Patroclus

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Patroclus

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, as recorded in the Iliad
ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
by Homer

Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
, Patroclus, or Patroklos (Gr. “glory of the father”), son of Menoetius, was Achilles

Achilles

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
), his lover.

etius was a member of the Argonauts

Argonauts

In Greek mythology, the Argonauts were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece....
in his youth. He had several marriages, and in different versions of the tale four different women are named as the mother of Patroclus.

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In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Homer

Achilles

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
), his lover.

Patroclus’ genealogy

Menoetius was a member of the Argonauts

Argonauts

Pheres

In Greek Mythology, Pheres , son of Cretheus, was the founder of Pherae in Thessaly. He fled there from Iolcus after his half-brother, Pelias, seized the throne....
, founder of Pherae

Pherae

Pherae was an ancient Greek town in southeastern Thessaly. In mythology, it was the home of King Admetus, whose wife, Alcestis, Heracles went into Hades to rescue....
; Polymele, daughter of Peleus

Peleus

In Greek mythology, Pele?s was a Greek hero cult who was already known to Homer. Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Ende?s, the oread of Mount Pelion in Thessaly; he became the father of Achilles....
, King of Phthia

Phthia

Founded by Aiakos, grandfather of Achilles, it was the home of his father Peleus and his sea-nymph mother Thetis.Phthia is also an area in the 1988 Nintendo game "The Battle of Olympus," a playable level where the dragon Ladon and the god Hephaestus make their homes....
and older half-sister of Achilles; and Sthenele, daughter of Acastus

Acastus

Acastus is a character in Greek mythology. He sailed with Jason and the Argonauts, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar....
and Astydameia

Astydameia

In Greek mythology, Astydameia is a name attributed to three individuals....
. Gaius Julius Hyginus

Gaius Julius Hyginus

Gaius Julius Hyginus was a Latin author, though whether a native of Spain or of Alexandria it is not clear, a pupil of the famous Alexander Cornelius, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus, by whom he was made superintendent of the Palatine library, according to Suetonius' minor works, De Grammaticis, 20....
names Philomela

Philomela (mother of Patroclus)

In Greek mythology Philomela is identified by Gaius Julius Hyginus as the wife of Menoetius and mother of Patroclus. The former was one of the Argonauts and the latter a participant of the Trojan War....
as Patroclus' mother; although Hyginus gives no origin for Philomela, she might be related to her namesake daughter of Pandion I

Pandion I

In Greek mythology, Pandion I was a legendary king of Athens, Greece, the son and heir to Erichthonius of Athens and his wife, the naiad Praxithea....
, King of Athens

King of Athens

Before the Athenian democracy, the tyrants, and the archons, the city-state of Athens was ruled by monarch. Most of these are probably mythologyical or only semi-historical....
and Zeuxippe

Zeuxippe

In Greek mythology, Zeuxippe was the name of several women.*Zeuxippe was the mother of Eribotes and Butes by Teleon. She was the daughter of the river Eridanos ....
.

Menoetius was a son of Actor

Actor (mythology)

Actor is a very common name in Greek mythology. Here is a selection of characters that share this name :#Actor, a king of Phthia, was said to be the son of King Deion of Phocis and Diomede, or of King Myrmidon and Peisidice, daughter of Aeolus....
, King of Opus

Opus, Greece

Opus , in Ancient Greece, the chief city of Opuntian or Opuntian Locris. It was located on the coast of mainland Greece opposite Euboea, perhaps at modern Atalandi....
in Locris

Locris

Locris was a region of ancient Greece, the homeland of the Locrians, made up of two districts. Opuntian Locris or Eastern Locris was on the mainland coast stretching from Thermopylae to Larymna, opposite Euboea, while Ozolian Locris or Western Locris was on the northern coast of the Corinthian Gulf between Naupactus and Crisa, going inland...
by Aegina

Aegina (mythology)

Aegina was a figure of Greek mythology, the nymph of the island that bears her name, Aegina, lying in the Saronic Gulf between Attica and the Peloponnesos....
. Aegina was a daughter of Asopus

Asopus

Asopus or As?pos is the name of five different rivers in Greece and Turkey and also in Greek mythology the name of the God of those rivers....
and mother of Aeacus

Aeacus

Aeacus was a Greek mythology king of the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf.He was son of Zeus and Aegina , a daughter of the river-god Asopus....
by Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
. Aeacus was father of Peleus, Telamon

Telamon

In Greek mythology, Telamon , son of the king Aeacus, of Aegina, and Endeis and brother of Peleus, accompanied Jason as one his Argonauts, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian Boar....
and Phocus

Phocus

In Greek mythology, two different people bore the name Phocus.#A Phocus, son of Aeacus and Psamathe. He was a strong athlete and this ability arose the jealousy of his half-brothers, Peleus and Telamon....
.

