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Trying to find out more about Menoetius in the hope of finding out more about Patroclus

A post with things about Patroclus' father as a mythological character, in case anyone is interested, either because he is obscure, or because they want to know more about Patroclus, or because they want to write a fic, whatever the reason. Since it is about his father, it turns out that there is information about Patroclus here. A few details first:

I can't emphasize enough how much of this is interpretive/speculative, so please don't take this entire post as absolute truth! Call it a headcanon post if you want.

When there is [!] at any point, it is because I’ll put a counterargument below and the reason why I chose that specific interpretation, just to make it clear that it is an interpretive conclusion and not an affirmation.

I edited this post very quickly, so be prepared for spelling/writing errors lol

Demigods?

Menoetius son of Iapetus x Menoetius son of Actor

I’m including it here because I have actually people saying the father of Patrocus was a Titan and I want to debunk it by clarifying that characters with the same name in Greek mythology don’t necessarily are the same person (it can be the same person, but it isn’t the case here). Not only is the context completely different, with one of them being very ancient and immortal and the other being recent and mortal, but the genealogical lineages are different since one is the son of Actor (a mortal man) and the other is the son of Iapetus (a Titan). And since there is more than one source for this, I’l simply compare the oldest literary sources I know for each: the epic poem The Iliad (8/7th century BCE) and the cosmogonic poem Hesiod’s Theogony (8/7th century BCE).

“[Nestor’s line] [...] old Peleus enjoined his son Achilles always to be best and to be better than all others, and right there and then Menoetius, son of Aktor, enjoined you thus: [...]”

The Iliad, 11.783-785. Translation by Caroline Alexander.

Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled maid Clymene, daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bore him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: [510] also she bore very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus who from the first was a mischief to men who eat bread; for it was he who first took of Zeus the woman, the maiden whom he had formed.

Theogony 507-514. Translation by H.G. Evelyn-White.

Notably, they aren’t the same person. Patroclus' father Menoetius is human, the Menoetius who is related to the Titans is Titan, including being the brother of famous figures such as Atlas, the one who holds up the sky, and Prometheus, known for giving fire to humans and receiving a horrible punishment for it. Epimetheus is somewhat forgotten by the general public, but he is the husband of Pandora, known for having been created to be the first mortal woman and for having opened the forbidden jar.

Deities in the lineage of Menoetius

Depending on the version, Menoetius was a demigod. In at least some versions, Menoetius is the son of the daughter of River Asopus, the nymph Aegina, which would make him nymph-born. This is, for example, attested by Pindar (5th century BCE):

[...] the son of Actor and Aegina, Menoetius, [...]

Olympian Odes, 9.70-71. Translation by Diane Arnson Svarlien.

It’s also stated in the Byzantine scholia of The Iliad (12th century CE), which makes it even more evident that this Aegina really is a nymph daughter of the river god Asopus:

the best of the Myrmidons (Μυρμιδόνων τὸν ἄριστον) [...] He [Actor] married Aigina, the daughter of Asopos (the river of Thebes), after she had slept with Zeus and after some months fathered Menoitios. [...]

Scholia D, § 18.10. Edition by R. Scott Smith et al.

Menoetius and Peleus’ families

Menoetius and Peleus are from the same lineage, but the way in which they were related varies depending on the version. In The Iliad, there is no explicit kinship, although it’s possible to imagine that the way Peleus and Menoetius tend to be grouped in Menoetius' scenes implies a closeness, and this closeness could be motivated by a family relationship. But this is just speculation in the case of The Iliad, while in other texts the kinship is explicit.

In the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women (8th/7th century BCE), poems intended to catalogue information about mythological women, the version used claimed that Peleus and Menoetius were brothers, making Patroclus and Achilles first cousins. At least, this is what one of the Byzantine scholiast of Homer (12th century CE) states:

Eustathius, Hom. 112. 44 sq: It should be observed that the ancient narrative hands down the account that Patroclus was even a kinsman of Achilles; for Hesiod says that Menoethius the father of Patroclus, was a brother of Peleus, so that in that case they were first cousins.

Catalogue of Women, frag 61. Translation by H.G. Evelyn-Hugo.

It isn’t, however, explained how they’re brothers. Is he a brother, son of the same mother and the same father, as Telamon generally is? Or is he a half-brother, son of the same father and another mother, as is the case with Phocus, who is son of the nymph Psamathe? Or perhaps they have the same mother but not the same father. In any case, Menoetius is consistently considered the son of Actor while Peleus is the son of Aeacus, so I don’t know who had the father changed (maybe the mother is the same? Again, I don’t know)

Other sources tend to make them other thing rather than brothers. For example, Pindar (5th century BCE) in one of his odes says that Menoetius is the son of the mortal Actor and the nymph Aegina:

[...] the son of Actor and Aegina, Menoetius, [...]

Olympian Odes, 9.70-71. Translation by Diane Arnson Svarlien.

Aegina is consistently the mother of Aecus and therefore the grandmother of Peleus. In turn, here Aegina is the mother of Menoetius. As illustrated below, this indicates that Menoetius and Aeacus are half-brothers, making Menoetius a sort of uncle to Peleus. This makes Patroclus Peleus's first cousin and therefore Achilles Patroclus's first cousin once removed since he is the son of Patroclus's first cousin:

The Homeric scholia (12th century CE) appear to explain the location of Patroclus post-exile by the kinship between Peleus and Menoetius:

So among the huts the stalwart son of Menoitios (ὣς ὁ μὲν ἐν κλισίῃσι Μενοιτίου ἄλκιμος υἱός) While growing up in Opous (in Locris), Patroclos son of Menoitios was involved in an involuntary mistake. In a fit of rage over a game of dice he killed a boy his age, Clesonymos, the son of Amphidamas (a man of some importance), but some say it was Aianes he killed. Exiled for this, he went to Phthia and, based on his kinship with Peleus, he stayed there with Achilles. They maintained an exceptional friendship with each other and went on campaign against Troy together. The story is in Hellanicus (fr. 145 Fowler; EGM 2.537). [AP, ChR, CR]

Scholia D, § 12.1. Edition by R. Scott Smith et al.

Hellanicus, the author credited for this explanation, may refer to Hellanicus of Lesbos, a famous Greek historian (remember that Greek historians tended to preserve mythological traditions, hence why cite a historian for something like this. This is, for example, notable in the Herodotus' Histories). And in this case, this Hellanicus is from the 5th century BCE, which implies that this explanation (Patroclus going to Phthia because of kinship) is considerably old. In this scholia, it’s said that Actor married Aegina (§18.10), so the kinship would be because Menoetius' mother was the grandmother of Peleus (Aegina is the mother of Aeacus, Peleus' father). In other words, the same version as Pindar, who was from the same century as Hellanicus of Lesbos.

In the Byzantine encyclopedia Suda, Patroclus is listed among the descendants of Aegina as is Achilles, indicating that they belong to the same shared lineage as Aegina's descendants:

“At first Aegina brought forth excellent youths” A proverb. For at its peak, they say, the Aeginetans changed for the worse from [sc the days] of Achilles, Patroclus, Aias [and] Neoptolemus

Suda tau,109. Translation by David Whitehead.

It isn’t, however, stated in what way they share this lineage, so I don’t know if whoever wrote this in the Suda was considering Menoetius and Peleus to be blood relatives. And you might think, “Well, obviously Patroclus is listed here because Menoetius is the son of Aegina!”, but that isn’t necessarily always how the connection between Aegina and Menoetius is indicated. Remember Pindar’s Olympian Ode 9? It has a scholia, and in it we have this:

[...] The Aiginetan local historian Pythainetos produced a lineage wherein Aigina and Zeus produce not only Aiakos, but a daughter Damokrateia (FGH 299 F 5 = ΣPindar Olympian 9.104a). Aktor married Damokrateia, producing Menoitios who married Sthenele, the mother of Patroklos (cf. ΣPindar Olympian 9.106a–b). As consistent with Aiginetan myth, the direction of heroic movement is away from Aigina to Thessaly, whither Damokrateia travels. In this view Menoitios and Patroklos were Aiginetan and Zeus-born through the female line, and presumably Myrmidons through the male, but not Aiakidai in the strictest sense. There may be a rationale in cult for this distinction, as Patroklos may not have received honors on Aigina as an Aiakid. Obviously, the name Damokrateia—was she simply Krateia originally? [166] —is classical, and there may be a now irrecoverable polemic here in which an elite, equated with the Aiakidai, acts harmoniously with a Myrmidonian damos, Menoitios beside Peleus and Patroklos beside Achilles.

The Aiakidai, the Herald-less War, and Salamis by Thomas Figueira.

Note: I’m using an academic article instead of the text because, as far as I know, this scholia by Pindar hasn’t been translated and so I have only found the Greek text. But Figueira is already explaining what is being said in the scholia anyway.

Basically, the scholia says that Pythainetos claimed that when Zeus kidnapped Aegina she gave birth not only to Aeacus (the most traditional version of the story), but also to a daughter named Damocrateia (whom I only saw attested in this scholia, if I'm being honest. I may be missing some text, though). This makes Aeacus and Damocrateia siblings ,as they share both parents. Aeacus later had Peleus as a son with Endeis, while Damocrateia married Actor and had Menoetius. This makes Peleus and Menoetius first cousins, with the father of one and the mother of the other being siblings. Menoetius marries Sthenele, with whom he has Patroclus (Sthenele is also attested as mother of Patroclus by Pseudo-Apollodorus: “Patroclus, son of Menoetius and Sthenele, daughter of Acastus”, 3.13.8 trans. J.G. Frazer). Peleus later has Achilles with Thetis. This makes Patroclus and Achilles cousins, since their parents are first cousins. In other words:

Menoetius’ family origin, status, possible wives

Personally, I got the impression that Menoetius, at least in most sources, isn’t supposed to be a king, but rather a noble!.

Ambiguous words/phrases about Patroclus’ status

In The Iliad, as far I know (I can be missing something), there is no concrete statement of the status of either Menoetius or Patroclus. It has been theorized that the epithet "διογενὲς" attributed to a lot of heroes, including Patroclus, indicates possible kingship (Fagles translates it as "prince", Lattimore as "Illustrious", Hammond as "Lord", and Alexander varies between "Descended from Zeus", "Zeus-descended", "seed of Zeus", "god-cherished"). διογενὲς can be written as diogenes. The etymology is:

Stress-shifted form of διογενής (diogenḗs, literally “born of Zeus”), from Διός (Diós, genitive of Ζεύς (Zeús)) +‎ -γενής (-genḗs, “born of”).

See here.

But although there have been theories about it, none of them are 100% confirmed and, furthermore, I was told that in the Greek perception this is simply a compliment, without necessarily referring to royal or nobility status (see the explanation of a person who actually understands Greek, unlike me, here).

