Although Christians usually viewed Achilles as the antithesis of Christian patience and self-sacrifice, the early Christian legend of a martyr who happens to share Achilles’ name shows how the hero can be ‘converted’ and turn into a model of Christian virtue.

According to the legend, Nereus and Achilles, two soldiers from Rome, converted to Christianity, renounced their violent profession, and as a consequence were martyred. It has been suggested that the second martyr’s name was originally Acilleus (perhaps a freedman of the family of the Acilii) and was later assimilated to that of the Homeric hero.

NEREUS AND ACHILLEUS MARTYRS

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"They had enlisted for military service and were performing their 

cruel duty, in like manner attentive to the tyrant’s commands,

ready to obey orders, compelled by fear.
Marvelous yet true! Suddenly they laid aside their fury;
converted they fled; they abandoned the commander’s wicked camp.
They flung away their shields, their decorations and their bloody weapons.
Having confessed, they rejoiced to carry the triumphs of Christ.

Believe through Damasus what the glory of Christ can achieve."

(Titulus, originally at the basilica of Saints Nereus and Achilleus in the cemetery of Domitilla; Damasus of Rome, Epigrammata 8, ICVR 

III, 8132; trans. Dennis E. Trout)

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NEREUS AND ACHILLEUS MARTYRES

Militiae nomen dederant saevumq(ue) gerebant

officium, pariter spectantes iussa tyranni,

praeceptis pulsante metu servire parati.

mira fides rerum: subito posuere furore(m),

conversi fugiunt, ducis inpia castra relinquunt,

proiciunt clipeos, faleras telaq(ue) cruenta,

confessi gaudent Christi portare triumfos.

credite per Damasum possit quid gloria Christi.