Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I may possibly make a fool out of myself over the next couple of minutes but I have been legitimately fascinated with Greece and the Ancient Greeks since I was a child so I will try to make some sense out of all the information I have gathered over the years. Patroclus, the eromenos, in leading the Myrmidons, is elevated beyond the moral caliber of his mentor, and Achilles is redeemed only when, having reflected on his follies, he returns Hector's body to Priam. So, conclusions on their relationship being a homoerotic one are actually drawn on Plato’s Symposium, roughly from around a century later, where a war of words among notable men is depicted, much of which revolves around eroticism, including homoeroticism. (The writing is uneven. Thus, in Athens during the 5th century BC, the relationship was commonly interpreted as pederastic. . We even have a fragment from a lost tragedy of Aeschylus, where Achilles speaks of his and Patroclus’ “frequent kisses.” A partial transcript of Episode 15 of THE ART MOVEMENT. In the Oxford Classical Dictionary, David M. Halperin writes. . For example, Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey tell us about the Trojan War but the versions of these two epic poems are not originals and were compiled out of tales handed down from oral tradition. This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone. ( Log Out /  ...und (Vlysses) 601 What is the remedie? ( Log Out /  But in Love? Homer never explicitly casts the two as lovers but they were depicted as lovers in the archaic and classical periods of Greek literature, partic… Where does it come from, and after all of your research, do you believe it? I would also add, more specifically, that I think the culture is ready for the kind of love story that transcends gender and time. Hetaîros meant companion or comrade; in Homer it is usually used of soldiers under the same commander. Miller describes with some delicacy the development of their relationship, the brush of their first kiss, and their inaugural sexual encounter in a cave on Mount Pelion. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Creative direction and website design by Adrian Kinloch. And since it is a well known fact that homosexuality was widespread in Ancient Greece, I just can’t help myself. Although most warriors fought for personal fame or their city-state (including, at times, Achilles), at certain junctures in the Iliad, Achilles fights for Patroclus. And especially at this fractured and shifting historical moment, I think people are looking back to the past for insight. . Its exact nature has been a subject of dispute in both the classical period and modern times. It was not uncommon for males to have sexual relations with one another, and homosexuality was not a point of contention as it has been in the more recent past. The reason we talk about it at all is not so much because of Homer’s epic poems but because in the 5th century, Achilles’ homoeroticism comes much more to the fore in the Myrmidon by Aeschylus (isclus), particularly in his relationship with Patroclus, which feels more like a romantic relationship than a friendship. In this case, the teacher had to die in order to redeem the student, and the pivotal change in Achilles' character occurs when he resumes leadership of the Myrmidons and takes the field against Hector despite his grievance with Agamemnon. Whether in the context of a tender friendship or military excellence, Homer makes their strong connection clear. For Achilles … in his own ascending scale of affection as dramatized by the entire composition of the Iliad, the highest place must belong to Patroklos…. In addition, many of the texts that recount tales of those times are at least partly fictional, which means that in theory they should be taken with a grain of salt. Achilles' strongest interpersonal bond is with Patroclus, whom he loves dearly. We even have a fragment from a lost tragedy of Aeschylus, where Achilles speaks of his and Patroclus’ “frequent kisses.” That doesn't mean there won't be ups and downs; that's all part of life. Achilles returns to the battlefield with the sole aim of avenging Patroclus' death by killing Hector, Patroclus' killer, even though the gods had warned him that it would cost him his life.