In line 23.173 the term “ἄνακτι” is used to refer to Patroclus, generally translated as “prince” or “lord” (in Caroline Alexander: “and there were nine dogs fed at the table of their lord”). According to the Cambridge Greek Lexicon, this term can in fact refer to a ruler, which includes royalty. However, it can also refer to an owner/master, which, let’s face it… seems to be the meaning here, Patroclus being, in this case, the lord of his dogs. Again, this isn’t a concrete confirmation of royalty.

Similarly, as indicated in the post I linked above, Pseudo-Apollodorus (1st/2nd century CE) uses the term “βασιλεύοντες” when designating Helen’s suitors and includes Patroclus among them (Library 3.10.8). While this term can be translated as “kings,” it doesn’t necessarily always mean that and in fact has more to do with those in power (a more literal translation would be “those who reign over”). This could, for example, apply to both royalty and nobility. That is, Pseudo-Apollodorus could be thinking of Patroclus as a prince, but he might not necessarily be thinking of him as a prince. That is, both The Iliad and Library aren’t explicit about Patroclus’s pre-exilic status and, consequently, don’t indicate Menoetius’s status.

The origins of Menoetius

In the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women version, he was probably at least a prince if he was indeed Peleus' brother, unless he was a non-recognized bastard. This is, however, a less commonly considered version, so I won’t dwell on it for too long. I’ll instead consider the more attested version, in which Menoetius and Peleus are related by Aegina and aren’t brothers.

In Pindar's Olympian Ode 9, Menoetius isn’t the king of Opus, but rather a foreigner (not in the sense of non-Greek, in the sense of not being from Opus). The king is actually someone else, as Pindar tells of how Phyrra and Deucalion had descendants after the flood, one of whom was a man named Opus (known as Opus I) who was king of the Epeians. This Opus I had a daughter, whom Zeus abducted and impregnated. Zeus then gave her to Locrus, king of the Locrians, and Locrus adopted this Zeus’ child after marrying the woman. This child was named after his grandfather, that is, Opus, and is known as Opus II. Since Locrus raised him as his son, he also gave him the right to inherit his kingdom. People came from other parts of Greece, including Menoetius (i.e. he was not born in Opus). Opus II, the king, valued him and so gave him land. That is, Menoetius was probably a noble in this version, the king was Opus II. It is true that there are myths in which a kingdom is divided between more than one king, but in these cases it is usually specified that the king gave not only land but also "part of the kingdom".

[...] But lend your tongue to the city of Protogeneia, where, by the ordinance of Zeus with the flashing thunderbolt, Pyrrha and Deucalion came down from Parnassus and made their first home, and without the marriage-bed [45] they founded a unified race of stone offspring, and the stones gave the people their name. Arouse for them a clear-sounding path of song; praise wine that is old, but praise the flowers of songs that are new. They tell, indeed, how the strength of the waters overwhelmed the dark earth; but by the skills of Zeus the ebbing tide suddenly drained off the flood. From these were descended your ancestors with their bronze shields, [55] young men sprung from the beginning from the stock of the daughters of Iapetus and from the powerful sons of Cronus, always a native line of kings, until the ruler of Olympus carried off the daughter of Opus from the land of the Epeians, and lay with her peacefully in the glens of Mount Maenalus, and brought her to Locrus, so that age would not overtake him and lay the burden of childlessness on him. His bride was carrying in her womb the seed of the greatest god, and the hero rejoiced to see his adopted son, and gave him the same name as his mother's father, Opus, [65] a man beyond words in beauty and fine deeds. Locrus gave him a city and a people to govern, and strangers came to him from Argos and Thebes, from Arcadia and Pisa. But among the settlers he chiefly honored the son of Actor [70] and Aegina, Menoetius [...]

Olympian Odes, 9.39-71. Translation by Diane Arnson Svarlien.

The idea that Menoetius arrived at Opus rather than being born there is present in other texts. In the scholia, it’s said that Actor was in fact a Locrian by birth, but Menoetius wasn’t. In fact, Menoetius was born on Aegina, an island that was named after Zeus who took the kidnapped Aegina there — previously it was called Oenone, as stated in Pausanias’ Description of Greece § 2.5.2. It’s the birthplace of Peleus and Telamon, from which they were exiled by their father Aeacus after killing their half-brother Phocus. The scholia says that because Menoetius was born on Aegina, Patroclus was called Myrmidon. Menoetius later went to Opus because it was the birthplace of his father Actor, but he himself wasn’t born there.

the best of the Myrmidons (Μυρμιδόνων τὸν ἄριστον) Actor was a Locrian by birth. He married Aigina, the daughter of Asopos (the river of Thebes), after she had slept with Zeus and after some months fathered Menoitios. Menoitios returned to his father’s homeland, Opous, and fathered Patroclos, whom the poet fittingly called a Myrmidon because his father was born on Aigina. [RSS]

Scholia D, § 18.10. Edition by R. Scott Smith et al.

Now, establishing some details:

According to the same scholia (5th century BCE to 12th century CE), Myrmidons are associated with island Aegina because “Since Aiacos was all alone on the island, Zeus took pity on him and turned the ants {myrmē-} there into people, and this is the reason they are called Myrmidons” (Scholia D, § 1.180). That is, in the opinion of this scholia, the origin of Patroclus going back to Aegina through Menoetius is what makes him a Myrmidon.

A scholia of Pindar says that, according to Hesiod: “And she conceived and bare Aeacus, delighting in horses. Now when he came to the full measure of desired youth, he chafed at being alone. And the father of men and gods made all the ants that were in the lovely isle into men and wide-girdled women. These were the first who fitted with thwarts ships with curved sides, and the first who used sails, the wings of a sea-going ship” (Catalogue of Women, frag 53, trans. H.G. Evelyn-White).

Clement of Alexandria (2nd century CE) says regarding the Thessalians: “What else of Thessalians? They are reported to worship ants, because they have been taught that Zeus, in the likeness of an ant, had intercourse with Eurymedusa the daughter of Cletor and begat Myrmidon” (Exhortation to the Greeks 2, trans. G.W. Butterworth), although the credibility of this account is debated by some because Clement was a Christian author intent on discrediting pagan gods.

Strabo (1st century BCE) says “And it is reasonable to suppose that all the people, the subjects of Achilles and Patroclus, who had accompanied Peleus in his flight from Aigina, were called Myrmidons” (Geography, 9.6.9);

ROMAN MYTHOLOGY: this association between Aegina and the term Myrmidon was inherited from Greek myths into Roman myths. The Roman Ovid (1st century CE) in Metamorphoses Book VII.501-660, describes that Juno (Roman counterpart to Hera) was enraged by an island being named after one of Jupiter's (Zeus') betrayals and inflicted a plague on the inhabitants, causing them to die. Aeacus then begged his father Jupiter to have mercy, so Jupiter transformed ants into men to repopulate the island. Myrmidons are also associated with Aegina by the Roman Servius (5th century CE) in the scholia of the Latin epic The Aeneid § 4.402, where he also says that Jupiter/Zeus made men from ants to populate the island Aegina (although there are other details surrounding a woman named Myrmex as well). In addition to the population of Aegina being considered Myrmidons, Phthia is also associated with the Myrmidons, which was the name of the army commanded by Achilles in the Trojan War.

In other words, there is more than one version of the story, but the one I found to be most attested is the one in which, in order to repopulate the island of Aegina, where his son Aeacus lived, Zeus transformed the ants there into men. These men were called Myrmidons, since the etymology refers to ant. Later, when Peleus and Telamon were banished from Aegina by their father Aeacus for the murder of their half-brother Phocus, some of the Myrmidons accompanied Peleus. Therefore, not only is Myrmidon related to Aegina, but it is Myrmidon who is in the army led by the royalty of Phthia. Patroclus, then, would be a Myrmidon both because he is related to Aegina and because he is a soldier of Achilles. It’s possible then that the title of "Myrmidon" not only reiterates the army to which Patroclus belongs, but is a nod to his father not being Opuntian but having moved to Opus because Actor, Patroclus' grandfather, was Locrian. The Byzantine scholia of The Iliad (12th century CE), when discussing the title "best of the Myrmidons" at 6.18.6, presents three possibilities for this title: one being the kinship with the island of Aegina, another being that even though Patroclus was a Locrian he was counted in the army of Phthia, and the third is that there may be another enigmatic reason since oracles are ambiguous.

The scholia for the Pindar’s Olympian Odes offers a version similar to that in Scholia D. In the case of Menoetius, there are two options. At 9.106a, the scholia agree with Pindar in saying that Aegina and Ator had Menoetius, while at 9.104b and 9.106b we have the version told by Pythainetos about Damocrateia being the daughter of Aegina and Zeus and having Menoetius with Ator. In 9.106b and 9.107a, Patroclus is said to be the son of Menoetius by a wife named Sthenele. In the version with Damocrateia as Menoetius' mother (and not Aegina, as is more frequent), localization in 9.104b, Actor is said to have married Damocrateia in Thessaly. This ancient Thessaly was a region, not a city, so this description isn’t very specific — for example, Achilles is a Thessalian hero, since Phthia is located there. In any case, the scholia goes on to say that although Menoetius wasn’t born in Opus, he later went there because of Locrian parentage. This fits with Scholia D, who stated that Menoetius wasn’t Locrian by birth, but Actor was. It also fits with Pindar, who said that Menoetius wasn’t born in Opus, but rather moved there, where he received honors from the king. Patroclus, unlike his father, is Opuntian by birth.

Almut Fries, in “Κλέος ἄφθιτον ἕξεις: Text and Reperformance in Early Greek Praise Poetry”, highlights the importance of Opus being open to foreigners, with one example of a foreigner being Menoetius. More specifically, Fries argues for the idea that Pindar intended to achieve a kind of pan-Hellenism in his text by incorporating Greeks from different places into one place. For Opus to accept other Greek immigrants would therefore be an exemplification of pan-Hellenism:

As to the ‘myth’, Hubbard (2004: 73) observed how in Olympian 9 the tale of the eponymous king of Locrian Opus is linked with Homeric epic in that Opus opens his city to foreigners, notably Menoetius, the father of Patroclus, whose deeds at Troy Pindar summarises (Ol. 9.61-79). This raises the local myth to pan-Hellenic status and makes it relevant to a wider audience. The latter was especially important, given that the mythical narratives lent themselves to separate circulation – witness the rich, and early, reception history of the Typhos-episode in Pythian 1. Epic allusions can also mitigate the epichoric bias of historical references. Thus in Pyth. 1.47-55 Pindar compares the martial achievements of the ageing and sick Hieron to those of Philoctetes who captured Troy despite his wounded foot. Ancient and modern scholars have debated which battle is meant here, but in a way this does not matter. The point is Hieron’s heroic defiance of his illness, and Pindar’s vagueness, together with the epic comparison, ensures that this is conveyed to changing audiences over time. Knowing the historical background enhances the experience of such passages (hence the frequent attempts of scholiasts to explain them), but is not required for basic understanding.

