i am once again begging people to read the iliad instead of projecting 21st century fandom tropes onto bronze age men
the patroclus discourse is genuinely exhausting because somehow he's a... femboy?? r we talking about the same patroclus twin
okay so first of all. homer places him as a very irreplaceable person for achilles. he doesnāt call him a twink as y'all assume
āį½Ļ Ī¼ĪæĪ¹ ĻĪÆĪ»ĻĪ±ĻĪæĻ į¼¦ĪµĪ½ į¼ĻĪ±ĪÆĻĻĪ½ā is what he calls him, which means, āthe comrade who was most dear to me of allā (iliad 18, phrase may vary in different translations)
that word you see there, hetairos (a way to say companion, but in like a "need him" way), matters.
and yep, achilles also says shit like
āi would not accept life itself if he were not beside meā (paraphrase of iliad 9 & 18, bc he says this sentiment multiple times)
yea bro ok we get it he's dear to you. (you can see that even without pointing out phrases. he's a dickhead to anyone but patroclus. if you have even the most basic interpretation skills, you can tell he values him SO much.)
now. do i personally think they could be lovers? YES OBVIOUSLY.
i mean if i called someone āthe companion of my lifeā and after on i went on a suicidal rampage after their death, without any further extensions iād simply admit we were fucking.
plato also thought so. in the symposium (179eā180a), he straight up talks about achilles and patroclus as lovers and praises achilles for choosing death to avenge him. cool. valid reading.
BUT. and this is the part fandom keeps tripping over.
even if they were lovers, patroclus is not feminised in any of the texts. that, ladies and gentlemen (and everyone in between), is a modern projection. a very specific one.
this man is a trained warrior, he kills multiple trojans, specifically, he literally kills sarpedon, son of zeus (iliad 16).
he wears achillesās armor and leads the myrmidons, is trusted enough to command an entire army is also a healer, personally tending eurypylusās wounds (iliad 11).
(also, being a healer does not cancel out being a warrior. in greek culture, thatās a flex, as you can interpret. achilles himself was taught medicine. chiron didnāt raise femboys, guys)
the āpatroclus is a shy soft boy who exists only to emotionally support achilles, can't fight and is only there js bc his bf needs him!ā thing is not ancient. itās modern and uh... why does this thing exist again? (sorry tsoa i'm staring at you here)
and it reeks of the need to heterosexualise a homosexual relationship by feminising the gentler one. as if two masculine figures canāt be emotionally intimate unless one of them is turned into the girlfriend.
no like, there's absolutely zero reason to feminise patroclus too, he's the erastÄs, i mean, like, it's basically what we call the "top" in greek (not exactly, but you could say that.)
and when i say this people be like "but he's gentler!"
being gentler than achilles is a bar deep in the underworld. achilles is a feral rage machine, his FATAL FLAW IS RAGE, the iliad starts with the words "sing, o muse, the wrath of achilles (...)", his anger is the reason of his and many others's death !!
so, being calmer than him does not make patroclus delicate. if you think being gentler than someone with severe, i mean severe anger issues is feminine, then congrats dude, you're officially a dumbass.
this is why the femboy-ification needs to be studied. why are we making him a twink kitten that's scared of the sight of the spears wtf
(hey! so... i have nothing against femboys or twinks or men who are scared of fighting. my whole point is that patroclus isn't one of the above himself, that's all. be whatever you are if you don't harm others, you're safe here !!)
and yeah, okay, tsoa exists. iām not here to bash it. itās a modern retelling, not homer, and people are allowed to like it. i do too. as a book.
but the problem is when people start treating that version as the default and then act like homer somehow āimpliedā patroclus was weak, passive, or defined solely by being in love.
ancient texts did not view men primarily through their sexuality (uh... i mean they did that with women but, whoop, that's another time's discussion !!)
ancient greeks didn't care about sexuality entirely (when it came to men... gosh, i hate misogyny). but fandoms do care. thatās the thing that causes the great disconnect.
patroclus is not just achillesās gay lover, dang
he's a warrior, a healer, a leader, and the one death achilles could not survive. (yeah i just did that. sorry.)
if you want to ship them, fine. i get it. I DO TOO ARRRRGHH I LOVE THEM
but PLEASE just stop erasing who patroclus actually was to make the ship easier to digest (stop this with the other ships too pls twin)
yep that's all. i'm so full of hate for this behaviour i wrote a whole paragraph but i hope i can make y'all understand this bc some of you REFUSE to just get this.
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