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surielstea · 2 days

Text

Give ‘em a show

Based on this request.

Pairing: High Lord!Eris x High Lady!Reader

Summary: The autumn court celebrates the equinox with a great rite of their own, what happens when the High Lord finds out Reader left the Forest House in search for him?

A/N: Sorry this took me forever, but I’m really happy with how it turned out so I hope you guys enjoy! 🧡🧡

6.2k words

It was the most festive day of the year in autumn, the equinox. When both night and day are perfectly divided and everything feels at peace. We called it Mabon. The peak of nature's abundance.

The holiday usually entailed freshly harvested crops and feasts to satisfy an entire continent. People gathered to the crop fields and pray, whether it be for good fortune or the wealth of the earth it didn't matter. They honored the soil beneath their feet as much as any other living thing. Similar to Calanmai in the spring there are bonfires in every direction, dancing surrounding the pits.

This was also the day high Fae reinforced the wards around their homes, seeing it as a new beginning.

Some prefer to stay at home and pray to the gods of fire, knelt by the flames that warmed them, having a simple meal of bread and grain. I, however, did not. During the day I'd plant fresh herbs and seeds, placing them in the richest of soils then saying a soft prayer until they began to grow. My harvesting powers have always been my favorite, being able to merely look at a seed and turn it into a blooming flower in the blink of an eye would forever be my favorite party trick.

During the night of Mabon however, I indulged myself in the finest of whiskeys and got drunk as all hel, claiming it was a tradition and a night of commemoration.

"All done?" Eris asked as I came back into the Forest House, my knees covered in dirt from kneeling in the gardens.

"All done." I gave him a small smile and he mirrored it while taking my wide-brimmed sun hat from my head.

"As cute as you look, you need to go change." He hands me the hat and I blink up at him confused. "Or have you forgotten your duties as High Lady?" He arched a manicured brow and I rolled my eyes.

My traditions would be different this year. It was Eris' first year as High Lord, meaning he'd have to put on a show to make sure everyone knew just how powerful he was. Whatever that meant. This also means my job was no longer getting drunk off my face but rather waiting alone in our bedroom where we'd consummate in order to release the power of the High Lord and grace the land with it, allowing harvests and crops to grow until the next Mabon.

"High Lady or not, I'd like to spend my night in a pub with my friends, not some stuffy room with your advisors." I scowl and a smirk tugs at his lips as I drape my hands around his neck.

"A lady of her people." He hums and my grin widens.

"Does that mean you'll let me have my holiday?" I bat my lashes at him.

"I can't," He sighs.

"Eris," I whine. "You're high lord now, fuck me in front of the rest of them for all I care just let me enjoy myself." I plead and he gives me a sorrowful gaze.

"It'll only be a few hours, you'll survive." He placed his hands on my waist and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"But what if you find some other girl on your way to me? I don't like the idea of you roaming this court half naked for just anyone to see, Eris," I dramatically fall into his chest, he tightens his hold on me as if I'm actually going to fall.

"Trust me, all I'll want is you," He guides me back upright so I can stand on my own. "Now go get dressed." His hold on me loosens and I give him the nastiest scowl I can muster.

"Fine, but only because I love you." I excuse as I place the floppy hat atop his head, I think the pink bow brought out his eyes.

"Love you too," He smiles sloppily as I leave his hold, the sun hat remaining on his head as I move away from him, his hand coming down to pat me on the ass, as if encouraging a faster rate, making me toss a glare back at him.

In between now and the beginning of Mabon's night festivities I passed the late afternoon stuck in a meeting room, which was as boring as I thought it was going to be. I spent the entire time drawing the high lord in front of me, making sure to match the glint in his golden eyes to his crown, pure regality as he sat in front of Advisors that used to be in his father's corner.

It's been past an hour, the sun reaching the horizon had told me so, I could already smell the scent of smoke from the bonfires and I knew my time was being wasted. "My lady, are you listening?" I snap to attention, clutching my sketchbook from beneath the table and looking at the male who had snapped his fingers at me, earning a low grumble from Eris as a warning.

"Yes," I answer on instinct.

"Really?" Eris leans forward, muscular forearms resting against the wooden table.

"Mhm." I nod with slightly tinged cheeks, I could never lie to Eris, something about the mating bond, or rather just him, in general, had me somehow giving myself away.

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you Fawn?" He narrows his gaze on me and it takes everything in my power to not give in, tell him that every word since greetings has gone in one ear and out the other. All this information was useless anyway, old rules that Beron followed. Not Eris. I don't understand why my mate entertained these old males.

"You know what?" A bright grin spreads over my features as I stand, my chair pushing back against the floor as everyone looks up at me.

"All of you may take an early holiday, enjoy the night, and spend time with your families." I dismiss and they blink up at me.

"Really?" One of them babbles.

"Yeah, really?" The high lord glared at me and my grin widened.

"Really." I nod.

"With all due respect, you're not one to be giving orders around here." The eldest of them scoffed and my smile faltered, I had never expected to hear that in my own court.

"She's your high lady and you will do as she says. Now go before I change my mind." He shoos the male away. Eris may not have liked me cutting the meeting short but he wasn't going to tolerate any discourtesy against me, it may have been wrong to use it to my advantage but all I wanted to do at the moment was curl up by the fire with a freshly poured glass of wine. Second best to getting hammered at the pubs like I would've been doing this time last year.

"You heard him, go." I make hands that send them away and they all scramble off, shuffling out the door with a haste I haven't seen in a while. I smile softly as the last male disappears.

"You are a cruel female." Eris leans back into his seat at the head of the table. I grab my sketchbook and walk down the long stretch of the meeting hall until I'm right beside him.

"Cruel? Or smart?" I tilt my head as I hoist myself up onto the table in front of him.

"Show me what you were drawing that entire time." He places a ringed finger on the top of my pencil and I flip to the page of his half-shaded figure, flipping around to show the male his unfinished portrait. A satisfied grin spreads over his lips as he sees that he is the subject, but he shouldn't be surprised because he is always the subject.

"Is this whole book me?" He flicks through the pages and I pull back before he can see all the drawings of him I sketched from memory on a particularly desperate night when he was gone on a mission.

"Don't be so full of yourself, I wasn't going to draw any of those old males." I roll my eyes and he chuckles. "Plus I was listening, I could draw you with my eyes closed," I confess and he raises a brow, his lopsided smirk making me feel warm inside. "Now can you please just get this celebration over with then come back to me?" I place the sketchbook beside me and look back at him.

"And what will you do while I'm gone?" He places his hands on my hips, a soft look in his eyes.

"Lots of drinking." I shrug, taking hold of his crown and making it crooked atop his head.

"You're quite the drunk." He grumbles and I chuckle.

"I'm a tavern keeper's daughter, what more do you expect?" I grin innocently and he shakes his head in disbelief.

"Alright, come with me," He slips his hand into mine and guides me out of the meeting room.

I intertwine our fingers, occasionally bumping into him, the comparison of his steady figure, walking with only solid steps and articulated movements contrasted to my bounding, my arm brushing his with every step. It was a silent kind of intimacy, our dynamic.

"This my cell for the night?" I ask as we stop in front of our bedroom, a grand suite that seems more like an apartment.

"Don't act like I'm locking you up," He sighs, crossing his arms.

"You're right, I could easily sneak out," I taunt and he narrows his eyes on me.

"I'm not going to put guards outside these doors, however, if I learn that you've left I will find you," He says, his tone shifting from playful to menacing all in one sentence. "And depending on where you are, I might just fuck you in front of all of them," His words sink to my core, it wasn't much of a warning if it was my idea to begin with.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," I smirk up at him, mirroring his.

"I'll be back for you, soon," He promises, free hand coming to my jaw, the other still preoccupied with mine. His thumb rubbed over my jaw, pressing with a pressure that told me he didn't want to see this room empty when he returned.

"I'll be waiting," I sigh, leaning into his hand. He frowns.

"I'm sorry Fawn, but I doubt I'll be able to control myself with you so near," He shifts back to his usual self, the compassionate one.

"I understand, it's okay," I mumble, even if this was the last place I wanted to be during the holidays. He leans down and presses a yearning kiss onto my lips, the kind full of promise of what was to come later tonight.

He pulls away with a reluctance I immediately recognized. Whatever power that was going to consume him tonight was already forming, I could feel it through the bond like someone on his side of the tether was sparking embers.

"Don't leave this room." He warned one last time and all I could do was nod and then watch him leave.

I had never wanted to leave a room more in my entire life.

Eris forgot to put his shields up on his side of the bond and it was driving me fucking mad. I could feel the power of him, flowing through the very floorboards beneath my feet. His arousal was immense, or perhaps it was mine— I wasn't sure. Maybe being High Lady had its own effects, maybe it made the mated female just as willing to consummate with the High Lord. The intense heat running up and down my spine reminded me of when Eris and I had accepted the mating bond, The Frenzy that took over both of us full throttle, I had managed that because he had been so near at the time, it had only lasted a few moments before he was touching where I needed him most but this, with him so far, gods this was unbearable.

I looked out the window like an animal eagerly waiting for their owner to return, but I couldn't see anything beyond the maple trees, only the smoke of the bonfires and all that promised with it.

I leaned my forehead against the cold window, it relieved me for only a split second before the heat of my body returned.

It started less than an hour ago, bloomed right at my core, and has only grown since. It would reach my head soon and I don't know what I'd do at that point. I had already put the fire in the hearth out but it felt as if I was the furnace and embers were still popping against my bare skin that mistook me for kindling.

I had practically stripped to my socks, but even my undergarments had been too much to bear. I wore a silk slip with a lace trim that was lighter than a feather and softer than anything I had ever felt before but on my burning skin, it felt like a winter coat.

If the window was cold then outside must've been colder, autumn air sweeping over the continent and beckoning at my very window, who was I to keep it out?

I pushed the window open with a grunt in agony, the sweet feeling of the light breeze kissing against my skin practically made me crumble in relief.

I latch the window all the way open and lean my head out the sill, the sound of music and cheering in the distance suddenly became so prominent but it was hard to hear anything over the blood rushing to my ears, dizziness consuming me as I grip the ledge of the window, something buried deep inside of me yearned for him in the direction of the music, and now that my head was out the window my body seemed to think I was teasing it, what it wanted so much closer now that the line to the outside world was crossed, the feeling so intense I thought I might start coughing up blood.

I grunt, attempting to talk myself through the pain, telling myself repeatedly that I've endured worse, that I was stronger this, that Eris would be back any moment now and— and oh gods, Eris. It was a mistake to let him cross my mind because all of a sudden he consumed every thought I could conjure, my mind in his hands and he was gripping it, not willing to let go.

I decided I didn't give a fuck if Eris was mad if I left the house, the pain I was enduring was horrific and the only way to relieve it was to disobey exactly what he ordered me to do. Don't leave this room. I slipped out the window with gasps of pain, landing on the soft grass. I was just grateful to be located on the first floor, close enough to the ground to jump from without shattering the bones in my legs.

Hounds rush up towards me before I can even take my first step.

They looked as if they were about to bark, to alert their owner that I had left the house but they saw my desperation, hel, they probably smelt it.

Rivin, the eldest of the shadow hounds rushed up to me first, staring up at me with a cock of his head, clearly concerned for my well-being. "Can you take me to Eris?" I murmur, praying the dog can understand me, I bring my hand to his snout and he chuffs, licks the palm of my hand then takes off running towards the sounds of the music.

I tried to stay as close as I could to the dog, he had taken the route through trees and behind stands, which I was grateful for since it kept me out of sight, however, it made it a lot easier to lose him amongst the trees. But he always came trotting back after a minute without him in my sights.

Eventually, the dog stopped in his tracks, his front paws prancing at the floor and communicating that he had finished his job. I creased my brows and looked around my surroundings but before I could talk to the dog again he ran off with the rest of his pack, back towards the house.

I had only just realized that whatever heat that was suffocating me in the Forest House had dissipated, still lingering below the surface but no longer unbearable.

I huffed, unsure what to do in the middle of the forest with a feeding wretchedness in the pit of my stomach.

I decided on heading towards where the largest plume of smoke was coming from, I had seen the set up of Mabon hundreds of times and knew this was the way to the throne, knew Eris must be sat upon it.

I hadn't explored Mabon much during previous years, I was always a barmaid for my father's pub, it had gotten crazy business during the week of Mabon so he needed any help he could get, funnily enough, that's how I met Eris.

I shake my head at the memory, thinking about Eris was almost painful, it felt like something was being carved out of me every moment I was without him.

I seethed a string of curses as I continued my trudge through the trees, staying in the shadows and avoiding the eyes of any drunk wanderers. I doubted they'd recognize me as their high lady anyway, Eris was the only one who ever saw me outside of my gowns and robes, this lacy slip was practically lingerie compared to the heavy dresses I often wore.

