Source-groundedThe Iliad
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Location · Individual

tomb of Patroclus

Published entity metadata

Read-only identity and editorial metadata.

Canonical name
tomb of Patroclus
Disambiguator
None
Kind
Location
Scope
Individual
Parent location
None
Editorial note
The repeatedly visited and circled tomb of Achilles’s dead comrade.

Aliases

1

tomb of the son of Menoetius

Descriptive reference · Direct

Present entities

Phase 6 currently covers 24 processed books.

12
AchillesCharacter4 observations
·Direct

Achilles dragged Hector around Patroclus’ tomb.

See evidence text
“There they made ready their supper, and then bethought them of the blessed boon of sleep; but Achilles still wept for thinking of his dear comrade, and sleep, before whom all things bow, could take no hold upon him. This way and that did he turn as he yearned after the might and manfulness of Patroclus; he thought of all they had done together, and all they had gone through both on the field of battle and on the waves of the weary sea. As he dwelt on these things he wept bitterly and lay now on his side, now on his back, and now face downwards, till at last he rose and went out as one distraught to wander upon the seashore. Then, when he saw dawn breaking over beach and sea, he yoked his horses to his chariot, and bound the body of Hector behind it that he might drag it about. Thrice did he drag it round the tomb of the son of Menoetius”
·Reported

Apollo reported Achilles dragging Hector around Patroclus’ tomb.

See evidence text
“whereas Achilles, now that he has slain noble Hector, drags him behind his chariot round the tomb of his comrade”
·Reported

Mercury reported Achilles dragging Hector around Patroclus’ sepulchre.

See evidence text
“At daybreak Achilles drags him cruelly round the sepulchre of his dear comrade”
·Remembered

Hecuba remembered Achilles dragging Hector around Patroclus’ sepulchre.

See evidence text
“for when Achilles took any other of my sons, he would sell him beyond the seas, to Samos Imbrus or rugged Lemnos; and when he had slain you too with his sword, many a time did he drag you round the sepulchre of his comrade”
Achilles's chariotItem2 observations
·Direct

Achilles’s chariot carried Hector around Patroclus’ tomb.

See evidence text
“There they made ready their supper, and then bethought them of the blessed boon of sleep; but Achilles still wept for thinking of his dear comrade, and sleep, before whom all things bow, could take no hold upon him. This way and that did he turn as he yearned after the might and manfulness of Patroclus; he thought of all they had done together, and all they had gone through both on the field of battle and on the waves of the weary sea. As he dwelt on these things he wept bitterly and lay now on his side, now on his back, and now face downwards, till at last he rose and went out as one distraught to wander upon the seashore. Then, when he saw dawn breaking over beach and sea, he yoked his horses to his chariot, and bound the body of Hector behind it that he might drag it about. Thrice did he drag it round the tomb of the son of Menoetius”
·Reported

Apollo reported Achilles’s chariot carrying Hector around Patroclus’ tomb.

See evidence text
“whereas Achilles, now that he has slain noble Hector, drags him behind his chariot round the tomb of his comrade”
Achilles's horsesAnimal1 observation
·Direct

Achilles’s horses drew the chariot around Patroclus’ tomb.

See evidence text
“There they made ready their supper, and then bethought them of the blessed boon of sleep; but Achilles still wept for thinking of his dear comrade, and sleep, before whom all things bow, could take no hold upon him. This way and that did he turn as he yearned after the might and manfulness of Patroclus; he thought of all they had done together, and all they had gone through both on the field of battle and on the waves of the weary sea. As he dwelt on these things he wept bitterly and lay now on his side, now on his back, and now face downwards, till at last he rose and went out as one distraught to wander upon the seashore. Then, when he saw dawn breaking over beach and sea, he yoked his horses to his chariot, and bound the body of Hector behind it that he might drag it about. Thrice did he drag it round the tomb of the son of Menoetius”
HectorCharacter4 observations
·Direct

Hector’s body was dragged around Patroclus’ tomb.