In “Status and Social Reproduction in Pindar’s Epinician Odes” (pg 116-117), Caitlin Lenore Miller also explores the idea that Menoetius’s foreignness is intentional. More specifically, she argues that Opus in Pindar’s depiction is a somewhat multi-ethnic place, and that this is made clear in the context of the birth of King Opus (he is adopted) and only reinforced by the fact that this king accepts immigrants and honors them:

This genealogy begins with an account of indigeneity that has no definite beginning or end, and is closely associated with the political status of kingship. The rulers in this era are ἐγχώριοι βασιλῆες αἰεί, monarchs at all times native to the land itself. But Lokros’ infertility suddenly threatens the possibility of this unbroken enchoric rulership. To compensate, Zeus introduces a divinely authorized exogamy and adoption. This child is not just any foreigner, but the son of Zeus, who has a double parenthood through the god and his grandfather Opus. This human paternity is formally conferred upon him by Lokros through a naming that also invokes his heredity excellence, both physically and pragmatically (ὑπέρφατον ἄνδρα μορφᾷ τε καὶ / ἔργοισι, “a man beyond words in form and in deeds”). As physical and political excellence are linked, so too divine birth and human parentage become complementary. Opus receives a polis and laos from his adoptive father, and eventually this city and people also begin to incorporate immigrants from around the Greek world. From a beginning in a strictly heredity line of kings to a present in an ethnically heterogenous polis community, the ode at each moment integrates a different form of kinship into its genealogical story. Exogamy and adoption are both divinely sanctioned, and even in the ending vision of a multi-ethnic polis political power remains in the hands of the epichoric basileus.

Therefore, it’s possible that, at least for Pindar, Menoetius not being a native of Opus was a key element in what he wanted to represent. It’s important that Menoetius isn’t from Opus, but is accepted and honored by the king of Opus, who is even adopted — in this way, there is a representation of a power of a multi-ethnic state (in the sense of people from different poleis) whose idea of hierarchy isn’t restricted by blood, as seen by the fact that Opus isn’t the biological son of the previous king, Locrus. When foreigners (not in the sense of non-Greek, but not from Opus) are accepted into Opus and their families are incorporated into the kingdom, then pan-Hellenism is represented. Menoetius not being a native of Opus, but Patroclus being Oputian is like a reassertion of Pan-Hellenism, since Patroclus represents that Menoetius settled in Opus.

Also, considering that at no point is it said that Menoetius inherited the kingdom of Opus (as happened with Peleus, who married the princess of Phthia Antigone and entered the lineage of the kingdom, and Telamon, whose king of Salamis had no heirs to dispute the throne and passed the throne to him), it’s more likely that Menoetius wasn’t king and was, at most, part of the local nobility in Pindar’s version.

Locrian Ajax and his family

Strabo (1st century CE) wrote a geographical treatise. In the part where he is talking about traditions and other aspects of Opus, he emphasizes that Locrian Ajax — also known as Ajax the Lesser or Lesser Ajax — was considered the king of Opus and therefore Menoetius wasn’t the king:

[...] Now Homer says that Patroclus was from Opus, and that after committing an involuntary murder he fled to Peleus, but that his father Menoetius remained in his native land; for thither Achilles says that he promised Menoetius to bring back Patroclus when Patroclus should return from the expedition. However, Menoetius was not king of the Opuntians, but Aias the Locrian, whose native land, as they say, was Narycus. [...]

Geography, 9.4.2. Translation by Horace Leonard Jones.

Since The Iliad, Locrian Ajax is called the son of Oileus: “Of Locrians, swift Ajax, son of Oileus, was leader” (2.527), and his father is consistent in other sources. Oileus is said to be the son of Hodoedocus by Agrinome (Fabulae, § 14.2; Ioannis Tzetzes’ Ad Lycophronem § 1150). Hodoedocus tends to be considered in mythological dictionaries to be the offspring of Opus II. Oileus and Locrian Ajax were both mythological kings of the Locrians, which includes Opus. That is, Opus II already had living male descendants; he wouldn’t have needed to give his kingdom to someone else as, for example, Cychreus did with Salamis. Since there was no reason for Menoetius to have received the throne peacefully, and since there are no reports of Menoetius attempting to usurp the throne through violence, it does make sense to consider that it would be improbable (thought not impossible) for Menoetius to be king when the royal line was still alive and had suitable heirs. Finally, for reference, Oileus, the father of Locrian Ajax, is apparently of Menoetius's generation or at least a generation close to it, and was also an Argonaut: “A third with them was Oileus, peerless in courage and well skilled to attack the flying foe, when they break their ranks” (Argonautica, 1.74-75, trans. R.C. Seaton).

The wifes of Menoetius and mothers of Patroclus

While I'm increasingly leaning towards the possible idea that Menoetius and Patroclus lived as nobles rather than king and prince, it's quite notable that they were of high status, since Greek mythology tends to feature people from the upper classes as heroes and it's not “normal” for people from common backgrounds to have the level of prominence that Patroclus has. Patroclus being counted among Helen's suitors (Pseudo-Hyginus’ Fabulae and Pseudo-Apollodorus’ Library) also makes it unlikely that pre-exile he had no status, considering that it would be quite difficult for a Spartan princess and demigoddess of Zeus to marry someone of simple origin. And if we consider the mothers attributed to Patroclus, they seem to tend to be of high status, so either way he wouldn't be a common person and neither would Menoetius, since aristocratic women married into the aristocracy. For example:

Sthenele, attested in both Pindar's Olympian Odes and Pseudo-Apollodorus, is described as the daughter of Acastus. Acastus is from the kingdom of Iolcus, best known as the hometown of the Argonaut hero Jason, and was a son of Pelias, king of Iolcus known for instigating the Argonaut expedition. After his father was killed by his own daughter because of Medea, Acastus took over as king. This means that his daughters are princesses, which includes Sthenele. In this case, Menoetius would have to be of high enough status to marry a princess, and even if Menoetius isn’t royal, Patroclus would still be of royal blood on his mother's side. Ironically, this Acastus is known to be an enemy of Phthia due to having had past grievances with Peleus, even attempting to conquer the place by taking advantage of the fact that Peleus is old, Achilles is dead and Neoptolemus has yet to return from Troy;

Polymele, attested by Pseudo-Apollodorus, was described as the daughter of Peleus. Peleus, as we know, was a prince in Aegina and became king in Phthia trough marriage with Antigone and favour of her father, the king. In other words, Polymele would be a princess, as was Sthenele. This, incidentally, would make Patroclus nephew of Achilles, since he would be married to his sister. Polymele's mother isn’t attested, but I think it is more likely that she was the daughter of Antigone, Peleus' first wife, than of Thetis. Polymele is a very poorly attested character in the surviving sources, although Pseudo-Apollodorus credits this version to a man named Philocrates. Peleus has another, more attested daughter, who is named Polydora and is married to Borus, although she had a son named Menestheus out of wedlock with the river Spercheus (this is already mentioned in The Iliad, where Menestheus is part of the Myrmidon army). Polydora and Polymele, however, don’t appear to be the same character with different names, as the only similarity is their father;

Periops, attested by Pseudo-Apollodorus, was described as the daughter of Pheres. Pheres was a prince of Iolcus, and was also the half-brother of Pelias, whom I mentioned in the part about Sthenele (same mother, Tyro, but the fathers are different, Pheres is the son of the mortal Cretheus and Pelias is the son of the god Poseidon) and also of Neleus (father of Nestor, twin brother of Pelias, founder of Pylos), Amythaon (also son of Cretheus, went to Pylos with Nestor) and Aeson (known to be the father of Jason, remained in Iolcus). He didn’t remain in Iolcus and founded a kingdom called Pherae, of which he was king. Periops is therefore also a princess. This would also make Periops the sister of a well-known mythological figure, Admetus, who is known to have been served by the god Apollo and for his loyal wife Alcestis;

The exception is Philomela, attested in Pseudo-Hyginus' Fabulae and in the Byzantine scholia of Homer, of whom we only know her name and know nothing about her life, and so we have no way of stating her status. Except for her, the wives attributed to Menoetius are royal, indicating that Menoetius was of sufficient status to have such a marriage and that Patroclus does in any case have royalty in his bloodline, although it’s more likely through his mother's side rather than his father's.

Actor, father of Menoetius

Now, Menoetius not being a king doesn’t mean that there is no royalty in him, so let's consider those possibilities as well. There is a possibility that Menoetius is of royal blood if his mother is not Aegina, but Damocrateia, as Pindar's scholia says, since she is the sister of the king of Aegina, Aeacus. On his mother's side, this is the only possibility, since the other version is a goddess, who isn’t limited to human reigns. Now, let's think about his father: Actor. There are many Actors in Greek mythology, so it’s an extremely confusing task to try to determine who the Actor father of Menoetius is, and therefore I’m not sure about Actor's status. So let's deal with the possibilities.

THE ILIAD (8th century BCE): The Iliad certainly recognizes multiple Actors. It’s possible to see that they’re clearly not all the father of Menoetius. Here are the Actors who are certainly not the same as the father of Menoetius:

In 2.511-516, we have an Actor who is the son of Azeus and whose daughter Astyoche became pregnant by the god Ares, giving birth to two sons named Ascalaphus and Ialmenus...clearly not the same guy. The locations are also different, the armies are those of Aspledon and Mynian Orchomenos.

In 2.615-624, characters named Amphimachus and Thalpios are leaders and sons of Eurytus and Cteatus, sons of Actor. This Actor is clearly not the same as Menoetius’ Actor and I actually know who this is, but I’ll explain later. These Amphimachus and Thalpios are the same ones who are referred to as “the Moliones boys from the line of Aktor” (11.750) and who are said to be sons of Poseidon, who protected them in a scene from The Iliad (11.751-752). Ampimachus is killed by Hector (13.185-186).

In 16.168-198, Echecles is a son of Actor married to Polymele, daughter of Phylas (not confuse with Polymele, daughter of Peleus). Before the marriage, Polymele had already become pregnant by the god Hermes and her son with him is named Eudoros. This Eudoros is part of the Myrmidons, thus having some connection to Patroclus, but they are clearly not related and only share grandfathers with the same name.

