1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
This is a great thread http://forum.quoteland.com/eve...1976686/m/1801921786
In the movie "2010-The Year We Make Contact" (and book 2010-Odyssey Two) Dr. Chandra is asking the computer "SAL" who phoenix is, and the computer replies "...the tutor of Achilles"...

Phoenix- Comrade and Tutor of the great Achilles
http://www.velocity.net/~jutman/virtiliad.htm#phoenix

Agamemnon was very ready to beg pardon, for he feared that the whole army would be defeated, and cut off from their ships, and killed or kept as slaves. So Ulysses and Aias and the old tutor of Achilles, Phoenix, went to Achilles and argued with him, praying him to accept the rich presents, and help the Greeks. But Achilles answered that he did not believe a word that Agamemnon said; Agamemnon had always hated him, and always would hate him.
~ from Tales of Troy by Andrew Lang
http://www.worldwideschool.org...lesofTroy/chap5.html

Neither is Phoenix, the tutor of Achilles, to be approved or deemed to have given his pupil good counsel when he told him that he should take the gifts of the Greeks and assist them; but that without a gift he should not lay aside his anger. Neither will we believe or acknowledge Achilles himself to have been such a lover of money that he took Agamemnon's or that when he had received payment he restored the dead body of Hector, but that without payment he was unwilling to do so.
~ The Republic by Plato. Book 3. Socrates and Adeimantus
http://www.galileolibrary.com/...republic_page_34.htm

A good attendant [for the education of one's boys] ought to be such a person as Phoenix the tutor of Achilles was. But what I regard as most important of all and the capstone of everything I have said, I have yet to mention. Teachers for boys are to be sought who are of blameless life and of the best experience/reputation; for the source and root of all that is most excellent in the character is to be found in the right kind of education and training.
~ Plutarch
http://home.uchicago.edu/~ahkissel/plutarch.html

Chiron is also named as the tutor of Achilles
http://www.akasha.demon.co.uk/monsters.htm
http://www.geocities.com/zlipa...ron/2060_chiron.html

Phoenix
The tutor of Achilles, blinded by his father, but healed by Chiron who also taught Achilles. He became King of the Dolopes
Book II.1:1-78 Healed by Chiron.
http://www.tonykline.free-onli...ropindexPQRSTVXZ.htm

Chiron (or Cheiron the Centaur) is mentioned in Ovid's (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 B.C.-?17 A.D.) Ars Amatoria, or, The Art of Love, book 1

http://education.umn.edu/EdPA/...gures/figure51b.html

E quel di mezzo, ch'al petto si mira,
è il gran Chirón, il qual nodrì Achille;
quell'altro è Folo, che fu sì pien d'ira.

And in the middle, gazing at his chest,
is mighty Chiron, tutor of Achilles;
the third is Pholus, he who was so frenzied.
~ INFERNO CANTO 12, Dante
http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu/...andelbaum/inf12.html

On one occasion he saw two Centaurs very badly painted; he said, "Which of the two is the worst [cheirôn: Chiron was the name for the celebrated Centaur tutor of Achilles]?"
~ Diogenes Laërtius, LIFE OF DIOGENES
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall...us-book6-cynics.html
http://classicpersuasion.org/p...genes/dldiogenes.htm

This is because there are multiple versions of Achilles's life, since Achilles is a mythological figure.

The basic lines were established by Homer, who provides the earliest of the Achilles stories. In Homer, Phoenix is the tutor of Achilles: apparently Phoenix was an exile from another city who escaped suffering a horrible death. He made his way to Peleus's court, where he found refuge as tutor to the king's son, Achilles.

That is the most accepted story. But even in Homer there are indications of alternate storylines; that Homer is aware of them and is making a deliberate choice in telling the story he does. These other stories continued being passed down orally after the text of Homer became fixed in written form, and get set down in other poems. Pindar is the earliest (I think) who refers to the tradition that Achilles had Chiron the Centaur for a tutor. Later writers pick one or the other tradition, or come up with a third, or try to reconcile the first two, as they see fit.

Mythology is a very mutable form. Just flip through W.B. Stanford's Ulysses Theme for a survey of how Odysseus has fared from writer to writer down to our own time.

When you think of Greek epics, The Odyssey immediately springs to mind. It was originally composed as an oral tale until Homer finally wrote it down for posterity.
The story is in fact beautifully told through the use of dactylic hexameter – where every line is structured in its length and syllables but a lot of this is lost when translated into English. That said, reading The Odyssey is no mean feat and I was left floundering many a time. I am sure there are many of you out there who have faced the same problem and I would suggest you visit shmoop for The Odyssey summary and for a deeper understanding of the text of The Odyssey and the types of literary techniques used to make this classic stand the test of time.