Actor was a son of Deion, King of Phocis

Phocis

Phocis is an ancient district and a modern Prefectures of Greece of Greece, located in Central Greece, stretching from the western mountainsides of Mount Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gulf of Corinth....
and Diomede

Diomede

Diomede is the name of three women in Greek mythology....
. His paternal grandparents were Aeolus

Aeolus

Aeolus , Latinized as ?olus was the ruler of the winds in Greek mythology. In fact this name was shared by three mythic characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which Aeolus was which....
of Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is one of the 13 Peripheries of Greece of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 Prefectures of Greece. The capital of the periphery and traditional Regions of Greece is Larissa....
and Enarete

Enarete

In Greek mythology, Enarete was the wife of Aeolus and ancestress of the Aeolians. Her children were Canace, Sisyphus, Deioneus, Salmoneus, Macar, Cretheus, Athamas, Perieres, Calyce , Peisidice, Perimele and in some myths, Alcyone....
. His maternal grandparents were Xuthus

Xuthus

In Greek mythology, Xuthus was a son of Hellen and Orseis and founder of the Achaeans and Ionians nations. He had two sons by Creusa: Ionas and Achaeus, son of Xuthus and a daughter named Diomede....
and Creusa

Creusa

In Greek mythology, four people had the name Creusa ; the name means simply "princess"....
, daughter of Erechtheus

Erechtheus

Erechtheus in Greek mythology was the name of an archaic king of Athens, the re-founder of the polis and a double at Athens for Poseidon, as "Poseidon Erechtheus"....
and Praxithea

Praxithea

In Greek mythology, Praxithea or Pasithea was a name attributed to five women....
.

Life before the Trojan War

While still a boy, Patroclus killed his friend, Clysonymus

Clysonymus

In Greek mythology, Clysonymus was murdered by his friend, Patroclus, during an argument over a game of dice....
, during an argument over a game of dice. His father fled with Patroclus into exile to evade revenge, and they took shelter at the palace of their kinsman King Peleus of Phthia. There Patroclus apparently first met Peleus' son Achilles. Peleus sent the boys to be raised by Chiron

Chiron

In Greek mythology, Chiron or Cheiron was held as the superlative centaur among his brethren. Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents....
, the cave-dwelling wise King of the centaurs.

Patroclus was somewhat older than Achilles (Iliad XI, 780-790).

In a post-Homeric version, he is listed among the unsuccessful suitors of Helen

Helen

In Greek mythology, Helen , better known as Helen of Sparta later Helen of Troy, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda , wife of King Menelaus of Sparta and sister of Castor and Pollux, Castor and Pollux and Clytemnestra....
of Sparta

Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
, all of whom took a solemn oath

Oath

An oath is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact....
to defend the chosen husband (ultimately Menelaus

Menelaus

Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria....
) against whomever should quarrel with him. At about that time Patroclus killed Las, founder of a namesake city

City

A city is an urban area with a high population density and a particular administrative, legal, or historical status.Large industrialized cities generally have advanced systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, house, and transportation and more....
near Gytheio

Gytheio

Gytheio is a town in the prefecture of Laconia in Greece, long known as the seaport of Sparta some 40 km away. Gytheio used to be an important port for many centuries until it was destroyed by an earthquake....
, Laconia

Laconia

Laconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is a prefecture in Greece. Laconia has the legal status of a Prefectures of Greece, with Sparti its administrative capital....
, according to Pausanias the geographer

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius....
. Pausanias reported that the killing was alternatively attributed to Achilles. However Achilles was not otherwise said ever to have visited Peloponnesos.

