PATROCLUS. The son of Menoetius, Patroclus was brought up in Thessaly at the court of Peleus. He became the intimate companion of the young Achilles and accompanied him to Troy. When Achilles was forced to return the Trojan captive Briseis, it was Patroclus who delivered the maiden to Agamemnon’s envoys, but when Achilles then angrily retired from battle, Patroclus also withdrew. However, he did press Achilles, unsuccessfully, to put aside his quarrel with Agamemnon and rejoin the battle.

    When the Greek ships were threatened by the Trojans, Achilles still refused to fight but granted his friend permission to lead the Myrmidon forces into battle. He lent Patroclus his armor and the use of his horses. Patroclus fought bravely and killed many Trojans, who fearfully mistook him for Achilles. Among his victims was Sarpedon, a son of Zeus and a leader of the Lycian forces. Zeus had wished to save Sarpedon, but Hera interposed her will; Zeus then ordered Apollo to rescue the corpse, which Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death) carried home to Lycia.

    Pursuing the Trojan forces back to the city, Patroclus killed Hector’s charioteer, but Hector, aided by Apollo, killed Patroclus and stripped Achilles’ armor from him. Ajax and other Greeks defended the corpse, but it was not until Achilles rushed onto the field, delivering a great war cry, that the Trojans were routed and Patroclus’s corpse was recovered.

    At the funeral of Patroclus, twelve young Trojan prisoners were sacrificed and funeral games were held. Thetis embalmed the body with ambrosia, but Achilles refused to bury his friend until he had avenged the death by killing Hector. The bones of Patroclus were later mixed with those of Achilles, whose death followed closely on Hector’s. Patroclus was said to live forever after with Achilles on the White Isle of Leuce.

    

     Classical Sources. Homer, Iliad 1.337-47, 9.190—220, 9.558ff., 11.599-848, 15.390-404, 16-19 passim, 23.62-107; Odyssey 24.79. Pindar, Olympian Odes 9.70. Virgil, Aeneid 2-475-77- Ovid, Ex ponto 1.3.73. Apollodorus, Biblioteca 3.10.8,3.13.8, E4.6—7. Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.19.13, 3.24.10, 9.5.14. Hyginus, Fabulae 97,106.

     See also Achilles; Trojan War, General List.