In Greek mythology, Patroclus (in Ancient Greek Πάτροκλος / Pátroklos) is one of the Greek warriors in the Trojan War, primarily described in the Iliad. In the Homeric narrative, Patroclus, the “son of Menoetius,” is the companion and lover of Achilles — they allegedly share the nymph Aegina as a common ancestor — who accompanies him to Troy.
When the Trojans threaten to invade the Greek camp, he pleads in vain with the hero to take up arms again despite his resentment towards Agamemnon to prevent a massacre. Achilles refuses to yield, but grants Patroclus permission to lead the Myrmidons into battle himself, wearing his armor and wielding his spear. He manages to rout the enemy, terrified by the sight of Achilles returning to the battlefield.
After killing several enemy kings, including Sarpedon, and being unmasked by Apollo, Patroclus eventually meets his death at the hands of Hector. Mad with grief upon learning of his companion’s death, Achilles takes up arms to avenge him, thus killing Hector. Achilles will request that upon his death, his ashes be mixed with those of Patroclus and that they be buried together.
Homeric Elements
Before the War
Son of Menoetius, he is sent by his father to Phthia, where he becomes the companion of Achilles, a few years his junior. He is present, along with his father and Achilles, when Nestor comes to recruit warriors at the court of Peleus for the expedition against Troy. Invited to depart at the same time as Achilles the son of Peleus, Patroclus agrees. His father then addresses him with the following advice:
“Achilles, by birth, is superior to you, my son;
But he is younger than you, even though he is superior to you,
It is up to you to speak to him wisely, to instruct him
And to guide him: he will see what he gains from it.”
At Troy
Patroclus is Achilles’ squire (θεράπων / therápôn). The Iliad is uncertain about his exact role: in Book XV, Achilles’ horses mourn the death of their “brave driver,” then Automedon describes him as the most skilled in handling these horses. However, in the Odyssey, Odysseus and Achilles himself in Book XIX declare that he usually drives his own chariot.
Other clues suggest that Patroclus goes into battle on a separate chariot and then fights alongside Achilles. He also serves as a messenger to Achilles: it is he whom Achilles sends in Book XI to inquire of Nestor about the identity of the wounded man brought back to the Achaean camp. Likewise, in Book II, it is Patroclus who, at Achilles’ request, fetches Briseis to be handed over to Odysseus. When Nestor comes, accompanied by Phoenix, to implore Achilles to return to battle, he prepares wine and food for the guests.
When Achilles angrily withdraws into his tent after his dispute with Agamemnon, Patroclus also ceases fighting. In Book XVI of the Iliad, as the Trojans overpower the Greeks and threaten to set fire to the ships, Achilles allows Patroclus to borrow his armor and lead his Myrmidons into battle. During his aristeia, Patroclus kills several warriors, including Sarpedon, son of Zeus, scales the walls, but is thwarted three times by Apollo, who makes him fall from his chariot before encountering Euphorbus, who mortally wounds him in turn, making way for Hector, who finishes him off with a lance in the back and strips him of his armor. Menelaus and Ajax the Great protect the body and return it to Achilles, who decides to take up arms to avenge Patroclus, regardless of the danger.
Thetis, Achilles’ mother, gives Patroclus nectar and ambrosia to prevent his corpse from corrupting. Meanwhile, Achilles encounters Hector and defeats him. He then offers a feast to the Greeks in honor of Patroclus, after which the dead man appears to him, begging him to burn his corpse as soon as possible and to place his bones in the same urn that will hold Achilles’.
The next morning, Achilles conducts Patroclus’ funeral. The body is carried to the cremation site by a procession of warriors on their chariots. A gigantic pyre is built. Achilles cuts off his hair and places it in Patroclus’ hands, whose body is placed atop the pyre. Bulls and sheep are sacrificed: their fat is placed on Patroclus’ corpse, while their carcasses are piled onto the pyre. Jars of honey and oil are placed beside the funeral bed.
Finally, Achilles sacrifices four horses, two of Patroclus’ nine dogs, and twelve young noble Trojans (this last act is contested by Plato, who considers it an impiety, in Book III of his Republic). He sets the pyre ablaze and prays to the winds Boreas and Zephyr to fan it. Throughout the night, he pours wine libations while invoking Patroclus’ soul. At dawn, the flames are extinguished with wine. Patroclus’ bones are collected and placed in a golden urn with a double layer of fat. The whole is covered with a linen cloth and placed in a tumulus, awaiting the day of Achilles’ death.