HESIODIC TEXTS (8th/7th century BCE): Catalogue of Women seems to consider different Actors. When talking about Helen’s suitors, at one point it says “And from Phylace two men of exceeding worth sought her to wife, Podarces son of Iphiclus, Phylacus’ son, and Actor’s noble son, overbearing Protesilaus” (CW.F6831, trans. H.G. Evelyn-White). Not only is the place not the same, but Protesilaus isn’t related to Menoetius in any source, so he isn’t the same Actor who is Patroclus’ grandfather.

In another fragment, we have:

The two sons of Actor and Molione... Hesiod has given their descent by calling them after Actor and Molione; but their father was Poseidon. But Aristarchus is informed that they were twins, not . . . such as were the Dioscuri, but, on Hesiod's testimony, double in form and with two bodies and joined to one another.

CW.F9. Translation by H.G. Evelyn-White.

Clearly this Actor isn’t the same. The story is entirely different with this whole thing about him being married to Molione, who is never mentioned as Menoetius' mother, and this involvement with twins who are sons of Poseidon. As some may have noticed, this is the same story we have in The Iliad with the twins Amphimachus and Thalpios...yes, this Actor is the same as the man indicated as their father in The Iliad — adoptive father/stepfather, biological father is Poseidon.

Surprisingly, we aren’t done with the Catalogue Actors yet, there is another one! First, let's look at the origin of the woman named Pisidice:

[...] And the sons of Aiolos were born, kings ministering law and right,Kretheus, and Athamas, and wily Sisyphos, and unjust Salmoneus, and daring Perieres, and great Deion, and [….] most renowed of men ….. being full of youthful joy in the house [30] [….] and they bore glorious children; and moreover Ainarete, having gone to bed with Aiolos bore to him thick-haired daughters who had a very lovely form, Peisidike and Alkyone similar to the Graces, and Kalyke, Kanake, and graceful Perimede [...]

Translation by E. Bianchelli.

Later, we have the following about her:

[...] and in turn the strong force of godlike Myrmidon [100] married Peisidike and she bore Antiphos and Aktor as her children, and having had intercourse in the arms of Poseidon, the thick-haired daughter of Aiolos gave birth twice [...]

Translation by E. Bianchelli.

This Pisidice married a man named Myrmidon and had a son Actor. Since the name Actor is consistently the name of Menoetius' father and since Patroclus is consistently a Myrmidon, either through his position in the army or through his relationship to Aegina, this has been considered as possible father of Menoetius.

The part about the "thick-haired daughter of Aiolos" who had relations with Poseidon confuses me since it's very fragmentary and Aiolos is listed here as having many daughters, but it doesn't seem to be Psidice because I've found that, among Aiolos' named daughters, Canace/Kanake is the only one who is consistently considered to have had children of Poseidon in the various sources. So I'm guessing that this part about Poseidon's twins refers to Canace and not Psidice, which would be possible since this part seems to be listing the fates of Aiolos' daughters in sequence, since before Psidice the passage was talking about Alcyone. In other words, these demigod twins of Poseidon are possibly not Antiphus and Actor, but other characters, and these two Psidice’s sons are indeed children of Myrmidon.

PSEUDO-HYGINUS (1st century): Menoetius' father remains Actor since we have the description "Menoetius, son of Actor, an Opuntian" (§ 14.2), which remarkably links the family to Opus. We have "Actor, son of Hippasus, from the Peloponnesus" (§ 14.4), but this isn’t Menoetius' father for two reasons. The first is that both are listed among the Argonauts and the sources tend to indicate that, with the exception of Heracles, the Argonauts were close in age, which would make the idea of father and son participating improbable. Secondly, Pseudo-Hyginus could have connected that Actor with Opus as he did with the first, but he didn’t. Anyway, different people, I'm ruling out the Actor son of Hippasus as a possibility.

In § 102, a king Actor is mentioned when it is described that his shepherd tended the wounded Philoctetes. This, however, is certainly not the same Actor, as he is king of the island of Lemnos, which has no relation to the locations associated with Menoetius and Patroclus. In fact, Lemnos was one of the places the Achaeans passed through on their journey. This Actor, I suspect, may be a version of the same character used by Euripides in his lost play about Philoctetes, since both have a role in the tragedy of Philoctetes at Lemnos.

In § 157 a demigod of Neptune (Roman counterpart of Poseidon) named Actor is mentioned. He has a brother named Dictys and his mother is Agamede, daughter of Augeas. Clearly not the same character.

In this sense, although Menoetius remains the son of Actor in Pseudo-Hyginus, none of the other Actors mentioned in the text are his father.

DIODORUS SICULUS (1st century BCE): he says “[...] Peleus was banished by his father and fled to Phthia in what is now called Thessaly, where he was purified by Actor the king of the country and succeeded to the kingship, Actor being childless” (4.72.5, trans. C.H. Oldfather), which has led some to believe that this Actor is the same since he is related to the core mythological character of Patroclus by being located in Phthia and having a relationship with Peleus. However, I personally find this unlikely because Diodorus says that the reason Peleus succeeded to the kingdom is because this Actor had no sons, whereas in 4.39.1, he says “Menoetius, the son of Actor”. I feel that these are two different Actors, since the Actor who is Menoetius’ father isn’t really explored by Diodorus in his surviving books. Note that Diodorus isn’t like Pseudo-Apollodorus and Pseudo-Hyginus, who provide multiple versions as mythographers, so I find it unlikely that he was talking about different versions of the same character and I think he was citing different characters with the same name. In any case, this is an unusual version, as the name usually attributed to the king who received Peleus is Eurytion, who has a daughter Antigone (not to be confused with the daughter of Oedipus) who is considered to be Peleus' first wife. Therefore, I’ll be particularly ruling out the possibility that the king of Phthia is the same Actor as Menoetius' father.

PSEUDO-APOLLODORUS (1st/2nd century CE): He seems to be talking about different Actors since the lineages and regions are different. Here they are:

The first one to be mentioned receives the following description: “[...] Dorus received the country over against Peloponnese and called the settlers Dorians after himself. Aeolus reigned over the regions about Thessaly and named the inhabitants Aeolians. He married Enarete, daughter of Deimachus, and begat seven sons, Cretheus, Sisyphus, Athamas, Salmoneus, Deion, Magnes, Perieres, and five daughters, Canace, Alcyone, Pisidice, Calyce, Perimede. Perimede had Hippodamas and Orestes by Achelous; and Pisidice had Antiphus and Actor by Myrmidon” (1.7.3).

The second Actor is the father of Eurytion (1.8.2), king of Phthia who received Peleus when he was banished from Aegina. His daughter Antigone married Peleus and part of the kingdom was given to him. During the hunt for the Calydonian Boar, Peleus accidentally killed him and seek purification at Iolcus with Acastus (3.13.1-2).

The third has this description: “Deion reigned over Phocis and married Diomede, daughter of Xuthus; and there were born to him a daughter, Asterodia, and sons, Aenetus, Actor, Phylacus, and Cephalus, who married Procris, daughter of Erechtheus.” (1.9.4).

The fourth guy is described as “Actor, son of Hippasus” (1.9.16).

The fifth is an Actor who was married to Molinoe, who bore the sons Eurytus and Cteatus by Poseidon (2.7.2). This Actor is also described as being the brother of the king of Elis Augeas, who had conflicts with the Zeus’ demigod Heracles during one of the hero's labors in which he was tasked by Eurystheus with the mission of cleaning the stables (2.5.5/2.5.11/2.7.2).

Remarkably, despite having the same name, none of them are the same. They are from different places and lineages. The first is the same one from the Hesiodic fragment that I had thought might be the same character (related to Myrmidon), the second is probably the same one that Diodorus says hosted Peleus (but with the roles reversed, since in the common version Eurytion, the son, is the host while in Diodorus the host is the father, Actor), the third I don't know about, the fourth is the same one mentioned by Pseudo-Hyginus and the fifth is the same one from the Hesiodic fragments and one of those mentioned in The Iliad (the one with Poseidon's twins).

Among these, I have already ruled out Eurytion's father, Hippasus' son, and Molinoe's husband. That leaves Myrmidon's son and Deion's descendant as possibilities.

CONCLUSIONS: Between Deion and Myrmidon, the Myrmidon’s Actor is usually chosen as the possible father of Menoetius because of the similarities in name between Myrmidon and the title of Patroclus. There is, however, a problem of locality here. As I have already mentioned, Actor, in the versions of scholia D, Olympian Ode 9 and the Pindaric scholia, is a Locrian by birth, while Menoetius isn’t. However, Actor, son of Myrmidon, is…Thessalian! Figueira suggests that this happens simply because they’re different local versions, one of them seeking to associate the Myrmidons with Thessaly and the other claiming a local Locrian hero:

Compare Iliad 11.785; 16.14 with Aktor as the father of Menoitios, and Catalogue fr. 16.7–11, which has Aktor as the son of Myrmidon and Peisidike, while Myrmidon himself might be a son of Zeus (“Apollodorus” 1.7.3 = 1.52; cf. Iliad 18.10 for Patroklos as the best of the Myrmidons). Fitting Patroklos into the Aiakid genealogy, however, was problematical, as it raised difficulties with synchronizing generations in Patroklos’ line and that of Achilles. Contrast, therefore, Pindar, who identifies Menoitios as son of Aktor and Aigina, making him half-brother of Aiakos (and not of Peleus) and maternal uncle of Peleus (Olympian 9.69–70; cf. Eustathius Iliad 1.175.29). The ode honors a Lokrian, and Pindar may represent Lokrian tradition, juxtaposed with the more truly ‘ecumenical’ or panhellenic tradition of the Hesiodic Catalogue. Another related crux in Aiakid mythology involved the figure responsible for bringing the Myrmidons into Thessaly or Lokris. And its resolution affected how one viewed the very nature of the Myrmidons.

The Aiakidai, the Herald-less War, and Salamis by Thomas Figueira, note 169.

This note is from the part where Figueira comments on how Menoetius and Peleus are brothers in the Hesiodic version. That is why he begins by talking about comparing them with the Iliadic version, in which they aren’t. Figueira, in fact, comments on how the Homeric version doesn’t seem to demonstrate Aeacus's family tree with the same fervor as the later sources:

Most features of the conventional mythological genealogy of the Aiakidai are absent in Homer. The filiation of Aiakos to Zeus and Peleus to Aiakos is the only detail verifiable from Homer. Nothing suggests that Peleus and Achilles had anything to do with Aigina, either the nymph and daughter of Asopos or the island. The Myrmidons are exclusively Thessalian as far as can be determined from the Iliad. Neither Aias nor his father Telamon is ever treated as an Aiakid, and there is no hint that Aias and Achilles are cousins. No tie of kinship seems to exist between Achilles and Patroklos. Some of these discrepancies were recognized virtually from the ancient inception of Homeric studies. Eustathius cites Porphyry on the point that Homer does not attach Αἰακίδης to Aias nor does he treat Achilles and Aias as cousins (Iliad 1.439.29–32). [145] The scholiast to Iliad 21.186–187 was troubled by Achilles’ vaunting his descent from Zeus as superior to that of a river god, when he was in fact a descendant of Aigina, daughter of the river Asopos. There are a number of natural ways to account for epic’s failure to exploit these aspects of the myths on Aiakos. One might speculate that the Aiginetan connections of the Aiakids developed after “Homer” but before “Hesiod” or, at least, before the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women. Alternatively, we could posit the existence of a number of Aiakoi. Homer’s Aiakos would be a Thessalian, and, if it is thought necessary, a Thessalian Aigina could even be hypothesized to stand as his mother. Yet all of this would be sheer speculation, and the pattern of usage of Αἰακίδης suggests another approach entirely.

