. shelby was originally elected to the senate as a democrat in 1986 and re-elected in

1992, but switched parties immediately following the november 1994 general election. in the u.s. house of representatives, the state is represented by seven members, six of whom are republicans: (bradley byrne, mike d. rogers, robert aderholt, morris j. brooks, martha roby, and gary palmer) and one democrat: terri sewell who represents the black belt as well as most of the predominantly black portions of birmingham, tuscaloosa and montgomery. education primary and secondary education public primary and secondary education in alabama is under the purview of the alabama state board of education as well as local oversight by 67 county school boards and 60 city boards of education. together, 1,496 individual schools provide education for 744,637 elementary and secondary students. public school funding is appropriated

through the alabama legislature through the education trust fund. in fy 20062007, alabama appropriated $3,775,163,578 for primary and secondary education. that represented an increase of $444,736,387 over the previous fiscal year. in 2007, more than 82 percent of schools made adequate yearly progress (ayp) toward student proficiency under the national no child left behind law, using measures determined by the state of alabama. while alabama's public education system has improved in recent decades, it lags behind in achievement compared to other states. according to u.s. census data (2000), alabama's high school graduation rate (75%) is the fourth lowest in the u.s. (after kentucky, louisiana and mississippi). the largest educational gains were among people with some college education but without degrees. generally

prohibited in the west at large, school corporal punishment is not unusual in alabama, with 27,260 public school students paddled at least one time, according to government data for the 20112012 school year. the rate of school corporal punishment in alabama is surpassed by only mississippi and arkansas. colleges and universities alabama's programs of higher education include 14 four-year public universities, two-year community colleges, and 17 private, undergraduate and graduate universities. in the state are four medical schools (as of fall 2015) (university of alabama school of medicine, university of south alabama and alabama college of osteopathic medicine and the edward via college of osteopathic medicineauburn campus), two veterinary colleges (auburn university and tuskegee university), a dental school

(university of alabama school of dentistry), an optometry college (university of alabama at birmingham), two pharmacy schools (auburn university and samford university), and five law schools (university of alabama school of law, birmingham school of law, cumberland school of law, miles law school, and the thomas goode jones school of law). public, post-secondary education in alabama is overseen by the alabama commission on higher education and the alabama department of postsecondary education. colleges and universities in alabama offer degree programs from two-year associate degrees to a multitude of doctoral level programs. the largest single campus is the university of alabama, located in tuscaloosa, with 37,665 enrolled for fall 2016. troy university was the largest institution in the state in 2010, with

an enrollment of 29,689 students across four alabama campuses (troy, dothan, montgomery, and phenix city), as well as sixty learning sites in seventeen other states and eleven other countries. the oldest institutions are the public university of north alabama in florence and the catholic church-affiliated spring hill college in mobile, both founded in 1830. accreditation of academic programs is through the southern association of colleges and schools (sacs) as well as other subject-focused national and international accreditation agencies such as the association for biblical higher education (abhe), the council on occupational education (coe), and the accrediting council for independent colleges and schools (acics). according to the 2011 u.s. news & world report, alabama had three universities ranked in the

top 100 public schools in america (university of alabama at 31, auburn university at 36, and university of alabama at birmingham at 73). according to the 2012 u.s. news & world report, alabama had four tier one universities (university of alabama, auburn university, university of alabama at birmingham and university of alabama in huntsville). media major newspapers include birmingham news, mobile press-register, and montgomery advertiser. major television network affiliates in alabama include: abc wgww 40.2 abc, anniston wbma 58/wabm 68.2 abc, birmingham wdhn 18 abc, dothan waay 31 abc, huntsville wear 3 abc pensacola, florida/mobile wncf 32 abc, montgomery wdbb 17.2 abc, tuscaloosa cbs wiat 42 cbs, birmingham wtvy 4 cbs, dothan whnt 19 cbs, huntsville wkrg 5 cbs, mobile waka 8 cbs, selma/montgomery

fox wbrc 6 fox, birmingham wzdx 54 fox, huntsville wala 10 fox, mobile wcov 20 fox, montgomery wdfx 34 fox, ozark/dothan nbc wvtm 13 nbc, birmingham wrgx 23 nbc, dothan waff 48 nbc, huntsville wpmi 15 nbc, mobile wsfa 12 nbc, montgomery pbs/alabama public television wbiq 10 pbs, birmingham wiiq 41 pbs, demopolis wdiq 2 pbs, dozier wfiq 36 pbs, florence whiq 25 pbs, huntsville wgiq 43 pbs, louisville weiq 42 pbs, mobile waiq 26 pbs, montgomery wciq 7 pbs, mount cheaha the cw wtto 21, homewood/birmingham wtvy 4.3, dothan whdf 15, florence/huntsville wfna 55, gulf shores/mobile/pensacola, fl wdbb 17, tuscaloosa wbmm 22, tuskegee/montgomery culture literature sports professional sports alabama has several professional and semi-professional sports teams, including three minor league

baseball teams. notes the talladega superspeedway motorsports complex hosts a series of nascar events. it has a seating capacity of 143,000 and is the thirteenth largest stadium in the world and sixth largest stadium in america. also, the barber motorsports park has hosted indycar series and rolex sports car series races. the atp birmingham was a world championship tennis tournament held from 1973 to 1980. alabama has hosted several professional golf tournaments, such as the 1984 and 1990 pga championship at shoal creek, the barbasol championship (pga tour), the mobile lpga tournament of champions, airbus lpga classic, and yokohama tire lpga classic (lpga tour), and the tradition (champions tour). college sports college football is extremely popular in alabama, particularly the university of alabama crimson