Funeral Games
After Patroclus’ cremation, Achilles organizes games in his honor, including:
- A chariot race: it is won by Diomedes, who takes home the first prize of a slave and a tripod, with Antilochus coming in second (by cheating), Menelaus third, Meriones fourth, and Eumelus last. Achilles awards the second prize to Eumelus.
- A boxing match, won by Epeius, who wins a mule.
- A wrestling match between Ajax the Great and Odysseus. Achilles judges them to be equal.
- A footrace, won by Odysseus, who wins a silver crater. Ajax comes in second and receives a bull, Antilochus third, and receives half a talent of gold, the prize initially intended, and a second talent of gold for skillfully flattering Achilles’ tireless feet race.
- A hoplite combat — armed combat — fought between Diomedes and Ajax. Achilles judges them to be equal: they share Sarpedon’s dagger, scabbard, and belt, and Diomedes also receives a Thracian dagger.
- A discus throw, won by Polypoetes, who wins the discus itself, made of raw iron.
- An archery contest, won by Meriones, who wins ten double-headed iron axes. Teucer, the loser, receives ten single-headed axes.
- A javelin throw, which is not actually contested. Achilles stops the two contenders, Agamemnon and Meriones, saying that everyone knows that Agamemnon is the strongest. He wins a vase, and Meriones wins a bronze javelin.
Recorded in Book XXIII of the Iliad, these games, like those organized by Alcinous in the Odyssey, are one of the oldest testimonies concerning sports in ancient Greece.
Non-Homeric Elements
Mythographers, such as pseudo-Apollodorus, give a version consistent with Homer’s account of Patroclus’ past. Son of the king of Opus, he killed his cousin Clytonymus, son of Amphidamas, in a childhood dispute over knucklebones. He must then go into exile (After committing murder, young Patroclus left Opus), and is taken in by Peleus, king of Phthia, who gives him as a companion to Achilles. Pseudo-Apollodorus then makes him one of Helen’s suitors.
The Cypria, an epic of the Trojan Cycle, mentions him as one of those who sell Lycaon, one of Priam’s sons, when he is captured by the Achaeans. The Iliad confirms this in Book XXIII, v. 746, while Patroclus is not mentioned in Book XXI, v. 34 sqq. Pindar in his Olympian Odes shows him accompanying Achilles when the latter ravages the city of Teuthrania, in Mysia. A famous vase depicting Achilles tending to Patroclus’ wound may illustrate this specific point.
These elements suggest that the character of Patroclus is not a Homeric invention. Moreover, in Book I, he is first introduced simply as “the son of Menoetius,” accompanying Achilles and his companions (unnamed) when the hero angrily leaves the council of kings. This suggests that he is a well-known character to the audience, so much so that there is no need to personally name or introduce him. However, it is probable that Patroclus was initially a secondary character, whom Homer expands upon significantly.
Patroclus and Achilles
The friendship of Achilles and Patroclus is proverbial. However, by the 5th century BC, the Greeks saw more in it: during this period, Greek authors added a pederastic component to famous friendships (such as Orestes and Pylades, Theseus and Pirithous, Heracles and Iolaus, etc.). In this case, the debate among the Greeks is not whether Patroclus and Achilles were friends or lovers, but why Homer remains so reserved about their relationship, or whether Patroclus is Achilles’ eromenos or vice versa. The Athenian orator Aeschines, in his Against Timarchus, declares:
“Although Homer mentions Patroclus and Achilles many times, he is silent about their desire (ἔρως / érôs) and avoids naming their love (φιλία / philía), believing that the extraordinary intensity of their affection (εὔνοια / eúnoia) was clear to educated readers. Achilles declares somewhere […] that he inadvertently broke the promise made to Menoetius, Patroclus’ father; Achilles had indeed assured that he would bring Patroclus safely back to Opus if Menoetius sent him to Troy with him and entrusted him to him. This passage obviously shows that it was out of love (érôs) that he took care of Patroclus.”
In Xenophon’s Symposium, Xenophon says they were not lovers; Aeschylus says the opposite in his play The Myrmidons. For many Greeks, Achilles’ excessive emotion at Patroclus’ death and his fervor to avenge him leave no doubt about the nature of their relationship: Homer’s reserve is perceived as a sign of discretion. Aeschylus develops this motif in his lost tragedy The Myrmidons: he straightforwardly represents Achilles mourning over his friend’s body, celebrating the beauty of his hips, and lamenting the kisses they exchanged. In both Aeschylus and Aeschines, Achilles is the erastes and Patroclus the eromenos.