Lucky for me it had blended in with the other girls perfectly, in fact, I had seemed more covered up than most. Once I had made it out into the open area I spotted Eris immediately. On the throne, as expected, his legs spread wide and I wanted nothing more than to put myself between them.

He was shirtless, forest green paint smeared onto his body in tribal patterns of lines and dots, but he was glistening in sweat, drops running down the side of his face, through the grove of his abdomen. I didn’t want to think about who had the honor of putting that paint into those very groves, I only wanted to think about being the one to wash it off.

Heat pooled in my stomach as his eyes found mine from across the way, my body went rigid as he trekked his gaze down it, then so slowly back up, taking in every bare inch as well as every clothed part of me, like he was wondering just how perfect I looked underneath.

My knees shook as he lifted his hand and with two fingers waved me over. Waves of heat wash over me at every step I take closer, the power that radiated off of him left me defenseless, and the pain I had experienced earlier subsided entirely in favor of morphing into arousal.

Once I reach the dais I curtsy with a playful smile. "I thought I asked you to stay inside?" He purred, his voice rougher than usual, making my legs tremble.

"I missed you," I shrug, attempting to keep my composure but he opened his side of the bond entirely as soon as I was done speaking and my knees buckled. So, much, power.

It surged at my fingertips, blazed down my spine, and coiled in my abdomen. I couldn't imagine how Eris felt if I was only receiving an influence of it.

"C'mere," He lifts his hips, readjusting them in his ornate throne and I almost choke on my own tongue. He was going to push me over that dangerous edge and he didn't even need to say anything to do it.

I take the steps up the dais and I realize the silence in the crowd save for the music, people were watching, and couldn't keep their eyes off of the two of us. The offering between High Lord and Lady, the melding bond between us so clear on a night like this that any outsider could see that golden tether just as well as he or I could.

"On my lap, Fawn," He glances down to his thigh and I swallow thickly. "Oh, don't tell me you've become shy all of the sudden?" He smirks at the idea. I had told him I was willing to let him fuck me in front of all these people— still was, and yet sitting on his lap was the line to the path that I wasn't sure I could come back from.

My coaxing arousal won the battle and I took my final steps toward him, closing that distance, his hand came to the back of my thigh and I nearly melted at his touch, my body quivering in reaction because gods, if I had felt like a kindling fire earlier then he was a fucking inferno.

His fingers singed with flames but I felt none of the added heat as I took my place on his lap, straddling over his thigh and wrapping my arms around the nape of his neck, pulling him so close I wish I could've melted right into him, slotted myself into each of his grooves and stayed there, impossible to clean, impossible to get rid of.

My lips came to his neck without any forethought, I didn’t have control over my own mind, it was entirely consumed by him, his intoxicating scent of cinnamon, clove, and now an undertone of something different, something just as mouth-watering as the way his hands felt on my bare skin.

I fought the thoughts that told me to rip my dress off and decided to put my hands to better use and rub them down his chest, pressing my palm into his abdomen as I continued kissing his neck. I sucked and licked and nipped without caution, I didn't care if others were watching, he had never been more powerful than he was in this moment, both over others physically and over me mentally.

The domination running through his veins was attractive, so damned powerful and yet he knew how to control it, to conceal it beneath his skin rather than flaunt it, and he shared a fraction of it with me, a simple kernel of it was enough to send me spiraling.

"What are you doing? Dance," Eris spits at his subjects and they immediately do as he says, the music picking up in a crescendo of rushed notes to meet his demand.

I smiled against his shoulder at how much authority he held, my hips involuntarily winding over his thigh and I let out a soft, pleasurable sound. He grunts in return.

"If you keep making those sounds we're not going to make it back to our bedroom," He warns lowly beside my ear and I rut my hips again at the perfect sound.

"I don't know what's wrong— fuck," I'm cut off by my soft moan, his muscled thigh providing just the right amount of friction against my clit. "I don't know what's wrong with me, but I need you to fuck me now," I plead and I sense a sudden change in his demeanor.

"Now?" He hums and I can hear the smirk in his voice. Damned bastard. "In front of all these people?" He intones and I nod helplessly.

"However you want me, wherever, just— gods do it now," I beg, continuing to wind my hips over his thigh.

His foxlike smirk doesn't falter as his hands grip my hips, halting my needy movements only to guide me down onto his thigh himself, my core aching as he does so. I cry out at the feeling, it shouldn't have felt this good, it's never been this intense, even when our mating bond clicked I hadn't been so consumed by his fire that was so dangerously out of control and feeding into my own.

"I need you inside of me," I murmur, coming to the conclusion that this torment will not subside until he finds release inside of me, the mother herself was impelling us to consummate, to breed, and I was more than willing to oblige for her.

"Eris," I grip at his shoulder, paint smearing onto my hands, soiling my nightgown. But I didn't care, any piece of him spreading onto me felt like it was a gift from the gods, and I needed more. "Please, fill me," I beg into the warmth of his neck.

"You want me to come inside you? Want these people to watch while I give you an heir?" He taunts, his words ghosting against the shell of my ear. I reply with a pitiful whimper, unsure what to retort with because he was right. I didn't care who was watching, as long as they knew I was his and he was mine.

"Yes," I pant, my hand coming to the back of his neck. "That's exactly what I want," I plead, the rutting of my hips not slowing for a moment. "Show them I'm yours,"

My words seemed to push him over that fine line and he had obeyed. His rough hands grip my waist, pulling me over his hips so I was no longer straddling his thigh but rather angled just above his cock that was strained in his pants, the confinement so tight it almost seemed painful.

“Yeah?” He hummed and I nodded helplessly. “You want everyone to hear just how pretty your moans are when you’re sitting on my cock?” He asked and I whimpered, feeling powerless under his stare. Whatever heat that had been affecting me tonight had doubled over with his arousing words.

“I can’t be gentle with you right now,” He gritted through clenched teeth, the tip of his nose drawing a line up the side of my throat. “Can’t, control myself right now,” He murmured in warning and I smiled at the idea of having an effect on him as much as he did on me.

“I don’t want control,” I sigh against the side of his neck. “I need you now controlled or not, so please, Eris fuck me,” I begged and with one last kiss to my neck he obliged.

With an expert hand, he tore my underwear right from my hips, pulling the lace off like it was nothing. My heat was now left bare but it didn’t stop me from grinding down onto his bulge. I was staining his pants with my slick, dripping down onto him and he groaned as my wetness seeped through the material.

“Fuck, you’re drenched,” He admired and I nodded with purely innocent eyes, the kind that silently pleaded for him to fill me until he was satiated.

All I felt was hunger, and I could tell by the way flames alighted in his gaze that he felt it too.

Quickly, he removed his leathers and his cock springs up, smacking against my soaked folds, my pussy leaking over his length. The heat between us must’ve been record-breaking, I felt like a candle burning all too fast, making a mess of wax that he was too slow to clean.

The moment I felt his tip prod at my entrance my nails dug into his shoulder. I still didn’t know what it was that was wrong with me, I had never experienced an ache quite like this, the kind that only he could patch over.

“Please,” I cry, my cunt weeping as I crave for him to sink his length into me. “Show them how good you fuck me,” I mewl and perhaps it was the taboo factor of it all, how thrilling it was to have an audience while I rode him, but that had been his breaking point before he gripped the tops of my thighs and pushed me down onto his length.

My breath catches in my throat as I stretch around him, around every inch of him. He was so very large, and on any other night he’d need to fuck me with his fingers first, make sure I was ready for his member without the pain, but tonight we are both so needy that any foreplay was thrown out the window the moment I left our bedroom.

The pain was disguised as pleasure as he helped guide me lower onto him, it hadn’t been unbearable since I was slick with a natural lubricant, my arousal dripping down my thighs and onto his, as I took him deeper and deeper.

I swore he met places he’s never touched before, and fuck was it more than anything I had ever wanted.

This feeling was the god ecstasy prayed to, and I was blessed by it.

“That’s it, just like that, fuck yourself on my cock Fawn,” He encourages and I gasp out my moan, finally reaching his base, pressing against it with mine.

“Your court is watching, give ‘em a show for me,” He purrs, and so I do exactly that.

I begin to lift on his length, my knees buckling at the action but I ignore the pain and favor it for the pleasure as I drop down onto him, wielding gravity as my weapon. He lets out a low grunt and I do it again, continuing the action over and over again, bouncing on his cock just like he asked.

“Fuck, so good for me,” He praised, his eyes blazing with an untamable fire. “Such a good girl,” He sighs, his head craning back, leaning into his golden throne as his hands slip beneath my nightgown.

He didn’t take the dress off, because there were simply just some things he refused to let anyone else see, and though I was getting off on having an audience he wasn’t going to let everyone else get off on it too. He grips my hips tightly from beneath the slip, his callouses scraping against my soft skin, burning it with an unyielding pain, the kind that brings pleasure with it.

His cock seemed just as hot as I continued to fuck myself on it, the vein on the underside pulsing so feverishly I could feel it. The head of him pressed right into that sweet spot and it was a miracle I hadn’t come yet, gods he was going to send me over that edge any second now.

My lips connect with his, and he responds to the familiar feeling on instinct, his tongue slipping beneath my lips and tasting every fraction of me he can get his mouth on.

I moan onto his tongue every time he presses that deep spot inside of me, my noises only adding to the sound of skin slapping and the lewd sound of my pussy taking every inch of him. Our own music drowned out the symphony playing for the others.

“Eris, I can’t,” I pant against his lips. “I’m gonna come,” I warn and he smirks.

“So soon?” He taunts and I nod pitifully, continuing to rut my hips over his.

“Please, it hurts,” I whine, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. And it did hurt, it hurt to not be granted that release I craved so desperately.

“Go ahead, make a mess all over my lap,” He allows and I would’ve wept at the words if my orgasm hadn’t consumed me first.

It felt like pure fire, setting me aflame and impossible to control. It was the kind of climax that lingered for hours on end, the kind that left my legs jolting and my eyes struggling to open. I let out a loud moan, so loud that if the dancing fae hadn’t known what had been happening, they did now. “You did so well baby,” He hums as I slowly come down from my high but I don’t have the strength to lift off his cock, and I definitely didn’t have the willpower to continue my movements. My thighs were burning and I hadn’t noticed until my climax settled.

“You done?” He coos and I nod, but the tone of his voice tells me it is him who is nowhere near finished with me, his member still hard inside of me evidence of that.

He didn’t warn me before he winnowed us back to the Forest House, the same position except he was no longer sitting on the throne but rather our bed.

I whine, falling limp against his shoulder. “I can’t take anymore, Eris,” I sigh and he shakes his head.

“Oh, no baby you said you wanted an heir and I’m going to give one to you.” He flipped us over so I was splayed out on my back, sinking into the mattress with my legs hooked around him.

“Eris I’m not on a tonic— fuck,” I try but he felt so much deeper in this position.

“Does it feel like I care?” He sighs into my hair and I shake my head no. “That’s right, now be a good girl and stay true to your word,” He demanded and I swallowed thickly, nodding while he lifted one of my legs up to hook on his shoulder, spreading my legs wide as I clamped down onto him.

“Fuck, I can’t wait to fill this pretty pussy, squeezing me so tight,” He grunted and I lost all cohesive thoughts, strings of moans escaped me as he rolled his hips down onto mine, his full balls slapping against my folds as his pace quickened.

“More,” I plead.

“Yeah? You want me to fill you don’t you?” He says and I was quick to show my agreement by squeezing around him tighter. “You just can’t wait to have my babes, isn’t that right?” He grunted into the shell of my ear and I nodded with a hum of restless accord. “Your tits are gonna be so fucking swollen,” He sighs and I clench around him at his dirty words. “You like that?” He kisses up my neck.

“Mhm, want your seed in me, Eris,” I whine and he twitches, a sign he’s nearing his climax.

I was hungry for his warm release, ached for it to fill my every crevice, let it seep into my womb.

I met his thrusts with my own sudden desire, sending my hips down onto him while he drove his cock right into that spongy bundle of nerves.

“I’m close,” He grunts.

“Me too,” I whimper, my legs locking up as my orgasm races to meet me.

My hands go into his hair and I pull at his short locks as my second climax finds me and I’m squeezing around him tighter than ever before. My walls flutter around him, and my pussy twitched as he continues his fast pace. He groans at the intense convulsions around him and suddenly his release is spurring out into me, kissing my cervix as he does so, his seed shooting out on a straight path to my womb.

“Fuck,” He sighed while guiding my leg down from his shoulder, and with a few more languid, slow strokes of his cock he finishes, slipping from my heat and falling down onto the bed beside me, both of us out of breath and settling over the action we had just committed to.