Trojan War activities

When Achilles refused to fight because of his feud with Agamemnon, Patroclus donned Achilles' armor, led the Myrmidons

Myrmidons

The Myrmidons were an ancient tribe of Greek mythology. They were very brave and skilled warriors as described in Homer's Iliad, and were commanded by Achilles....
and killed many Trojans and their allies, including the Lycian hero Sarpedon

Sarpedon

In Greek mythology, Sarpedon referred to at least three different people....
(a son of Zeus), and Cebriones (the chariot driver of Hector

Hector

In Greek mythology, Hector , or Hektor, is a Troy prince and one of the greatest fighters in the Trojan War. He is the son of Priam and Hecuba, descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy....
and illegitimate son of Priam

Priam

In Greek mythology, Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian compound Priimuua, which means "exceptionally courageous"....
) despite the warning of Achilles to not engage in combat beyond the Achaean ships. He was killed by Apollo and Euphorbos, and later finished off by Hector.

After retrieving his body, which had been protected on the field by Menelaus and Telamonian Aias

Ajax (mythology)

Ajax or Aias was a Greek mythology, the son of Telamon and Periboea and king of Salamis Island. He plays an important role in Homer's Iliad and in the Epic Cycle, a series of epic poems about the Trojan War....
, Achilles returned to battle and avenged his companion's death by killing Hector. Achilles then desecrated Hector's body by dragging it behind his chariot

Chariot

The chariot is the earliest and simplest type of carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Chariots were built in Mesopotamia by the Mesopotamians as early as 3000 BC and in China during the 2nd millennium BC....
instead of allowing the Trojans to honorably dispose of it by burning it. Achilles' grief was great and for some time, he refused to dispose of Patroclus' body; but he was persuaded to do so by an apparition of Patroclus, who told Achilles he could not enter Hades

Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
without a proper cremation

Cremation

Cremation is the process of reducing human remains to basic Chemical element in the form of bone fragments through flame, heat, and vaporization....
. Achilles cut a lock of his hair, and sacrifice

Sacrifice

Sacrifice is commonly known as the practice of offering food, objects , or the lives of animals or people to the deity as an act of propitiation or worship....
d horse

Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
s, dog

Dog

The dog is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties....
s, and twelve Trojan

Troy

Troy is a legendary city and center of the Trojan War, as described in the Epic Cycle, and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer....
captives before placing Patroclus' body on the funeral pyre.

Achilles then organized an athletic competition to honour his dead companion, which included a chariot race

Chariot racing

Chariot racing was one of the most popular Ancient Greece, Roman Empire and Byzantine empire sports. Chariot racing was often dangerous to both driver and horse?they frequently suffered serious injury and even death?but generated strong spectator enthusiasm....
(won by Diomedes

Diomedes

Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, mostly known for his participation in the Trojan War. He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his grandfather, Adrastus....
), boxing

Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
(won by Epeios), wrestling

Amateur wrestling

Amateur wrestling is the most widespread form of sport wrestling. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles : Greco-Roman wrestling and Freestyle wrestling....
(a draw between Telamonian Aias

Ajax (mythology)

Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
), a foot race (won by Odysseus), a duel

Duel

As practiced from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies, a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with their combat doctrines....
(a draw between Aias and Diomedes), a discus

Discus throw

The discus throw is an event in track and field competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disk ???itself called a discus???in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors....
throw (won by Polypoites

Polypoites

In Greek mythology, Polypoites or Polypoetes was a name attributed to the following individuals:*Polypoites was a son of Hippodamia, wife of Pirithous and Pirithous....
), an archery

Archery

Archery is the art, practice or skill of shooting with Bow and arrow. Archery has historically been used in hunting and combat and has become a precision sport....
contest (won by Meriones

Meriones (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Meriones was a son of Molus and Melphis. Molus was a half-brother of Idomeneus. Like other heroes of mythology, Meriones was said to be a direct descendant of gods....
), and a javelin throw

Javelin throw

The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the Javelin , a spear-like object made of metal, Glass-reinforced plastic and, in some cases, carbon fiber....
(won by Agamemnon, unopposed). The games are described in Book 23 of the Iliad
ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
, one of the earliest references to Greek

Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
sports.