tide and auburn university tigers, rivals in the southeastern conference. alabama averages over 100,000 fans per game and auburn averages over 80,000both numbers among the top twenty in the nation. bryantdenny stadium is the home of the alabama football team, and has a seating capacity of 101,821, and is the fifth largest stadium in america. jordan-hare stadium is the home field of the auburn football team and seats up to 87,451. legion field is home of the uab blazers football program and the birmingham bowl. it seats 71,594. laddpeebles stadium in mobile is the home of the university of south alabama football team, and serves as the home of the ncaa senior bowl, lendingtree bowl, and alabama-mississippi all star classic; the stadium seats 40,646. in 2009, bryantdenny stadium and jordan-hare stadium became

the homes of the alabama high school athletic association state football championship games, after previously being held at legion field in birmingham. transportation aviation major airports with sustained operations in alabama include birmingham-shuttlesworth international airport (bhm), huntsville international airport (hsv), dothan regional airport (dhn), mobile regional airport (mob), montgomery regional airport (mgm), northwest alabama regional airport (msl) and northeast alabama regional airport (gad). rail for rail transport, amtrak schedules the crescent, a daily passenger train, running from new york to new orleans with station stops at anniston, birmingham, and tuscaloosa. roads alabama has six major interstate routes: interstate 65 (i-65) travels northsouth roughly through the middle of the state;

i-20/i-59 travel from the central west mississippi state line to birmingham, where i-59 continues to the north-east corner of the state and i-20 continues east towards atlanta; i-85 originates in montgomery and travels east-northeast to the georgia state line, providing a main thoroughfare to atlanta; and i-10 traverses the southernmost portion of the state, traveling from west to east through mobile. i-22 enters the state from mississippi and connects birmingham with memphis, tennessee. in addition, there are currently five auxiliary interstate routes in the state: i-165 in mobile, i-359 in tuscaloosa, i-459 around birmingham, i-565 in decatur and huntsville, and i-759 in gadsden. a sixth route, i-685, will be formed when i-85 is rerouted along a new southern bypass of montgomery. a proposed northern bypass

of birmingham will be designated as i-422. since a direct connection from i-22 to i-422 will not be possible, i-222 has been proposed, as well. several u.s. highways also pass through the state, such as u.s. route 11 (us-11), us-29, us-31, us-43, us-45, us-72, us-78, us-80, us-82, us-84, us-90, us-98, us-231, us-278, us-280, us-331, us-411, and us-431. there are four toll roads in the state: montgomery expressway in montgomery; northport/tuscaloosa western bypass in tuscaloosa and northport; emerald mountain expressway in wetumpka; and beach express in orange beach. ports the port of mobile, alabama's only saltwater port, is a large seaport on the gulf of mexico with inland waterway access to the midwest by way of the tennesseetombigbee waterway. the port of mobile was ranked 12th by tons of traffic in the

united states during 2009. the newly expanded container terminal at the port of mobile was ranked as the 25th busiest for container traffic in the nation during 2011. the state's other ports are on rivers with access to the gulf of mexico. water ports of alabama, listed from north to south: see also index of alabama-related articles outline of alabamaorganized list of topics about alabama notes references further reading atkins, leah rawls, wayne flynt, william warren rogers, and david ward. alabama: the history of a deep south state (1994). flynt, wayne. alabama in the twentieth century (2004). owen thomas m. history of alabama and dictionary of alabama biography (4 vols, 1921). jackson, harvey h. inside alabama: a personal history of my state (2004). mohl, raymond a. "latinization in the heart

of dixie: hispanics in late-twentieth-century alabama" alabama review (2002, 55(4): 243274). peirce, neal r. the deep south states of america: people, politics, and power in the seven deep south states (1974). williams, benjamin buford. a literary history of alabama: the nineteenth century (1979). wpa guide to alabama (1939). external links alabama state guide, from the library of congress your not so ordinary alabama tourist guide all about alabama, at the alabama department of archives and history code of alabama 1975 usgs real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of alabama alabama quickfacts from the u.s. census bureau alabama state fact sheet 1819 establishments in the united states southern united states states and territories established in 1819 states of the confederate

in greek mythology, achilles ( ) or achilleus () was a hero of the trojan war, the greatest of all the greek warriors, and is the central character of homer's iliad. he was the son of the nereid thetis and peleus, king of phthia. achilles' most notable feat during the trojan war was the slaying of the trojan prince hector outside the gates of troy. although the death of achilles is not presented in the iliad, other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the trojan war by paris, who shot him with an arrow. later legends (beginning with statius' unfinished epic achilleid, written in the 1st century ad) state that achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for one heel, because when his mother thetis dipped him in the river styx as an infant, she held him by one of his heels. alluding to these

legends, the term "achilles' heel" has come to mean a point of weakness, especially in someone or something with an otherwise strong constitution. the achilles tendon is also named after him due to these legends. etymology linear b tablets attest to the personal name achilleus in the forms a-ki-re-u and a-ki-re-we, the latter being the dative of the former. the name grew more popular, even becoming common soon after the seventh century bc and was also turned into the female form (achilleia), attested in attica in the fourth century bc (ig ii 1617) and, in the form achillia, on a stele in halicarnassus as the name of a female gladiator fighting an "amazon". achilles' name can be analyzed as a combination of () "distress, pain, sorrow, grief" and () "people, soldiers, nation", resulting in a proto-form *akhi-lauos

