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In Greek mythology, Patroclus (generally pronounced ; ) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and an important character in Homer's Iliad. Born in Opuntian Locris, Patroclus was the son of the Argonauts Menoetius. When he was a child, he was exiled from his hometown and was adopted by Peleus, king of Phthia. There, he was raised alongside Peleus' son, Achilles, a childhood friend, who became a close wartime companion. When the tide of the war turned against the Achaeans, Patroclus, disguised as Achilles and defying his orders to retreat in time, led the Myrmidons in battle against the Trojans and was eventually killed by the Trojan prince, Hector. Enraged by Patroclus's death, Achilles ended his refusal to fight, resulting in significant Greek victories.
There are at least three pronunciations of the name 'Patroclus' in English.Carey (1816) Practical English Prosody and Versification, p. 125 fn Because the penultimate syllable is light in Latin prose ( pă′.trŏ.clŭs), the antepenult was stressed in Latin and would normally be stressed in English as well, for (analogous to 'Sophocles').Bechtel (1908) Pronunciation However, this pronunciation is seldom encountered: for metrical convenience, Alexander Pope had made the 'o' long, and thus stressed, in his translation of Homer, following a convention of Greek and Latin verse, and that pronunciation – of Latin pa.trō′.clus – has stuck, for English . Moreover, because in prose, a penultimate Greco-Latin short o (omicron) would only be stressed in a closed syllable, the penult has sometimes been misanalysed as being closed (*pă.trŏc′.lŭs), which would change the English o to a short vowel: .
Patroclus was the son of Menoetius (hence called Menoetiades Μενοιτιάδης, meaning "son of Menoetius") Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Menoetius by either PhilomelaEustathius on Homer, p. 1498; Scholia on Homer, Odyssey 4.343 and 17.134; Hyginus, Fabulae 97 or Polymele, Sthenele,Scholia on Homer, Iliad 16.14; on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.46; Periopis,Apollodorus, 3.13.8 mentions the three possible mothers of Patroclus: (1) Polymele, daughter of Peleus (according to Philocrates), (2) Sthenele, daughter of Acastus and lastly (3) Periopis, daughter of Pheres or lastly Damocrateia.Pythaenetos, quoting the on Pindar, Olympian Odes 9.107 His only sibling was Myrto, mother of Eucleia by Heracles.Plutarch, Aristides 20.6 Homer also references Menoetius as the individual who gave Patroclus to Peleus.Homer, Iliad 23.85 ff. Menoetius was the son of Actor,Homer, Iliad 11.785, 16.14. king of Opus in Opuntian Locris, by Aegina, daughter of Asopus. Patroclus was Achilles's first cousin once removed through their paternal family connection to Aegina, as Achilles was the son of Peleus and grandson of Aeacus, son of Aegina by Zeus.
| Relation ! rowspan="3" | Names ! colspan="11" | Sources | ||||||||||
| Parents | Menoetius | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Menoetius and Sthenele | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||
| Menoetius and Philomela | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Menoetius and Polymele | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Menoetius and Damocrateia | ✓ | |||||||||||
| Menoetius and Periopis | ✓ | |||||||||||
| Sibling | Myrto | ✓ |
According to Photius, Ptolemy Hephaestion (probably referring to Ptolemy Chennus) wrote that Patroclus was also loved by the sea god Poseidon, who taught him the art of riding horses.Photius, Bibliotheca codex 190.
Patroclus defied Achilles's order and pursued the Trojans back to the gates of Troy. Patroclus killed many Trojans and Trojan allies, including a son of Zeus, Sarpedon. While fighting, Patroclus's wits were removed by Apollo, after which the spear of Euphorbus hit Patroclus. Hector then kills Patroclus by stabbing him in the stomach with a spear.
Achilles retrieved his body, which had been stripped of armor by Hector and protected on the battlefield by Menelaus and Ajax. Achilles did not allow the burial of Patroclus's body until the ghost of Patroclus appeared and demanded his burial in order to pass into Greek Underworld. Patroclus was then cremated on a funeral pyre, which was covered in the hair of his sorrowful companions. As the cutting of hair was a sign of grief while also acting as a sign of the separation of the living and the dead, this points to how well-liked Patroclus had been. The ashes of Achilles were said to have been buried in a golden urn along with those of Patroclus by the Hellespont.
According to Ledbetter (1993), there is a train of thought that Patroclus could have been a representation of the compassionate side of Achilles, who was known for his rage, mentioned in the first line of Homer's Iliad. Ledbetter connects the way that Achilles and his mother, Thetis, communicate to the link between Achilles and Patroclus. Ledbetter does so by comparing how Thetis comforts the weeping Achilles in Book 1 of the Iliad to how Achilles comforts Patroclus as he weeps in Book 16. Achilles uses a simile containing a young girl tearfully looking at her mother to complete the comparison. Ledbetter believes this puts Patroclus into a subordinate role to that of Achilles. However, as Patroclus is explicitly stated to be the elder of the two characters, this is not evidence of their ages or social relation to each other.
James Hooker describes the literary reasons for Patroclus's character within the Iliad. He states that another character could have filled the role of confidant for Achilles and that it was only through Patroclus that we have a worthy reason for Achilles's wrath. Hooker claims that without the death of Patroclus, an event that weighed heavily upon him, Achilles's following act of compliance to fight would have disrupted the balance of the Iliad.
Hooker describes the necessity of Patroclus sharing a deep affection with Achilles within the Iliad. According to his theory, this affection allows an even more profound tragedy to occur. Hooker argues that the greater the love, the greater the loss. Hooker continues to negate Ledbetter's theory that Patroclus is in some way a surrogate for Achilles; rather, Hooker views Patroclus's character as a counterpart to that of Achilles. Hooker reminds us that it is Patroclus who pushes the Trojans back, which Hooker claims makes Patroclus a hero, as well as foreshadowing what Achilles is to do.
Achilles and Patroclus grew up together after Menoitios gave Patroclus to Achilles's father, Peleus. During this time, Peleus made Patroclus one of Achilles's "henchmen." While Homer's Iliad never explicitly stated that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers, this concept was propounded by some later authors.
Aeschines asserts that there was no need to explicitly state the relationship as a romantic one, for such "is manifest to such of his hearers as are educated men." In later Greek writings, such as Plato's Symposium, the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles is discussed as a model of romantic love. However, Xenophon, in his Symposium, had Socrates argue that it was inaccurate to label their relationship as romantic. Nevertheless, their relationship is said to have inspired Alexander the Great in his own close relationship with his life-long companion Hephaestion.
In the Iliad, Achilles was younger than Patroclus. This reinforces Dowden's explanation of the relationship between an eromenos, a youth in transition, and an erastes, an older male who had recently made the same transition. Dowden also notes the common occurrence of such relationships as a form of initiation. However, Statius in the Achilleid states that the two were either within the same age group or acted as if they were.
Patroclus is a character in William Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida. In the play, Achilles, who has become lazy, is besotted with Patroclus, and the other characters complain that Achilles and Patroclus are too busy having sex to fight in the war.
| Bibliography of reconstruction: Homer Iliad, 9.308, 16.2, 11.780, 23.54 (700 BC); Pindar Olympian Odes, IX (476 BC); Aeschylus Myrmidons, F135-36 (495 BC); Euripides Iphigenia in Aulis, (405 BC); Plato Symposium, 179e (388-367 BC); Statius Achilleid, 161, 174, 182 (96 AD) |
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