In Greek mythology, Patroclus (in ancient Greek Pátroklos or Patroklễs, literally “the glory (kléos) of the father (patếr)”) is one of the Greek warriors of the Trojan War, mainly described in the Iliad.
Homeric Elements
Before the war
Son of Menoetios, he was sent by his father to Phthia, where he became the companion of Achilles, a few years younger than him. He is present, at the same time as his father and Achilles, when Nestor comes to recruit warriors at the court of Peleus for the expedition against Troy. Invited at the same time as the Peleid, Achilles, to leave, Patroclus accepts. His father then gave him the following advice (Il., XI, 786-789):
"Achilles, by race, is above you, my son;
But he is your junior, even if he is superior to you,
It's up to you to speak to him wisely, to instruct him
And to direct him:he will see what he gains[1]. »
To Troy
Patroclus is the squire of Achilles (θεράπων / therápôn). The Iliad hesitates as to its exact role:canto XVII shows the horses of the Peleid mourning the death of their "brave driver" (v. 426-428), then Automedon (v. 476) describes him as the most gifted to handle these horses. However, Ulysses in the Odyssey (XXIV, 39-40) and Achilles himself in Canto XIX state that the Peleid used to drive his chariot himself. Other clues suggest that Patroclus goes into battle in a separate chariot, and then fights alongside Achilles. He also serves as a messenger to the latter:it is he whom the Peleid sends, in canto XI, to inquire from Nestor about the identity of the wounded man brought back to the Achaean camp. Similarly, in canto II, it is Patroclus who, at Achille's request, fetches Briseis to give her to Ulysses. When Nestor comes, accompanied by Phoenix, to implore Achilles to return to battle, he prepares wine and food for the guests.
When Achilles angrily retreats into his tent after his dispute with Agamemnon, Patroclus also ceases the fight. In canto XVI of the Iliad (nicknamed Πατρόκλεια / Patrókleia, "the Patrocleia"), while the Trojans supplant the Greeks and threaten to set fire to the naves, Achilles authorizes Patroclus to borrow his arms and go to fight at the head of his Myrmidons. During his aristia, Patroclus slaughters several warriors, including Sarpedon, son of Zeus, before meeting Hector, guided by Apollo. The god, enveloped in a cloud, strikes Patroclus in the back. Patroclus is then wounded, still in the back, by Euphorbus, son of Panthoos, who immediately runs away. Finally, Patroclus is finished off by Hector, who takes away his weapons. Menelaus and Ajax the Great protect the body and return it to Achilles, who then decides to take up arms again to avenge Patroclus.
Thetis, mother of Achilles, makes Patroclus drink nectar and ambrosia to prevent his corpse from becoming corrupt. Meanwhile, Achilles encounters Hector and defeats him. He then offers the Greeks, in honor of Patroclus, a feast at the end of which the dead appears to him and begs him to burn his corpse as soon as possible. The next morning, Achilles had a pyre built for Patroclus, cut his hair, sacrificed oxen and sheep, dogs and horses, as well as twelve young Trojan nobles.
Funeral games
After the cremation of Patroclus, Achilles organizes games in his honor, including:
* a chariot race:it is won by Diomedes, who wins the first prize for a slave and a tripod, Antilochus comes second (by cheating), Menelaus is third, Merion fourth and Eumelos last. Achilles awards the second prize to this one.
* a boxing event, won by Épéios who wins a mule.
* a wrestling event, contested by Ajax the Great and Odysseus. Achilles judges them equally.
* a running race, won by Odysseus, who wins a silver crater. Ajax comes second and receives an ox, Antilochus third, and receives half a gold talent.
* a hoplomachie (arms fight), disputed by Diomedes and Ajax. Achilles judges them equally:they share the dagger, the sheath and the baldric of Sarpedon, and Diomedes receives in addition a dagger from Thrace.
* a discus throwing event, won by Polpœtès , who wins the disc itself, made of raw iron.
* an archery one, won by Merion, who wins ten double iron axes. Teucros, loser, receives ten simple axes.
* one for throwing the javelin, which is in fact not disputed. Achilles stops the two candidates, Agamemnon and Merion, saying that all know that the Atride is the strongest. This one wins a vase, and Merion a bronze javelin.
Recorded in book XXIII of the Iliad, these games, like those organized by Alcinoos in the Odyssey, are one of the oldest testimonies concerning sport in ancient Greece.
Non-Homeric Elements
Mythographers like Pseudo-Apollodorus give another version of Patroclus' past. Son of the king of Locride, he accidentally killed one of his friends, Clysonymus, son of Amphidamas, during a dispute over bones, when he was very young. He must exile himself from the court. He is taken in by Peleus, king of Phthia, who gives him as a companion to Achilles. Apollodorus then makes him one of Helen's suitors, an unlikely fact since many suitors are of much higher rank than him.
The Cyprian Songs, an epic from 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 canto XXIII (v. 746), while Patroclus is not mentioned in canto XXI (v. 34 sqq.). Pindar in his Olympics (IX, 70-79) shows him accompanying Achilles when the latter ravages the city of Teuthrania, in Mysia. A famous vase showing Achilles healing the wound of Patroclus (see below) perhaps illustrates this precise point.
These elements suggest that the character of Patroclus is not a Homeric invention. Moreover, in Canto I, he is presented for the first time simply as "the son of Menoetios", accompanying Achilles and his (unnamed) companions when the hero leaves, in a rage, the council of kings. This suggests that he is a character already well known to the public, who does not even need to be personally named or introduced. On the other hand, it is probable that Patroclus was only a secondary character, to whom Homer gives an unprecedented dimension.