"he who has the people distressed" or "he whose people have distress". the grief or distress of the people is a theme raised numerous times in the iliad (and frequently by achilles himself). achilles' role as the hero of grief or distress forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of him as the hero of ("glory", usually in war). furthermore, laos has been construed by gregory nagy, following leonard palmer, to mean "a corps of soldiers", a muster. with this derivation, the name obtains a double meaning in the poem: when the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring distress to the enemy, but when wrongly, his men get the grief of war. the poem is in part about the misdirection of anger on the part of leadership. another etymology relates the name to a proto-indo-european compound *hek-pods "sharp

foot" which first gave an illyrian *akpedios, evolving through time into *akhpdeos and then *akhiddeus. the shift from -dd- to -ll- is then ascribed to the passing of the name into greek via a pre-greek source. the first root part *hek- "sharp, pointed" also gave greek (ake "point, silence, healing"), (akme "point, edge, zenith") and (oxus "sharp, pointed, keen, quick, clever"), whereas stems from the root *heg- "to be upset, afraid". the whole expression would be comparable to the latin acupedius "swift of foot". compare also the latin word family of acies "sharp edge or point, battle line, battle, engagement", acus "needle, pin, bodkin", and acuo "to make pointed, sharpen, whet; to exercise; to arouse" (whence acute). some topical epitheta of achilles in the iliad point to this "swift-footedness", namely

(podarkes dios achilleus "swift-footed divine achilles") or, even more frequently, (podas okus achilleus "quick-footed achilles"). some researchers deem the name a loan word, possibly from a pre-greek language. achilles' descent from the nereid thetis and a similarity of his name with those of river deities such as acheron and achelous have led to speculations about his being an old water divinity (see below worship). robert s. p. beekes has suggested a pre-greek origin of the name, based among other things on the coexistence of -- and -- in epic language, which may account for a palatalized phoneme /ly/ in the original language. birth and early years achilles was the son of the thetis, a nereid, and peleus, the king of the myrmidons. zeus and poseidon had been rivals for thetis's hand in marriage until

prometheus, the fore-thinker, warned zeus of a prophecy (originally uttered by themis, goddess of divine law) that thetis would bear a son greater than his father. for this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed peleus. there is a tale which offers an alternative version of these events: in the argonautica (4.760) zeus' sister and wife hera alludes to thetis' chaste resistance to the advances of zeus, pointing out that thetis was so loyal to hera's marriage bond that she coolly rejected the father of gods. thetis, although a daughter of the sea-god nereus, was also brought up by hera, further explaining her resistance to the advances of zeus. zeus was furious and decreed that she would never marry an immortal. according to the achilleid, written by statius in the 1st century ad, and to

non-surviving previous sources, when achilles was born thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river styx; however, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him: his left heel (see achilles' heel, achilles' tendon). it is not clear if this version of events was known earlier. in another version of this story, thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire in order to burn away the mortal parts of his body. she was interrupted by peleus and abandoned both father and son in a rage. none of the sources before statius make any reference to this general invulnerability. to the contrary, in the iliad, homer mentions achilles being wounded: in book 21 the paeonian hero asteropaeus, son of pelagon, challenged achilles by the river scamander. he was ambidextrous,

and cast a spear from each hand; one grazed achilles' elbow, "drawing a spurt of blood". in the few fragmentary poems of the epic cycle which describe the hero's death (i.e. the cypria, the little iliad by lesches of pyrrha, the aithiopis and iliou persis by arctinus of miletus), there is no trace of any reference to his general invulnerability or his famous weakness at the heel. in the later vase paintings presenting the death of achilles, the arrow (or in many cases, arrows) hit his torso. peleus entrusted achilles to chiron the centaur, who lived on mount pelion, to be reared. thetis foretold that her son's fate was either to gain glory and die young, or to live a long but uneventful life in obscurity. achilles chose the former, and decided to take part in the trojan war. according to homer, achilles grew

up in phthia with his companion patroclus. according to photius, the sixth book of the new history by ptolemy hephaestion reported that thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by peleus. when she had achilles, peleus noticed, tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot, and confided him to the centaur chiron. later chiron exhumed the body of the damysus, who was the fastest of all the giants, removed the ankle, and incorporated it into achilles' burnt foot. other names among the appellations under which achilles is generally known are the following: pyrisous, "saved from the fire", his first name, which seems to favour the tradition in which his mortal parts were burned by his mother thetis aeacides, from his grandfather aeacus aemonius, from aemonia, a country which afterwards acquired

the name of thessaly aspetos, "inimitable" or "vast", his name at epirus larissaeus, from larissa (also called cremaste), a town of thessaly, which still bears the same name ligyron, his original name nereius, from his mother thetis, one of the nereids pelides, from his father, peleus phthius, from his birthplace, phthia podarkes, "swift-footed", due to the wings of arke being attached to his feet. hidden on skyros some post-homeric sources claim that in order to keep achilles safe from the war, thetis (or, in some versions, peleus) hid the young man at the court of lycomedes, king of skyros. there, achilles was disguised as a girl and lived among lycomedes' daughters, perhaps under the name "pyrrha" (the red-haired girl), cercysera or aissa ("swift"). with lycomedes' daughter deidamia, whom in the

account of statius he raped, achilles there fathered two sons, neoptolemus (also called pyrrhus, after his father's possible alias) and oneiros. according to this story, odysseus learned from the prophet calchas that the achaeans would be unable to capture troy without achilles' aid. odysseus went to skyros in the guise of a peddler selling women's clothes and jewellery and placed a shield and spear among his goods. when achilles instantly took up the spear, odysseus saw through his disguise and convinced him to join the greek campaign. in another version of the story, odysseus arranged for a trumpet alarm to be sounded while he was with lycomedes' women. while the women fled in panic, achilles prepared to defend the court, thus giving his identity away. in the trojan war according to the iliad, achilles arrived

at troy with 50 ships, each carrying 50 myrmidons. he appointed five leaders (each leader commanding 500 myrmidons): menesthius, eudorus, peisander, phoenix and alcimedon. telephus when the greeks left for the trojan war, they accidentally stopped in mysia, ruled by king telephus. in the resulting battle, achilles gave telephus a wound that would not heal; telephus consulted an oracle, who stated that "he that wounded shall heal". guided by the oracle, he arrived at argos, where achilles healed him in order that he might become their guide for the voyage to troy. according to other reports in euripides' lost play about telephus, he went to aulis pretending to be a beggar and asked achilles to heal his wound. achilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. alternatively, telephus held orestes for ransom,