The Aiakidai, the Herald-less War, and Salamis by Thomas Figueira.

Overall, from what I understand from Figueira's explanations... the family tree of Menoetius and Patroclus has become immensely fluid at the hands of local traditions and their evolution.

Well, in the case of the Locrian Actor, we don't know who his parents are and, consequently, we don't know their status. In the case that you want to deal with the possibility that he is the son of Myrmidon and is actually Thessalian, then he is royalty since Psidice was a princess and Myrmidon was a prince. Personally, I prefer the Locrian version because I find it less uncertain and because I like the narrative in which Menoetius is a foreigner in Opus. In my opinion, it's a more unique narrative and I like the idea of not every relevant character being a prince/king in the Trojan War.

Argonauts

Menoetius in the voyage of the Argonauts

Menoetius is attested in the Hellenistic epic poem Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius (4th century BCE) as one of the argonauts. We can be absolutely certain that this Menoetius is the father of Patroclus because it says that his father is Actor and that he came from Opus. So yes, absolutely certain that it is the same guy.

Moreover Actor sent his son Menoetius from Opus that he might accompany the chiefs.

Argonautica, 1.69-70. Translation by R.C. Seaton.

Now, some may wonder, what did he do on this mission? Well, although Apollonius gives special moments to many characters, Menoetius isn’t one of them. This is the only time he is mentioned in the entire poem, and he has no significant moments. So, although he was an Argonaut in this version, he apparently did nothing significant. Peleus, father of Achilles, and Telamon, father of Big Ajax, for example, are vastly more memorable in the Argonautica narrative compared to Menoetius. It’s at most possible to assume that when the text says that the Argonauts in general did something, Menoetius is included among them. For example, when it comes to choosing a leader, when they have a sex marathon with the women of Lemnos, when they fight Amycus' guards, etc.

Pseudo-Hyginus (1st century), when listing the Argonauts, includes Menoetius:

ARGONAUTS ASSEMBLED: [...] Menoetius, son of Actor, an Opuntian [...]

Fabulae, §14. Translation by Mary Grant.

He was doing the work of a mythographer, that is, collecting different versions of the myth. More specifically, it’s assumed that his intention was to present Greek myths to a Roman audience, so much so that Fabulae is a text in Latin and constantly cites Greek authors. Among those cited is Apollonius Rhodius (“Peleus, Phthia, and Telamon, Salamis, which Apollonius of Rhodes calls Atthis”, §14). In other words, the author certainly had contact with Argonautica and may have included Menoetius for that reason. It’s also possible that Menoetius was already present in other lost versions, however.

Menoetius is also included in the list of Pseudo-Apollodorus (1st/2nd century CE):

Sent to fetch the fleece, Jason called in the help of Argus, son of Phrixus; and Argus, by Athena's advice, built a ship of fifty oars named Argo after its builder; and at the prow Athena fitted in a speaking timber from the oak of Dodona. When the ship was built, and he inquired of the oracle, the god gave him leave to assemble the nobles of Greece and sail away. And those who assembled were as follows: [...] Menoetius, son of Actor [...]

Library, 1.9.16. Translation by J.G. Frazer.

Pseudo-Apollodorus, whoever he was, intended the Library to be a collection of different versions of the myth. This means that he basically recorded versions that he was familiar with, including literary sources. Like Pseudo-Hyginus, he clearly knew the Argonautica poem and used it as a reference, since he not only presents narratives very similar to it at one point, but also explicitly cites it in Book I when he says, “But Apollonius in the Argonautica says that the Harpies were pursued to the Strophades Islands and suffered no harm, having sworn an oath that they would wrong Phineus no more” (1.9.21). Similar to the Argonautica and Fabulae, Menoetius is listed as being present, but isn’t emphasized for any specific achievement.

He is also present in the Orphic Argonautica (4th century CE or later), a poem of unknown authorship narrated by the skilled musician Orpheus, one of the Argonauts:

[...] There even came Menoetius of Opus, a neighbor of the Minyans [...]

Orphic Argonautica. Translation by Jason Colavito.

But again, no episode dedicated to Menoetius. He's just there. This poem is often theorized to have been inspired by Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica because of certain similar narrative decisions (obviously, not just the myth itself. That's normal for similarities). If it is, then again it's possible that the inclusion of Menoetius was influenced by Apollonius. However, it's also possible that Menoetius was already considered an Argonaut anyway.

In Roman mythology, Menoetius (referred to as "Actor's son") is also present in Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica. In 1.407–410, he is described as having left Patroclus with Chiron. In the Greek sources, it isn’t stated what happened to Patroclus during Menoetius' absence, although in the sources it is generally emphasized that Achilles is with Chiron during the journey, with the Argonautica showing him saying goodbye to his father with Chiron and Chariclo and in the Orphic Argonautica Peleus asks the argonauts to visit Pelion because of Achilles. The lack of explanation as to what happens to Patroclus may be because in the Greek sources he isn’t depicted on Pelion as far I know. Achilles is described as being there without Patroclus in basically all the surviving Greek sources I know, and The Iliad Book 11 even explicitly states that Patroclus learned healing from Achilles and not from Chiron. In Roman mythology, Patroclus is with Chiron in at least two sources that I know of, one being Valerius Flaccus and the other being Statius' Achilleid (in fact, I've seen academic texts trying to link Achilleid and Valerius' Argonautica and one of the arguments being this similarity between the two poems). Considering that from the surviving Greek sources we have (there is no way to speak for the lost sources) Patroclus isn’t a student of Chiron, I think it’s possible that in the more traditional version of the Greek myth he simply stayed behind in Opus while Menoetius traveled just like the other sons of the Argonauts stayed in their father’s home.

In one interpretation I've seen, Menoetius was mentioned in the Argonautica as a nod to his Homeric figure and his relationship with Patroclus:

Menoetius, the son of Actor, is mentioned only in AR 1.69-70 and does not appear elsewhere in the Argonautica. As the father of Patroclus he is often referred to with the patronymic Μενοιτιάδης (e.g. Il. 1.307 and Od. 24.77) or by his actual name (e.g. Il. 9.202 Μενοιτίου υἱέ, said by Achilles to Patroclus) in the Homeric epics. Thus this entry would strongly remind the reader of the next generation and the Trojan War. There are also a few passages in the Iliad, which deal with the role of Menoetius as the father of Patroclus in more detail, so that, in fact, the reader who wanted to know more about Menoetius would need to consult the Iliad rather than the Argonautica and in doing so would be made aware of his later role as an old father of a hero of the Trojan War. In Il. 11.785-789 Menoetius, here also referred to as the son of Actor, addresses Patroclus and tells him to offer advice to Achilles, because he is older, though Achilles is stronger and can claim nobler descent. In Il. 18.324-332 Achilles regrets that he promised Menoetius in vain that he would bring back his son to Opus, because Patroclus has died and he himself will die at Troy too. With his phrasing Apollonius subtly hints at a parallel between Actor and his son Menoetius and Menoetius and his son Patroclus in the Iliad, as in Ἄκτωρ υἷα ... | ὦρσεν, ἀριστήεσσι σὺν ἀνδράσιν ὄφρα νέοιτο (“Actor sent his son Menoetius from Opus to travel with the heroic men”, AR 1.69-70), he varies the usual verbs of coming or not staying behind to introduce a new Argonaut by drawing attention to the father’s role. With ἀριστήεσσι σὺν ἀνδράσιν he may intimate a somewhat secondary role for Menoetius, recalling that of Patroclus in Il. 11.785-789, cohering with the lack of prominence awarded Menoetius in the rest of the Argonautica, yet at the same time he implies a notion of progress, inasmuch as Patroclus is much more prominent and important in the Iliad than Menoetius in the Argonautica. Besides, as Patroclus must already have been born (see n.21), Apollonius’ readers could have recalled that, like Peleus, Menoetius left a young son at home. What is more, the two fathers, who are old and bereft in the Iliad and left behind in their turn, are here still young and vigorous. Apollonius hereby raises issues of heredity, repetitive life patterns and growth and decay across the generations.

Sons and fathers in the catalogue of Argonauts in Apollonius Argonautica 1.23-233 by Annette Harder.

Finally, in another interpretation, his presence seeks to explain that he already knew Peleus and, therefore, intentionally chose Phthia when Patroclus was exiled.

Menoetius’ relationship with Heracles

According to Argonautica, Menoetius knew Heracles personally, since Apollonius Rhodius (4th century BCE) includes both of them as Argonauts. Other sources, however, give other forms of connections.

Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE) says that Menoetius and Heracles were friends and, after Heracles' death, Menoetius established honors for him in Opus:

[...] After this, when the companions of Iolaus came to gather up the bones of Heracles and found not a single bone anywhere, they assumed that, in accordance with the words of the oracle, he had passed from among men into the company of the gods. These men, therefore, performed the offerings to the dead as to a hero, and after throwing up a great mound of earth returned to Trachis. Following their example Menoetius, the son of Actor and a friend of Heracles, sacrificed a boar and a bull and a ram to him as to a hero and commanded that each year in Opus Heracles should receive the sacrifices and honours of a hero. [...]

Library of History, 4.38.3-39.1. Translation by C.H. Oldfather.

In a version of the myth told by Plutarch (1st/2nd century CE), Menoetius had a daughter named Myrto, who is considered to have been the mother of Eucleia by Heracles. This version isn’t attested in any other source that I know of, and from the way Plutarch wrote it, it appears to be a less common version, the more common being that Eucleia was a name for the goddess Artemis:

Now Eucleia is regarded by most as Artemis, and is so addressed; but some say she was a daughter of Heracles and of that Myrto who was daughter of Menoetius and sister of Patroclus, and that, dying in virginity, she received divine honours among the Boeotians and Locrians. For she has an altar and an image built in every market place, and receives preliminary sacrifices from would-be brides and bridegrooms.

Life of Aristides, 20.6. Translation by Bernadotte Perrin.

