#Tsoa

[motteteto]

Let me only slay Hector, and I do not care how soon death comes to me.

[prometheus-rewound]

I think this is honestly such an interesting perspective.

Like, Heracles starts his journey already older than Patroclus or Achilles even get to be. Heracles is a middle aged man with PTSD, of course Patroclus can’t relate to him—

and what gets me the most is…it’s honestly really tragic that he never gets the chance to. They never have to live with the PTSD post war, or live long enough to have the opportunity to start unpacking that trauma.

My favorite part of the Song of Achilles:

Achilles: How could Heracles not recognize his wife?

Chiron: That is the nature of madness.

Patroclus’ inner monologue: Sounds like a skill issue. Couldn’t be me. Truly pathetic to be honest. Personally, I would recognize Achilles in the dark, or in disguise. I would know him even in madness. But that’s just me I guess.

[roachcicle]

and they were tentmates

[chilaquilesheel]

nobody:

absolutely nobody:

me: patroclus was the rational one

also me: remembers he fell in love with the angriest demigod in greece

me: never mind he was just gay and hopeful

[fovfvk]

here I tried to combine digital with watercolor

[a-fire-that-isnt-burning]

Awww 🥺

Well, time to ramble about the Iliad again even tho no one asked, yay! This time it's about language: there's one specific expression which I'm kind of obsessed with, and it's φίλη κεφαλή (phìle kephalè).

So, phìle is the feminine form of the adjective phìlos (the word where philtatos comes from), which obviously means "dear", "beloved": but by extension, in the Homeric language especially, it means "something that belongs to someone". Which actually makes sense because it's basically implied that if something belongs to someone, it has to be something dear to them. And this is mostly used with body parts (like, instead of saying "my hands", in Homer you'd find something along "the dear hands" and so on.)

And that's where kephalè comes in! The word literally means "head". In the poem there's a lot of talking about heads: chopped heads, disfigured heads, pierced heads, and so on. But many times, metaphorically, it can also mean "body" or "life". Why? Because, since the head is the most important part of one's body, it is the essential part in order to live. And of course it's "dear" to you, because otherwise you'd be dead.

So what happens if you put the two words together? You basically get an affectionate form of address, which could be translated to "my dear head", but most precisely "my dear life".

In the Iliad, when Achilles learns of Patroclus' death, he states to have loved him "like his own head" (kephalè is the word he uses), and right after, he refers to Hector as the man who killed his phìle kephalè...

Because the head is to the body what Patroclus is to Achilles: the most important and precious part of himself. And now that he's lost him, he feels as if Hector had killed a whole part of himself, the one that kept him alive. Because his head has been literally torn away from him.

Also in another passage he refers to Patroclus as ηθείη κεφαλή (hethèie kephalè), where hethèie basically means "sweet", "beloved", "worthy of honor". And once again the "head".

I'll stop rambling for now, but this stuff was just too beautiful not to be talked about?? (and for me not to hyperfixate over it)

[hrsndww]

they're in love

[n-jostcn]

the song of achilles — madeline miller

night shift — stephen king

euripedes — anne carson

circe — madeline miller

a conjuring of light — v.e. schwab

west wind — mary oliver

the song of achilles — madeline miller

the fragile threads of power — v.e. schwab

[motteteto]

The never-ending ache of love and sorrow. Perhaps in some other life I could have refused, could have torn my hair and screamed, and made him face his choice alone. But not in this one. He would sail to Troy and I would follow, even into death.

[nupersovascat]

refining my patrochilles designs . is this finalised ???? probably not …

[skopsidopsi]

Casual Patrochilles chats during the raids

[ismaeldrawsthings]

Old but The Guy

[vor-leser]

✨homoerotic grappling✨

something tells me achilles is not doing this to get better at hand to hand combat idk

[koshiku2]

[supernova3space]

Listen as much as I love using Thetis' character from TSOA for writing, I am in LOVE with supportive Thetis

Thetis after meeting Patroclus: OH MY GODS I HAVE A NEW SON

Achilles: Ma!

Thetis: What, I've dealt with your ass for years, gimme a break