the ransom being achilles' aid in healing the wound. odysseus reasoned that the spear had inflicted the wound; therefore, the spear must be able to heal it. pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound and telephus was healed. troilus according to the cypria (the part of the epic cycle that tells the events of the trojan war before achilles' wrath), when the achaeans desired to return home, they were restrained by achilles, who afterwards attacked the cattle of aeneas, sacked neighbouring cities (like pedasus and lyrnessus, where the greeks capture the queen briseis) and killed tenes, a son of apollo, as well as priam's son troilus in the sanctuary of apollo thymbraios; however, the romance between troilus and chryseis described in geoffrey chaucer's troilus and criseyde and in william shakespeare's

troilus and cressida is a medieval invention. in dares phrygius' account of the destruction of troy, the latin summary through which the story of achilles was transmitted to medieval europe, as well as in older accounts, troilus was a young trojan prince, the youngest of king priam's and hecuba's five legitimate sons (or according other sources, another son of apollo). despite his youth, he was one of the main trojan war leaders, a "horse fighter" or "chariot fighter" according to homer. prophecies linked troilus' fate to that of troy and so he was ambushed in an attempt to capture him. yet achilles, struck by the beauty of both troilus and his sister polyxena, and overcome with lust, directed his sexual attentions on the youth who, refusing to yield, instead found himself decapitated upon an altar-omphalos

of apollo thymbraios. later versions of the story suggested troilus was accidentally killed by achilles in an over-ardent lovers' embrace. in this version of the myth, achilles' death therefore came in retribution for this sacrilege. ancient writers treated troilus as the epitome of a dead child mourned by his parents. had troilus lived to adulthood, the first vatican mythographer claimed, troy would have been invincible; however, the motif is older and found already in plautus' bacchides. in the iliad homer's iliad is the most famous narrative of achilles' deeds in the trojan war. achilles' wrath ( , menis achilleos) is the central theme of the poem. the first two lines of the iliad read: the homeric epic only covers a few weeks of the decade-long war, and does not narrate achilles' death. it begins with

achilles' withdrawal from battle after being dishonoured by agamemnon, the commander of the achaean forces. agamemnon has taken a woman named chryseis as his slave. her father chryses, a priest of apollo, begs agamemnon to return her to him. agamemnon refuses, and apollo sends a plague amongst the greeks. the prophet calchas correctly determines the source of the troubles but will not speak unless achilles vows to protect him. achilles does so, and calchas declares that chryseis must be returned to her father. agamemnon consents, but then commands that achilles' battle prize briseis, the daughter of briseus, be brought to him to replace chryseis. angry at the dishonour of having his plunder and glory taken away (and, as he says later, because he loves briseis), with the urging of his mother thetis, achilles refuses

to fight or lead his troops alongside the other greek forces. at the same time, burning with rage over agamemnon's theft, achilles prays to thetis to convince zeus to help the trojans gain ground in the war, so that he may regain his honour. as the battle turns against the greeks, thanks to the influence of zeus, nestor declares that the trojans are winning because agamemnon has angered achilles, and urges the king to appease the warrior. agamemnon agrees and sends odysseus and two other chieftains, ajax and phoenix. they promise that, if achilles returns to battle, agamemnon will return the captive briseis and other gifts. achilles rejects all agamemnon offers him and simply urges the greeks to sail home as he was planning to do. the trojans, led by hector, subsequently push the greek army back toward the

beaches and assault the greek ships. with the greek forces on the verge of absolute destruction, patroclus leads the myrmidons into battle, wearing achilles' armour, though achilles remains at his camp. patroclus succeeds in pushing the trojans back from the beaches, but is killed by hector before he can lead a proper assault on the city of troy. after receiving the news of the death of patroclus from antilochus, the son of nestor, achilles grieves over his beloved companion's death. his mother thetis comes to comfort the distraught achilles. she persuades hephaestus to make new armour for him, in place of the armour that patroclus had been wearing, which was taken by hector. the new armour includes the shield of achilles, described in great detail in the poem. enraged over the death of patroclus, achilles

ends his refusal to fight and takes the field, killing many men in his rage but always seeking out hector. achilles even engages in battle with the river god scamander, who has become angry that achilles is choking his waters with all the men he has killed. the god tries to drown achilles but is stopped by hera and hephaestus. zeus himself takes note of achilles' rage and sends the gods to restrain him so that he will not go on to sack troy itself before the time allotted for its destruction, seeming to show that the unhindered rage of achilles can defy fate itself. finally, achilles finds his prey. achilles chases hector around the wall of troy three times before athena, in the form of hector's favorite and dearest brother, deiphobus, persuades hector to stop running and fight achilles face to face. after hector

realizes the trick, he knows the battle is inevitable. wanting to go down fighting, he charges at achilles with his only weapon, his sword, but misses. accepting his fate, hector begs achilles not to spare his life, but to treat his body with respect after killing him. achilles tells hector it is hopeless to expect that of him, declaring that "my rage, my fury would drive me now to hack your flesh away and eat you raw such agonies you have caused me". achilles then kills hector and drags his corpse by its heels behind his chariot. after having a dream where patroclus begs achilles to hold his funeral, achilles hosts a series of funeral games in honour of his companion. at the onset of his duel with hector, achilles is referred to as the brightest star in the sky, which comes on in the autumn, orion's dog (sirius);

