phia-myth

[phia-myth]

(Long post ahead)

"He's half of my soul, as the poets say" this, "Name one hero who was happy" that...

But like, can we talk about how beautifully tragic and tragically beautiful some of the original quotes from the Iliad are too?? And these are not even all of them!

"Oh, how I wish that neither the Trojans nor the Achaeans could escape death! If only the two of us survived, so that we could bring down the sacred walls of Troy together, the two of us alone..."

"But his mother hadn't told him about the tragic event yet; he wasn't still aware that the most beloved [philtatos] of all his comrades had died."

"As Achilles heard those words [about Patroclus' death], a dark, deadly cloud of anguish engulfed him; with both hands he grabbed plenty of dust from the earth, letting it fall upon his head and smear his marvelous face and clothes. He flopped down onto the ground, disfiguring his body with his hands, tearing the locks of hair out of his head. [...]

Meanwhile, Antilochus sobbed and cried silently, holding tightly still the hands of weeping Achilles, preventing him from grabbing a blade and slicing his own throat.

He let out a heart-wrenching cry, so loud that his mother heard him from the bottom of the ocean."

"What sweetness, what kind of relief is left for me, if my dear Patroclus is no more, him whom I cherished more than all my comrades, whom I valued as my own life, loved as my own soul? I have lost him. [...] And now I shall go find that killer [Hector], the man who deprived me of my dear life."

"She found her beloved son laying down with his arms wrapped around Patroclus' body, crying bitterly. And so did many other companions weep around him."

"You shall all die a bitter death by my hand, each one of you shall pay for what you did to Patroclus, killing him by the ships while I was not there."

"But I will never forget Patroclus, not as long as I live, not as long as I'm steady on my limbs. And even in death, in the realm of Hades where the dead are forgotten, the memory of my beloved comrade will live for all eternity."

[Patroclus' ghost appears to Achilles in a dream]

"You're sleeping, Achilles: have you forgotten about me? You cherished me while I was alive; are you going to neglect me now that I'm dead? [...] Give me your hand, I beg you. For once my body is properly burned, I shall no more come back from the realm of Hades. No more shall we take sweet counsel as we did when I was alive, the two of us alone, away from our comrades. A terrible Fate has caught me, one I was predestined to since birth, and it will soon be your turn to fulfill your destiny, and die by the walls of Troy. So I am asking just one more thing of you, I beg you, grant my wish: don't let my bones be separated from yours, Achilles. Let them rest together, just as we grew up together in your house [...] I would like one single urn to bring together my ashes and yours; the golden urn your mother gave you."

[And Achilles replies]

"Why, my beloved soul, have you come to me, why are you giving me such orders? Of course, I'll obey, I will do everything you wish. But now, come here, come closer to me. Let me hold you: and let us forget about our sorrows by holding each other, at least for a short while.

Thus he spoke, and immediately tried to reach out to him: but he couldn't. The soul slipped away from his grasp, screeching and disappearing back inside the earth, dissolving into smoke. Achilles' hands clasped involuntarily, and he stood up, full of surprise and pain. He felt the urge to cry again."

(I did my best, personally translating the quotes from the original Greek text like the literature noob I am lol. bye I'm going to cry again in peace now)

[phia-myth]

playing the iliad in the original greek for my baby in the womb so that he grows up to be the next homeric bard capable of reciting 24 books on the rage of achilles in perfect dactyllic hexameter by the age of 3

[phia-myth]

Achilles “he should be in a CLUB” Pelides

[phia-myth]

in the trojaned horse. straight up "tricking it" . and by "it", haha, well. let's justr say. The trojans

[phia-myth]

me in ancient athens showing up to a symposium every week to discuss the nature of love in the iliad

[phia-myth]

I hope you all understand that everything I say about achilles is both derogatory and affectionate

[phia-myth]

speak on it diva, the crash out of achilles which got every bitch chalanting and got them fucked up so bad they were for the dogs and birds

[phia-myth]

i keep thinking about how achilles refused to even look at food after patroclus dies and then told hector he wanted eat him raw the second he caught him

[phia-myth]

bringing pliny the elder back to life and setting him free among the pages of wikipedia like im releasing a noble endangered predator out into a national park

[phia-myth]

every time someone blames the burning of the library of alexandria for our loss of knowledge instead of the rise of christianity and its oppression of paganism a fairy dies

[phia-myth]

And here is a sketch of Menelaus carrying the body of Patroclus into Achilles' camp.

I don't think I'll ever finish it.

[phia-myth]

[phia-myth]

i don't intend to police anyone on anything because it's not like i can stop you but i just think it's deeply dull for the iliad and odyssey to be the only sources canonized in your head

[phia-myth]

Reunited but not the same

[phia-myth]

[phia-myth]

Achilles, i hope they never force me to stop having multiple wildly different and conflicting opinions about you

[phia-myth]

god forbid 5000 year old girls do anything