I clench my thighs shut, keeping his warm seed nestled inside of me. “Good?” I ask and he flips onto his side, arm slinging over my sweat-slicked body, pulling me into him.

“So good.” He presses kisses to the top of my head and I flip around to face him, my eyes heavy with exhaustion.

“I think I like this High Lord stuff,” I say, my hand coming to his cheek and he chuckles, leaning down and pressing a gentle kiss to my lips.

“I think so too,” He whispered against my mouth, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Alright, let’s get you cleaned up,” He sat up, pulling me with him and I groaned. “You can sleep after, I promise, Fawn,” He said with a gentle tone that rivaled his earlier rough grunts.

“Eris please, just lay with me for a few more minutes,” I huff stubbornly and he shakes his head, hauling me from the bed and taking me to the connected bathroom.

“I’ll lay by you all night after I clean you up. Sound like a deal?” He says, settling me down onto the cold counter that sent shivers up my spine and I lazily nodded, looking up at him. He grins and leans closer, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

“I love you,” He whispers and I match his smile.

“Love you too, Eris.” I look up at him with only honesty in my gaze. “Now hurry up, I’m tired,” I grumbled and he chuckled.

“Alright, alright.” He shakes his head in disbelief, wetting a cloth with warm water before beginning to clean me up, treating me with utter tenderness after he gave me the two best orgasms of my life. This male was going to be the death of me, and I was going to love every moment of it until that day.

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babyrdie · 1 month

Note

although my first request was achilles idk much about patroclus. you said he's one of your favorites so you know other ancient texts that mention him besides homer?

IT TOOK SOME TIME, BUT HERE IS YOUR PATROPEDIA!!!

Hey! Patroclus doesn't have AS MUCH lore as some other mythological characters, but there's still enough for this post to be long, so get ready! Fortunately, it's divided into topics, so it should make it easier to read with pauses.

And some details:

Since you said "ancient texts", I'm assuming non-mythological texts count and I'm going to put them here.

My focus is on Greek texts because I don't know much about non-Greek sources, but there are some non-Greek texts here.I’ill indicate which are the non-Greek ones so that no one confuses them with the Greek texts. As I'm already considering texts from the Archaic, Classical and Roman Greece, I'll consider Byzantine sources as well. So be aware that some of these texts have a considerable amount of time in between.

It's also important to say that I'm only including the ones that >>I<< know Patroclus is in, there may be others! And I'm not a classicist or anything like that, any part here that is my interpretation (it will be very obvious when it is) is...just an interpretation of an ordinary person. It is not a super historical, contextual analysis, etc. For the love of god, don't think you have to agree!

The links go to the exact points I mentioned,so it’s easier for you to check.

Check the "References" part in the end!

My English can be broken, especially in such a long text.

FAMILY

Father: Menoetius

From what I've seen, Menoetius being Patroclus' father is a constant characteristic of his character. Now, just to clarify some ideas:

"Patroclus is the son of a titan"

I've heard this one, but guys…he's not! It's just that there's a titan named Menoetius, but it's NOT the same Menoetius. Patroclus' paternal grandfather is Actor, and this titan's father is Iapetus and not Actor.

[...]And Actor's son Menoetius[...]

The Iliad, XI, 938. Translation by Robert Fagles.

Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled maid Clymene, daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bore him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bore very glorious Menoetius [...]

Theogony, 507-510. Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White.

"Patroclus' father was an Argonaut"

That's right! There is indeed a Menoetius son of Actor from Opus among the Argonauts.

Moreover Actor sent his son Menoetius from Opus that he might accompany the chiefs

Argonautica, 69. Translation by Seaton, R. C.

"Patroclus' father is the brother of Achilles' father, Peleus"

This wasn't invented! There are fragments attributed to Hesiod, and fragment 61 is a commentary by a scholiast of Homer named Eustathius mentioning a Hesiodic tradition in which Menoetius and Peleus are brothers.

Eustathius, Hom. 112. 44 sq: It should be observed that the ancient narrative hands down the account that Patroclus was even a kinsman of Achilles; for Hesiod says that Menoethius the father of Patroclus, was a brother of Peleus, so that in that case they were first cousins.

Catalogue of Women, frag 61. Translation by Evelyn-White, H G

Mother: Sthenele, Periopis, Polymele, Democrateia, Philomela

Patroclus' mother is not a fixed tradition, her identify changes depending on the source.

Achilles was also accompanied by Patroclus, son of Menoetius and Sthenele, daughter of Acastus; or the mother of Patroclus was Periopis, daughter of Pheres, or, as Philocrates says, she was Polymele, daughter of Peleus.

Library, 3.13.8. Translation by James George Frazer.

If we consider Philocrates' version, then Patroclus' mother is Achilles' sister, which makes Achilles Patroclus' uncle. This makes me think that Philocrates probably didn't follow the Hesiodic tradition of Menoetius and Peleus being brothers, or Menoetius would be marrying his niece. But who knows, after all Arete and Alcinous in The Odyssey are married and they're niece and uncle. Or it could be another Peleus, though I have never seen that name on another character before.

Damocrateia was also attributed as his mother by a scholiast of Pindar in the Olympian Odes. And here is the moment when you expect me to post another excerpt in English, but that won't happen because I simply DIDN'T find it in English! But I found it in Greek and, activating Google Translate, the translation comes out completely messed up, but you can see that the information is really there and wasn't invented by Wikipedia! And if you use a translation website, it's less confusing to read but it's definitely not 100% accurate yet.

Anyway, it’s in poem 9 scholia. From what I understand, it’s basically telling about the nymph Aegina, daughter of the river Asopus. She first gave birth to Aeacus (son of Zeus), who is the father of Peleus and Telamon (Telamon is the father of Great Ajax and Teucer). She subsequently went to Thessaly, where she had a relationship with Actor and gave birth to Menoetius. Menoetius settled in Opus and had Patroclus with Sthenele or with Damocrateia. The part mentioning Democrateia is more specifically poem 9.106.b! In 9.104.a, it's said that Democrateia is also Aegina's daughter, so basically in this version Patroclus is a child of half-sibling incest. As Aegina is the mother of Aeacus, who is the father of Peleus, who is the father of Achilles, Achilles and Patroclus are cousins once removed.

There is also Philomela, mentioned by Homer's scholiasts in 343 and 134 (both in Greek). There was no translator that could save me, so I had to ask for help from someone who understands Greek and, apparently, the scholiasts weren’t sure whether or not she could be considered Patroclus' mother. It wasn’t really a statement like in other cases.

Sister: Myrto

There is a daughter of Menoetius and therefore sister of Patroclus named Myrto. In this version given by Plutarch, she had a daughter with Heracles named Eucleia. This makes Patroclus a kind of brother-in-law of Heracles.

Now Eucleia is regarded by most as Artemis, and is so addressed; but some say she was a daughter of Heracles and of that Myrto who was daughter of Menoetius and sister of Patroclus, and that, dying in virginity, she received divine honors among the Boeotians and Locrians. For she has an altar and an image built in every market place, and receives preliminary sacrifices from would-be brides and bridegrooms.

Aristides, 20.6. Translation by Bernadotte Perrin.

I only found this mention of her as Patroclus's sister.

Brother: Abderos

The version of Abderos, one of the characters considered between the lovers of Heracles, being the brother of Patroclus is found in Photius' Bibliotheca. This Bibliotheca is Photius giving reviews of the books he has read, so this version isn't his, but rather the person he's evaluating. In this case, he attributed this myth to Ptolemy Hephaestion's New Histories (because of a passage in the Suda, there is a theory that this Ptolemy is Ptolemy Chennus. In this case, Ptolemy Chennus is from Roman Greece. So although Photius is Byzantine, the version isn’t from Byzantine Greece). Again, Patroclus is a sort of brother-in-law of Heracles.

The centaurs who fled from Heracles through Tyrsenia perished of hunger, ensnared by the soft song of the Sirens. Abderos, who was loved by Heracles, was the brother of Patroclus [...]

Photius' Bibliotheca, 190.39. Translation by Roger Pearse.

I only found this mention of his as Patroclus's brother. And in case you read the part where I say it's a review and wondered what Photius' opinion was on Ptolemy's versions... well, he wrote “a work really useful for those who undertake to attempt erudition in history; it can, in fact, give the method to know in a short time connected elements, whereas a long life would be consumed in the effort of locating them in the books through which they are scattered. It abounds in extraordinary and badly imagined information; and the peak of absurdity is that he attempts, for certain trivial fables, to explain the reasons for their appearance.”

My take

Although the fragment attributed to Hesiod establishes Menoetius and Peleus as brothers, the other sources don’t seem to make this connection between them. Peleus 99% of the time isn’t Menoetius' brother, but Telamon's (and Phocus' half-brother by Aeacus). On the other hand, Actor appears to mostly have children with Aegina, Menoetius being one of them. So I think it's more likely that the most popular version would be that Patroclus entered Aegina's lineage as Achilles' cousin once removed, rather than first cousin. Patroclus' siblings are only mentioned in much later sources, which leads me to believe that they’re a more recent version of the myths and perhaps in older versions he was an only child or his siblings didn’t have important myths. As for Patroclus' mother, it’s impossible to deduce anything besides Philomela seems to have been the only possible mother to be cited with doubt by scholiasts.

As I can't be sure of Patroclus' most popular attributed mother (although I theorize that perhaps it could be Sthenele since she was the only one I saw mentioned in two different sources), I won't do his maternal lineage or it would take too long. But, by his father's side, Actor is apparently the son of Myrmidon and Pisidice and has a brother named Antiphus.

[...] and Pisidice had Antiphus and Actor by Myrmidon.

Library, 1.7.3. Translation by Sir James George Frazer.

Edit 17/05/2024: small edit in the below!

However, there are surprisingly a fair amount of “Actor” in the mythology, so while being descended from Myrmidon fits in with Patroclus becoming a Myrmidon, I'm not sure if we're talking about Patroclus' Actor or someone else. Although Menoetius is king of Opus (or at least a high ranking noble, I don't know for sure. This seems uncertain, the only certainty is that it was high status), his family doesn’t originate from Opus according to Pindar.

[...] until the ruler of Olympus carried off the daughter of Opus from the land of the Epeians, and lay with her peacefully in the glens of Mount Maenalus, and brought her to Locrus, so that age would not overtake him and lay the burden of childlessness on him. His bride was carrying in her womb the seed of the greatest god, and the hero rejoiced to see his adopted son, and gave him the same name as his mother's father, Opus, a man beyond words in beauty and fine deeds. Locrus gave him a city and a people to govern, and strangers came to him from Argos and Thebes, from Arcadia and Pisa. But among the settlers he chiefly honored the son of Actor and Aegina, Menoetius [...]

Olympian Ode 9. Translation by Diane Arnson Svarlien.

PRE-TROY

As a child, Patroclus killed another boy and, as a result, was sent to Phthia, where he met Achilles. Sources we have regarding this are:

"[...] just as we grew up together in your house, after Menoetius brought me there from Opois, and only a boy, but banished for bloody murder the day I killed Amphidarnas' son. I was a fool — I never meant to kill him — quarreling over a dice game. Then the famous horseman Peleus took me into his halls, he reared me with kindness, appointed me your aide. [...]"

The Iliad, XXIII, 102-108. Translation by Robert Fagles.

[...] At Opus, in a quarrel over a game of dice, Patroclus killed the boy Clitonymus, son of Amphidamas, and flying with his father he dwelt at the house of Peleus and became a minion of Achilles.

Library, 3.13.8. Translation by Sir James George Frazer.

I haven't found any other version that explains why he met Achilles other than being exiled to Phitia, so I imagine it's constant in Patroclus myths.

Patroclus is mentioned among Helen's suitors by Pseudo-Apollodorus.

Now the kings of Greece repaired to Sparta to win the hand of Helen. The wooers were these: -- Ulysses, son of Laertes; Diomedes, son of Tydeus; Antilochus, son of Nestor; Agapenor, son of Ancaeus; Sthenelus, son of Capaneus; Amphimachus, son of Cteatus; Thalpius, son of Eurytus; Meges, son of Phyleus; Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus; Menestheus, son of Peteos; Schedius and Epistrophus, sons of Iphitus; Polyxenus, son of Agasthenes; Peneleos, son of Hippalcimus; Leitus, son of Alector; Ajax, son of Oileus; Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, sons of Ares; Elephenor, son of Chalcodon; Eumelus, son of Admetus; Polypoetes, son of Perithous; Leonteus, son of Coronus; Podalirius and Machaon, sons of Aesculapius; Philoctetes, son of Poeas; Eurypylus, son of Evaemon; Protesilaus, son of Iphiclus; Menelaus, son of Atreus; Ajax and Teucer, sons of Telamon; Patroclus, son of Menoetius.