a sign of evil. during the cremation of patroclus, he is compared to hesperus, the evening/western star (venus), while the burning of the funeral pyre lasts until phosphorus, the morning/eastern star (also venus) has set (descended). with the assistance of the god hermes (argeiphontes), hector's father priam goes to achilles' tent to plead with achilles for the return of hector's body so that he can be buried. achilles relents and promises a truce for the duration of the funeral, lasting 9 days with a burial on the 10th (in the tradition of niobe's offspring). the poem ends with a description of hector's funeral, with the doom of troy and achilles himself still to come. later epic accounts: fighting penthesilea and memnon the aethiopis (7th century bc) and a work named posthomerica, composed by quintus of

smyrna in the fourth century ce, relate further events from the trojan war. when penthesilea, queen of the amazons and daughter of ares, arrives in troy, priam hopes that she will defeat achilles. after his temporary truce with priam, achilles fights and kills the warrior queen, only to grieve over her death later. at first, he was so distracted by her beauty, he did not fight as intensely as usual. once he realized that his distraction was endangering his life, he refocused and killed her. following the death of patroclus, nestor's son antilochus becomes achilles' closest companion. when memnon, son of the dawn goddess eos and king of ethiopia, slays antilochus, achilles once more obtains revenge on the battlefield, killing memnon. consequently, eos will not let the sun rise until zeus persuades her. the fight

between achilles and memnon over antilochus echoes that of achilles and hector over patroclus, except that memnon (unlike hector) was also the son of a goddess. many homeric scholars argued that episode inspired many details in the iliads description of the death of patroclus and achilles' reaction to it. the episode then formed the basis of the cyclic epic aethiopis, which was composed after the iliad, possibly in the 7th century bc. the aethiopis is now lost, except for scattered fragments quoted by later authors. achilles and patroclus the exact nature of achilles' relationship with patroclus has been a subject of dispute in both the classical period and modern times. in the iliad, it appears to be the model of a deep and loyal friendship. homer does not suggest that achilles and his close friend patroclus

had sexual relations. although there is no direct evidence in the text of the iliad that achilles and patroclus were lovers, this theory was expressed by some later authors. commentators from classical antiquity to the present have often interpreted the relationship through the lens of their own cultures. in 5th-century bce athens, the intense bond was often viewed in light of the greek custom of paiderasteia. in plato's symposium, the participants in a dialogue about love assume that achilles and patroclus were a couple; phaedrus argues that achilles was the younger and more beautiful one so he was the beloved and patroclus was the lover. however, ancient greek had no words to distinguish heterosexual and homosexual, and it was assumed that a man could both desire handsome young men and have sex with women.

many pairs of men throughout history have been compared to achilles and patroclus to imply a homosexual relationship. death the death of achilles, even if considered solely as it occurred in the oldest sources, is a complex one, with many different versions. in the oldest version, the iliad, and as predicted by hector with his dying breath, the hero's death was brought about by paris with an arrow (to the heel according to statius). in some versions, the god apollo guided paris' arrow. some retellings also state that achilles was scaling the gates of troy and was hit with a poisoned arrow. all of these versions deny paris any sort of valour, owing to the common conception that paris was a coward and not the man his brother hector was, and achilles remained undefeated on the battlefield. after death, achilles'

bones were mingled with those of patroclus, and funeral games were held. he was represented in the aethiopis as living after his death in the island of leuke at the mouth of the river danube. another version of achilles' death is that he fell deeply in love with one of the trojan princesses, polyxena. achilles asks priam for polyxena's hand in marriage. priam is willing because it would mean the end of the war and an alliance with the world's greatest warrior. but while priam is overseeing the private marriage of polyxena and achilles, paris, who would have to give up helen if achilles married his sister, hides in the bushes and shoots achilles with a divine arrow, killing him. in the odyssey, agamemnon informs achilles of his pompous burial and the erection of his mound at the hellespont while they are receiving

the dead suitors in hades. he claims they built a massive burial mound on the beach of ilion that could be seen by anyone approaching from the ocean. achilles was cremated and his ashes buried in the same urn as those of patroclus. paris was later killed by philoctetes using the enormous bow of heracles. in book 11 of homer's odyssey, odysseus sails to the underworld and converses with the shades. one of these is achilles, who when greeted as "blessed in life, blessed in death", responds that he would rather be a slave to the worst of masters than be king of all the dead. but achilles then asks odysseus of his son's exploits in the trojan war, and when odysseus tells of neoptolemus' heroic actions, achilles is filled with satisfaction. this leaves the reader with an ambiguous understanding of how achilles felt

about the heroic life. according to some accounts, he had married medea in life, so that after both their deaths they were united in the elysian fields of hades as hera promised thetis in apollonius' argonautica (3rd century bc). fate of achilles' armour achilles' armour was the object of a feud between odysseus and telamonian ajax (ajax the greater). they competed for it by giving speeches on why they were the bravest after achilles to their trojan prisoners, who, after considering both men's presentations, decided odysseus was more deserving of the armour. furious, ajax cursed odysseus, which earned him the ire of athena, who temporarily made ajax so mad with grief and anguish that he began killing sheep, thinking them his comrades. after a while, when athena lifted his madness and ajax realized that he

had actually been killing sheep, he was so ashamed that he committed suicide. odysseus eventually gave the armour to neoptolemus, the son of achilles. when odysseus encounters the shade of ajax much later in the house of hades (odyssey 11.543566), ajax is still so angry about the outcome of the competition that he refuses to speak to odysseus. a relic claimed to be achilles' bronze-headed spear was preserved for centuries in the temple of athena on the acropolis of phaselis, lycia, a port on the pamphylian gulf. the city was visited in 333 bce by alexander the great, who envisioned himself as the new achilles and carried the iliad with him, but his court biographers do not mention the spear; however, it was shown in the time of pausanias in the 2nd century ce. achilles, ajax and a game of petteia numerous

