Corfu's Achilleion 1910 — Kaiser to unveil statue of Achilles — A satirical article in The Washington herald.

 The Washington herald, February 27, 1910.

Kaiser to Unveil Statue of Achilles

WILHELM, the war lord, the German kaiser, is nothing if not consistent. The aggressive emperor, who at this moment has a fighting force of 400000 men ready for mobilization in case of necessity, who never has been seen by any of his soldiers with the top button of his coat unbuttoned and never will be seen so, has a strong inclination toward preserving the poetic verities.

Just now the emperor is building for himself a new castle [Error. The castle was not build by Wilhelm but by Sissi. Ed.] on the historic and picturesque island of Corfu, in the Mediterraneny. The largest and most northerly of the Ionian islands Corfu is a Greek island, with Greek traditions of the past and Greek actualities of today. For his pleasure palace,  quite appropriatety, Emperor Willlam has chosen the name “Achilleion.” [Error. Sissi did choose the name. Ed.] Greeky enough to need no identification tag. Derived, of course, from Achilles, hero of Homer's “Iliad.” This name naturally calls for a memorial of its namesake, so Emperor William has commissioned Professor Goets, eminent sculptor, to create a heroic statue of Achilles. Professor Goets has finished his work, and in a short time the emperor personally will unveil the statue.

This work of modern art is nearly twenty-one feet high and will stand upon a marble plinth at Achilleion about thirteen feet high.The helmet, shield and lance of the Homeric warrior are richly gilded, so that they may be seen from a long distance.

It seems eminentty meet that Emperor Willlam should select Achilles for this distinction. Achiltes is in litterature the supreme type of glorious youth, and the emperor of Germany always has apotheosized the vigorous, virile fighting young man. But there is  another point of excellence inhering in Achilles which no doubt sugested itself even more strongly to the kaiser.

Readers of Homer and other ancient writers will recall that the sea goddess Thetis, mother of Achilles dipped the infant in the river Styx, thus rendering his person invulnerable to the shafts of his enemies. But in the dipping process it was necessary for Mother Thetis to held the baby by one of his heels, and the spot covered by the maternal hand had not receive the Stygian dye of invulnerability, Consequently after glorious battles in the Trojan and other ware unscathed Achilles dually received his death wound at the hands of Apollo and Paris, the fatal thrust being delivered through that vulnerable heal.

Emperor William believes his empire, with its tremendous army and its strong navy, is invulnerable but as a wise monarch he must admit to himself at times that perhaps one small heal spot may not be stamped with the Stygian guarantee. As hinted hereinbefore, the kaiser stands for the poetic verities, so these facts may explain his selection of Achilles, the all but immortal youth to stand upon a Corfu height and flash defiance from his shining lance to the four quarters of Europe. 

ROBERT DONNELL.