Library, 3.10.8. Translation by Sir James George Frazer.

And by Pausanias:

At a spot called Arainus is the tomb of Las with a statue upon it. The natives say that Las was their founder and was killed by Achilles, and that Achilles put in to their country to ask the hand of Helen of Tyndareus. In point of fact it was Patroclus who killed Las, for it was he who was Helen's suitor. We need not regard it as a proof that Achilles did not ask for Helen because he is not mentioned in the Catalogue of Women as one of her suitors.

Description of Greece, 3.24.10. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.

Although Hyginus isn’t Greek, Fabulae (attributed to him) was intended to collect Greek myths and present them to a Roman audience — that's why the Latin names. So I’ll be considering it here as a source of Greek myths.

SUITORS OF HELEN: Antilochus, Ascalaphus, Ajax, son of Oileus, Amphimachus, [Ancaeus], Blanirus, Agapenor, Ajax, son of Telamon, Clytius the Cyanean, Menelaus, Patroclus, Diomedes, Peneleus, Phemius, Nireus, Polypoetes, Elephenor, Eumelus, Sthenelus, Tlepolemus, Protesilaus, Podalirius, Eurypylus, Idomeneus, Leonteus, Thalpius, Polyxenus, Prothous, Menestheus, Machaon, Thoas, Ulysses, Phidippus, Meriones, Meges, Philoctetes. Older writers mention others.

Fabulae, 81. Translation by Mary Grant.

Chronologically, Patroclus wouldn’t have been old enough to become Helen's husband (he would be at least 7/8 years old and at most just over 10). I really don't know if it's a case of myths contradicting each other in chronology or if perhaps the intention was to achieve an engagement rather than a direct marriage or even a connection (Odysseus himself was among the suitors, but focused on Tyndareus and Penelope rather than Helen). This version doesn’t seem to be a case of more isolated myth like Menoetius and Peleus being brothers. I also imagine it happened before Patroclus was sent to Phitia.

Although people consider Patroclus training at Pelion, there are no Greek sources that show him there, only Roman ones. I imagine that Patroclus' current association with Chiron is to make sense chronologically that he grew up with Achilles, since Achilles in most sources spent a considerable portion of his childhood with Chiron. In this post I exemplify this better.

As for Patroclus going to Troy, we have:

“[...] And your fathers filled your ears with marching orders. The old horseman Peleus urging his son Achilles, 'Now always be the best, my boy, the bravest, and hold your head up high above the others: And Actor's son Menoetius urging you, 'My child, Achilles is nobler than you with his immortal blood but you are older. He has more power than you, by far, but give him sound advice, guide him, even in battle. Achilles will listen to you-for his own good: So the old man told you. You've forgotten. [...]”

The Iliad, XI, 934-943. Translation by Robert Fagles.

Here it seems that the reason, or at least the main reason, Patroclus was in Troy is because Peleus wanted him to be with Achilles.

[...] And in that way Achilles went to Troy. [...] Achilles was also accompanied by Patroclus, son of Menoetius [...]

Library, 3.13.8. Translation by J. G. Frazer.

Once again it appears that Patroclus went to Troy as Achilles' companion.

He’s usually described as going to Troy accompanying Achilles. The character of Patroclus actually seems strongly linked to going to Troy, since in some versions he’s one of the suitors and therefore took the oath. And even if we consider authors who didn’t mention Oath of Tyndareus, Patroclus follows Achilles. It's as if there was an effort to avoid the possibility of Patroclus not having gone to Troy, which makes sense because his character is essential to the development of the tenth year of war. Bro was reaaaaaally doomed by narrative lol

PERSONALITY, ROLE AND CHARACTER

Note: most of the things I wrote are more on the objective side, but this is the most subjective part of the post. So, of course, it's perfectly possible for you to disagree.

The uncommon “gentle” epithet

Patroclus was portrayed as gentle by Homer. He may not be what we see as "gentle" today because a soldier isn't exactly the picture of gentleness in modern times, but by the standards of the time and even among Homeric characters, Patroclus was considered gentle. It isn't a modern invention, as some people think.

When Menelaus announces the death of Patroclus, this is how he describes him:

[...] So here Menelaus paused with much to command Meriones and the Aeantes: "Ajax and Ajax, captains of Achaea, Meriones too, remember Patroclus now, our stricken comrade! That gentle man, the soul of kindness to all while the man was still alive... Now death and fate have got him in their grip."

The Iliad, XVII, 751-757. Translation by Robert Fagles.

When thinking about the fate of mortals, this is how Zeus describes Patroclus:

Now, when Zeus who arrays the clouds saw Hector from afar, strapping on the gear of Peleus' godlike son, he shook his head and addressed his own deep heart: "Poor soldier. Never a thought of death weighs down your spirit now, yet death is right beside you ... You don the deathless arms of a great fighterand all other fighters tremble before him, true, but you, you killed his comrade, gentle, strong, and against all rights you ripped the immortal armor off his head and shoulders. So great power for the moment I will grant you to compensate for all that is to come: never again will you return from battle, Hector, nor will Andromache take that famous armor. Achilles' deathless armor, from your hands."

The Iliad, XVII, 227-239.

When mourning the death of Patroclus, Briseis said:

[...] So now I mourn your death — I will never stop — you were always kind."

The Iliad, XIX, 355.

One of Priam's sons, Lycaon, when begging to be spared by Achilles appeals to the memory of Patroclus and describes him thus:

[...] Listen, this too-take it to heart, I beg you don't kill me! I'm not from the same womb as Hector, Hector who killed your friend, your strong, gentle friend!"

The Iliad, XXI, 107-109.

Note: In The Iliad, it's said that this Lycaon had been defeated before, but wasn't killed by Achilles because he was sold. In frag 1 of Cypria, it's said that Patroclus was the one who sold Lycaon in Lemnos. If we consider the possibility that it was the same in the Homeric tradition, it makes even more sense that Lycaon tried this strategy.

And Achilles:

"[...] But I and our fast stallions will not race today, so strong his fame, the charioteer they've lost, so kind — always washing them down with fresh water, sleeking their long manes with smooth olive oil. [...]"

The Iliad, XXIII, 320-322.

Besides Achilles, Menelaus, Trojans (Briseis and Lycaon) and a god (Zeus) related Patroclus to kindness.

In The Iliad, the heroes generally have epithets that refer to:

Their appearance (ex: Menelaus with “xanthus/blonde/red-haired” and Ajax with “giant/gigantic”)

Their abilities (ex: Achilles with “swift-footed” as an example of physical ability and Odysseus with “tactician” as an example of intellectual ability)

Their role (ex: Agamemnon with "lord of men/shepherd of people" because he’s the leader of the Achaean army)

Their ancestrality (ex: Diomedes with "Tydeus' son")

They’re all epithets that somehow magnify them in war. They're big, they're fast, they have an important lineage, they play a big role. Patroclus has epithets like these too. He is "dear to Zeus", he is "Menoetius' son", he is "great-hearted". And yet he’s the only one who has the epithet "gentle". Everyone who receives personality-related epithets still receives warrior or strategic/wisdom epithets, but Patroclus also receives “gentle”.

Homer intentionally emphasized this characteristic of Patroclus and never treated it as a weakness, but rather as a quality. Gentle or kind only appears describing Patroclus after his death, as if these two things were linked (Menelaus and Briseis feel affected by Patroclus' death because he was kind to them, Zeus talks about how Hector is destined to die for having killed Patroclus while associating Patroclus with kindness and strength, Lycaon tries to win Achilles' mercy by remembering that Patroclus was kind, Achilles speaks of his horses' grief at losing a kind charioteer). The preserved memory of Patroclus by those who mourn or speak of his death is not just his strength or his courage, but his gentleness. This makes me think that the choice to make Patroclus the only hero to receive this type of epithet is precisely to aggravate the tragedy of his destiny — Achilles was the most affected, but he wasn’t the only one to mourn between the characters and even the listener/reader.

Impact of Patroclus' death and his relationships

Although there is the joke of Menelaus and Ajax recovering Patroclus' body for Achilles' sake (because of Menelaus' lines in XVII, 100-120, mainly "and haul the body back to Achilles — somehow. Things are bad, but that would be the best"), Menelaus actually demonstrated a strong protective reaction toward Patroclus' body before he thought of Achilles.

But Atreus' son the fighting Menelaus marked it all— the Trojans killing Patroclus there in the brutal carnage— and crested now in his gleaming bronze gear Atrides plowed through the front to stand astride the body, braced like a mother cow lowing over a calf, her first-born, first labor-pangs she'd felt. So the red-haired captain bestrode Patroclus now, shielding his corpse with spear and round buckler, burning to kill off any man who met him face-to-face. But Euphorbus who hurled the lethal ashen spear would not neglect his kill, Patroclus' handsome body,

The Iliad, XVII, 1-11.

Menelaus even fears that he would be left behind and die, but he still doesn’t abandon Patroclus and gets help. The Trojans' plan was to recover Patroclus' body and give it to Hector, who wished to depreciate his body by feeding it to dogs. If this happened, Patroclus wouldn’t have a dignified burial, something that is already important in modern culture, but in this specific context it would also prevent Patroclus from having adequate rest after death. Ensuring proper burial was VERY important, which is why it's impactful when one character tries to stop another from having it (like Hector wanted to stop Patroclus’ burial, Clytemnestra wanted to stop Agamemnon and Cassandra’s, and Achilles almost stopped Hector’s. In the Odyssey, there's even a story precisely about Odysseus having to ensure that one of his companions is buried when they’re on Circe's island). That's why the Achaeans were so determined to recover the body.

Menelaus being the one who first protected Patroclus' body and one of those who tried the hardest to do so actually draws my attention to the detail that Menelaus and Patroclus are relatively similar characters in Homeric tradition:

Both are related to a more well-known and powerful figure (Achilles and Agamemnon)

Both were avenged by this figure (Achilles with Hector's death, Agamemnon by helping to recover Helen)

Both are portrayed as gentle and calm people compared to the other characters (I'm already talking about Patroclus here, but Menelaus even wants to spare a Trojan if it weren't for Agamemnon intervening and easily forgives Antilochus' fraud in the competition. In The Odyssey, Menelaus is depicted as an ideal host. It really seems like Menelaus only becomes angry and violent towards Paris, but it makes sense)

Both are the characters that receive the most uses of apostrophes (I’ill elaborate on this later)

Automedon at first doesn’t have time to mourn, after all he’s fighting for his life, but he’s also grieving.

[...] Automedon fought as he rode, though grieving for his friend, swooping in with the team like a vulture after geese. [...]

The Iliad, XVII, 529-530.

In Automedon's case, he has problems because Xanthus and Balius (Achilles' immortal horses) don't want to move because they’re depressed about Patroclus' death. Automedonte even says that the only person who could truly control the horses was Patroclus, but now he’s dead and cannot help. Patroclus' absence is then immediately felt by Automedon, who like him had to deal with Achilles' horses and will have to do it alone.

When Menelaus asks Antilochus to give the message to Achilles, this is the description of Antilochus' reaction:

Antilochus listened closely, hating every word. He stood there speechless a while, struck dumb... tears filling his eyes, his strong voice choked. But he still would not neglect Atrides' order. So handing his gear to a loyal aide Laodocus, who maneuvered his pawing horses close by, he set oft'at a run

The Iliad, XVII, 782-788.

And when Antilochus tells Achilles, he keeps crying.

As such fears went churning through his mind the warlord Nestor's son drew near him now, streaming warm tears, to give the dreaded message: "Ah son of royal Peleus. what you must hear from me! What painful news-would to god it had never happened! Patroclus has fallen. They're fighting over his corpse. He's stripped, naked-Hector with that flashing helmet. Hector has your arms!

The Iliad, XVIII, 16-23.

Antilochus kneeling near, weeping uncontrollably, clutched Achilles' hands as he wept his proud heart out for fear he would slash his throat with an iron blade.

The Iliad, XVIII, 36-38.

Antilochus's strong reaction to Patroclus' death, the way he knows Achilles well enough to fear that he will hurt himself as an initial shock reaction, and the fact that in the Odyssey and later myths Antilochus becomes Achilles' second closest companion after Patroclus' death makes me think that Antilochus was actually one of Patroclus' closest comrades. Antilochus is also one of the youngest in the army (a characteristic emphasized by Menelaus in the Book of Patroclus' Funerary Games), so he was probably closer to the age of Achilles and Patroclus.