paintings on pottery have suggested a tale not mentioned in the literary traditions. at some point in the war, achilles and ajax were playing a board game (petteia). they were absorbed in the game and oblivious to the surrounding battle. the trojans attacked and reached the heroes, who were saved only by an intervention of athena. worship and heroic cult the tomb of achilles, extant throughout antiquity in troad, was venerated by thessalians, but also by persian expeditionary forces, as well as by alexander the great and the roman emperor caracalla. achilles' cult was also to be found at other places, e. g. on the island of astypalaea in the sporades, in sparta which had a sanctuary, in elis and in achilles' homeland thessaly, as well as in the magna graecia cities of tarentum, locri and croton, accounting

for an almost panhellenic cult to the hero. the cult of achilles is illustrated in the 500 bce polyxena sarcophagus, which depicts the sacrifice of polyxena near the tumulus of achilles. strabo (13.1.32) also suggested that such a cult of achilles existed in troad: the spread and intensity of the hero's veneration among the greeks that had settled on the northern coast of the pontus euxinus, today's black sea, appears to have been remarkable. an archaic cult is attested for the milesian colony of olbia as well as for an island in the middle of the black sea, today identified with snake island (ukrainian , zmiinyi, near kiliya, ukraine). early dedicatory inscriptions from the greek colonies on the black sea (graffiti and inscribed clay disks, these possibly being votive offerings, from olbia, the area of berezan

island and the tauric chersonese) attest the existence of a heroic cult of achilles from the sixth century bc onwards. the cult was still thriving in the third century ce, when dedicatory stelae from olbia refer to an achilles pontarches (, roughly "lord of the sea," or "of the pontus euxinus"), who was invoked as a protector of the city of olbia, venerated on par with olympian gods such as the local apollo prostates, hermes agoraeus, or poseidon. pliny the elder (2379 ad) in his natural history mentions a "port of the achi" and an "island of achilles", famous for the tomb of that "man" (), situated somewhat nearby olbia and the dnieper-bug estuary; furthermore, at 125roman miles from this island, he places a peninsula "which stretches forth in the shape of a sword" obliquely, called dromos achilleos ( , achilleos

dromos "the race-course of achilles") and considered the place of the hero's exercise or of games instituted by him. this last feature of pliny's account is considered to be the iconic spit, called today tendra (or kosa tendra and kosa djarilgatch), situated between the mouth of the dnieper and karkinit bay, but which is hardly 125roman miles (c. 185km) away from the dnieper-bug estuary, as pliny states. (to the "race-course" he gives a length of 80miles, c.120km, whereas the spit measures c.70km today.) in the following chapter of his book, pliny refers to the same island as achillea and introduces two further names for it: leuce or macaron (from greek [] "island of the blest"). the "present day" measures, he gives at this point, seem to account for an identification of achillea or leuce with today's snake

island. pliny's contemporary pomponius mela (c. 43 ad) tells that achilles was buried on an island named achillea, situated between the borysthenes and the ister, adding to the geographical confusion. ruins of a square temple, measuring 30 meters to a side, possibly that dedicated to achilles, were discovered by captain kritzikly () in 1823 on snake island. a second exploration in 1840 showed that the construction of a lighthouse had destroyed all traces of this temple. a fifth century bc black-glazed lekythos inscription, found on the island in 1840, reads: "glaukos, son of poseidon, dedicated me to achilles, lord of leuke." in another inscription from the fifth or fourth century bc, a statue is dedicated to achilles, lord of leuke, by a citizen of olbia, while in a further dedication, the city of olbia confirms

its continuous maintenance of the island's cult, again suggesting its quality as a place of a supra-regional hero veneration. the heroic cult dedicated to achilles on leuce seems to go back to an account from the lost epic aethiopis according to which, after his untimely death, thetis had snatched her son from the funeral pyre and removed him to a mythical (leuke nesos "white island"). already in the fifth century bc, pindar had mentioned a cult of achilles on a "bright island" ( , phaenna nasos) of the black sea, while in another of his works, pindar would retell the story of the immortalized achilles living on a geographically indefinite island of the blest together with other heroes such as his father peleus and cadmus. well known is the connection of these mythological fortunate isles ( , makaron nesoi)

or the homeric elysium with the stream oceanus which according to greek mythology surrounds the inhabited world, which should have accounted for the identification of the northern strands of the euxine with it. guy hedreen has found further evidence for this connection of achilles with the northern margin of the inhabited world in a poem by alcaeus, speaking of "achilles lord of scythia" and the opposition of north and south, as evoked by achilles' fight against the aethiopian prince memnon, who in his turn would be removed to his homeland by his mother eos after his death. the periplus of the euxine sea (c. 130 ad) gives the following details: the greek geographer dionysius periegetes, who likely lived during the first century ce, wrote that the island was called leuce "because the wild animals which live

there are white. it is said that there, in leuce island, reside the souls of achilles and other heroes, and that they wander through the uninhabited valleys of this island; this is how jove rewarded the men who had distinguished themselves through their virtues, because through virtue they had acquired everlasting honour". similarly, others relate the island's name to its white cliffs, snakes or birds dwelling there. pausanias has been told that the island is "covered with forests and full of animals, some wild, some tame. in this island there is also achilles' temple and his statue". leuce had also a reputation as a place of healing. pausanias reports that the delphic pythia sent a lord of croton to be cured of a chest wound. ammianus marcellinus attributes the healing to waters (aquae) on the island. a number

of important commercial port cities of the greek waters were dedicated to achilles. herodotus, pliny the elder and strabo reported on the existence of a town achilleion (), built by settlers from mytilene in the sixth century bc, close to the hero's presumed burial mound in the troad. later attestations point to an achilleion in messenia (according to stephanus byzantinus) and an achilleios () in laconia. nicolae densusianu recognized a connection to achilles in the names of aquileia and of the northern arm of the danube delta, called chilia (presumably from an older achileii), though his conclusion, that leuce had sovereign rights over the black sea, evokes modern rather than archaic sea-law. the kings of epirus claimed to be descended from achilles through his son, neoptolemus. alexander the great, son of

the epirote princess olympias, could therefore also claim this descent, and in many ways strove to be like his great ancestor. he is said to have visited the tomb of achilles at achilleion while passing troy. in ad 216 the roman emperor caracalla, while on his way to war against parthia, emulated alexander by holding games around achilles' tumulus. reception during antiquity in greek tragedy the greek tragedian aeschylus wrote a trilogy of plays about achilles, given the title achilleis by modern scholars. the tragedies relate the deeds of achilles during the trojan war, including his defeat of hector and eventual death when an arrow shot by paris and guided by apollo punctures his heel. extant fragments of the achilleis and other aeschylean fragments have been assembled to produce a workable modern play.

