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It’s probably only fitting that NBA legend Kobe Bryant — who died tragically in a helicopter crash alongside his daughter Gianna and seven others on Jan. 26 — was fascinated with the ancient Greek legend of Achilles.
Known as the greatest of all Greek warriors, whose exploits were chronicled in Homer’s Iliad, the fearsome, seemingly invulnerable fighter was eventually killed after being shot in the heel with an arrow during the final days of the Trojan War.
“He got obsessed with Achilles,” Bryant’s friend and longtime ESPN reporter Ramona Shelburne tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story.
Kobe evidently was an intelligent guy who spoke three languages and had an interest in ancient history. Who knew that he was reading Homer in between games?