Although Achilles' anger was well known, this wasn’t his first reaction to Patroclus' death. In Book XVIII we see how he throws sand at himself, pulls his hair and Automedon even holds his hands because he is afraid he will cut himself. The initial impact of Patroclus' death on Achilles wasn’t to make him want to hurt/kill someone, but rather to want to hurt/kill himself. And even after Thetis guarantees that she will bring an armor for Achilles to go to battle to avenge (because his is with Hector, who took it from Patroclus), in the meantime between that and him actually receiving the armor Achilles is absolutely depressed. He doesn't even eat, meaning he actually chooses to hurt himself. After receiving the armor from Thetis, he enters the most violent stage and at the end of The Iliad he slowly begins to recover.

Even Briseis and other women mourn Patroclus' death: And so Brisets returned, like golden Aphrodite, but when she saw Patroclus lying tom by the bronze she flung herself on his body, gave a piercing cry and with both hands clawing deep at her breasts, her soft throat and lovely face, she sobbed, a woman like a goddess in her grief, "Patroclus— dearest joy of my heart, my harrowed, broken heart! I left you alive that day I left these shelters, now I come back to find you fallen, captain of armies! So grief gives way to grief, my life one endless sorrow! The husband to whom my father and noble mother gave me, I saw him tom by the sharp bronze before our city,— and my three brothers-a single mother bore us: my brothers, how I loved you!- you all went down to death on the same day... But you, Patroclus, you would not let me weep, not when the swift Achilles cut my husband down, not when he plundered the lordly Mynes' city not even weep! No, again and again you vowed you'd make me godlike Achilles' lawful. wedded wife, you would sail me west in your warships, home to Phthia and there with the Myrmidons hold my marriage feast. So now I mourn your death — I will never stop — you were always kind." Her voice rang out in tears and the women wailed in answer, grief for Patroclus calling forth each woman's private sorrows.

The Iliad, XIX, 333-358.

Other members of the army are also mentioned lamenting. But, in addition to the emotional impact on people, there is the impact on destiny. Patroclus' death was a way to accelerate the fall of Troy. Only when Patroclus dies does Hector die, and only in Hector's death does Troy come close to falling.

Patroclus’ apostrophes

The characterization of Patroclus as someone who was mourned by everyone and who has "gentle" as a characteristic epithet after his death are not the only resources used to accentuate the tragedy of his death. Homer's repeated use of apostrophes with Patroclus is also significant, as this is intended to evoke sympathy in the reader/listener.

Apostrophe in Greek literally means ‘turning away’ (i.e. from the person who has continuously been addressed up till the moment of the apostrophe); the most common Latin translation is aversio. The term is mostly used, in ancient as in modern literary criticism, to indicate ‘the address to someone not present in the default dialogic scheme’, that is to say a (ﬁctional or intradiegetical) character, a third person, a god, an inanimate object or a personiﬁed abstraction. It may occur in narrative poetry, lyric poetry and all kinds of prose and oratory. The effect of apostrophe, as analyzed in modern theory, is that the dialogue (which in forensic oratory takes place between the speaker and the judges, in poetry between the narrator and the narratees) is ostensibly sidetracked. However, in reality the narrator continues to address the narratees, and so directs their emotions by emphatically voicing his own feelings.

Credits for the definition to this article written by Jacqueline J . H . Klooster because, honestly, I wouldn't know how to explain it without messing up.

In The Iliad, the two characters in which this resource is most used are Patroclus (8 times, all in Book XVI, moment of his aristeia. Aristeia is basically a type of moment in which the character reaches their peak, in which they prove themselves to be an aristo, that is, the best) and Menelaus (7 times, but spread throughout the Books), curiously the characters that I think are most sensitive and sympathetic among the Achaeans. You're supposed to care about Patroclus, so his death will have more impact. You’re supposed to sympathize with Menelaus' situation. In the case of Patroclus, the apostrophes applied to him begin even before he enters battle and gradually increase until the moment of his death, as if they were alerting the reader/listener and leading him to absorb how ironically tragic the development of his aristeia is.

There is more to analyze about this, but it would make this already immense post even longer. I searched to see if anyone had written anything online about this and I found this great article on this topic written by Emily Allen-Hornblower. I recommend checking it out!

Patroclus is a character who does a lot for others, even narratively speaking. He does activities for Achilles like cooking, he tries to live up to the expectations of being Achilles' wise guide, he tries to reassure Briseis, he takes care of the animals, he’s open to listening to what the Achaeans have to say, he’s the one who inspires courage in the worst moment and his death is one of the main events that caused the fall of Troy.

Update 05/05/2024: paragraph below has been slightly edited

In fact, there's more to talk about his character that I haven't covered here. For example, I didn't develop Patroclus' association with wisdom, something also linked to his age. Nor did I enter into scholars' interpretation of Patroclus as a kind of Achilles' double. That is, interpretations about how the funeral that Achilles gives for Patroclus is related to the death of Achilles himself or interpretations of how, by wearing Achilles' armor, Patroclus embodies him during his aristeia and that is why his more restrained person is suddenly more arrogant and confident (I mean dude was saying REALLY sharp words during Book XVI lol) and he even wanted to mutilate Saperdon. But it's just that writing these interpretations here would make the post infinite. At least the articles I mention in this post also address this Achilles’ double aspect (although it isn’t necessarily the main topic of the articles), but the wisdom part will be lacking.

And as a bonus, I'll talk about how Patroclus is introduced by Philoctetes. In Sophocles' play "Philoctetes", the Achaeans have to return to the island where they abandoned Philoctetes because Helenus prophesied that Philoctetes and his bow (previously belonging to Heracles) would be needed to win the war. Odysseus takes Neoptolemus along and when Philoctetes asks for updates on the war that has been going on for 10 years, he asks about Patroclus referring to him as the one Achilles loved most.

[...] PHILOCTETES: Now, for the gods' sake, what of Patroclus? On that occasion where was he? Tell me. Your father loved him more than anyone. NEOPTOLEMUS: He was also dead. I can tell you why in one brief saying — given the choice, war takes no evil men. It always wants to seize the good ones. [...]

Philoctetes, 420. Translation by Ian Johnston.

A curious line, considering that Philoctetes didn't spend much time with Achilles as he was abandoned before they reached Troy. Either Achilles' favoritism towards Patroclus was extremely obvious or Philoctetes is very observant or both. Interestingly, he gives different characteristics to the other characters. Philoctetes remembers how Nestor is a good advisor, how Tersites was inconvenient, he associates Diomedes and Odysseus with something negative, when talking about Ajax the size of Ajax is there, he says that Achilles was noble...but with Patroclus, the most memorable characteristic for Philoctetes is that he was very loved by someone. The characterization of Patroclus as someone whose importance is linked to being loved isn’t modern, contrary to what some people think (note that when I say "loved" I mean in general. It doesn't matter if we are talking about the context of romance, friendship or family).

PATROCLUS AND CLEOPATRA

Patroclus (Patroklos Πάτροκλος) is the combination of “father” (patḗr πατήρ) + “glory” (kleos κλέος), meaning “glory of his father”.[1] A father or mother giving their child that name isn’t strange, however there is one more detail: the feminine of Patroclus is Cleopatra (Kleopatra Κλεοπάτρη), which is the junction of “glory” (kleos κλέος) + “father” (patḗr πατήρ).[2] Another way to write this name is Κλεοπάτρα.[3] Anyway, Cleopatra is the name of Meleager's wife.

[...] την ώρια Κλεοπάτρα, της σφιχτοστήθως Μάρπησσας την κόρη και του Νίδα. [...]

The Iliad, Raphsody Ι (Book XIX), 556-557. Translation by Alexandros Palles. See here.

This strengthens the parallel between Patroclus and Cleopatra, and between Achilles and Meleager comparing the plot of The Iliad and the story told by Phoenix in Book IX. In both cases:

Heroes came together for a common, divinely motivated cause (Trojan War motivated by several gods and goddesses and Calydonian Boar motivated by Artemis);

The people in general have incredible abilities as a whole, but one stands out (Achilles for several feats and Meleager because he killed the boar)

A deity feels insulted by a king and therefore sends punishment (Apollo for the treatment given to his priest by Agamemnon and Artemis for being forgotten by Oeneus)

The prominent hero interferes to stop the divine punishment from continuing (Achilles by encouraging Calchas to speak the truth and Meleager by killing the boar)

After the solution was given, a conflict began (Agamemnon took Briseis and there was a war for possession of the boar's skin and hide)

The prominent hero retreats from the fight (Achilles after being dishonored by Agamemnon and Meleagrus angered by his mother Althaea)

The hero then spends time with his closest companion (Achilles in his tent with Patroclus and Meleagrus with his wife Cleopatra)

People start to have problems with the hero's refusal to fight (the Trojans advance and so do the Curetes)

People try to make the hero return and fail (Achilles with Odysseus, Phoenix, Ajax and Meleager with Aetolian)

His closest companion then begs the hero to return (Patroclus with Achilles and Cleopatra with Meleager)

As if, as Cleopatra did with Meleager, Patroclus accompanied Achilles in his decision and spent his days caring for him and having fun with him (it is mentioned that Achilles was playing for Patroclus when Odysseus, Phoenix and Ajax arrive. Cleopatra is mentioned that Meleager was lying with his wife), but also like her Patroclus felt worry and despair and equally like Cleopatra Patroclus believed that, although no one had convinced Achilles, he alone could convince him. The difference begins when Meleager hears Cleopatra's plea and returns to battle, although he doesn’t receive any reward because the Aetolians no longer think so highly of him. On the other hand, Achilles doesn't listen to Patroclus.

Patroclus was present during this conversation and even cooked for them, so he certainly heard Phoenix's story. This makes me wonder if this story just served as a parallel or if it was a further construction of Phoenix and Patroclus' characters. Nestor, known to be wise, seemed to believe that Patroclus had a chance of changing Achilles' mind, so I don't see why Phoenix couldn't have thought the same. Perhaps part of the reason Phoenix chose this story wasn’t only to tell Achilles that he might end up regretting his choice, but also to indirectly try to get Patroclus to react like Cleopatra did. Nestor, when trying to get Patroclus to talk to Achilles, reinforces how Peleus trusted Patroclus to guide Achilles. It really seems like the other characters were purposely trying to get Achilles back through Patroclus. The Acheans did get Achilles back through Patroclus, but unfortunately not through his words but through his death.

This is a specific interpretation of the Homeric tradition. It isn’t possible to know whether this play with names and parallels with Patroclus and Cleopatra already existed in oral traditions before Homer.

About Patroclus begging Achilles to return, there is even an post-homeric ancient source in which Achilles yields!

[...] Meanwhile Phoenix and Patroclus were standing around Achilles in the position of suppliants, taking hold of his knees and, without restraint, kissing his hands and face, begging him to give up his wrath and return to his place of honor. Do this, they said, not so much for these representatives but, as is right, for all of the army. Finally Achilles yielded. He would do what they wanted. The sight of the representatives, the prayers of his closest friends, and the realization that the army was not to blame made him change his mind. Then for the first time after his wrath, at the suggestion of Ajax, Achilles went to a meeting of the council. Agamemnon greeted him in a royal manner, and the other leaders were happy to welcome him back. On every side there was joy, unbounded joy. And then Agamemnon, taking Achilles by the hand, led him off, along with the other leaders, to dinner. A little later, during the dinner, when they were enjoying themselves, Agamemnon commanded Patroclus to take Hippodamia to Achilles’ hut, and also the jewelry he had given to her. This was an order Patroclus was glad to obey. During this winter, Greeks and Trojans mingled in the grove of the Thymbraean Apollo.17 They went freely, whether singly or in groups, without any fear of each other.

Dictys Cretensis, Book II. Translation by R.M Frazer.

Dictys Cretensis was believed to be a story from the Latin tradition, but it was discovered to have a Greek original and to be, in fact, a Greek source translated into Latin. The authorship or time of the Greek original isn’t yet certain, but it’s theorized that it’s a late source compared to the others sources. It’s interesting to mention, however, that the format of this text is a first-hand account by Dictys and at one point in Book I he even uses Odysseus as a source (who isn’t known for being super sincere), so I particularly wouldn't rule out the possibility of this narrative being purposefully biased. And I'm not talking about this part that I mentioned here, but Dictys Cretensis in general.

ANIMALS, FUNERAL AND POST-DEATH

Note: this part is considerably composed of theory (not entirely). So remember that theory is theory, it isn’t certain.

Yes, that's a curious title. In my defense, my intention was to do an “Animals” topic and a “Funeral and Post-Death” topic, but then the two topics got mixed up more than planned and I had to combine the topics. So here we are with this peculiar title.

Dogs

Okay, now seriously…Patroclus had nine dogs. I know it's kind of a silly detail, but that's precisely why this part gets me so much. When you read The Iliad, everything seems to be there for a reason and everyone has this aura, you know? And then we have to…apparently Patroclus spent his free time in Troy collecting dogs to look after? It's so mundane that it's unexpected. And then Achilles goes and sacrifices two of them. And I wondered if it was really so random that these dogs were there.

