Achilles, the Iliad, and the Omicron Variant

#COVID19 #education #training #immunology
Through the Iliad, and the tale of Achilles, I present a perspective to explain the immune protection against SARS-CoV-2 using the Omicron variant as example. Watch this video and relax, enjoy, while learning a bit of history, mythology, art, immunology, and vaccines.

I highly recommend reading this editorial (posted after I finished this video):
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21...
COVID-19: where do we go from here? The Lancet VOLUME 398, ISSUE 10318, P2207, DECEMBER 18, 2021

References used to create this presentation:
1. Escape from neutralizing antibodies by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants Y Weisblum, F Schmidt, F Zhang, et al- Elife, 2020
2. Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 spike 69/70 deletion, E484K and N501Y variants by BNT162b2 vaccine-elicited sera. X Xie, Y Liu, J Liu et al. Nature Medicine, 2021
3. PFIZER AND BIONTECH PROVIDE UPDATE ON OMICRON VARIANT Wednesday, December 08, 2021 https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-rel...

IMAGES:
Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles into the River Styx by Peter Paul Rubens c. 1625 CE. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Statue of Achilleus Thniskon (Dying Achilles) at the Corfu Achilleion.

Chiron teaching Achilles how to play the lyre, Roman fresco from Herculaneum, 1st century CE

Achilles Tending to Patroclus' Wounds. Sosias (potter, signed). Painting attributed to the Sosias Painter. Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BCE from Vulci. . The Altes Museum, Berlin

Wooden board inscribed in ink with lines 468-473, Book I of Homer's Iliad. 400-500 CE, from Egypt. On display at the British Museum

Apollo Belvedere, c. 120–140 CE. The Vatican

Chryses attempting to ransom his daughter Chryseis from Agamemnon, Apulian red-figure crater by the Athens 1714 Painter, ca. 360–350 BCE Louvre, Paris

Achilles cedes Briseis to Agamemnon, from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, fresco, 1st century CE. Naples National Archaeological Museum

Achilles and Briseis. Apulian Red-Figure Amphora by the Painter of the Berlin Dancing Girl ca. 430-410 BCE. Museo Provinciale Sigismondo Castromediano in Lecce, Italy

Achilles sulking, detail from a scene representing the embassy of Odysseus to Achilles (Book 9 of the Iliad). Attic red-figure cup, ca. 480–470 BCE. From Vulci.

Iliad VIII 245-253 in codex F205 late 5th or early 6th c. CE. Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

Patroclus on an antique fresco in Pompeii 1st century CE

Achilles and Memnon fighting, between Thetis and Eos Attic black-figure amphora, c. 510 BCE, from Vulci. Bavarian State Collection of Antiques, Munich

Achilles killing the Amazon Queen Penthesilea. Attic black-figure amphora, 540-530 BCE from Vulci. The British Museum, London

Ancient Greek Phalanx Trojan War Retrieval Patroclos Body From Pharsala 510-500 BCE Pottery National Archaeological Museum Athens Greece.

Menelaus and Meriones lifting Patroclus' corpse on a cart while Odysseus looks on. Alabaster urn, Etruscan, c 100-200 BCE. From Volterra. Museo Nazionale Archeologico Florence.

The body of Patroclus borne by Menelaus, Roman sculpture. Florence, Italy

Hector's last visit with his wife, Andromache, and infant son Astyanax, startled by his father's helmet. Apulian red-figure vase, 370–360 BCE. Museo Nazionale of the Palazzo Jatta in Ruvo di Puglia (Bari).

Vulcan Presenting the Arms of Achilles to Thetis by Peter Paul Rubens 1630-35. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Hephaestus presents Achilles' new armor to Thetis (Iliad, XVIII, 617). Attic red-figure Kylix, 490-480 BCE by the Foundry Painter. Berlin antiquities collection

The shield's design as interpreted by Angelo Monticelli, from Ferrario, Giulio: “Le Costume Ancien ou Moderne” 1815

Thetis gives her son Achilles weapons forged by Hephaestus. Detail of Attic black-figure hydria, 575–550 BCE. The Louvre, Paris

Bronze chariot inlaid with ivory; 2nd quarter of the 6th century BCE Etruscan. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Achilles & the body of Hector. Attic Black Figure Attributed to the Antiope Group ca. 520 - 510 BCE. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Dispute between Ajax and Odysseus for Achilles' armour. Attic black-figure oinochoe, ca. 520 BCE. Kalos inscription. The Louvre, Paris

Achilles fighting against Memnon Greek polychromatic pottery painting c. 300 BCE. Leiden Rijksmuseum