Relationship to Achilles

In the Iliad, the love of Achilles for Patroclus drives the story and contributes to the overall theme of the humanization of Achilles. While in the Iliad this love may be seen as chaste, in later Greek writings, such as Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world....
's Symposium
Symposium (Plato)

The Symposium is a philosophical dialogue written by Plato sometime after 385 BC. It is a discussion on the nature of love, taking the form of a group of speeches, both satirical and serious, given by a group of men at a symposium or a wine drinking gathering at the house of the Tragedy#Greek tragedy Agathon at Athens....
, the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles is held up as a model of sexual love, usually interpreted as pederastic

Pederasty in ancient Greece

Greek pederasty, as idealised by the Ancient Greece from Archaic period in Greece onward, was a relationship and bond between an adolescent boy and an adult man outside of his immediate family....
. The primary disagreement in ancient times was between those, such as Aeschylus

Aeschylus

Aeschylus was an Ancient Greece playwright. He is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy, and is the earliest of the three Greek tragedy whose Play survive extant, the others being Sophocles and Euripides....
, who held Achilles to be the erastés (lover) of Patroclus, and that of others, including Plato, who argued that Achilles was the eromenos
Eromenos

In the Pederasty in ancient Greece of Athens, the eromenos was an adolescence boy who was in a love relationship with an adult man, known as the erastes ....
(beloved). Still other ancient authors, such as Xenophon

Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates....
in his Symposium, argued that it was a mistake to label their relationship as a sexual one.

Burial and later reports

The funeral of Patroclus is described in book 23 of the Iliad. Patroclus is cremated on a funeral pyre

Funeral Pyre

"Funeral Pyre" was the The Jam thirteenth single released on 6 June 1981. Backed by the B-side "Disguises", a cover of a The Who track, it reached #4 in the UK Singles chart....
, and his bones are collected into a golden urn in two layers of fat. The barrow

Tumulus

A tumulus is a mound of Soil and Rock s raised over a Grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, H?gelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world....
is built on the location of the pyre. Achilles then sponsors funeral games, consisting of a chariot race, boxing, wrestling, running, a duel between two champions to the first blood, discus throwing, archery and spear throwing.

The death of Achilles

Achilles

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greeks hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad, which takes for its theme ; the Wrath of Achilles....
is given in sources other than the Iliad. His bones were mingled with those of Patroclus so that the two would be companions in death as in life and the remains were transferred to Leuke, an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
in the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
. Their soul

Soul

In many religions and parts of philosophy, the soul is the immaterial part of a person. It is usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and Personality psychology, and can be synonymous with the spirit, mind or self....
s were reportedly seen wandering the island at times.

In Homer's Odyssey
Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
, Odysseus meets Achilles

Achilles

Hades

Ajax (mythology)

Antilochus

In Greek mythology, Antilochus was the son of Nestor , king of Pylos. One of the suitors of Helen, he accompanied his father to the Trojan War....
.

A general of Croton

Crotone

Crotone is a city in Calabria, southern Italy, on the Ionian Sea. Founded circa 710 BC as the Achaean colony of Croton , it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until 1928, when its name was changed to Crotone....
identified either as Autoleon

Autoleon

In Greek mythology, Autoleon was a hero of Crotone in southern Italy, of which the following story is told. Pausanias relates precisely the same story of one Leonymus....
or Leonymus reportedly visited the island of Leuke while recovering from wounds received in battle against the Locri Epizefiri. The event was placed during or after the 7th century BC. He reported having seen Patroclus in the company of Achilles

Achilles

Ajax the Lesser

Ajax was a Greeks Greek mythology hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris. He was called the "lesser" or "Locrian" Ajax, to distinguish him from Ajax , son of Telamon....
, Telamonian Aias

Ajax (mythology)

Antilochus

In Greek mythology, Antilochus was the son of Nestor , king of Pylos. One of the suitors of Helen, he accompanied his father to the Trojan War....
, and Helen

Helen

Spoken-word myths - audio files

Modern sources

pp 57-61 et passim

Patroclus

Patroclus’ genealogy

Life before the Trojan War

Trojan War activities

Relationship to Achilles

Burial and later reports

Spoken-word myths - audio files

Modern sources

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