The Relationship Between Achilles and Patroclus

Homer doesn't tell us anything about the kind of childhood of Achilles and Patroclus, but later writers do invent stories about them. And so yeah, let's focus on Patroclus now. So exactly who was Patroclus in his relationship to Achilles? Right. As a young man, he gets into a fight over a knuckle bones incident. He loses at knuckle bones and he's so outraged at his loss at knuckles that he ends up killing the boy who beats him at knuckle Bones. Now this is a bit of scandal. They need to negotiate getting him out of the place. And so Helius very kindly takes him in as a companion for Achilles.

Play episode from 17:07

Transcript

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!

Get the app