One could contest this version based on the observation of the beard: Patroclus has one, while Achilles does not. Indeed, one might think that Achilles is the young eromenos and Patroclus the older erastes, especially since the admiration resulting from love is that of Patroclus for Achilles, which would corroborate the thesis that Patroclus is the lover-erastes and Achilles the beloved-eromenos. The two men also love each other; this is undeniable. Plato disagrees with this view: in his Symposium, he has Phaedrus say, “What Aeschylus say when he makes Achilles the lover of Patroclus is nonsense. Achilles was more beautiful than Patroclus, and even more beautiful than all the heroes, so he is much younger, as Homer also indicates.” Despite this disagreement, Phaedrus also has no doubt about the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles.
Nevertheless, later tradition stabilizes on the version of Aeschylus, which is more consistent with the social status of the two men. Thus, Aelian declares that while Alexander the Great crowned Achilles’ tomb, Hephaestion crowned that of Patroclus, to recall the similar relationship he had with the king of Macedonia, of whom he was the companion, just as Patroclus had been Achilles’.
Patroclus, Achilles’ Double
In his death, Patroclus stands as Achilles’ double. While in the previous chants of the Iliad, Patroclus is distinguished only by his friendship and devotion to Achilles, in Book XVI, known as the Patrocleia, he suddenly transforms into a hero sweeping everything in his path during an aristeia. He first kills Pyraechmes, leader of the Paeonians, Areilycus, Pronous, Thestor, and Eryalus. He wounds (or kills) Erymas, Amphoterus, Epaltes, Echius, Pyris, Tlepolemus, Iphitus, Evippus, and Polymelus. Then he encounters a formidable fighter, Sarpedon, leader of the Lycian warriors and son of Zeus. He kills him in a duel reminiscent of the one between Achilles and Memnon, leader of the Ethiopians — a combat recounted in the Aethiopis, one of the epics of the Trojan Cycle, notably retold by Quintus of Smyrna.
After killing Sarpedon, Patroclus continues his rampage and decides to attack Troy itself. This is the only instance, before Achilles’, of a hero deciding alone to assault the city walls. The episode is typical of Achilles and suggests a transfer of themes from Achilles to Patroclus. He continues his deadly breakthrough, killing Echecles, Adrastus, Autonous, Perimus, Epistor, Melanippe, Elasus, Molios, and Pylartes. Homer then declares that “the Achaeans would have taken Troy with high gates thanks to or with Patroclus,” had he not been stopped by Apollo. The god declares to him, establishing the parallel, that:
“[…] Fate does not want
The city of proud Troy to be taken by your spear,
Nor by that of Achilles, a hero much stronger than you.”
Patroclus then steps back before resuming the fight and quickly meets his death. Like Achilles, he is killed by a mortal (Paris for Achilles, Euphorbus then Hector for Patroclus) aided by a god (Apollo in both cases). Both fall beneath the walls of Troy, where they are cremated. In both cases, a long battle (lasting a whole day) takes place over their bodies, protected by Ajax. Finally, the funeral games given by Achilles in honor of Patroclus are surprising in their grandeur, disproportionate to Patroclus’ birth. In fact, they are an exact replica of the games that will be given in honor of Achilles.
Patroclus, Antilochus’ Double
A double of Achilles in his death, Patroclus is also the double of Antilochus, Nestor’s son. Antilochus is another very dear friend of Achilles, precisely the one charged by the Achaeans with announcing Patroclus’ death to him. Antilochus dies at the hands of Memnon, who takes his armor. Furious, Achilles decides to avenge his death and challenges the Ethiopian to a duel, an episode comparable in every way to Patroclus’ death and Achilles’ vengeance.
Patroclus, Unfortunate Substitute for the Sun
According to Jean Haudry, Patroclus’ figure and his actions in the Iliad are understandable if we suppose that Patroclus, like Achilles, is “the counterpart of a cosmic figure closely related to the Sun.” His deeds would boil down to two essential traits: his disguise and the imprudence that proves fatal to him. In this respect, he would be quite similar in significance to the myth of Phaethon, whose story is another unsuccessful attempt to replace the Sun.
Legacy
- An asteroid bears his name.
- The relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is the subject of the novel “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller (2011).
