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One of history’s most famous queer relationships dates back millennia, to an equally famous epic poem. Homer’s The Illiad, which relays the fantastical story of the mythological Trojan War, features two great warriors – Achilles and Patroclus – at the heart of its poetic narrative. The relationship between these two proud soldiers has been the source of speculation, and intense romanticism, since ancient times.
Those historians, literary experts and even casual readers who subscribe to a queer reading of the Achilles/Patroclus dynamic in The Illiad see the pair as an important early example of LGBTQIA+ passion. This relationship has been undeniably inspiring for queer individuals throughout the world today, as reams of fanart and stacks of novels can attest. But what do the ancient texts and writers say about this devoted pair?
Warriors of Myth
Though the Trojan War, as dramatically retold in The Illiad, is mostly an imagined narrative. It is possible that Homer’s epic was influenced by a real conflict in the Hellenic world which far pre-dated Homer’s own lifetime. But what about the poem’s central characters? Were Achilles and Patroclus perhaps based on real individuals?
While Achilles himself might have been inspired by a great Thessalonian warrior of old, his story (as relayed in various pieces of Greek mythology) is overwhelmingly fictional.[1] He was supposedly born of a sea goddess, Thetis, who was forced to wed a mortal by the mighty ruler of the Gods, Zeus himself. When her son, Achilles, was born, the goddess attempted to make him invulnerable by dipping him in the River Styx – only forgetting to dip his ankle, which she held in her hand. His ankle (today known proverbially and medically as the “Achilles heel”) thus became his only weakness.
Patroclus enters Achilles’ story in their shared youth. He was sent by his father, King Menoetius, to live with Achilles’ family after Patroclus had accidentally killed another child.[2] Patroclus and Achilles thus grew up together, with the latter serving as a close friend and perhaps even a mentor to Patroclus although the pair seem to have been close in age. Their infamous devotion to one another likely sprang from this early relationship. As the boys grew into manhood, and adopted the hardened life of Greek warriors, Patroclus became Achilles’ most steadfast and loyal lieutenant. One source notes that, in the ancient texts, the hot-headed and proud Achilles “was much more empathetic and caring toward Patroclus than any of his other men”.[3] The pair became a classic example of the archetypal “brothers in arms” which has endured across the ages, regardless of the possibility that their relationship was even deeper.
Two Tragedies
But it was in Patroclus’ untimely death that Achilles’ feelings toward him are most starkly revealed. One of the most crucial moments in The Illiad is when a devastated Patroclus, grieving the demise of scores of Greek soldiers, demands that he be allowed to don Achilles’ armor and lead the Greeks into the battlefield himself. Achilles, who had earlier refused to fight over a perceived slight from the Greek leader Agamemnon, agreed to Patroclus’ ruse.
But Patroclus’ bravery, and perhaps his pride, seals his doom. In the ensuing battle, Trojan commander Hector spears Patroclus, brutally killing him, and leaving the Trojans and Greeks to battle for Patroclus’ body and the right to give him a proper burial. Achilles’ reaction to the horrifying news has gone down as one of the most powerful moments in the entire epic:
A dark cloud of grief fell upon Achilles as he listened. He filled both hands with dust from off the ground, and poured it over his head, disfiguring his comely face, and letting the refuse settle over his shirt so fair and new. He flung himself down…and tore his hair with his hands. The bondswomen whom Achilles and Patroclus had taken captive screamed aloud for grief, beating their breasts, and with their limbs failing them for sorrow. Antilochus bent over him the while, weeping and holding both his hands as he lay groaning for he feared that he might plunge a knife into his own throat.
Achilles goes on to detail his personal tragedy, pitifully telling his mother Thetis:
“Patroclus has fallen—he whom I valued more than all others, and loved as dearly as my own life? I have lost him…nay, I will not live nor go about among mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patroclus son of Menœtius.”
But when Thetis warns her son that to attack Hector will seal his own demise, he retorts:
“I would die here and now, in that I could not save my comrade. He has fallen far from home, and in his hour of need my hand was not there to help him. What is there for me? Return to my own land I shall not.”
The goddess’s premonition is borne out; Achilles’ next charge into battle indeed gives him the opportunity to mortally wound his enemy, Hector. But, perhaps inevitably, Achilles is later vanquished by an arrow to his vulnerable heel. Achilles’ death is not mentioned in The Illiad itself, but was related by the poet Arctinus in his later work Aethiopis.[1] In the end, Patroclus and Achilles were united by glorious deaths in battle as they were by warfare, and perhaps shared adoration, in their lifetimes.
Friends, Lovers, or Something Else?
The bare literary and mythological facts of this ill-fated pair’s story do not, however, confirm whatever the nature of their relationship was. Indeed, scholars suggest that this issue has been a hard-fought debate beginning with Homer himself, through other ancient Greek writers all the way up to the modern era.[1]
The discussion seems to center on two key issues: were Achilles and Patroclus physical lovers, and if so, who was the dominant or “lover” partner in the relationship?[2] The latter issue may strike modern audiences as irrelevant or immaterial, but it would have been of great significance to ancient Greek cultural mores and customs.