[...] And the dead lord Patroclus had fed nine dogs at table-he slit the throats of two, threw them onto the pyre and then a dozen brave sons of the proud Trojans he hacked to pieces with his bronze…

The Iliad, XVIII, 198-201. Translation by Robert Fagles.

I thought that if the dogs weren't just any detail, it could be another attempt to direct sympathy towards Patroclus. I couldn't be satisfied with this explanation, because Homer had already used the characterization of Patroclus' personality, the repeated use of apostrophes, and the other characters' reactions to do this, it's not like he needed to use dogs. But then I thought…what if someone already said something about this? This story has been here for years, long before I even existed, so I'm DEFINITELY not the only person who finds these dogs strange.

I did some research and in fact someone already mentioned it. The author compares the funeral rites of Patroclus, Hector and Achilles and then defines a possible Homeric formula for funerals based on this, then explains why among the three that of Patroclus isn’t a typical Homeric ritual but an exception. She believes that the sacrifices made by Achilles at Patroclus' funeral (four horses, two dogs, twelve Trojans) aren’t meant to be seen as common in a Homeric context as some scholars say and that also says more than just Achilles being very angry or something like this. The text is very long, going as far as analyzing Hittite rituals and words in the original Greek, so there is no way to summarize the argument. I'm just going to post the concluding opinion section and, if you want to see the rest, go read it.

As for the dog sacrifice, Krick suggests an ingenious interpretation “that the dog is the ritual representative of the mythic dog Saramā, who will then function as a leader for the horse to the land of the dead.” Krick’s reading may help to illuminate the role of the table dogs at Patroclus’ funeral. The dog sacrifice in tandem with the horse sacrifice that occurs during the funeral of Patroclus bring into sharper relief comparisons with the aśvamedha ritual. Yet the dogs in the funeral are sacrificed in a manner more similar to that of the Hittite severing rituals, though it is not explicitly clear that the puppies in the Hittite ritual are decapitated like Patroclus’ table dogs. In both the Hittite and Sanskrit rituals dogs are used as a method of purification. While it is possible that purification may have been an underlying motivation for the dogs sacrificed at Patroclus’ funeral, the potential recipient of the purification is quite ambiguous. I argue then that it is more probable that the table dogs sacrificed during the funeral of Patroclus are symbolic representatives of the dog of the underworld, meant to lead their master, Patroclus, to the land of the dead. The inclusion of dog sacrifice in addition to horse sacrifice in Patroclus’ funeral strengthen the resemblance to the aśvamedha. Anthony reasons that “Pre-Greek and Pre-Indo-Iranian almost certainly were neighboring Indo-European dialects, spoken near enough to each other that words related to warfare and ritual… were shared.” Perhaps the funerary sacrifice of dogs and horses was another early shared innovation.

Pag 33-34 of this article.

Horses

Dogs aren’t the only animals related to Patroclus, but horses too. Ptolomy even goes so far as to attribute this characteristic of Patroclus to him having been loved by Poseidon and having learned to ride directly from him, the god who created horses. Although this version is something that I only found in one source, Patroclus' connection with horses was already present in The Iliad. To begin with, Patroclus is sometimes referred to as “master horseman”:

[...] She was up in flames at once. engulfed in quenchless fire, in a flash the blaze went swirling round the stem and Achilles slapped his thighs and urged Patroclus, "To arms-Patroclus, prince and master horseman! I can see the blaze go roaring up the ships. They must not destroy them. No escape-route then. Quick, strap on my gear-I'll rouse the troops,"

The Iliad, XVI, 149-155.

[...] 'Now don't come back to the hollow ships. you hear?— Patroclus, master horseman— not till you've slashed the shirt around his chest and soaked it red in the blood of man-killing Hector!' So he must have commanded — you maniac, you obeyed."

The Iliad, XVI, 980-983.

During his aristeia, as Patroclus is using Achilles' resources (with the exception of the spear, as only Achilles can lift it), he also uses the immortal horses Xanthus (Roan Beauty) and Balius (Dapple).

Now the war-team. Patroclus ordered Automedon to yoke them quickly— a man he honored next to Achilles breaker of men, always firmest in battle, nerved to wait the call. So at his command Autornedon yoked the horses, the rapid stallions Roan Beauty and Dapple, the team that raced the gales, magnificent team the storm-wind filly Lightfoot foaled for the West Wind, 180 grazing the lush green grass along the Ocean's tides. And into the traces he ran the purebred Bold Dancer— Achilles seized him once when he stormed Eetion's city, a mortal war-horse pacing immortal horses now

The Iliad, XVI, 174-184.

These horses aren’t ordinary horses, but immortal horses — the immortal sons of a harpy and the god Zephyrus. They were a divine gift to Peleus, who subsequently gave them to Achilles, who then loaned them to Patroclus. This makes them great horses, but it's also not like it's easy to command animals with such speed, and yet Patroclus does it. Automedon even declares Patroclus was the only one capable of fully controlling Xanthus and Balius.

Diores' son Automedon shouted back, "Alcimedon! What other Achaean driver could match your skill at curbing this deathless team or spurring on their fury? Only Patroclus. skilled as the gods themselves while the man was still alive— now death and fate have got him in their grip. On with it! Take up the whip and shining reins. I'll dismount the car and fight on foot."

The Iliad, XVII, 544-551.

Another characteristic that differentiates them from common animals is their consciousness, shown in how they cry at Patroclus' death and miss him. Zeus has to comfort them so they can run again.

So they would say, fueling. comrades' courage. And so they fought and the iron din went rising up to the bronze sky through the barren breathless air. But standing clear of the fray Achilles' horses wept from the time they first had sensed their driver's death, brought down in the dust by man-killing Hector. Diores' rugged son Automedon did his best. lashed them over and over with stinging whip— coaxing them gently now, now shouting oath on oath. But both balked at returning now to the ships moored at the Hellespont's far-reaching shore or galloping back to fight beside the Argives. Staunch as a pillar planted tall above a barrow, standing sentry over some lord or lady's grave-site, so they stood, holding the blazoned chariot stock-still, their heads trailing along the ground, warm tears flowing down from their eyes to wet the earth... the horses mourned, longing now for their driver, their luxurious manes soiled, streaming down from the yoke-pads, down along the yoke.

The Iliad, XVII, 490-508.

At Patroclus' funeral, Achilles describes how Patroclus used to take good care of Xanthus and Balius and warns that the horses will not be used in the Funeral Games as they’re so depressed that they refuse to move.

“[...] You know how my team outstrips all others' speed. Immortal horses they are, Poseidon gave them himself to my father Peleus, Peleus passed them on to me. But I and our fast stallions will not race today, so strong his fame, the charioteer they've lost, so kind — always washing them down with fresh water, sleeking their long manes with smooth olive oil. No wonder they stand here, mourning... look, trailing those very manes along the ground. They both refuse to move, saddled down with grief. But all the rest of you, come, all Achaeans in camp who trust to your teams and bolted chariots— take your places now!"

The Iliad, XXIII, 317- 329.

Just as two of Patroclus' nine dogs were sacrificed, Achilles also sacrificed four horses. Returning to the thesis I mentioned previously about sacrificed dogs, Aubrey A. Cumt (the author) also considers the sacrifice of horses unusual for a Homeric funeral. She also doesn't think it's just a narrative device to indicate Achilles' violence or anything like that. However, she says that there are a Hittite source that demonstrate the existence of horse sacrifices in Hittite societies (interestingly, Troy nowadays is theorized to have some Hittite heritage). She also argues that in The Iliad the Trojans are strongly associated with horses and that this animal was a type of wealth, even more so depending on the breed. Although The Iliad is unclear which horses Achilles sacrificed, Aubrey theorizes that they were likely conquered Trojan horses. Then she concludes:

In this way, the horse sacrifice that occurs at the funeral of Patroclus can be understood in a new light. Rather than representing solely an irregular practice, emblematic of Achilles’ violence, the sacrifice can be interpreted as an intentional ritual action, both metonymically representative of the destruction of Troy, but also as possibly triggering far earlier Indo-European cultural and linguistic associations with power and kingship for Achilles, the principal hero of the Iliad.

Pag 26 of this article.

Human sacrifice

And now we stop the animal part of the topic and just focus on death. I’ill proceed by summarizing Aubrey's thesis, but this time her theory regarding the twelve sacrificed Trojans. Human sacrifices existed in Ancient Greece, but they weren’t common, despiste how abundant they were in Greek mythology. And yet, even when human sacrifices occur in Greek mythology, there is a narrative reason. It’s generally associated with divine/prophetic inspiration (Andromeda, Iphigenia, Hesione, Megareus...) and even considering Polyxena (her sacrifice isn’t divinely motivated), it’s easy to know why specifically Polyxena. In the case of the Trojans whom Achilles adds to Patroclus' pyre, the sacrifice not only doesn’t follow the Homeric formula for funerals but is also unusual as a whole.

Just as people have theorized about the dogs and horses, there is the theory that this could simply be a narrative device to show how disturbed Achilles was beyond usual at the time. He had already taken longer than usual to bury Patroclus and broke social rules by doing what he did with Hector's corpse (in fact, in this part of the funeral he even wants to feed Hector to the dogs, as Hector wanted to do with Patroclus. But this doesn’t happen because Hector's body is divinely protected). So the theory that it was another clue as to how on edge Achilles was exists.

For Aubrey, the verbs used in the Greek text added to the different way in which Achilles makes these sacrifices compared to the others (he slaughters Trojans with bronze) gives connotations that are more militaristic than ritualistic (typical of a sacrifice scene). She also argues that they were most likely young Trojan soldiers, considering the interpretation of the Greek text. Aubrey emphasizes the violence of this attitude as well, demonstrated even in the text when it’s says “and he contrived evil works in his mind (κακὰ δὲ φρεσὶ μήδετο ἔργα)". She then concludes that this particular sacrifice is intended to reinforce power.

Given the inclusion of horse sacrifice in Patroclus’ funeral, the human sacrifice of the Trojan youths may then be interpreted as an extension and elevation of the associations to kingship and power. Certainly, in light of Puhvel’s Victimal Hierarchy, Patroclus’ funerary sacrifices as a whole can be construed as a gradation of sacrifices, increasing in significance from dogs to horses and finally to humans.

Pag 42 of this article.

Ghost

Another difference in Patroclus's funeral ritual is the way his bones aren’t cremated, but rather reserved with fat. But this is already explained by Homer: the ghost of Patroclus appeared to Achilles and asked him to mix their ashes, thus guaranteeing that they would continue together in death as they were united in life.

And you too, your fate awaits you too, godlike as you are, Achilles— to die in battle beneath the proud rich Trojans' walls! But one thing more. A last request — grant it. please. Never bury my bones apart from yours, Achilles, let them lie together... just as we grew up together in your house, after Menoetius brought me there from Opois, and only a boy, but banished for bloody murder the day I killed Amphidarnas' son. I was a fool— I never meant to kill him — quarreling over a dice game. Then the famous horseman Peleus took me into his halls, he reared me with kindness, appointed me your aide. So now let a single urn, the gold two-handled urn your noble mother gave you, hold our bones — together!"

The Iliad, XXVIII, 97-110.

We know that this wish came true.

“[...] But after the flame of Hephaistos had consumed you utterly, then at dawn we gathered your white bones, Achilleus, together with unmixed wine and unguents. Your mother gave you a golden jar with handles. She said that it was a present from Dionysos, and was the work of renowned Hephaistos. In this your white bones are laid away, O shining Achilleus, mixed with the bones of the dead Patroklos, son of Menoitios, and apart from those of Antilochos, whom you prized above all the rest of your companions after the death of Patroklos. [...]”

The Odyssey, XXIV, 71-79. Translation by Richmond Lattimore.

The scene of Patroclus' ghost serves as an explanation for them having his ashes mixed together, but it also opened up more debate. However, I don't even dare try to summarize another theory because there is still much more to be written in this post, so instead I’ll present this article by Menelaos Christopoulos if you’re interested.

Postmortem

The death of Achilles filled the army with dismay, and they buried him with Patroclus in the White Isle, mixing the bones of the two together. [...]

Library, E.5.5. Translation by J. G. Frazer.

[...] White Island, where, he used to declare, he saw Achilles, as well as Ajax the son of Oileus and Ajax the son of Telamon. With them, he said, were Patroclus and Antilochus; Helen was wedded to Achilles [...]

Description of Greece, 3.19.13. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.