A son of Menoetius named Abedrus, lover of Heracles, is also mentioned: "Abderos, who was loved by Heracles, was the brother of Patroclus" (Phocus' Bibliotheca, 190.39, trans. John Henry Freese). Phocus, the writer of the Bibliotheca, claims that this came from Ptolemy Hephaestion's New History and has a bad opinion of the reliability of that book: "It abounds in extraordinary and badly imagined information; and the peak of absurdity is that he attempts, for certain trivial fables, to explain the reasons for their appearance” (190.1). New History is, in general, considered an uncertain source, including the possibility that the original manual was intended to be a parody, which is why, although it has elements that are actually present in the myth, there may possibly be intentional inventions or exaggerations.

Menoetius and Patroclus’ relationship

In regards to his family relationships, he is shown most closely associated with Patroclus, Peleus and Achilles. In particular, he is shown this way in the context of Patroclus being exiled. So, let’s talk about it.

The Iliad

Fiona McHardy's “The Role of the Extended Family in Exacting Blood Revenge in Classical Athens” argues that the practice of exile wasn’t so unexpected for the ancient Greeks exposed to the myth because of the following factors:

Menoetius and Peleus being usually cousins may have played a role in the decision to exile Patroclus to Phthia. This is because the idea of seeking protection by going to a relative isn’t uncommon in mythology. Examples cited by McHardy include: Orestes goes to live with his aunt's family, Pylades being his cousin, to protect him from Clytemnestra Aegisthus; Polydorus is sent by Priam to stay with Polymestor to protect him from the Trojan War, and in Fabulae Polymestor is married to one of Priam's daughters and thus is part of the family; after the murder of their half-brother Chrysippus, in order to avoid the wrath of their father Pelops, the twins Atreus and Thiestes choose to seek refuge with Euristheus, a relative of theirs since Euristheus is the son of their sister Nicippe; In the play Orestes, Hermione was raised by Clytemnestra in the absence of her parents, both in Troy (pg 7-9).

At least in Athenian culture (which influences a not insignificant amount of the surviving sources we have), the idea of raising cousins together wasn’t uncommon. McHardy gives the following examples: “Charmides was said to have been brought up from a young age in the home of his cousin Andocides (Andoc. 1.48), while the speaker of Lysias 3 Against Simon refers to the fact that he has taken in his sister and her children after the death of her husband and they are living at his house (3.6). Likewise, Aristarchus mentions to Socrates that he has taken in femal relatives from outside the oikos during a time of crisis (Xen. Mem. 2.7.2). A similar situation is represented in Menander’s Aspis where female cousins are brought up together because the brother of one of the girls has gone abroad to fight, leaving his sister in the care of her uncle (122–9)”. In general, it was expected that the family would offer support in vulnerable situations. She also adds that it was common for families to live close together, resulting in cousins being raised together and the famous inter-relative marriage such as marriage between cousins or even between niece and uncle (pg 8-11).

Although McHardy doesn’t explicitly state what the danger would be in the case of Patroclus, I have my theories. I imagine that the danger would be the possible consequences of killing Clysonimus, since scholia D describes him as “Clesonymos, the son of Amphidamas (a man of some importance)” (§ 12.1). Given the description of Amphidamas as “a man of some importance” it’s possible that the death of Clysonimus, his son, could have posed a danger to Patroclus, since he would have accidentally killed someone who was the son of a man that had enough status to represent considerable social pressure for him to be punished for the crime. And if we consider the sources in which Menoetius appears to be a noble and not a king, then he could indeed have been in a situation where his social-economic influence wouldn’t have been sufficient, if the other offended man (Amphidamas) was also important. Another aspect is brought up by Alden, who comments on how, having Peleus fled to avoid punishment for the murder he committed, he appeared to have some kind of sympathy for people in similar situations, which included Patroclus:

A dynasty founded on homicide may well be sympathetic to homicides, as exemplified in Herodotus’ story of Croesus, whose dynasty began with Gyges’ murder of Candaules (Hdt. 1.8 – 12), and who graciously received the fratricide, Adrestus (Hdt. 1.35). Several fugitives seek shelter with Peleus and Thetis, who send them to fight at Troy in the train of Achilles. One such is Epeigeus, who fled to Peleus after killing his cousin (Il. 16.570 – 576). Patroclus, son of Menoetius, is another: when he was only a boy, he killed the son of Amphidamas in a quarrel over dice, and was taken from Opoeis in Locris to the court of Peleus, where he was brought up with Achilles, becoming his θεράπων (‘companion in arms’) (Il. 23.85 – 90). Phoenix, another fugitive, relates to Achilles the sordid events which led him to become the metanast of Peleus, with the duty of advising Achilles and the right to his protection (Il. 9.438 – 443; 485 – 495). [...]

The Despised Migrant (Il. 9.648 = 16.59) by Maureen Alden, pg 122.

In the possibility that Peleus is indeed recognized as someone willing to accept people who would otherwise be punished in their local cities, Menoetius' choice makes even more sense. Indeed, even the way Patroclus describes the manner in which he was exiled is peculiar:

“[Patroclus’ line] [...] And I will say and charge you with another thing, if you will be persuaded; do not lay my bones apart from yours, Achilles, but together, even as we were raised in your house, when Menoetius brought me, when I was little, out of Opoeis to your home, because of an evil murder, on the day when I killed the son of Amphidamas— I was a child, it was not intentional—in anger over a game of knuckle-bones. Then the horseman Peleus received me in his house and reared me with kindness and named me your companion; so let the same urn enclose the bones of us both, the golden amphora, which your lady mother gave you.”

The Iliad, 23.81-92. Translation by Caroline Alexander.

He says “when Menoetius brought me, when I was little, out of Opoeis to your home” (23.84-85) indicating that Menoetius personally escorted Patroclus. In myths of exile, this is a rarity. Usually the exiled person is left alone, and isn’t escorted. It has been argued that Menoetius escorted Patroclus because he was a child and therefore it would be “???” to expect him to be able to maintain himself in the outside world. This is an explanation that makes sense, though I think it is also interesting to note that Menoetius could have sent trusted servants to do this if the concern was simply that, as a child, Patroclus wouldn’t know what to do without guidance. In a way, Menoetius deciding to escort him, in my view, curiously makes the scenario described by Patroclus more similar to myths in which one relative tries to protect another (e.g. Electra sending Orestes) than to myths of exile, which more resemble either an escape (see Atreus and Thiestes, Peleus and Telamon, Phoenix) or a possible solitary journey (see Oedipus; but in the case of Oedipus, the initially lonely journey ceases to be lonely when Antigone offers to go along.). The exile, therefore, seems to have a greater protective character on Menoetius' part than a punitive one, which is consistent with how scholia D says: “In a fit of rage over a game of dice he killed a boy his age, Clesonymos, the son of Amphidamas (a man of some importance), but some say it was Aianes he killed. Exiled for this, he went to Phthia and, based on his kinship with Peleus, he stayed there with Achilles”, emphasizing the status of Amphidamas (a possible threat) and the kinship with Peleus (a protection in a scenario of vulnerability).

Patroclus describes “Then the horseman Peleus received me into his house and reared me with kindness” (23.89-90), which makes it clear that Patroclus had a good experience in Phthia. Not only was he not abandoned, he was specifically taken to a place where he would receive good treatment. Although the Homeric tradition doesn’t explicitly state the shared genealogy of Patroclus and Achilles, given the other sources that do, then Menoetius likely thought he was sending Patroclus to a trusted relative, as Hellanicus’ version explains in Scholia D. Given that Peleus had a son close in age to Patroclus, it might even be expected that there would be close upbringing between cousins, as was common in certain parts of Greek culture. McHardy, for example, comments on how, although Patroclus and Achilles’ relationship is more complex, the kinship between the two and their parents may have influenced their closeness:

Patroclus is in many ways analogous to the one between Orestes and Pylades in that the pair were raised together and formed a particularly strong bond which is in many ways depicted as kin-like in the Iliad. As Donlan (1985: 300) notes: “Such slurred distinctions between ‘friends,’ ‘companions,’ and kin are frequent in the epic. To cite only the most famous example: the emotional attachments between Achilles and Patroclus (II. 17. 411, 655 – πολὺ φίλτατος ἑταῖρος) in life and Achilles’ obligations to Patroclus dead (funeral rites, burial, blood vengeance) were precisely those due and expected between close blood relatives.” In addition to this conceptual link, Glotz (1904: 85–93) also made the linguistic link between etes and hetairos in Homer making the companions of heroes their paternal kinsmen (cf. Miller 1953: 47). Certainly it is made clear that extended kin such as cousins could be living together when Phoenix says that he had many cousins and relatives living in his father’s house who begged him not to leave home (Il. 9.464– 5) suggesting that extended kin were thought to congregate together and to defend one another.

The Role of the Extended Family in Exacting Blood Revenge in Classical Athens“ by Fiona McHardy, pg 6.

If we consider that closeness between cousins was to be expected in situations like these, then Menoetius might have thought that Phthia wouldn’t only be better for Patroclus because Peleus was someone he knew and found trustworthy, but also because Patroclus would have a figure close to his own age in Achilles.

That is, so far, with regard to exile, we have the following details:

Patroclus' exile, narratively speaking, is more similar to cases in which, in search of protection in a situation of crisis/vulnerability, the character is sent to the home of a relative. It doesn’t have many similarities with cases in which the exile is intended to punish, in fact, but rather when it is intended to protect.

Menoetius personally took Patroclus to Phthia, which was ruled by Peleus. Peleus, in turn, was a relative of Menoetius and a former companion (former Argonauts) and was even known for being hospitable. So when Patroclus says he was treated kindly, this was probably something Menoetius imagined would happen given Peleus's characteristics.

Peleus had a son close in age to Patroclus, and cousins being raised together wasn’t uncommon in Greece, so it could be that Patroclus was raised with a cousin so that he could develop a close bond in a place far from home.

Even after his son's exile, Menoetius cared for him from what I understood. Let's set the facts out in an understandable order (not in the order they are presented in the text, but in the order that makes it easier to explain the whole thing). In the scene where Achilles talks about Patroclus crying, the reader is often reminded of Achilles joking about Patroclus being like a little girl running to her mother, but something that tends to get overshadowed is that he mentions Menoetius:

[Achilles’ lines] “Why are you tearful, Patroclus, like a foolish girl, who runs after her mother demanding to be picked up, grasping her dress, and holds her back as she hurries, and looks at her weeping, until she is picked up? Like her, Patroclus, you let your soft tear fall. Have you something to proclaim to the Myrmidons or me, some message from Phthia you alone have heard? But they say Menoetius still lives, Aktor’s son, and Peleus, son of Aeacus, is alive among the Myrmidons; should both of those die we would surely be grieved— or do you weep in pity for the Argives, because they perish by the hollow ships on account of their arrogance? Speak out, don’t hide it, so that we both know.”

