Achilles & Patroclus

pynchs:

actual Proof that patroclus and achilles are Soft Boyfriends™

• achilles once woke patroclus up by pRESSING THEIR NOSES TOGETHER 
  
• that was so gay i cannot and Will Not put up with this
  
• achilles: *tries to get patroclus’ attention by fucking juggling figs*
• patroclus literally Officially became achilles’ number 1 dude when they were like 13 can i live
• was i dreaming when patroclus described achilles’ lips to be like BEES what the hell why are they so small and cute
• not only handjobs but handjobs A) under the constellations and B) on achilles’ 16th bday
• they played together in the lake and wrestled each other and hung off of tree branches on the Magic Mountain that patroclus risked everything to follow achilles to !!!!!!
• “now i know how to make you follow me anywhere” shuT
  
• achilles tending to the wounds on patroclus’ feet after he hurt himself because he found out about the prophecy :-((
• tiny achilles highkey avoiding sleeping with one of the servant girls because he was highkey crushing on patroclus
• these boys just love each other so much and are so small and so sweet and so In Love

(Source: babydrivers)

o-fortunate-adulescens:

so I was translating the Iliad and of course I had to end up crying again

why?

well, first of all, there’s something important about the Iliad: it’s very common that a certain verse appears a lot of times in the poem (for example, “and thus, X said” or “and then, black death took over his corpse”) because the Iliad and the Odyssey were oral poems. Those verses made it easier for the poet to remember the rest, a bit like the chorus of a song.

Okay. So. In the book 2 of the Iliad, Achilles is with his mother, and he’s crying because Agamemnon has offended him. And Thetis says:  τί δέ σε φρένας ἵκετο πένθος; ἐξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε νόῳ, ἵνα εἴδομεν ἄμφω. (Son, what sorrow has taken over your heart? speak, don’t hide it in your heart, so we both know).

Then we move forward to book 16. Homer shows us a four verse long simile describing Patroclus’ tears: he cries warm tears like a dark fountain pours its waters over a cliff.  Achilles gets worried about him (because who would like seeing the love of his life crying like that? not me, not Achilles) and Achilles asks him why is he crying, and says:  ἐξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε νόῳ, ἵνα εἴδομεν ἄμφω. The exact same verse.

And! then! there’s book 18. Patroclus has died, and Achilles is completely devastated. His mother appears quickly at his side, and, alarmed, says:  τέκνον τί κλαίεις; τί δέ σε φρένας ἵκετο πένθος; ἐξαύδα, μὴ κεῦθε. (Son, why are you crying? what sorrow has taken over your heart? speak, don’t hide it). Yes, this same verse again.

Think about it. The very words Achilles had comforted Patroclus with, Thetis has to repeat them to comfort her son again. At first, he was crying because he was offended; then he cries because, as a consequence of that offence, he’s lost the person whom he loved more than his own life.

Intertextuality in the Iliad is absolutely fascinating and heartbreaking and I’m not okay

(via thlsandthisandthls)