This idiom comes from Greek mythology.

Achilles was a great Greek warrior who was invulnerable in

battle, or almost. He was the son of the Nymph, Thetis.

Thetis was married to Peleus. According to some stories, this marriage was unhappy and against her will.
Since Peleus was a mortal, this meant Achilles was only semi-divine. As if this wasn’t bad enough, when
Achilles was still an infant, Thetis became aware that Achilles was destined to die early at Troy. She
hatched a plan to keep him alive.

In one of many stories, Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx and dipped him in the waters. The waters
made Achilles invulnerable and gave him great strength. However, to dip him in the water, Thetis held
him by his heel. Therefore, his heel did not get wet and was not made invulnerable like the rest of his
body. This became his one weak spot. Apollo was watching the same at this moment.

In truth, the river dipping was only one of many attempts by Thetis to prevent her Son’s early death. But
his heel became his downfall during the battled Trojan War. Paris, the Prince of Troy, fired an arrow
through his heel, his one vulnerable spot, which killed him. It says that Apollo helped and directed the
arrow since Paris was not a great warrior

Note that this story is a later addition to the Achilles legends. He was not invulnerable in all stories.

Achilles not only lent his name to an idiom but to a part of the human anatomy. The Achilles tendon is
the very prominent and tough band of tissue that connects the heel bone (calcaneus) to the calf
muscles. Just as it was for Achilles, this area is vulnerable for all of us, as many people suffer a rupture of
this tendon during sports activities or exercise, especially after the age of 30