The Iliad, 16.7-20. Translation by Caroline Alexander.

Achilles is basically saying how surely Patroclus isn’t saddened by any message he has received, since he knows that both Menoetius and Peleus are alive and “should both of those die we would surely be grieved” (16.17). That is, Achilles here immediately thinks of Menoetius’ death as something that would make Patroclus sad, implying that Patroclus has significant enough feelings for Menoetius. But not only that, he includes himself! Achilles implies that whether it is Peleus’ death or Menoetius’ death, both possibilities have made both of them sad. He therefore equates the importance of both as father figures. Menoetius to Achilles doesn’t seem to be just a distant progenitor, but a father whose loss would be grievous. Achilles’ equating both is significant, since we know that Achilles cares for Peleus, Peleus even being one of the motivators for Achilles to show pity to Priam at the end of The Iliad (Priam reminded him of Peleus). And not only that, but we know that Patroclus also has positive relations with Peleus, as he describes him as having welcomed him kindly when he talks about them growing up together. In either case, the equating of Menoetius with Peleus implies a positive paternal image of Menoetius.

Later, while mourning the now dead Patroclus, Achilles remembers:

[...] so groaning deeply Achilles addressed the Myrmidons: “Alas, alas, empty were the words I let fall that day as I encouraged the warrior Menoetius within his walls; I said to him that I would bring his son back to Opoeis surrounded in glory after sacking Ilion and receiving a share of the spoils. But Zeus does not fulfill men’s every wish; for it was fated that we both stain the same earth here in Troy, since I will not be returning home to be received by old Peleus, the horseman, in his halls, nor by Thetis my mother, but the earth will cover me here. […]”

The Iliad, 18.323-332. Translation by Caroline Alenxader.

First, this implies that Menoetius didn’t in fact cut off contact with Patroclus after his exile. After all, if he no longer had anything to do with Patroclus, why would Achilles feel the need to go to Menoetius' house in Opus [!] specifically to ask him for permission to take Patroclus to Troy? Just because he is Patroclus' progenitor? This makes no sense; the other character exiled by his father in The Iliad, Phoenix, clearly didn’t maintain relations with his father just because they’re related by blood. Blood relationship isn’t sufficient justification in this case.

[!] The Achilles had to go to Opus to make this request is my interpretation since Achilles says “within his walls” at 18.326, indicating that the scene took place at Menoetius’ house. In turn, Patroclus claims to be from Opus when he says “Menoetius brought me, when I was little, out of Opoeis” at 23.84 and Menoetius’s residence being in Opus is confirmed when Achilles specifies that he will bring Patroclus back to Opus when he says “I would bring his son back to Opoeis” (18.326). If Menoetius lived in Phthia, Achilles could have simply said that he would bring him back to Phthia or not mentioned the place, which would be implied since in this sense both Patroclus and Menoetius would live in the same local. However, there are those who interpret that Menoetius had been living in Phthia with Patroclus since his exile and was therefore at the goodbye moment, with the information that Achilles would bring Patroclus to Opus being an error on the part of the poet due to the peculiarities of the style of orally recited poetry. I disagree with this interpretation because the scene of Achilles' lament was mentioned by both Strabo and Aeschines and neither of them seemed to show any strangeness with the idea of Menoetius living in Opus and yet being at the farewell in Phthia. It could be argued that Aeschines' context, a court case, made this question of little importance and therefore his not mentioning any problem with it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. However, Strabo was actively analyzing Homeric poetry and trying to make geographical sense of it and if the idea of these characters (Peleus, Patroclus, Achilles) having relations with Menoetius in different locals was unrealistic to Greek perception, he would have commented on it because this is something he does repeatedly in his text. For example, he was the one who commented on the oddity of considering both Menoetius and the Locrian Ajax as kings of Opus. Furthermore, when looking at attempts to make maps of Ancient Greece, Opus and Phthia aren’t that far apart since they both tend to be depicted near the island of Euboea, although the exact location varies depending on the primary source used for reference. Anyway, what I want to say is that I disagree that such interactions are only possible if it is for narrative convenience or by mistake on the part of the poet.

Second, Achilles says “I encouraged the warrior Menoetius” (18.325), implying that not only were Menoetius and Patroclus close enough that Achilles felt it necessary to ask his permission, but he also had to encourage Menoetius. This possibly implies that Menoetius was hesitant to allow his son to go to war, which may have been motivated by concern. In the Greek edition I found, the word used is “θαρσύνω,” and Greek-English dictionaries agree that it means “to encourage, to cheer.” Achilles then, right after stating that it was necessary to encourage Menoetius, says “I said to him that I would bring his son back to Opoeis surrounded in glory” (18.326), so not only did Menoetius need to be encouraged, but one of Achilles’ ways of doing so was to promise that Patroclus would return home alive and in glory. In my opinion, this is an indication of the portrayal of Menoetius as a father concerned for his son.

Third, the next thing Achilles does is to remember that, like Patroclus, he is destined to die young and that Peleus and Thetis will mourn him. He equates himself with Patroclus in “for it was fated that we both stain the same earth here in Troy, since I will not be returning home” (18.329-330), indirectly equating Menoetius’s grief at learning of Patroclus’s death with the grief that Peleus and Thetis will later have to suffer. Indeed, even the fact that Achilles remembers Menoetius while he himself is mourning is a hint that, as he grieves, Achilles realizes that Menoetius will suffer as well. He, in a way, identifies with Menoetius in this regard.

Furthermore, such aspects of parallels between Peleus and Menoetius have already been noted previously:

Through the eyes of Nestor we receive a glimpse on a sacrificial meal prepared by the two young men and their fathers. In the moment depicted by Nestor, still no one could know that this will be their last meal together, before the sons will leave for war and die there. The very next moment, when Achilles recognizes Nestor and Odysseus standing in the gate, will be decisive for the future fate of both Achilles himself and his friend. But Nestor, at this point of the story, could not know that he recounts the last meal the two young men will ever have had together with their fathers. In fact, the counsel he will give at the end of his speech will prove to be the decisive factor, that neither Patroclus nor Achilles will ever return home. Nestor goes on to depict the scene, how Achilles joyfully got up from his seat to receive the unforeseen guests (11.777 – 779)

The Fate of Achilles in the Iliad by Martina Hirschberger, pg 191.

Patroclus’ relationship to his father Menoetius, which parallels Achilles’ relationship to his father Peleus, is also frequently mentioned in the poem, adding particular pathos to the hero’s death (Il. 11.771 – 789, 16.14 – 16, 18.325 – 327, 23.85).

Epithets with Echoes: A Study on Formula-Narrative Interactioby Naoko Yamagata, pg 458

Moving on! As we know, Achilles gained Menoetius' approval. We have more details on this from Nestor, who was present when Menoetius and Peleus said goodbye to Achilles and Patroclus:

[Nestor’s line] “[...] Thus was I among men, if this ever happened. But Achilles alone will have benefit of his prowess; although I think that he will weep much after, when his people have perished. O my friend, surely Menoetius so instructed you on that day, when he sent you forth from Phthia to Agamemnon; for we two were inside, myself and brilliant Odysseus, and we heard everything in those halls, as he instructed; for we had come to the well-placed house of Peleus gathering the army throughout all-nourishing Achaea, and there we found the warrior Menoetius inside and you, by Achilles’side; and the aged horseman Peleus was burning the fat-rich thighbones of an ox to Zeus who hurls the thunderbolt, in an enclosure of his courtyard; and he was holding a golden goblet, making libations of fire-bright wine on the fiery sacrifices; you two were busy with the meat of the ox, when we two stood in the entrance. In amazement Achilles sprang up, and led us in, taking us by the hand, and urged us to be seated; and duly set before us tokens of hospitality, which are the right of strangers; then when we were satisfied with eating and drinking, I began my speech, urging you to come with us; both of you were very eager, both of them gave many instructions; old Peleus enjoined his son Achilles always to be best and to be better than all others, and right there and then Menoetius, son of Aktor, enjoined you thus: ‘My son, in birth Achilles is your superior, but you are older; in strength he is far the better; but speak you well to him and put in his mind close counsel and point the way; he will listen for his own good end.’ So the old man instructed, but you have forgotten. Yet even now you might speak these things to brilliant Achilles, in the hope that he might yet be persuaded. Who knows, if with help from some god you might stir his heart, winning him over? For the persuasion of a comrade is a worthy thing. you might speak these things to brilliant Achilles, in the hope that he might yet be persuaded. Who knows, if with help from some god you might stir his heart, winning him over? For the persuasion of a comrade is a worthy thing. [...]”

The Iliad, 11.762-793. Translation by Caroline Alexander.

First, Nestor is narrating the moment when Achilles and Patroclus were being sent to Troy (“urging you to come with us; both of you were very eager”, 11.781-782), that is, Patroclus was already exiled from Opus at this point since Patroclus states that he was sent to Phthia after exile (“but together, even as we were raised in your house, when Menoetius brought me, when I was little, out of Opoeis to your home, because of an evil murder”, 23.83-85). We also know that in the Homeric version, the girl disguise on Skyros never happened and Achilles was sent from Phthia by Peleus, accompanied by Phoenix, to serve in Agamemnon's army because both Phoenix and Odysseus state this in Book 9. Odysseus and Nestor are there precisely because of Achilles and Patroclus according to Book 11. Overall, the Iliadic painting suggests a recruitment that took place normally in Phthia, without any attempts at deception. Such differences were noted by Pausanias and the Byzantine scholia, both of whom commented on the absence of the disguise myth in The Iliad. There is no reason for Menoetius, who isn’t from Phthia, to be there...unless he specifically wanted to say goodbye to Patroclus [!]. He would therefore have had to have traveled specifically in order to be able to say goodbye to his son. Not only that, but his advice indicates that he didn’t demean Patroclus, but saw good in him. He acknowledges that Achilles is superior to Patroclus in strength (“‘My son, in birth Achilles is your superior, but you are older; in strength he is far the better”, 11.786-787), but he clearly considers Patroclus wiser than Achilles and advises him to value this and even seems to believe that Achilles would listen to Patroclus (“but speak you well to him and put in his mind close counsel and point the way; he will listen for his own good end”, 11.788-789) — he isn’t belittling Patroclus, he is just reinforcing that he has his unique positive characteristics. Furthermore, Nestor even tells this in a way that parallels the Peleus-Achilles and Menoetius-Patroclus moments, representing experienced fathers advising their young sons.