the first part of the achilleis trilogy, the myrmidons, focused on the relationship between achilles and chorus, who represent the achaean army and try to convince achilles to give up his quarrel with agamemnon; only a few lines survive today. in plato's symposium, phaedrus points out that aeschylus portrayed achilles as the lover and patroclus as the beloved; phaedrus argues that this is incorrect because achilles, being the younger and more beautiful of the two, was the beloved, who loved his lover so much that he chose to die to avenge him. the tragedian sophocles also wrote the lovers of achilles, a play with achilles as the main character. only a few fragments survive. towards the end of the 5th century bce, a more negative view of achilles emerges in greek drama; euripides refers to achilles in a bitter

or ironic tone in hecuba, electra, and iphigenia in aulis. in greek philosophy zeno the philosopher zeno of elea centred one of his paradoxes on an imaginary footrace between "swift-footed" achilles and a tortoise, by which he attempted to show that achilles could not catch up to a tortoise with a head start, and therefore that motion and change were impossible. as a student of the monist parmenides and a member of the eleatic school, zeno believed time and motion to be illusions. plato in hippias minor, a dialogue attributed to plato, an arrogant man named hippias argues with socrates. the two get into a discussion about lying. they decide that a person who is intentionally false must be "better" than a person who is unintentionally false, on the basis that someone who lies intentionally must understand the

subject about which they are lying. socrates uses various analogies, discussing athletics and the sciences to prove his point. the two also reference homer extensively. socrates and hippias agree that odysseus, who concocted a number of lies throughout the odyssey and other stories in the trojan war cycle, was false intentionally. achilles, like odysseus, told numerous falsehoods. hippias believes that achilles was a generally honest man, while socrates believes that achilles lied for his own benefit. the two argue over whether it is better to lie on purpose or by accident. socrates eventually abandons homeric arguments and makes sports analogies to drive home the point: someone who does wrong on purpose is a better person than someone who does wrong unintentionally. in roman and medieval literature the romans,

who traditionally traced their lineage to troy, took a highly negative view of achilles. virgil refers to achilles as a savage and a merciless butcher of men, while horace portrays achilles ruthlessly slaying women and children. other writers, such as catullus, propertius, and ovid, represent a second strand of disparagement, with an emphasis on achilles' erotic career. this strand continues in latin accounts of the trojan war by writers such as dictys cretensis and dares phrygius and in benoit de sainte-maure's roman de troie and guido delle colonne's historia destructionis troiae, which remained the most widely read and retold versions of the matter of troy until the 17th century. achilles was described by the byzantine chronicler leo the deacon, not as hellene, but as scythian, while according to the byzantine

author john malalas, his army was made up of a tribe previously known as myrmidons and later as bulgars. in modern literature and arts literature achilles appears in dante's inferno (composed 13081320). he is seen in hell's second circle, that of lust. achilles is portrayed as a former hero who has become lazy and devoted to the love of patroclus, in william shakespeare's troilus and cressida (1602). the french dramatist thomas corneille wrote a tragedy la mort d'achille (1673). achilles is the subject of the poem achilleis (1799), a fragment by johann wolfgang von goethe. in 1899, the polish playwright, painter and poet stanisaw wyspianski published a national drama, based on polish history, named achilles. in 1921, edward shanks published the island of youth and other poems, concerned among others with

achilles. the 1983 novel kassandra by christa wolf also treats the death of achilles. akhilles is killed by a poisoned kentaur arrow shot by kassandra in marion zimmer bradley's novel the firebrand (1987). achilles is one of various 'narrators' in colleen mccullough's novel the song of troy (1998). the death of achilles ( , 1998) is an historical detective novel by russian writer boris akunin that alludes to various figures and motifs from the iliad. the character achilles in ender's shadow (1999), by orson scott card, shares his namesake's cunning mind and ruthless attitude. achilles is one of the main characters in dan simmons's novels ilium (2003) and olympos (2005). achilles is a major supporting character in david gemmell's troy series of books (20052007). achilles is the main character in david

malouf's novel ransom (2009). the ghost of achilles appears in rick riordan's the last olympian (2009). he warns percy jackson about the curse of achilles and its side effects. achilles is a main character in terence hawkins' 2009 novel the rage of achilles. achilles is a major character in madeline miller's debut novel, the song of achilles (2011), which won the 2012 orange prize for fiction. the novel explores the relationship between patroclus and achilles from boyhood to the fateful events of the iliad. achilles appears in the light novel series fate/apocrypha (20122014) as the rider of red. achilles is a main character in pat barker's 2018 novel the silence of the girls, much of which is narrated by his slave briseis. visual arts achilles with the daughters of lycomedes is a subject treated in paintings