Bi- and homosexuality were not necessarily understood in Greek society as specific, separate orientations as they are today. Pederasty, or socially accepted sexual relationships between older men and typically teenage youths, was practiced with different parameters and customs in ancient Greek society (though this mythological tale, and others, imply that this was not the only model of Greek homosexual relationships). Modern audiences (correctly) view this model as unacceptable, problematic and outright abusive. That said, this condemnation must also include heterosexual relationships of the same era and culture (and indeed, most cultures until the modern era). A young Greek woman, for example, would have likely married in her mid-teenage years to a man possibly twice her age. She would have been expected to bear her first child while still a teenager herself.
For this discussion, these structured relationships would not have been seen as defining either of their participants as a particular sexual identity; such partnerships were considered standard among men and were considered socially beneficial to preserve desired masculine traits among future generations of Greek leadership.[3] It is possible that Achilles and Patroclus’ relationship mirrored that model – with Achilles as the older, “lover” role, and Patroclus in the physical role of the youth.
But the wider context of the myth suggests that this interpretation was not the case. Rather, the pair were simply homosexual lovers in a less rigidly defined, more egalitarian sense – similar to how gay couples are typically perceived today. Most obviously, Achilles and Patroclus had been friends throughout their lives and were, presumably, the same age. Elite Greek warriors of the Trojan War era would not have been youths; they were highly trained, hardened fighters whose courage was honed through years in combat. Patroclus and Achilles’ bond was forged in this unforgiving fire – neither man could have been a teenager during their years fighting on the shores of Troy. After a decade of warfare, it is likelier that both men were nearing their mid-to-late thirties at best – a long affair, indeed.
But were they lovers at all? Prominent ancient writers, notably Aeschylus, Chariton, Plato and Aeschines, among others, suggest that a homoerotic undertone (at least) pervaded their relationship to each other.[4] Some ancient sources, for example, suggest that the pair definitely shared sleeping quarters and may have enjoyed mutual physical intimacies with women that they took as battlefield prisoners, which would point to intense sensual connection and closeness.
Likewise, Homer’s suggestion of overwhelming, agonizing grief for Achilles in the wake of Patroclus’ death could be interpreted as suggesting a deeper bond than he enjoyed with any other man. Achilles does not seem to have reacted to the other, manifold losses throughout the Trojan War with a modicum of the gravid distress he shows toward that of Patroclus. Shakespeare certainly took the affirmative view in his play Troilus and Cressida, which makes the perceived love affair between Achilles and Patroclus a central plot device.[5]
Queerplatonic Love?
At the same time, however, a number of other writers (both in antiquity and throughout Western history) have been inclined to view the relationship as platonic in nature – particularly those commentators writing in eras with open hostility to overt, physical acts of queer sexuality.
But this possibility, that Achilles’ and Patroclus’ relationship was not physically intimate, does not preclude it from being fundamentally queer. While some analysts have interpreted Achilles’ intensely powerful, emotive response to Patroclus’ demise as evidence of sexual or romantic involvement, such passion could also be indicative of what we today might call queerplatonic love. It bears emphasizing that romance and sexual action need not be present in a relationship for that relationship to be understood as queer or non-heteronormative. In this perspective, the “close comrades” viewpoint is not a “just friends” counterpoint to the homoerotic perspective, but rather a complementary possibility which considers an expanded, more inclusive view of queer relationship models.
A Doomed Duo
In the end, perhaps the exact labeling of Achilles’ and Patroclus’ partnership is irrelevant. At its core, the relationship was one of deep, lifelong connection and passionate mutual love. Whether that love could be categorized as some version of queer is a compelling historical and literary discussion, but it is not what has driven the enduring fascination with this pair.
Their overwhelming devotion to one another, even to the point of death rendered meaningless apart from each other, is what has mattered to generations of readers and writers. Homer’s original decision to leave their relationship ambiguous in his epic texts perhaps affirms this central truth: love, respect and devotion need not be firmly defined in neat categories to be powerful or transformative forces. In the case of Achilles and Patroclus, their love (however they expressed it) changed the course of history – at least, that is, according to myth.
[1] Morales, Manuel Sanz, and Gabriel Laguna Mariscal. “The Relationship between Achilles and Patroclus According to Chariton of Aphrodisias.” The Classical Quarterly 53, no. 1 (2003): 292–95. doi:10.1093/cq/53.1.292.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Riley Winters, “Achilles and Patroclus: Close Confidantes or Passionate Paramours?” Ancient Origins, February 12, 2021, https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/achilles-and-patroclus-brothers-other-mothers-or-passionate-paramours-008265.
[4] Morales, ibid.
[5] Royal Shakespeare Company, “Troilus and Cressida”, https://www.rsc.org.uk/troilus-and-cressida/the-plot.
[1] The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Achilles,” updated November 30, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Achilles-Greek-mythology.
[1] Lee, C. C., & Jacobs, R. L. (2002), “Achilles (the man, the myth, the tendon)”, The Iowa Orthopaedic Journal, 22, 108–109.
[2] “Patroclus’ Death in the Iliad.” Ancient Literature – Accessed December 22, 2022. https://ancient-literature.com/death-of-patroclus/
[3] Ibid.