See evidence text
“There they made ready their supper, and then bethought them of the blessed boon of sleep; but Achilles still wept for thinking of his dear comrade, and sleep, before whom all things bow, could take no hold upon him. This way and that did he turn as he yearned after the might and manfulness of Patroclus; he thought of all they had done together, and all they had gone through both on the field of battle and on the waves of the weary sea. As he dwelt on these things he wept bitterly and lay now on his side, now on his back, and now face downwards, till at last he rose and went out as one distraught to wander upon the seashore. Then, when he saw dawn breaking over beach and sea, he yoked his horses to his chariot, and bound the body of Hector behind it that he might drag it about. Thrice did he drag it round the tomb of the son of Menoetius”
·Reported

Apollo reported Hector being dragged around Patroclus’ tomb.

See evidence text
“whereas Achilles, now that he has slain noble Hector, drags him behind his chariot round the tomb of his comrade”
·Reported

Mercury reported Hector being dragged around Patroclus’ sepulchre.

See evidence text
“At daybreak Achilles drags him cruelly round the sepulchre of his dear comrade”
·Remembered

Hecuba remembered Hector being dragged around Patroclus’ sepulchre.

See evidence text
“for when Achilles took any other of my sons, he would sell him beyond the seas, to Samos Imbrus or rugged Lemnos; and when he had slain you too with his sword, many a time did he drag you round the sepulchre of his comrade”
Jove’s awful aegisItem1 observation
·Direct

The golden aegis shielded Hector during the circuit of Patroclus’ tomb.

See evidence text
“Thrice did he drag it round the tomb of the son of Menoetius, and then went back into his tent, leaving the body on the ground full length and with its face downwards. But Apollo would not suffer it to be disfigured, for he pitied the man, dead though he now was; therefore he shielded him with his golden aegis continually, that he might take no hurt while Achilles was dragging him”

Claims

5
·Direct

The future monument for Patroclus and Achilles was marked by funeral timber on the seashore.

See evidence text
“upon the seashore at the place where Achilles would make a mighty monument for Patroclus and for himself.”
·Direct

At Patroclus's funeral place the mourners built a hundred-foot-square pyre and laid his body on top.

See evidence text
“heaped up wood and built a pyre a hundred feet this way and that; then they laid the dead all sorrowfully upon the top of it.”
·Reported

Achilles ordered a modest present barrow, to be made broad and high after his death.

See evidence text
“As for the barrow, labour not to raise a great one now, but such as is reasonable. Afterwards, let those Achaeans who may be left at the ships when I am gone, build it both broad and high.’”
·Direct

Patroclus's barrow was marked as a circle, founded around the pyre, and heaped into a mound.

See evidence text
“They marked off the circle where the barrow should be, made a foundation for it about the pyre, and forthwith heaped up the earth.”
·Direct

Patroclus’s tomb is circled three times while Hector is dragged behind Achilles’s chariot.

See evidence text
“Thrice did he drag it round the tomb of the son of Menoetius, and then went back into his tent”

Additional evidence

Evidence records not already represented by a claim.

1
·Direct
“Thrice did he drag it round the tomb of the son of Menoetius”

Passage preview

Book 23 · Passage 10

Thus did he speak and his words set them all weeping and mourning about the poor dumb dead, till rosy-fingered morn appeared. Then King Agamemnon sent men and mules from all parts of the camp, to bring wood, and Meriones, squire to Idomeneus, was in charge over them. They went out with woodmen’s axes and strong ropes in their hands, and before them went the mules. Up hill and down dale did they go, by straight ways and crooked, and when they reached the heights of many-fountained Ida, they laid their axes to the roots of many a tall branching oak that came thundering down as they felled it. They split the trees and bound them behind the mules, which then wended their way as they best could through the thick brushwood on to the plain. All who had been cutting wood bore logs, for so Meriones squire to Idomeneus had bidden them, and they threw them down in a line upon the seashore at the place where Achilles would make a mighty monument for Patroclus and for himself.