Patroclus
In
Name
The Latinized name Patroclus derives from the Ancient Greek Pátroklos (Πάτροκλος), meaning "glory of his father," from πατήρ (patḗr, "father" stem pátr–) and κλέος (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.[2] 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 /ˈpæ.trə.kləs/ (analogous to 'Sophocles').[3] 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 /pə.ˈtroʊ.kləs/.[4] 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: /pə.ˈtrɒk.ləs/.[5]
Description and family
In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Patroclus was illustrated as "… handsome and powerfully built. His eyes were gray. He was modest, dependable, wise, a man richly endowed."[6]
Patroclus was the son of Menoetius (hence called Menoetiades Μενοιτιάδης, meaning "son of Menoetius")[7] by either Philomela[8][9] or Polymele, Sthenele,[10] Periopis,[11] or lastly Damocrateia.[12] His only sibling was Myrto, mother of Eucleia by Heracles.[13] Homer also references Menoetius as the individual who gave Patroclus to Peleus.[14] Menoetius was the son of Actor,[15] king of Opus in Locris, by Aegina, daughter of Asopus. Patroclus was Achilles' 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 | Names | Sources | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Homer | Pindar | Apollonius | Philocrates | Apollodorus | Plutarch | Hyginus | Eustathius | Tzetzes | ||||
Iliad | Sch. Il. | Sch. Ody. | Scholia | Scholia | ||||||||
Parents | Menoetius | ✓ | ||||||||||
Menoetius and Sthenele | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||
Menoetius and Philomela [clarification needed] |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||
Menoetius and Polymele | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||
Menoetius and Damocrateia | ✓ | |||||||||||
Menoetius and Periopis | ✓ | |||||||||||
Sibling | Myrto | ✓ |
Mythology
Early days
During his childhood, Patroclus had accidentally or in anger 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.[16][17] Peleus named Patroclus Achilles' "squire", as they both grew up together and became close friends.[18] Patroclus acted as a male role model for Achilles, being both kinder than him as well as wiser regarding counsel.[a][19] Patroclus' 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.[17]
According to
Trojan War
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.[21]: 353 book 16, lines 64–87
Patroclus defied Achilles' order and pursued the Trojans back to the gates of Troy.[22] Patroclus killed many Trojans and Trojan allies, including a son of Zeus, Sarpedon.[21]: p. 363, book 16, line 460 While fighting, Patroclus' wits were removed by Apollo, after which the spear of Euphorbos hit Patroclus.[23] Hector then kills Patroclus by stabbing him in the stomach with a spear.[21]: p. 373, book 16, lines 804–822
Achilles retrieved his body, which had been stripped of armor by Hector and protected on the battlefield by
Relationship with Achilles
Although there is no explicit sexual relationship between
According to Ledbetter (1993),[29] 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.[29] However, as Patroclus is explicitly stated to be the elder of the two characters,[30] this is not evidence of their ages or social relation to each other.
James Hooker describes the literary reasons for Patroclus' 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' wrath.[31] Hooker claims that without the death of Patroclus, an event that weighed heavily upon him, Achilles' following act of compliance to fight would have disrupted the balance of the Iliad.[32]
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' 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.[32]
Achilles and Patroclus grew up together after
In the Iliad, Achilles was younger than Patroclus.[a][c] 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.[41]: 112 Dowden also notes the common occurrence of such relationships as a form of initiation.[41]: 114 However, Statius in the Achilleid states that the two were either within the same age group or acted as if they were.[42][43]
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.[44][45]
Achilles and Patroclus myths as told by story tellers |
---|
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) |
Footnotes
- ^ a b Nestor, quoting Patroclus' father Menoetius, reminds Patroclus of his father's advice: "My child, in birth is Achilles nobler than thou, but thou art the elder though in might he is the better far. Yet do thou speak to him well a word of wisdom and give him counsel, and direct him; and he will obey thee to his profit."[39]
- ^ As Martin (2012),[34] argues, "The ancient sources do not report, however, what modern scholars have asserted: that Alexander and his very close friend Hephaestion were lovers. Achilles and his equally close friend Patroclus provided the legendary model for this friendship, but Homer in the Iliad never suggested that they had sex with each other. (That came from later authors.) If Alexander and Hephaestion did have a sexual relationship, it would have been transgressive by majority Greek standards ..."[34]: 99 ff
- ^ Plato in his Symposium[40] has one of his characters say that Achilles was "much the younger, by Homer's account".
