5 Minute Summary, Iliad 16, by Frank Genovese

The book starts off with Patroclus finding Achilles and starting to cry. Achilles pities him and asks why he is crying. Patroclus tells Achilles of all the wounded, and he says that he doesn’t want to see Achilles wounded or even killed due to his obsession with honor. He asks Achilles to give him his armor so he can protect Achilles by leading his troops for him.

Lines 49-50:

“That was how Patroclus, like a child

Begging for a toy, begged for death.”

Achilles tells Patroclus how he took personal offense to Agamemnon using his power to rob him and strip him of his honor. He agrees to Patroclus’ plan and says to come back once the Trojans have been driven away from the ships, and to let the rest of the army fight the rest of the battle out in Troy.

Patroclus dons the armor of the mighty Achilles.

Once Achilles sees enemy ships readying to set fire to theirs, he has Patroclus don his armor and go to battle. He then prays to Zeus for Patroclus to carry out the mission with success and without harm. Zeus granted half of the prayer, and made it so he could carry out the mission but get harmed in the process.

The army, led by Patroclus disguised as Achilles, is able to drive back the Trojans. The Trojans are intimidated because they think Achilles is back to wreak havoc on them. Patroclus kills the Trojans’ best fighter and chariot commander, Pyraechmes, with his spear and then douses the fires from the Trojan ships.

Battle commences, and several scattered one-on-one fights to the death occur. While this is going on, Ajax attempts to kill Hector, but Hector stayed safe behind his shield. Once the Greeks had enough of the upper hand, Patroclus called his men in for the kill. They went through the trenches on their horses and chased after Hector in the pursuit of killing him.

While they chased the Trojans back to their city walls, the Greek forces killed more and more of the Trojan forces. Patroclus spears a few more people, such as Pronous and Thestor. He kills many people in a short timespan.

Lines 450-454:

“And then, in quick succession, Patroclus killed:

Erymas, Amphoterus, Epaltes, Echius,

Pyris, Tlepolemus, son of Damastor, Ipheus,

Euippus, and Polymelus, Argeas’ son—

Making Troy’s rich earth fat with their blood.”

Sarpedon notices all of these killings and approaches Patroclus.

Zeus says to his sister and wife, Hera, that he might wish to save Sarpedon, his son whom he loves more than anyone else, from the wrath of Patroclus. Hera berates him for wanting to protect a mortal, but tells him to do so, but not to expect the rest of the immortals to approve. Then, she recommends he have him killed and buried in traditional fashion.

The death of Sarpedon at the hands of Patroclus.

Patroclus and Sarpedon engage in battle, and continue to miss each other (resulting in the deaths of Thrasymelus and Pedasus) until finally, Patroclus spears Sarpedon in the heart, killing him. Before he dies, however, he calls on Glaucus to be strong and keep the battle going. Glaucus prays for the strength to continue after being overwhelmed with grief. Apollo responds by immediately giving him godlike strength. He then grabs a troop of Lycian leaders and tells them to fight for Sarpedon’s body. He then found Hector, who was still “hiding”, and berated him for not aiding his people and practically allowing Sarpedon to be killed.

In response, Hector led a troop of Trojans straight at the Greeks. Patroclus sees this and tells the two Ajaxes to charge at them with everything they’ve got so that the Greeks can keep Sarpedon’s body. The lines hardened in order to fight for the corpse, and in the midst of the fighting, more people died (Epeigeus, Sthenelaos, and Laogonus).

While the Greeks strip Sarpedon of his armor, Zeus ponders when Patroclus should be killed. Apollo, in the midst of Patroclus’ rampage, tells him that Troy is fated to fall, but not to Patroclus. He then commands that Patroclus leave the battlefield now. Patroclus ignores this command. In response, Apollo, disguised as Hector’s uncle, tells Hector to go after Patroclus. He heeds the command.

During the chase, Patroclus gets off his chariot and throws a stone into Cebriones’ (Priam’s bastard son) skull. Hector leapt out of his chariot and the two fought over his body while the Trojans and Greeks continued their battles.

Patroclus makes off with Cebriones’ body, and then Apollo strips Patroclus of his armor and Achilles’ mighty helmet. Hector takes advantage of this opportunity and drives his spear through Patroclus’ belly.

Hector, after vanquishing the now-unarmed Patroclus.

Hector victoriously boasts and berates both Patroclus (for losing) and Achilles (for having done absolutely nothing when he was needed). In response, Patroclus tells Hector that the gods were clearly on his side and that it was an “easy victory” for him. He says that “Peleus’ perfect son” shall take his revenge on Hector and kill him. Hector denies this, and says he shall kill Achilles.

This book details Patroclus' efforts to save Achilles; however, we as an audience know he is doomed from the start. However, we get to see just how mighty of a warrior Patroclus is, as the only reason he is killed is because he is stripped of all of his protection by the gods. This does bring up the question though, is Patroclus only such a great warrior in this book because he has donned the armor of the mighty and godlike Achilles?

It seems that this book shows that everyone's fate is predetermined by the gods: Patroclus is set to die once he decides to take Achilles' armor, and it is said that Troy is already fated to fall. If this is true, this brings up another discussion question: what is the purpose of all the fighting and alliances the gods are partaking in? Are they just playing games for sheer amusement? Are they simply taking out their bitterness toward each other by using the humans as puppets?