Patroclus

Also known as: Patroclus son of Menoetius / son of Menoetius · Family: Achaeans · Role: companion of Achilles · First appears: BOOK I

🌐 Also appears in: Greek Mythology — A Family Orrery (as Patroclus)

In Book I, Patroclus, son of Menoetius and companion of Achilles, carries out his friend’s command to hand Briseis over to Agamemnon’s heralds, though she is reluctant to leave. In Book XI, Achilles sends him to ask Nestor about the wounded man being carried from battle; Patroclus then treats Eurypylus by removing an arrow and applying healing herbs. In Book XV, he leaves Eurypylus in another’s care to try to persuade Achilles to return to the fighting.

In Book XVI, Achilles gives Patroclus permission to wear his armour and lead the Myrmidons into battle. Patroclus drives the Trojans back from the ships, kills Sarpedon, and fights among the foremost; Apollo strikes him and knocks away his armour, Euphorbus wounds him, and Hector deals the fatal blow. In Book XVII, Hector takes Achilles’ armour from Patroclus, while Menelaus, Meriones and the Ajax protect and carry Patroclus’s body toward the ships.

In Book XVIII, Antilochus tells Achilles that Patroclus has fallen, and Achilles returns to the fight, enabling the Achaeans to recover the body. In Book XIX, Thetis preserves it from decay. In Book XXII, Achilles kills Hector in vengeance for Patroclus; in Book XXIII, he burns his friend’s body, and the Achaeans gather the bones in a golden urn and raise a burial mound.