Patroclus and Achilles
Friend or lover
Achilles Bandaging Patroclus, red-figure kylix by the Sôsias Painter, c. 500 BC. AD, Staatliche Museen (Berlin)
Achilles Bandaging Patroclus, red-figure kylix by the Sôsias Painter, c. 500 BC. AD, Staatliche Museen (Berlin)
The friendship of Achilles and Patroclus is proverbial. From the 5th century BC. However, the Greeks saw it more:in general, it was at this time that Greek authors added to famous friendships (Orestes and Pylades, Theseus and Pirithoos, Heracles and Iolaos, etc.) a component pederastic. In this case, the debate for the Greeks is not about whether Patroclus and Achilles were friends or lovers, but why Homer remains so reserved about their relationship, or even if Patroclus is the (beloved) eromenos of Achilles. or the opposite. The Athenian orator Aeschines, in his Counter Timarchus (142-143), states:
“Although Homer repeatedly mentions Patroclus and Achilles, he ignores their desire (érôs) and avoids naming their love (philía), believing that the extraordinary intensity of their affection (εὔνοια / eúnoia) was transparent to educated readers. Achilles declares somewhere (...) that he unwittingly broke the promise made to Menoetios, the father of Patroclus; Achilles had indeed assured that he would bring Patroclus safe and sound to Opous if Menoetius sent him to Troy with him and if he entrusted him to him. This passage obviously shows that it was out of amorous desire (erôs) that he took care of Patroclus. »
Indeed, for many Greeks, the excessive emotion shown by Achilles at the death of Patroclus and his ardor to avenge him leave no doubt about the nature of their relations:Homer's reserve is perceived as a sign of discretion . The tragic Aeschylus develops this motif in his lost tragedy the Myrmidons. It represents without detours (fr. 228b Mette) Achilles weeping over the body of his friend, celebrating the beauty of his hips and regretting the kisses they exchanged. In Aeschylus as in Aeschines, Achilles is the erastes and Patroclus the eromenos.
However, Plato is not of this opinion:in his Banquet (180a), he has Phaedrus say that “it is nonsense, what Aeschylus says when he makes Achilles the lover of Patroclus. Achilles was more handsome than Patroclus, and even more handsome than all the heroes, he is therefore much younger, as Homer[2] indicates. Despite this disagreement, Phèdre also has no doubts about the relationship of Patroclus and Achille.
Nevertheless, thereafter, the tradition stabilizes on the version of Aeschylus, more in keeping with the social status of the two men. Thus, Aelian declares in his Varied History (XII, 7):"while Alexander [the Great] crowned the tomb of Achilles, Hephaestion crowned that of Patroclus, thus implying that he was Alexander's darling, as Patroclus had been that of Achilles. The controversy of the Elders on the role of each shows, for Bernard Sergent, that the Achilles-Patroclus relationship is not related to the pederastic model:it is a relationship between young people of the same generation.
Patroclus, double of Achilles
Patroclus killing Sarpedon despite the arrival of Glaucus, Protolucanian hydria of the Policoro Painter, c. 400 BC AD, National Archaeological Museum of Policoro
Patroclus killing Sarpedon despite the arrival of Glaucus, Protolucanian hydria of the Policoro Painter, c. 400 BC AD, National Archaeological Museum of Policoro
In his death, Patroclus appears as the double of Achilles. While during the preceding cantos of the Iliad, Patroclus is distinguished only by his friendship and his devotion to Achilles, canto XVI, the Patrocluse, sees him suddenly metamorphosed into a hero sweeping away everything in his path during an aristia. He first kills Pyræchmes, leader of the Peonians, Areilycos, Pronoos, Thestor and Eryalos. He wounds (or kills) Erymas, Amphoterius, Epaltes, Echios, Pyris, Tlepolemus, Ipheus, Evippus and Polymelus. Then he meets a major fighter, Sarpedon, leader of the Lycian fighters and son of Zeus. He kills him in a duel reminiscent of that between Achilles and Memnon, leader of the Ethiopians - a fight told in the Ethiopian, one of the epics of the Trojan Cycle, and then taken up again in particular by Quintus of Smyrna.
After killing Sarpedon, Patroclus continues his momentum, and decides to attack Troy itself. This is the only occurrence, before that of Achilles, of a hero deciding alone to launch the assault against the city walls. The episode is typical of Achilles, and suggests a transfer of themes from the Peleid to Patroclus. The latter continues his murderous breakthrough, killing Échéclos, Adraste, Autonoos, Périmos, Épistor, Mélanippe, Élasos, Moulios and Pylartès. Homer then declares that "the Achaeans would have taken Troy at the high gates thanks to Patroclus" (v. 698-699) if he had not been stopped by Apollo. The god declares to him, establishing the parallel, that:
"(...) Fate does not want
That the city of the proud Trojans be taken by your spear,
Nor by that of Achilles, a hero much stronger than you[1]. »
Patroclus then retreats a step, before resuming the fight and quickly finding death. Like Achilles, he is killed by a mortal (Paris for Achilles, Euphorbus then Hector for Patroclus) helped by a god (Apollo in both cases). Both fall under the walls of Troy, where they are buried. In both cases, a long battle (lasting a whole day) takes place on their body, protected by Ajax. Finally, the funerary games given by Achilles in honor of Patroclus are surprisingly large, disproportionate to the birth of Patroclus. In fact, they are the exact replica of the games that will be given in honor of Achilles.
Patroclus, double of Antilochus
Double of Achilles in his death, Patroclus is also the double of Antilochus, son of Nestor. Antilochus is another very dear friend of the Peleid, precisely the one who is charged by the Achaeans to announce to him the death of Patroclus. Antilochus dies by the hand of Memnon, who takes away his arms. Furious Achilles decides to avenge his death, and challenges the Ethiopian to a duel, an episode comparable in all respects to the death of Patroclus and Achilles' revenge.