Last updated on November 22, 2022
Perhaps one of the most well known events in mythology is the Trojan War; everyone knows the story of the horse that carried soldiers into the enemy city, and of course, of Helen of Troy who is blamed for starting the war.
Helen and Paris had a love story that overshadowed all others of its time, and yet one other relationship has managed to push its way to the front of modern discussions and heated debates.
Achilles is a well known soldier- the infallible, undefeatable hero of Greece, with a single weakness in his heel. His companion, Patroclus, is far less known. Patroclus was for all intents and purposes Achilles’ right-hand man. He was Achilles’ best friend, and in some interpretations- his lover.
Of course in order to determine the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus one must go back to Homer’s The Iliad. And yet, for all that he wrote, Homer never once labeled the relationship between these two men. Perhaps this ambiguity was purposeful, perhaps it was so obvious to the citizens of Greece that Homer did not feel the need to spell out Achilles and Patroclus’s relationship. In any case this failure to clarify has led to many interpretations and sparked discussion.
One of the most popular retellings of Achilles and Patroclus is “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller. In this book, Miller never explicitly uses the term “homosexual” and yet she makes it incredibly clear that Patroclus loves and has always loved Achilles. Conversely in the movie “Troy” Achilles and Patroclus are cousins and Patroclus is not given any major role.
Yet no matter how they are depicted there is no doubt that Achilles and Patroclus are very close. In The Iliad the two men are said to share a tent, and further it is only Patroclus who can sway Achilles’s decisions. It is also only Patroclus to whom Achilles is kinder, softer, and more agreeable. Many who believe them to be lovers cite the evidence that Patroclus requests his ashes be mixed with Achilles when they die, or that Achilles knowingly charges into his own death simply to avenge Patroclus.
But whether Achilles and Patroclus were lovers or simply the closest of friends, there is no doubt that these two wished to be together for eternity. Whether you interpret their relationship platonically or romantically, there can be no doubt that these two men cared for each other very deeply— to the point of dying for one another.
There is no world and no text in which Achilles did not love Patroclus, or Patroclus Achilles.
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