[...] whereas Achilles, son of Thetis, they honored and sent to his place in the Isles of the Blest, because having learnt from his mother that he would die as surely as he slew Hector, but if he slew him not, would return home and end his days an aged man, he bravely chose to go and rescue his lover Patroclus, avenged him, and sought death not merely in his behalf but in haste to be joined with him whom death had taken. For this the gods so highly admired him that they gave him distinguished honor, since he set so great a value on his lover.

Symposium, 179e-180a. Translation by Harold N. Fowler.

SKILLS AND FEATS

I'll leave battle skills for later, so let's start with the other skills!

Patroclus has knowledge of healing, as Achilles taught him what he learned from Chiron:

"[…] And spread the soothing, healing salves across it, the powerful drugs they say you learned from Achilles and Chiron the most humane of Centaurs taught your friend. […]"

The Iliad, XI, 992-994.

He’s an excellent horseman, even capable of controlling Xanthus and Balius:

The Iliad, XVII, 544-551.

And he knows how to cook:

He paused. Patroclus obeyed his great friend, who put down a heavy chopping block in the firelight and across it laid a sheep's chine, a fat goat's and the long back cut of a full-grown pig, marbled with lard. Automedon held the meats while lordly Achilles carved them into quarters. cut them well into pieces. pierced them with spits and Patroclus raked the hearth, a man like a god making the fire blaze. Once it had burned down and the flames died away, he scattered the coals and stretching the spitted meats across the embers, raised them onto supports and sprinkled clean pure salt. As soon as the roasts were done and spread on platters, Patroclus brought the bread, set it out on the board in ample wicker baskets. Achilles served the meat.

The Iliad, IX, 246-260.

In Book XVI, Patroclus's named deaths are:

(I'm using Robert Fagles' translation as references for the localizations in parentheses)

Pyraechmes (337)

Areilycus (362)

Pronous (474)

Thestor (477)

Erylaus (490)

Amphotereus (495)

Erymas (495)

Epaltes (495)

Tlepolemus (496)

Echius (496)

Pyris (496)

Ipheus (497)

Euippus (497)

Polymelus (497)

Thrasymelus (550)

Saperdon (578-579)

Sthenelaus (684)

Adrestus (812)

Autonous (812)

Echeclus (812)

Perimus (813)

Epistor (813)

Melanippus (813)

Elasus (814)

Mulius (814)

Pylartes (814)

Cebriones (860)

But Patroclus actually killed more people than that in his aristeia, after all we still have these lines:

[...] and Patroclus charged the enemy, fired for the kill. Three times he charged with the headlong speed of Ares, screaming his savage cry, three times he killed nine men.

The Iliad, XVI, 911-913.

He attacked three times and each time killed nine men, resulting in twenty-seven unnamed deaths. This means that in Book XVI, Patroclus killed a total of 54 men in a single battle. This is an impressive feat indeed, but I also have to be fair and not omit that Patroclus had Zeus’s divine aid (Diomedes, Achilles, Odysseus, Paris and other characters also had divine aid so nothing rare or that takes away the merit completely, but important to mention). Euphorbus and Hector also killed Patroclus with divine aid (Apollo, hi!)

In a fragment attributed to Hesiod, we have a part related to Saperdon. Although it doesn't finish what is being said, it’s obviously about Patroclus killing Saperdon:

Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 1 (3rd cent. A.D.):

“[...] Very greatly did he excel in war together with man-slaying Hector and brake down the wall, bringing woes upon the Danaans. But so soon as Patroclus had inspired the Argives with hard courage..."

Catalogues of Women, frag 19A. Translation by Evelyn-White, H G.

Pindar, in one of his odes, describes that Achilles and Patroclus were the bravest in the conflict against Telephus, son of Heracles:

[...] But among the settlers he (Locrus) chiefly honored the son of Actor and Aegina, Menoetius, whose son went with the Atreidae to the plain of Teuthras, and stood alone beside Achilles, when Telephus turned to flight the mighty Danaans, and attacked their ships beside the sea, to reveal to a man of understanding. From that time forward, the son of Thetis exhorted him in deadly war never to post himself far from his own man-subduing spear.

Olympian Ode 9. Translation by Diane Arnson Svarlien.

There are his actions in Dictys Cretensis too. As I already showed in the Cleopatra part, there is no Achilles absenting himself from war and, therefore, there is no Patroclus taking his place. But honestly, if you're really interested in this version, I recommend reading it. It's short, so I don't think it's really worth dissecting that much.

As for Hyginus, he seems to be just repeating Homer. The descriptions of Patroclus' attitudes follow The Iliad and he even says Patroclus killed 54 people, the same number of men he kills in Book XVI.

Pausanias attributes Las's death to Patroclus, disputing the narrative that it was Achilles:

Description of Greece, 3.24.10. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.

Edit (26/05/2024): adding this information that I didn't know.

In Theseus, Plutarch tells an unusual version in which the death of Paris is attributed to Patroclus and Achilles, crediting it to Ister.

But a very peculiar and wholly divergent story about Aethra is given by Ister in the thirteenth book of his "Attic History." Some write, he says, that Alexander (Paris) was overcome in battle by Achilles and Patroclus in Thessaly, along the banks of the Spercheius, but that Hector took and plundered the city of Troezen, and carried away Aethra, who had been left there. This, however, is very doubtful.

Theseus, 34.2.

SEXUAL AND/OR ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS

Achilles

No reverence hadst thou for the unsullied holiness of thy limbs, oh thou most ungrateful for my many kisses!

Aeschylus, frag 64. Translation by Herbert Weir Smyth.

And the Greek text:

σέβας δέ μηρῶν ἀγνόν ουκ ἐπηδέσω, ὢ δυσχάριστε τῷν πυκνῶν φιλημάτων μηρῶν τε τῶν σῶν εὐσέβησ᾽ ὁμιλίαν κλαίων

Apparently, for Aeschylus they had a same-gender relationship.

Plato's well-known excerpt about the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles is a kind of response to Aeschylus' interpretation, as Plato disagreed on who was "eromenos" and who was "erates" (Symposium, 179-180). Plutarch also mentions this Aeschylus' fragment in Amatorius in a non-platonic context:

Add to this of Solon that other of Aeschylus: "Ungrateful, for the kisses of my lips, Not to revere the glory of my lips."

Amatorius, 5. Translation by "several hands". See in Greek here.

This excerpt from Aeschylus being interpreted as sexual and/or romantic also seems to have remained in the Roman Era, since the text "Amores", attributed to Lucian of Samosata (despite the era, he isn't a Roman, but a Syrian), refers the Aeschylus excerpt in a sexual context in 54.

[...] Do not be surprised: Patroclus in fact, was not loved by Achilles just because he was seated before him, waiting for Achilles to finish his song…but it was lust that mediated their friendship. For Achilles, moaning upon the death of Patroklos, allows his unrestrained passion to burst out with the power of truth when he says: "The holy commerce of your thighs my tears do mourn". I also believe that those whom the Greeks call ‘comastes' are none other than professional lovers. Some might call this a shameful thing to say, but at least it is the truth, by the Aphrodite of Cnidus!

Amores, 54. Translation by Andrew Kallimachos. In Greek here. Note: This excerpt was used only to show the use of Aeschylus. The context of the text as a whole is best seen by reading.

Athenaeus of Naucratis also appears to reference this play by Aeschylus in a romantic sense.

And, in fact, there was such emulation about composing poems of this sort, and so far was any one from thinking lightly of the amatory poets, that Aeschylus, who was a very great poet, and Sophocles, too, introduced the subject of the loves of men on the stage in their tragedies: the one describing the love of Achilles for Patroclus [...]

The Deipnosophists, 13.75. Translation by Henry G. Bohn.

There is an interpretation that Pindar could think of them as being in a romantic relationship because he compares Hagesidamus and Ilas with Patroclus and Achilles and later compares Hagesidamus with Ganymede. Personally, I find this too interpretative to be anything other than ambiguous, but I'm mentioning it here anyway.

[...] let Hagesidamus, victorious as a boxer at Olympia, offer thanks to Ilas, just as Patroclus did to Achilles. With the help of a god, one man can sharpen another who is born for excellence, and encourage him to tremendous achievement [...] And I praised the lovely son of Archestratus [Hagesidamus], whom I saw at that time beside the Olympic altar, winning victory with the valor of his hands—beautiful in form, and blended with that youthful bloom which once kept Ganymede from shameless death, with the help of Cyprian Aphrodite.

Olympian Ode 10, 10.1 and 10.75. Translation by Diane Arnson Svarlien.

There are other texts in which Patroclus x Achilles are interpreted as romantic and/or sexual, regardless of whether the author is framing this as positive or negative. However, I'm trying to focus on plays/poems/libraries/odes/etc and I only cited Lucian, Plutarch, Athenaeus and Plato because they were quoting Aeschylus first.

This relationship isn't considered a fixed tradition — for example, Homer doesn't explicitly a romantic/sexual relationship between them. But yeah, it exists. There is the argument that Aeschylus did it differently from Homer, but the way Aeschylus portrayed Agamemnon's family is also different from the Homeric tradition (Clytemnestra's role is different and the children are not the same) and people take The Oresteia as something valid, so I particularly don't see why the Achilles trilogy wouldn't be. Even ancient Greeks seemed to at least take it into account, considering other authors' mentions of Aeschylus.

Iphis

[...] And over across from him Patroclus slept with the sashed and lovely Iphis by his side, whom Prince Achilles gave him the day he took the heights of Scyros, Enyeus' rocky stronghold.

The Iliad, IX, 813-816. Translation by Robert Fagles.

Iphis was a slave brought by Achilles from Skyros to Patroclus. She doesn't have much narrative importance in The Iliad, since she's only mentioned in this excerpt, but her character is remembered in other sources. For example, in Description of Greece 10.25. In the Roman Era, she was also still remembered, notable in how the sophist Philostratus mentions her in Heroica 716.

Poseidon

Once again reviewing New History (Ptolemy Hephaestion), Photius mentions that Patroclus was Poseidon's lover and learned to ride a horse with him.

[...] Homer calls Patroclus the first horseman because he learned from Poseidon, who loved him, the art of riding horses.

Photius' Bibliotheca, 190.6. Translation by Roger Pearse.

This isn't a constant/fixed tradition. But yeah, it exists. I actually like this idea because it strengthens Patroclus' connection with animals (in this case, horse), but at the same time I couldn't find any source other than Photius' review. I wonder if it existed beyond Ptolomy and if anyone even took it into account.

PHYSICAL APPEARENCE

Homer doesn't describe Patroclus' physical appearance, but there is a bit about it from other sources.

Achilles tending Patroclus in a kylix, by Sosias, 500 BC. See here.

In it, Patroclus's distinguishing characteristics are short curly hair, a beard and a non-straight nose (compare him with Achilles's).

In the frescoes of Pompeii, Patroclus is usually portrayed as a tanned young man with short brown hair, dark eyes and no beard.

Fresco in Pompeii, Briseis being taken by order of Agamemnon. See here and here.

Fresco in Pompeii, respectively Briseis, Achilles and Patroclus. See here and here.

There is a Roman (copy of an original Greek, though) statue of a bearded man carrying the body of a young man from 200–150 BC, which has been thought to be Menelaus and Patroclus. However, the Wikipedia article says that the topic is up for debate, as there is a possibility it could be Ajax and Achilles or even Odysseus and Achilles, so I won't consider it sure. Here is the article, anyway. But the young man has short curly hair and no beard.

According to Pausanias, Polygnotus painted Patroclus without a beard in the Lesche at Delphi.

[...] and beyond Achilles is Patroclus standing. With the exception of Agamemnon these figures have no beard.

Description of Greece, 10.30.3. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.

For some reason, Hyginus made a list of the most beautiful (?) and put Patroclus there. Good for Patroclus, I guess

THOSE WHO WERE MOST HANDSOME: Iasion, son of Ilithius, whom Ceres is said to have loved [credible, since vouched for by old histories]. Cinyras, son of Paphos, king of the Assyrians. Anchises, son of Assaracus, whom Venus loved. Alexander Paris, son of Priam and Hecuba, whom Helen followed. Nireus, son of Charops. Cephalus, son of Pandion, whom Aurora loved. Tithonus, husband of Aurora. Parthenopaeus, son of Meleager and Atalanta. Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis. Patroclus, son of Menoetius. Idomeneus, who loved Helen. Theseus, son of Aegeus and Aethra, whom Ariadne loved.

Fabulae, 270. Translation by Mary Grant.

In Dares, The Prygian, there is a description of Patroclus. However, this text is still quite uncertain. It isn't certain if it has always been a Latin tradition or if it has a Greek original, in addition to other aspects that are still questioned. But I'm going to put it here just to clear my conscience.

Patroclus was handsome and powerfully built. His yes were gray. He was modest, dependable, wise, a man richly endowed.

Dares, The Prygian, 31. Translation by R. M. Frazer.

