Patroclus, also known as Patroklos, Greek Πάτροκλος)， It means "the glory of the father". In Greek mythology, it is recorded that Iliad, the son of King Menotius and childhood friend of the great hero Achilles, was written by Homer.

Patroclus' father was Menoetius (named after the second Titan god Menoetius, but not alone). His father was one of the famous Argo crew members when he was young, and he had multiple marriages, so the identity of the mother of Patroclus was not very clear; In different versions of the legend, four women are believed to be the mother of Patroclus.
Apollodorus of Athens lists three Menoetius' wives as the more likely biological mothers of Patroclus: Periopis, daughter of Pheres; Polymele, the daughter of Peleus and also the half sister of Achilles. Sthenele, daughter of Acastus and Astydameia.
Gaius Julius Hyginus pointed out that Philomena was the biological mother of Patroclus, and even though Hyginus could not provide evidence for Philomena as her biological mother, she was linked to the daughter of the Athenian king Pandion I and Zeuxippe, who had the same name as her.
Menoetius is the son of Actor, the king of Opus, and Aegina. Ejina, the daughter of the river god, also gave birth to Aeacus, the father of Peleus/Telamon/Phocus, with Zeus.
Actor, son of Deion (king of Phocis and Diomede in central Greece), whose paternal grandparents were Aeolus and Enarete from the Thessaly region, and whose maternal grandparents were Xuthus and Creusa (daughter of Erechtheius and Praxithea). Patroclus has divine lineage.
This passage is probably to show that his stepmothers get along well in the harem

Life before the Trojan War
When he was still a boy, Patroclus accidentally killed the son of a nobleman (Chrysonimus) in a dispute, and his father had to take him to exile in Photia to avoid revenge. They took refuge in the mansion of King Peleus, a distant relative of Photia. There, Patroclus first met Peleus' son, Prince Achilles. Thetis sent Achilles to a cave as a house, where the wise half man, Charon, raised and studied, but Patroclus also pursued Achilles and learned from Charon together.
Patroclus may be older than Achilles. Among Helen's suitors in Sparta, nine year old Patroclus was listed as a loser. After Helen was betrothed to Menelaus by the Spartan king Tyndareus, all suitors at that time issued a statement: to defend the chosen husband from anyone's attack.
According to the geographer Pausanias at the time, around that time, Patroclus killed Las. Pausanias records that this murder was also directed towards Achilles. Anyway, Achilles is not considered to have visited Peloponnesos again afterwards. But in their era, this kind of thing was very common. Being brave enough to challenge the strong and eliminate them is a heroic performance.
Nine years later, Helen fled Sparta with Prince Paris of Troy. Menelaus and his brother, King Agamemnon of Mycenae, began to discuss attacking the city of Troy. According to some accounts, it took him ten years to prepare for the war and gather allies and troops.

Operation Troy
When Achilles refused to fight because he disagreed with Agamemnon, the Greek coalition suffered heavy losses, and the soldiers complained and cursed Achilles for not participating in the war. The kind-hearted Patroclus couldn't bear to see the soldiers suffer, and couldn't bear the reputation of his best friend to be destroyed. Therefore, he proposed to put on his best friend's armor and step onto the chariot to lead the Milmidons to battle. He disguised himself as Achilles and participated in the war, which greatly angered Greek soldiers and to some extent deterred the Trojans. During this time, he killed many Trojans and allied forces, including King of Lycaya Sarpedon (son of Zeus and Europa) and Hector's chariot driver Cebriones, as well as 54 others who were killed by Patroclus. Later, with the help of the sun god Apollo, he was killed by Hector.
After retrieving his body, which was protected by Menelaus and Telamon's son Ajax on the battlefield, Achilles returned to the battlefield to avenge the deceased Patroclus. Achilles killed Hector and dragged his body behind him in a two wheeled carriage to show blasphemy, without allowing Trojans to burn him in honor. The death of Patroclus caused great sorrow to Achilles. He hugged his head, tugged at his hair, and cried bitterly on Patroclus' body. He even refused to handle Patroclus' body for a period of time. But he was persuaded by the illusion of Patroclus and told Achilles that his soul could not rest without proper cremation. Before placing Patroclus' body on the pyre for cremation, Achilles cut off a bundle of his hair and sacrificed horses, dogs, and twelve Trojan prisoners.

Achilles organized a sports competition to honor his deceased best friend, which included a carriage race (Diomedes won), boxing (Epeios won), wrestling (Telamon Ajax drew with Odysseus), walking (Odysseus won), dueling (Little Ajax drew with Diomedes), discus (Polypoids won), archery (Meriones won) Javelin (Agamemnon achieved absolute victory). This sports event is recorded in Iliad's 23rd chapter and is one of the earliest sources of the Greek movement.
Relationship with Achilles
In Homer's epic, Achilles' deep affection for Patroclus can be understood as friendship or love, but Greek legends often treat the two as lovers (soul mates). In the Iliad, Achilles' love for Patroclus drives the entire story and contributes all the themes of Achilles' humanization. Achilles died shortly after the funeral of Patroclus. The gods once prophesied that if Achilles killed the Crown Prince of Troy, he himself would also perish in the underworld. However, when Hector killed Patroclus, Achilles resolutely avenged his deceased close friend, even though he himself paid the price of his own life for it. Although the death of Patroclus achieved Achilles' honor, it also plunged Achilles into the agony of despair and became the cause of his death. According to Achilles' will, his ashes were mixed with those of Patroclus and buried in the same tomb. In the book of Iliad, this love may be regarded as noble, and in later Greek works, such as Plato's Symposium, the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles is promoted as a model of sexual love, often interpreted as homosexual. In ancient times, the main opposition was among these people, such as Aeschylus citing Patroclus as the Eromenos of Achilles. Others, including Plato, argue that Achilles is the Eromenos. There are still ancient writers like Xenophon who argue in his book Symposium that labeling their relationship as sexual is a mistake.

The love between Patroclus and Achilles once infected Alexander the Great and had a profound impact on his life.
Alexander once admired Achilles' bravery and skill in battle, and deliberately imitated all of Achilles' life stories, including his love with Patroclus. In ancient Greece, love between same-sex men was seen as a combination of two souls. When Alexander marched into Asia, he and his lover Hephaestion visited the place where Patroclus and Achilles were buried together, thus comparing his love with Hephaestion to that of Patroclus and Achilles, which was as profound and great. Coincidentally, Alexander, like Achilles, ultimately mourned in the death of his lover and passed away in sorrow.
The death of Achilles gave the largest source of writing besides Iliad. His body was placed on top of the funeral pyre, and his bones were mixed with those of Patroclus, so that the two of them would be together after death as if they were alive. Their remains were then relocated to Leuke, a small island in the Black Sea. Their souls are rumored to occasionally be seen wandering on the island.
In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus met