Patroclus in the Ancient Sources: 52 Passages in Greek & English

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 1.61–67Asclepius, Echemus and the TyndaridsThe section begins with Serus and Alazygus and then discusses whether Asclepius was the son of Arsinoe or of Coronis. It goes on to Echemus and Timandra, and to the descent of Castor and Polydeuces and the story that Tyndareus forgot Aphrodite in a sacrifice.

Homer (42)

Homer, Iliad 16.684–783Patroclus at the wall of Troy; CebrionesPatroclus, forgetting Achilles' warning, charges up to the wall of Troy, where three times Apollo thrusts him back and tells him that Troy is not fated to fall to him. Apollo, in the likeness of Asius, urges Hector to turn against Patroclus, and Patroclus kills Cebriones with a stone. The two sides fight over Cebriones' body like lions over a deer, until the Achaeans drag it away and strip his armour.
Homer, Iliad 16.784–867The death of PatroclusPatroclus charges three times and kills nine men each time, but on the fourth Apollo strikes him from behind so that his helmet rolls under the horses' feet and his spear is broken. Euphorbus wounds him, and Hector drives a spear into his belly; as he dies, Patroclus tells him that Fate and Apollo have killed him, Euphorbus only the third, and that Hector's own death is near. Hector then goes after Automedon, but the immortal horses of Achilles carry him away.
Homer, Iliad 16.419–507The death of SarpedonZeus sees his son Sarpedon about to meet Patroclus and wonders aloud whether to snatch him from the battle and set him down in Lycia. Hera answers that if he saves Sarpedon the other gods will want to save their own sons, and Zeus yields, shedding drops of blood on the ground. Sarpedon's spear kills the trace-horse Pedasus, and Patroclus's spear strikes Sarpedon in the heart, and he falls like an oak or a tall pine, and dying he calls Glaucus to fight for his body.
Homer, Iliad 17.108–232Hector takes the armour of Achilles; Glaucus rebukes himMenelaus gives ground and Ajax comes up and covers the body of Patroclus with his shield, and Hector falls back, sending the armour of Patroclus to Troy. Glaucus reproaches him for leaving Sarpedon's body and not standing his ground, and Hector puts on the armour of Achilles. Zeus pities him, saying that though he wears the armour of the best of men he will never return from battle to Andromache, and Hector then calls on the Trojans and their allies to drag the body to Troy, promising half the spoil and half the glory to the man who does so.
Homer, Iliad 16.284–418Patroclus drives the Trojans from the shipsPatroclus is first to cast his spear and kills Pyraechmes, the leader of the Paeonians, by the stern of Protesilaus' ship, and he drives the Trojans from the ships and puts out the fire. The Danaan chiefs each kill a man, and the Trojan horses leap the ditch in flight as Hector turns his chariot and leaves his men to be killed. Patroclus presses on and cuts down many more in the rout.
Homer, Iliad 9.179–306The Embassy to Achilles: Odysseus' appealThe envoys find Achilles playing the lyre in his hut while Patroclus sits listening in silence. Achilles welcomes them and has a meal prepared, and then Odysseus, after drinking to him, describes how Hector threatens the ships and begs him to save the Achaeans. He recalls Peleus' advice that Achilles curb his proud heart, and repeats Agamemnon's list of gifts.
Homer, Iliad 16.1–100Patroclus pleads with AchillesPatroclus comes to Achilles in tears, like a spring running down a dark cliff, and tells him that the best of the Achaeans are wounded and the ships are in danger. He reproaches him for his pitiless heart and asks for leave to fight in Achilles' armour, in the hope that the Trojans will take him for Achilles and draw back. Achilles replies that his anger is for the insult from Agamemnon, but agrees that Patroclus may go, and bids him not pursue the Trojans to Troy.
Homer, Iliad 11.596–654Achilles sends Patroclus to NestorNestor drives Machaon back to the ships, and Achilles, watching from the stern of his vessel, sends Patroclus to find out whom Nestor has brought. At Nestor's hut Hecamede mixes a drink for Machaon and Nestor from wine, cheese and barley meal. Patroclus, who is in haste, refuses to sit down, saying that Achilles is a fierce man.
Homer, Iliad 11.762–848Nestor's plea to Patroclus; Eurypylus is woundedNestor reminds Patroclus how Menoetius told him to advise Achilles, and asks him to persuade Achilles to fight, or at least to lend his armour so that the Trojans take Patroclus for him. Patroclus hurries back, but meets the wounded Eurypylus and takes him to his hut, where he cuts out the arrow and dresses the wound.
Homer, Iliad 17.1–107Menelaus kills Euphorbus and guards the bodyMenelaus stands over the fallen Patroclus like a cow over her first calf and warns Euphorbus to keep away. Euphorbus boasts that he will avenge his brother, but Menelaus kills him with a spear through the neck and begins to strip his armour. Apollo, in the likeness of Mentes, urges Hector to go after the horses of Achilles, and Menelaus withdraws before him and calls on Ajax.
Homer, Iliad 16.198–283Achilles' prayer; Patroclus leads out the MyrmidonsAchilles marshals the Myrmidons in five companies and tells them that the battle they have wished for is theirs. He goes into his hut, takes out a cup, pours a libation to Zeus and prays that Patroclus may drive the Trojans from the ships and come back safe. Zeus grants him half his prayer, and the Myrmidons pour out like wasps with Patroclus at their head, while the Trojans, seeing him, think that Achilles has put aside his wrath and look about for a way to escape.
Homer, Iliad 17.233–365The Achaeans rally round the body of PatroclusThe Trojans charge in a mass, hoping to drag the body away, and Ajax tells Menelaus to call the Achaean chiefs. The Achaeans fight over the body, and Ajax kills Hippothous. Apollo, in the likeness of Periphas, urges Aeneas to stand fast, and the Achaeans fall back, though fewer of them are killed because they guard one another in the throng.

30 more passages of Homer that name Patroclus

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.13.1–8Peleus, Thetis and the youth of AchillesPeleus flees to Phthia and is purified, kills Eurytion by accident in the Calydonian hunt, and escapes the plots of Astydamia, wife of Acastus. With help from Chiron he wins Thetis, who tries to make their son Achilles immortal in the fire. When Calchas declares that Troy cannot be taken without Achilles, Thetis hides him among the daughters of Lycomedes, where Odysseus finds him; Phoenix and Patroclus join him.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.4.1–7The Iliad in brief: Achilles' anger, Patroclus and HectorThe Epitome gives a short account of the events of the Iliad: Achilles withdraws from the fighting because of the quarrel over Briseis, Paris and Menelaus fight a single combat, and Hector drives the Greeks back to the ships. Patroclus, wearing Achilles' armour, is killed by Hector. Achilles takes up Hephaestus's new armour, kills Hector and drags his body, holds games for Patroclus, and Priam ransoms Hector's body.

Pindar (1)

Pindar, Olympian Odes 10.1–105Olympian 10: for Hagesidamus — Heracles and the first Olympic gamesPindar owes Hagesidamus of Locri a song for his boxing victory and praises the Western Locrians and the trainer Ilas, whom he likens to Achilles beside Patroclus. He tells how Heracles killed the Molionidae and punished Augeas, then founded the Olympic games beside the tomb of Pelops, with altars to the gods and the naming of the hill of Cronus. He lists the first winners and compares the victor to Ganymede.

Sophocles (1)

Sophocles, Philoctetes 391–506First stasimon; Philoctetes asks about Troy and begs to be taken homeThe Chorus pray to the Earth, mother of Zeus, in sympathy with Neoptolemus. Philoctetes asks about the men he knew at Troy, and hears that Ajax, Antilochus and Patroclus are dead while Odysseus and Thersites live, so that the gods spare the evil. When Neoptolemus says that he is about to set sail, Philoctetes begs him, by his father and mother and by everything dear to him, not to leave him but to take him home to Oeta.

Pausanias (5)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.1.1–5Attica: Sunium, Laurium and the harbours of Piraeus and PhalerumPausanias begins at Cape Sunium and sails along the Attic coast past Laurium and the island of Patroclus. He explains how Piraeus replaced Phalerum as the port of Athens under Themistocles, and describes the grave of Themistocles, the precinct of Athena and Zeus, the Long Colonnade and Conon’s sanctuary of Aphrodite at Piraeus. He also notes shrines at Munychia, Phalerum and Cape Colias, and a temple of Hera on the road to Athens said to have been burnt by Mardonius.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.6.1–9Sparta: the last Agid kings, from Cleombrotus to Cleomenes IIICleombrotus falls at Leuctra, and the throne passes through Agesipolis to Cleomenes and then to Areus after Cleonymus is passed over, leading Cleonymus to bring Pyrrhus into Laconia. Under Areus Sparta fails to relieve Athens from Antigonus. Leonidas is deposed in favour of Cleombrotus and later restored, and his son Cleomenes is the last Spartan king.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.30.1–9Delphi: Polygnotus' painting of the underworld (3): the daughters of Pandareos, Phocus, Orpheus and ThamyrisPausanias continues the underworld painting with the daughters of Pandareos, Antilochus, Agamemnon, Protesilaus, Achilles and Patroclus, and Phocus giving a signet to Iaseus. He describes Maera, Actaeon with his mother and hound, and Orpheus seated in the grove of Proserpine beside the willows and Promedon. He ends with Schedius, Pelias, the blind Thamyris with his broken lyre and Marsyas teaching Olympus to play the flute.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.24.1–11Laconian coast: Zarax, Cyphanta, Brasiae, Las and HypsaPausanias describes Zarax, destroyed by Cleonymus, the grotto of Aesculapius at Cyphanta with its spring struck by Atalanta, and Brasiae, whose people say Semele and the infant Dionysus drifted there in a chest. He then describes Las, with its temple of Athena Asia, the fountain Galaco, the river Smenus and the grave of Las. He argues from Homer that Achilles cannot have been a suitor of Helen.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 4.28.1–8Messene after the return: the Macedonians, Elis and the stratagem of the Laconian shieldsAfter the Theban retreat from Peloponnese the Spartans press the Messenians again, and Messene allies with Philip of Macedon and does not take part in the Gallic war. When the Eleans quarrel among themselves, a thousand Messenians with Laconian shields enter Elis and put their own partisans in power. Pausanias compares the trick to Homer’s Patroclus in Achilles’ armour and to other Homeric stratagems.

Patroclus in the ancient sources

Hesiod (1)

Homer (42)

Apollodorus (2)

Pindar (1)

Sophocles (1)

Pausanias (5)