NON-MYTHOLOGICAL ASPECTS (INTERPRETATIONS, MONUMENTS, ETC)

Apparently, Patroclus was honored and had monuments, since in Geography Strabo says:

The length of this coast, I mean on a straight voyage from Rhoeteium to Sigeium, and the monument of Achilles, is sixty stadia; and the whole of it lies below Ilium, not only the present Ilium, from which, at the Harbor of the Achaeans, it is about twelve stadia distant, but also the earlier Ilium, which lies thirty stadia farther inland in the direction of Mt. Ida. Now there are a temple and a monument of Achilles near Sigeium, as also monuments of Patroclus and Antilochus; and the Ilians offer sacrifices to all four heroes, both to these and to Aias. But they do not honor Heracles, giving as their reason his sacking of the city. But one might say that, although Heracles did sack it, yet he sacked it in such a way as still to leave it a city, even though damaged, for those who were later to sack it utterly; and for this reason the poet states it thus:“He sacked the city of Ilios and widowed her streets;

Geography, 13.1. Translation by H. L. Jones.

According to Pausanias, one of the votive offerings at Delphi was an image of Achilles and Patroclus, sent by the Thessalians of Pharsalia.

The Thessalians too of Pharsalus dedicated an Achilles on horseback, with Patroclus running beside his horse [...]

Description of Greece, 10.13.5. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.

I only found these two mentions of Patroclus in a more religious context and there is always Achilles at the crime scene. This makes me think that if there were other religious practices related to Patroclus, they were probably the kind that honored a conjuct rather than a single person. It wouldn't be strange, since there were other cases like these, for example the Dioscuri, or Helen and Menelaus in Sparta (first case because they're brothers whose brotherhood is relevant in the myth, the second because they are a couple. In other words, there is a platonic and a romantic example! So I think even platonic Patroclus and Achilles wouldn't be that strange to appear as a pair of friends in a religious context). In any case, it isn't possible to be sure.

Update (25/04/2024): flaviafulvia in the comments added Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea, supposedly written in Roman Greek times by the Greek historian Arrian of Nicomedia (86 AD-160 AD) to the Roman emperor Hadrian. In this text there is a mention of a dual cult of Achilles and Patroclus on the Island of Achilles (also called by other names such as Leuke and White Island). Pindar mentions this Island em Nemean Ode 3: "and Achilles holds the shining island in the Euxine sea."

Regarding interpretations of Achilles and Patroclus' relationship:

Note: I'm using interpretations that don't come from poems, plays, etc. So you're not, for example, seeing Aeschylus and others here. They're interpretations of rhetoricians, philosophers, etc.

Aeschines in Against Timarchus considered it romantic and/or sexual, although it's important to mention that this text is a process. Timarcus had accused Aeschines of a crime, and Aeschines retaliated by prosecuting him. In this process, he used the Athenian laws that prohibited a man from having paid homosexual sexual relations against Timarcus. Achilles and Patroclus are only part of the argument here. Furthermore, the lines of The Iliad that Aeschines presented were apparently corrupt. See 1.142.

In Xenophon's Symposium, he wrote Socrates explicitly stating Patroclus and Achilles' relationship was a platonic bond. Whether that was Socrates' opinion or Xenophon's is another story. See 8.31.

Plato in his Symposium considered their relationship as romantic, although under a Classical Athenian perception — i.e., with restrictive concepts of erastes and eromenos. See 179e-180a.

The author of Amores (it isn't certain if it was Lucian. If it was Lucian, this text is non-Greek, as Lucian was Syrian) considered them a romantic and/or sexual relationship. See 54.

Plutarch in Amatorius portrays them as in a romantic relationship, although it's in the context of refuting the famous theory that a male relationship is better than a relationship between a man and a woman. See 5.

Martial portrayed them in a sexual relationship and didn't imply anything romantic. This text is non-Greek, as Martial was probably Roman. I didn't find this excerpt in English except on the Internet Archive because on other sites they removed it (literally. It said they had removed it, probably due to content considered obscene. Suffice to say that Martial's epigrams are sources of Latin obscenities.), but Perseus still has it in Latin here. See Robert Fletcher translation, Book 11 epig 44 (pag 111).

Athenaeus of Naucratis used Patroclus and Achilles as an example of romantic love between men The Deipnosophists, more specifically he used Aeschylus' version. See 13.75.

The bucolic poem, written by Theocritus (note: authorship somewhat unsure), Idyll XXIX uses Patroclus and Achilles as a comparison of romantic love. See Idyll XXIX, 25.

Conclusion: there isn’t much information about the Archaic Greece, but in the Classical Greece the debate about the nature of their relationship gained more prominence. Such debate continued in subsequent times. In mythological works, the only source that has confirmed this relationship is Aeschylus.

REFERENCES

Here I'll be organizing the references used. I include authors, dates, authors' ethnicities and types of source because I think it makes the context easier to visualize — a person from the Classical period didn't think like someone from the Archaic and a philosopher didn't write with the same intention as an encyclopedia. And of course, just because I specified excerpts doesn't mean you can understand them all by just reading them without context!

Mentions/scenes

The Iliad, Homer - the entire poem since it's the greatest source we have on Patroclus

The Odyssey, Homer - Book III, 102-117; Book XI, 465-470; Book XXIV, 15-18 and 71-79

Fragments attributed to Hesiod - Catalogue of Women frag 19A and frag 61

Cypria, attributed to Stasinus - frag 1

Fragments attributed to Aeschylus - Myrmidones frags (59-66) | Nereids frags (72-75) (because they accompany Achilles' mourning over the death of Patroclus)

Olympian Odes, Pindar - ode 9 | ode 10, 10.1 (see the scholiasts' comments on these same odes)

Philoctetes, Sophocles - 403

Heroica/On Heroes, Philostratus - 675

Idyll XXIX, Theocritus - 25

Symposium, Plato - 179e-180a and 208d

Symposium, Xenophon - 8.31

Geography, Strabo - 9.4.2 | 9.5.9 | 13.1.7 | 13.1.32

Fabulae, attributed to Hyginus - 81 | 97 | 106 | 112 | 114 | 257 | 270 | 273

Library/Bibliotheca, attributed to Apollodorus or Pseudo-Apollodorus - 3.10.8 | 3.13.8 (there is a mention of a Patroclus I don't include because it's Patroclus son of Heracles, not the Patroclus son of Menoetius)

Deipnosophistae, Athenaeus of Naucratis - 1.31 | 13.75 (here there is also a Patroclus who is not who I'm talking about, this other is Ptolemy's general. Also, other parts mention Patroclus, but they're about other characters like Nestor and Menelaus, so I didn't include them. )

Epigrams, Martial - 11.43

Theseus, Plutarch - 34.2

Aristides, Plutarch - 20

Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea, Arrian of Nicomedia - 16-18 sections on Wikipedia

Description of Greece, Pausanias - 3.19.13 | 3.24.10 | 4.28.7 | 5.8.3 | 5.19.8 | 10.4.2 | 10.13.5 | 10.26.6 (there is another Patroclus mentioned by Pausanias, but don't confuse him with the mythological Patroclus. The other one is Egyptian, not Greek!)

Amores, attributed to Lucian of Samosata or Pseudo-Lucian - 54

Bibliotheca, Photius - 190.9 | 190.6

Dictys Cretensis, ? - If you're really interested, just read the whole thing

Source dates

For reference:

8th century BC = between 800 BC-701 BC 7th century BC = between 700 BC-601 BC 3rd century BC = between 300 BC-201 BC 5th century BC = between 500 BC-401 BC 1st century BC = between 90 BC-0 BC 1st century AD = between 0 AD-90 AD 2nt century AD = between 101 AD-200 AD 9th century AD = between 801 AD-900

The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer - 8th century BC, the year is much debated (Greek)

Theogony, Hesiod - 8th century BC, maybe 730–700 BC (Greek)

Fragments attributed to Hesiod - multiple dates because there are multiple sources

Cypria, attributed to Stasinus - 7th century BC (Greek)

Fragments attributed to Aeschylus - multiple dates because there are multiple sources

Olympian Odes, Pindar - 5th century BC (Greek)

Philoctetes, Sophocles - 409 BC (Greek)

Heroica/On Heroes, Philostratus - I haven't found the date of the text itself, but Philostrathus is theorized to be from 170 AD – 240 AD (Greek)

Idyll XXIX, Theocritus - 3rd century BC (Greek)

Symposium, Plato - 385 BC – 370 BC (Greek)

Symposium, Xenophon - 360 BC (Greek)

Geography, Strabo - late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD, the year is much debated (Greek)

Fabulae, attributed to Hyginus - I haven't found the date of the text itself, but Martial is theorized to be from 64 BC – 17 AD (Roman)

Library/Bibliotheca, attributed to Apollodorus or Pseudo-Apollodorus - 1st or 2nd century AD (Greek)

Deipnosophistae, Athenaeus of Naucratis - early 3rd century AD (Greek)

Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodius - 3rd century BC, maybe 283 BC–246 BC or 246 BC–221 BC (Greek)

Epigrams, Martial - I haven't found the date of the text itself, but Martial is theorized to be from 38/41 AD – 102/104 AD (probably Roman)

Theseus and Aristides, Plutarch - I haven't found the date of the text itself, but Plutarch is theorized to be from 46 AD – 119 AD (Greek)

Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea, Arrian of Nicomedia - 2nd century AD (Greek)

Description of Greece, Pausanias - 2nd century AD (Greek)

Amores, attributed to Lucian of Samosata or Pseudo-Lucian - uncertain, but certainly AD (if it's by Lucian, Syrian)

Bibliotheca, Photius - 9th century AD (Greek)

Dictys Cretensis, ? - ? AD (Greek)

Type of Source

The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer - epic poem

Theogony, Hesiod - poem

Fragments attributed to Hesiod - scholiasts comments

Cypria, attributed to Stasinus - epic poem (lost)

Fragments attributed to Aeschylus - scholiasts comments

Olympian Odes, Pindar - collection of odes

Philoctetes, Sophocles - play

Heroica/On Heroes, Philostratus - dialogue

Idyll XXIX, Theocritus - bucolic poem

Symposium, Plato - dialogue

Symposium, Xenophon - dialogue

Geography, Strabo - geographical encyclopedia

Fabulae, attributed to Hyginus - greek myths encyclopedia (adapted for a Roman public)

Library/Bibliotheca, attributed to Apollodorus or Pseudo-Apollodorus - mythological encyclopedia

Deipnosophistae, Athenaeus of Naucratis - dialogue

Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodius - epic poem

Epigrams, Martial - collection of epigrams

Aristides, Plutarch - biography

Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea, Arrian of Nicomedia - travel guidebook

Description of Greece, Pausanias - travel literature

Amores, attributed to Lucian of Samosata or Pseudo-Lucian - dialogue

Bibliotheca, Photius - text reviews

Dictys Cretensis, ? - first-hand account

Others

Apostrophe in Homer, Apollonius and Callimachus by Jacqueline J . H . Klooster, available in Academia.edu site (I used the apostrophe concept from here)

Revisiting the Apostrophes to Patroclus in Iliad 16 by Emily Allen-Hornblower, available in The Center of Hellenic Studies of Harvard site (I recommend reading it if you are interested in the use of apostrophe in Patroclus' scenes)

Irregularities in the Funeral of Patroclus by Aubrey A. Cum, available in University of Georgia site.

Patroclus and Elpenor. Dead and Unburied, in The Upper and the Under World in Homeric and Archaic Epic by Menelaos Christopoulos, available in Academia.edu site.

#Ask #Anon #13k about Patroclus lol #Tagamemnon #Patroclus #Achilles #Menoetius #Because Achilles and Menoetius were considerably spoken of as well #Greek Mythology #The Iliad #Patrochilles #Because of the part about versions of their relationships #This took a while to write (almost a week)#If anyone has anything to add feel free to do so #The interpretative parts are subjective (i.e. disagree if you want)#There was more of Patroclus in the scholia of Homer and Pindar but I don't know Greek #I'm definitely not a classicist please remember this #For the love of god please consider the context of the sources (the era for example)#I love Patroclus did you notice?#I tried to find more without Achilles but Patroclus in fact has almost all of his sources linked to Achilles #Just in case of “why is it always Achilles and Patroclus and never just Patroclus?”#I just saw this bunch of sources and apparently it's been like this forever and there is no escape it's not my fault!#I love him but the guy is reaaaaaally a secondary bro and it's time to accept that #Patroclus doesn't have to be one of the main characters to be a personal fav guys #Also he's a badass but please don't make that his only trait #Everyone there is a badass just being a badass isn't enough #Much is said about dogs but Patroclus and HORSES #And I'm getting personal in these tags time to stop #Birdiethings

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