Patroclus - WikiHQ

thumb|upright=1.2|Patroclus on an antique fresco from the [[House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, 1st century AD (Naples National Archaeological Museum)]]

Patroclus (generally pronounced ; ) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and close companion of the hero Achilles in Greek mythology. Patroclus is an important character in Homer's Iliad. Although Homer does not explicitly describe Patroclus and Achilles as lovers, later ancient authors often interpreted their relationship in this manner.

Born in Opus, Patroclus was the son of the Argonaut 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's son, Achilles. When the tide of the Trojan 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.

Name

The Latinized name Patroclus derives from the Ancient Greek Pátroklos (), meaning "glory of his father," from (patḗr, "father" stem pátr-) and (kléos, "glory"). A variation of the name with the same components in different order is Kleópatros, while the feminine form of the name is Cleopatra.

There are at least three pronunciations of the name 'Patroclus' in English. 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'). 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: .

Description and family

Philostratus wrote that Patroclus had "an olive complexion, black (melas) eyes, and sufficiently fine eyebrows, and he commended moderately long hair... His nose was straight, and he flared his nostrils as eager horses do." In the Latin account of Dares the Phrygian, Patroclus was illustrated as "... handsome and powerfully built. His eyes were [lively and large] (oculis vividis et magnis). He was modest, dependable, wise, a man richly endowed."

Patroclus was the son of Menoetius (hence called Menoetiades , meaning "son of Menoetius") by either Philomela or Polymele, Sthenele, or Periopis. His only sibling was Myrto, mother of Eucleia by Heracles. Homer also references Menoetius as the individual who gave Patroclus to Peleus. Menoetius was the son of Actor, king of Opus in Locris, by Aegina, daughter of Asopus.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:100%;

|+<big>Comparative table of Patroclus's family</big>

! rowspan="3" |Relation

! rowspan="3" |Names

! colspan="11" |Sources

! colspan="3" |Homer

!Pindar

!Apollonius

! rowspan="2" |Philocrates

! rowspan="2" |Apollodorus

! rowspan="2" |Plutarch

! rowspan="2" |Hyginus

! rowspan="2" |Eustathius

! rowspan="2" |Tzetzes

!Iliad

!Sch. Il.

!Sch. Ody.

!Scholia

| rowspan="6" |Parents

|Menoetius

|✓

|Menoetius and Sthenele

|✓

|Menoetius and Philomela

|✓

|Menoetius and Polymele

|✓

|Menoetius and Periopis

|✓

|Sibling

|Myrto

|✓

Mythology

Early days

thumb|A fresco in [[Pompeii depicting Achilles seated between Briseis and Patroclus in the marquee|215x215px]]

During his childhood, Patroclus had accidentally killed his playmate Clysonymus over a game of dice. As a result, he was exiled from his home, Opus, with Menoetius sending him to Peleus, king of Phthia and father of Achilles. Peleus named Patroclus Achilles's "squire", as they both grew up together and became close friends. Patroclus acted as a male role model for Achilles, being both kinder than him as well as wiser regarding counsel. Patroclus's early life, including his flight to the house of Peleus, is narrated later in the Iliad, when his ghost appears to Achilles reminding him about his past and giving him advice about his burial.

Local tradition in Laconia held that Achilles killed Las when he came to their land to seek the hand of Helen, daughter of Tyndareus. However, the geographer Pausanias disagrees, stating that it was actually Patroclus who killed Las, arguing that Patroclus, not Achilles, was one of Helen's suitors.

Trojan War

thumb|left|A cup depicting [[Achilles bandaging Patroclus's arm, by the Sosias Painter]]

According to the Iliad, when the tide of the Trojan War had turned against the Greeks and the Trojans were threatening their ships, Patroclus convinced Achilles to let him lead the Myrmidons into combat. Achilles consented, giving Patroclus the armor Achilles had received from his father in order for Patroclus to impersonate Achilles. Achilles then told Patroclus to return after beating the Trojans back from their ships.

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. Hector then kills Patroclus by stabbing him in the stomach with a spear.

thumb|right|[[Menelaus and Meriones lift the body of Patroclus while Odysseus and others look on (Etruscan relief, 2nd century BC)]]

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 Hades.

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.

Relationship with Achilles

Although there is no explicit sexual relationship between Achilles and Patroclus in the Homeric tradition, a few later Greek authors wrote about what they saw as implied in the text regarding their relationship. Aeschylus and Phaedrus, for example, state there was a clear relationship between them. Aeschylus refers to Achilles as the erastes, while Phaedrus refers to Achilles as the eromenos of the relationship.

thumb|The body of Patroclus borne by Menelaus, Roman sculpture, Florence, Italy|left

According to Ledbetter (1993), 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. While Homer's Iliad never explicitly stated that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers, this concept was propounded by some later authors.