Patroclus in Greek Mythology
Patroclus was the son of Menoiti and the grandson of Aktor and Aegina, which is why he was called Aktorides. He was Achilles’ confidant and only friend, but also his relative, as Achilles’ grandfather, Aiakos, was a son of Aegina, just like Patroclus’ father Menoitios. When he was still a small child and lived in his own hometown, Opundas of Locris, he killed a nobleman of his age, Clisonimos, son of Amphidamanda, out of anger over the game.
Although a minor, Patroclus had to leave his place, Opundas of Locris, because he was weighed down by the blood of the dead. So his father brought him to Peleus, who brought him up with Achilles as his own child, so he learned medicine, just like Achilles.
He participated in the Trojan War as a friend or even a love partner of Achilles, or as a former suitor of Helen, although he was not bound by the oath given by the other suitors to Tyndareus for cooperation in case the Menelaus-Helen couple was at one point in a difficult position. He was older. from Achilles, but he was not as strong as him. However, he fought with particular courage and daring and took part in various operations.
In the Mysiaic campaign, which ended the first campaign in Troy, Patroclus fought Telephos alongside Achilles and together with Diomedes saved the body of Thersander who was killed by Telephos. He sold to Lemnos Priam’s son Lycaon who had been captured by Achilles. He took part in the fall of Lyrnissos, a city in Dardania, and in the raid on Skyros. He was wounded by an arrow but was treated and healed by Achilles.
Soft-spoken, soft-spoken, submissive he sided with Briseis, wife of Mynis of Mysia, who was killed by Achilles, as were her three brothers. Achilles wanted her as a concubine as long as the war lasted, but Patroclus promised her that he would persuade his friend to marry her when they returned to Phthia, and not to mourn her misfortunes. But he himself was forced to surrender it to Agamemnon, when the commander-in-chief claimed it, and he was standing by his friend when an embassy came from Agamemnon to beg him to return to the battle. Later, Achilles sent him to Nestor to hear news of the Greeks.
There he treated the wounded Eurypylus and conveyed the bad news about the state of the Greek camp to his friend. He lobbied to persuade him to rejoin the battle or allow him to lead the Myrmidons himself. Wearing the armor of Achilles and with a stormy rush, together with the Myrmidons, he repelled the Trojans, who had reached the Achaean ships and were ready to set fire to them.
The otherwise gentle Patroclus stepped on Sarpedon’s chest with incredible brutality, pulled the spear from the body. and his entrails poured out in a mass, / and he exasperated his soul together with his ruin Confronted Hector over the body of the late Trojan hero Kebrion, holding the dead man by the leg as Hector held him by the head and urges the men to mutilate his body Hector, to dog it and kill its defenders in a scene where we hear in our ears the sounds of weapons (P 559-561). The Trojans were forced back to their walls.
However, during the third attack that Patroclus attempted to conquer Troy, he was struck by Apollo and was overtaken by darkness. In this situation Euphorbus struck him first from behind and Hector second with a fatal blow. With characteristic dispassion Hector immobilized the prone corpse of Patroclus with his heel, pushing him back as he pulled the spear from the wound. However, Patroclus was already dead, and Hector was not deserving of taking the Myrmidon’s soul with the spear. The same will happen to Achilles and Hector.