by anthony van dyck (before 1618; museo del prado, madrid) and nicolas poussin (c. 1652; museum of fine arts, boston) among others. peter paul rubens has authored a series of works on the life of achilles, comprising the titles: thetis dipping the infant achilles into the river styx, achilles educated by the centaur chiron, achilles recognized among the daughters of lycomedes, the wrath of achilles, the death of hector, thetis receiving the arms of achilles from vulcanus, the death of achilles (museum boijmans van beuningen, rotterdam), and briseis restored to achilles (detroit institute of arts; all c. 16301635) pieter van lint, "achilles discovered among the daughters of lycomedes", 1645, at the israel museum, jerusalem dying achilles is a sculpture created by christophe veyrier (c. 1683; victoria and albert

museum, london). the rage of achilles is a fresco by giovanni battista tiepolo (1757, villa valmarana ai nani, vicenza). eugene delacroix painted a version of the education of achilles for the ceiling of the paris palais bourbon (18331847), one of the seats of the french parliament. created a statue group achilles and penthesilea (1895; vienna). achilleus (1908) is a lithography by max slevogt. music achilles has been frequently the subject of operas, ballets and related genres. operas titled deidamia were composed by francesco cavalli (1644) and george frideric handel (1739). achille et polyxene (paris 1687) is an opera begun by jean-baptiste lully and finished by pascal collasse. achille et deidamie (paris 1735) is an opera composed by andre campra. achilles (london 1733) is a ballad opera, written

by john gay, parodied by thomas arne as achilles in petticoats in 1773. achille in sciro is a libretto by metastasio, composed by domenico sarro for the inauguration of the teatro di san carlo (naples, 4 november 1737). an even earlier composition is from antonio caldara (vienna 1736). later operas on the same libretto were composed by leonardo leo (turin 1739), niccolo jommelli (vienna 1749 and rome 1772), giuseppe sarti (copenhagen 1759 and florence 1779), johann adolph hasse (naples 1759), giovanni paisiello (st. petersburg 1772), giuseppe gazzaniga (palermo 1781) and many others. it has also been set to music as il trionfo della gloria. achille (vienna 1801) is an opera by ferdinando paer on a libretto by giovanni de gamerra. achille a scyros (paris 1804) is a ballet by pierre gardel, composed by luigi

cherubini. achilles, oder das zerstorte troja ("achilles, or troy destroyed", bonn 1885) is an oratorio by the german composer max bruch. achilles auf skyros (stuttgart 1926) is a ballet by the austrian-british composer and musicologist egon wellesz. achilles' wrath is a concert piece by sean o'loughlin. achilles last stand a track on the 1976 led zeppelin album presence. achilles, agony and ecstasy in eight parts is the first song on the 1992 manowar album the triumph of steel. achilles come down is a song on the 2017 gang of youths album go farther in lightness. film and television in films achilles has been portrayed in the following films and television series: the 1924 film helena by carlo aldini the 1954 film ulysses by piero lulli the 1956 film helen of troy by stanley baker the 1961 film the

trojan horse by arturo dominici the 1962 film the fury of achilles by gordon mitchell the 1997 television miniseries the odyssey by richard trewett the 2003 television miniseries helen of troy by joe montana the 2004 film troy by brad pitt the 2018 tv series troy: fall of a city by david gyasi architecture in 1890, elisabeth of bavaria, empress of austria, had a summer palace built in corfu. the building is named the achilleion, after achilles. its paintings and statuary depict scenes from the trojan war, with particular focus on achilles. the wellington monument is a statue representing achilles erected as a memorial to arthur wellesley, the first duke of wellington, and his victories in the peninsular war and the latter stages of the napoleonic wars. namesakes the name of achilles has been used

for at least nine royal navy warships since 1744 both as and with the french spelling . a 60-gun ship of that name served at the battle of belleisle in 1761 while a 74-gun ship served at the battle of trafalgar. other battle honours include walcheren 1809. an armored cruiser of that name served in the royal navy during the first world war. was a which served with the royal new zealand navy in world war ii. it became famous for its part in the battle of the river plate, alongside and . in addition to earning the battle honour 'river plate', hmnzs achilles also served at guadalcanal 19421943 and okinawa in 1945. after returning to the royal navy, the ship was sold to the indian navy in 1948, but when she was scrapped parts of the ship were saved and preserved in new zealand. a species of lizard, anolis achilles,

which has widened heel plates, is named for achilles. gallery references further reading ileana chirassi colombo (1977), "heroes achilleus theos apollon." in il mito greco, edd. bruno gentili and giuseppe paione. rome: edizione dell'ateneo e bizzarri. anthony edwards (1985a), "achilles in the underworld: iliad, odyssey, and thiopis". greek, roman, and byzantine studies. 26: pp.215227. anthony edwards (1985b), "achilles in the odyssey: ideologies of heroism in the homeric epic". beitrage zur klassischen philologie. 171. graves, robert, the greek myths, harmondsworth, london, england, penguin books, 1960. graves, robert, the greek myths: the complete and definitive edition. penguin books limited. 2017. helene monsacre (1984), les larmes d'achille. le heros, la femme et la souffrance dans la poesie

d'homere, paris: albin michel. gregory nagy (1984), the name of achilles: questions of etymology and 'folk etymology, illinois classical studies. 19. gregory nagy (1999), the best of the acheans: concepts of the hero in archaic greek poetry. johns hopkins university press (revised edition, online). dale s. sinos (1991), the entry of achilles into greek epic, phd thesis, johns hopkins university. ann arbor, michigan: university microfilms international. jonathan s. burgess (2009), the death and afterlife of achilles. baltimore: johns hopkins university press. abrantes, m.c. (2016), themes of the trojan cycle: contribution to the study of the greek mythological tradition (coimbra). external links trojan war resources gallery of the ancient art: achilles poem by florence earle coates greek mythological

heroes kings of the myrmidons achaean leaders thessalians in the trojan war metamorphoses characters mythological rapists demigods in classical mythology lgbt themes in greek mythology deeds of apollo medea