References
- ^ a b Martin, Richard (2011). The Iliad of Homer. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
- ^ Carey (1816) Practical English Prosody and Versification, p. 125 fn
- ^ Bechtel (1908) Pronunciation
- ^ "Patroclus". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
- ^ "Patroclus". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020.
- ^ Dares Phrygius, History of the Fall of Troy 13
- ^ Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Menoetius
- Hyginus, Fabulae 97
- ISBN 978-0-674-96785-4.
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica1.46;
- ^ 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
- ^ Pythaenetos, quoting the scholiast on Pindar, Olympian Odes 9.107
- ^ Plutarch, Aristides 20.6
- ^ Homer, Iliad 23.85 ff.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 11.785, 16.14.
- ^ Miate, Liana (2022). "Patroclus". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
- ^ JSTOR 293625.
- ^ Homer. "online text". Iliad. Perseus Digital Library. 23.83–92.
- ^ Finlay, Robert (1980). Patroklos, Achilleus, and Peleus: Fathers and Sons in the Iliad. The Classical World. pp. 267–273.
- Photius, Bibliotheca codex 190.
- ^ a b c d Lattimore, Richmond (2011). The Iliad of Homer. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
- ^ Smith, William (1849). Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. Boston: Little. p. 140.
- ISSN 0009-8388– via Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Bulfinch, Thomas (1985). The Golden Age. London: Bracken Books. p. 272.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh (1911). "Achilles". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).
- ISBN 978-0-521-81843-8.
- ^ JSTOR 3556498.
- ^ Smid, Katarina. "The Mythological Battle Scene on a Funerary Stele from Celeia: Menelaus Saving the Body of Patroclus?".
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ JSTOR 295421.
- ^ Homer. Iliad. 11.785–790.
- JSTOR 1192597.
- ^ .
- ^ Homer. The Iliad of Homer. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. p. 474. [full citation needed]
- ^ ISBN 978-0521148443.
- ^ a b Boswell, John (1980). Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 47.
- ^ Aeschines (1958). The Speeches: Against Telemarchus, on the Embassy, Against Ctesiphon. Translated by Adams, Charles Darwin. London, UK: Harvard University Press. p. 115.
- ^ Plato. Symposium. pp. 179e–180b.
- ^ Lane Fox, Robin (2005). The Classical World. Penguin Books. p. 235.
- ^ Homer. "online text". Iliad. Perseus Digital Library. 11.786.
- ^ Homer. "online text". Iliad. Perseus Digital Library. 180a.
- ^ a b Dowden, Ken (1992). The Uses of Greek Mythology. London, UK: Routledge.
- ISBN 978-1-4742-6053-4., makes Achilles and Patroclus 'equals in age', though Poliziano curiously (and uncharacteristically) misparaphrases the relevant lines (which he then quotes), in which we are told that the two, as boys, simply acted the same age, though the latter 'fell far behind in strength'.
For good measure, Poliziano throws in a unique example of a compromise view, reporting that the Roman poet Statius, in his unfinished epic, the Achilleid
- ISBN 978-0-19-255160-3.may have taken it as inspiration ...
... and that Patroclus is par studiis aeuique modis, 1.176. This latter phrase is difficult: it probably means something like 'equal in the pursuits and ways of youth', and Bainbrigge
- ^ "Troilus and Cressida Full Text".
- ^ Perkins, Kristin (2019). "Taking the Kissing Path: Making the Homoerotic Modern in Fixing Troilus and Cressida". Borrowers and Lenders. XII (2).
Bibliography
- .
- Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Plato (1925). Symposium. Plato in Twelve Volumes. Vol. 9. Translated by Fowler, Harold N. Cambridge, MA; London, UK: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd."Online version". Perseus Digital Library.
- ISBN 978-0-674-96785-4
Further reading
- Evslin, Bernard (2006). Gods, Demigods and Demons. London, UK: I. Tauris.
- Michelakis, Pantelis (2007). Achilles in Greek Tragedy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Kerenyi, Karl (1959). The Heroes of the Greeks. London, UK: Thames and Hudson. pp. 57–61, et passim.
- Sergent, Bernard (1986). Homosexuality in Greek Myth. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
- Miller, Madeline (2011). The Song of Achilles. London, UK: Bloomsbury.