[!] Depending on the interpretation, Menoetius' presence in Phthia is explained by the interpretation that he also lived in Phthia or as a narrative convenience, in which the poet places him there even if it doesn't make geographical sense because it does make narrative sense. Again, I reiterate that I disagree with both interpretations and I've already explained my interpretation. I think it's perfectly possible that Menoetius simply traveled, especially considering that mythology doesn't always consider aspects of time and geography in a super realistic way. For example, see how in Euripides' Iphigenia in Aulis the process of sending the message to Clytemnestra, Clytemnestra receiving the message and making preparations, the family traveling to Aulis and the family arriving in Aulis seems to have been conveniently quick when it would normally take much longer. Or even see how trying to map the voyages of Odysseus and the Argonauts in an entirely logical way is a difficult task since the authors weren't always making super accurate geographical representations because that wasn't the focus.

Other sources

Now, let's look other sources. First, see how the scene in which Achilles speaks about the promise to return with Patroclus remained remembered in other texts.

Aeschines (4th century BCE) said:

For Achilles says somewhere in the course of his lament for the death of Patroclus, as recalling one of the greatest of sorrows, that unwillingly he has broken the promise he had given to Menoetius, the father of Patroclus; for he had promised to bring his son back safe to Opus, if he would send him along with him to Troy, and entrust him to his care. It is evident from this that it was because of love that he undertook to take care of him. But the verses, which I am about to recite, are these: "Ah me, I rashly spoke vain words that day When in his halls I cheered Menoetius. I told the hero I would surely bring His famous son to Opus back again, When he had ravaged Ilium, and won His share of spoil. But Zeus does not fulfil To men their every hope. For fate decrees That both of us make red one spot of earth."

Against Timarchus, § 143-144. Translation by Charles Darwin Adams.

Strabo (1st century CE) said:

[...] Now Homer says that Patroclus was from Opus, and that after committing an involuntary murder he fled to Peleus, but that his father Menoetius remained in his native land; for thither Achilles says that he promised Menoetius to bring back Patroclus when Patroclus should return from the expedition. [...]

Geography, 9.4.2. Translation by Horace Leonard Jones.

And in this regard, it’s important to say that Achilles promised to bring Patroclus to Menoetius, that is, to Opus. Achilles says “bring his son back to Opoeis” in The Iliad, he doesn’t simply say that Patroclus will be alive. That is, Menoetius agreed to have Achilles take Patroclus with him with the expectation that he would have his son again in his homeland. If we consider that the poet did this intentionally, then Patroclus doesn’t seem like a complete exile, since his father is willing and even desires to welcome him back.

Compare, for example, with the way Aeacus is determined to prevent Telamon from remaining on Aegina:

When this blow of the quoit killed Phocus, the sons of Endeis boarded a ship and fled. Afterwards Telamon sent a herald denying that he had plotted the death of Phocus. Aeacus, however, refused to allow him to land on the island, and bade him make his defence standing on board ship, or if he wished, from a mole raised in the sea. So he sailed into the harbor called Secret, and proceeded to make a mole by night. This was finished, and still remains at the present day. But Telamon, being condemned as implicated in the murder of Phocus, sailed away a second time and came to Salamis.

Description of Greece, 2.29.10. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.

Or even how, in Book 9 of The Iliad, Phoenix recounts being cursed by his father and having to flee. He was welcomed into Phthia, but as a result of the curse, couldn’t have children and considered Achilles as a son instead. In another account, Amyntor even blinded him in his rage, but Peleus took him to Chiron, who cured him:

[...] This Phoenix had been blinded by his father on the strength of a false accusation of seduction preferred against him by his father's concubine Phthia. But Peleus brought him to Chiron, who restored his sight [...]

Library, 3.13.8. Translation by J.G. Frazer.

By comparison, Menoetius showed no anger. Patroclus's exile, as I have said, also doesn’t seem to be intended to permanently rid him of him without resorting to death, as was the case with Oedipus in Sophocles' plays Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus or Euripides's play Medea.

Now, another interesting detail is to note how scholia D (12th century) speaks about exile. This time, another translation with the most complete excerpt:

So among the huts the stalwart son of Menoitios (ὣς ὁ μὲν ἐν κλισίῃσι Μενοιτίου ἄλκιμος υἱός) While growing up in Opous (in Locris), Patroclos son of Menoitios was involved in an involuntary mistake. In a fit of rage over a game of dice he killed a boy his age, Clesonymos, the son of Amphidamas (a man of some importance), but some say it was Aianes he killed. Exiled for this, he went to Phthia and, based on his kinship with Peleus, he stayed there with Achilles. They maintained an exceptional friendship with each other and went on campaign against Troy together. The story is in Hellanicus (fr. 145 Fowler; EGM 2.537).

Scholia D, 12.1. Edition by R. Scott Smith et al.

I have already discussed Amphidamas' status and relationship with Peleus and how this may influence the exile. But something interesting is that the text says "he" when talking about who went into exile, referring to Patroclus. Not only is Patroclus the only one mentioned in this section, but Menoetius isn’t described as going into exile as well. Again, I have an even stronger impression that Menoetius wasn’t exiled together and lived in Phthia as some theorize, but rather returned to Opus.

Another interesting detail is how Pseudo-Apollodorus describes the exile:

[...] At Opus, in a quarrel over a game of dice, Patroclus killed the boy Clitonymus, son of Amphidamas, and flying with his father he dwelt at the house of Peleus [...]

Library, 3.13.8. Translation by J.G. Frazer.

In the Greek edition that I found, the term that was translated as “flying” is “φυγὼν”, which really has the meaning of fleeing, escaping, avoiding. In other words, Pseudo-Apollodorus wrote this in a way that implies that Patroclus was fleeing from something. But this “something” is not from his father, as, for example, Peleus and Telamon fled from Aeacus. After all, the text says “flying with his father”, indicating that Menoetius went with him. It doesn’t seem that the case is Patroclus fleeing from Menoetius’ punishment, but rather that the situation is Menoetius taking Patroclus and fleeing from the punishment that his son will suffer. Again, I get the impression that Patroclus’ so-called “exile” was a way of avoiding responsibility for the crime committed, an avoidance that has the full approval of Menoetius, who is actually an accomplice in the whole thing.

Name of Patroclus

The name Patroclus is a combination of πατήρ (“patḗr”, "father" stem pát-) and κλέος (kléos, "glory"), resulting in Πατροκλος ("glory of his father").

This name has resulted in a number of interpretations, ranging from its importance in emphasizing the Patroclus/Achilles and Cleopatra/Meleager parallels in Book 9 and Book 16 of The Iliad (Cleopatra has the “same name” as Patroclus, the difference being that one begins with glory and ends with father while the other begins with father and ends with glory. Cleopatra is thus a feminine version of the name Patroclus, reinforcing how they play the same role: begging the enraged hero to fight again) to the idea of a shared Patroclus/Achilles identity (this requires a very long explanation, I will just summarize that it has been suggested that the “kleos” in Patroclus’ name is related to Achilles’ desire for kleos. For example, he returns to battle because of Patroclus, indirectly resulting in him gaining kleos through his performance on the battlefield and in this sense, Patroclus is indirectly part of the reason for Achilles' most memorable act, that is, "undying glory"). But another possibility lies with Patroclus’ father, Menoetius.

It has been suggested that Patroclus being repeatedly referred to as “son of Menoetius” (Μενοιτιάδαο) in The Iliad before Menoetius is actually introduced in Book 11 implies that the audience of the Homeric poem may have already been aware of Menoetius' identity (The Iliad: A Commentary - Volume IV: Books 13-16 by Richard Janko, pg 313-314). But when we look at the surviving sources, Menoetius doesn't seem to do much. Even the only famous quest we know of in which he is involved, the journey of the Argonauts, doesn't seem to give him any major achievements, and in fact is often interpreted as being more about Patroclus than Menoetius. When looking at the texts that mention Menoetius, he is often identified as Patroclus' father, while usually the opposite is true (the son being identified by the father). In a way, any fame Menoetius has, at least in the surviving sources, is because of Patroclus. In this sense, he is immensely different from Peleus and Telamon, who clearly have their own stories and don’t necessarily need the fame of their sons to be know. In this sense, Patroclus would truly be “the glory of the father,” since kleos gives undying fame to the one who achieves it, making him “immortal” in culture and in the popular imagination. And if Menoetius is remembered to this day, it seems to be because of Patroclus: Patroclus brought kleos to him.

Finally, I will comment on something that I imagine may simply be coincidence. Achilles promised to bring Patroclus back to Opus in glory, as he says in the Book 18 (“his son back to Opoeis surrounded in glory”). He failed to deliver on his promise that Patroclus would be back, but glory certainly did happen. This, in turn, reminds me of how, in Book 16, Achilles pours libations to Zeus and asks for two things: that Patroclus bring glory and that Patroclus return alive. It is said that Zeus agreed to give glory to Patroclus, but didn’t agree to keep him alive:

[...] But Achilles went to his shelter, and removed the cover from a chest, beautiful, ornamented, that silver-footed Thetis put on the ship for him to take, having packed it carefully with tunics and cloaks to protect him from the wind, and thick fleecy blankets; here he kept his fine-wrought cup nor did any other man drink gleaming wine from it, nor did he make libation to any of the gods but Zeus the father. Taking this from the chest he purified it with sulphur first, then washed it with bright streams of water, and washed his own hands, and drew off gleaming wine. Then standing in the middle of the courtyard he prayed and poured wine in libation, looking up into the sky, and Zeus who strikes with the thunderbolt saw him: “Lord Zeus of Pelasgian Dodona, dwelling far away, ruler of Dodona of the bitter winter, around you dwell the Selloi your interpreters, sleepers on the ground with unwashed feet; surely once before this you heard me when I prayed; honoring me you smote hard the host of the Achaeans; now, as once before, fulfill this wish for me; for I will remain amid my gathered ships, but I am sending my companion with the many Myrmidons to combat; send glory forth with him, Zeus far-thunderer; make brave the heart within his breast, so that even Hector comes to know whether my henchman on his own will prove skilled in fighting, or his hands rage invincible only at that time, when I myself go to join war’s struggle. Then when he has driven the din of battle and the fighting from the ships, unharmed let him return to my swift ships with all his armor and his close-fighting comrades.” So he spoke in prayer, and Zeus all-devising heard him; and the father granted one thing to him, but the other he refused him; that his companion would drive the war and fighting from the ships he granted him, but he refused his safe return from battle. And when Achilles had made libation and prayed to father Zeus he went into his shelter again, and put the cup back in the chest. Then he went to stand before his shelter; for in his heart he still wished to look upon the dread combat of the Trojans and Achaeans.

The Iliad, 16.220-256. Translation by Caroline Alexander.

Patroclus brought glory to both Menoetius and Achilles, immortalizing his father's name and his own in the process, but in return his life was rather short-lived.

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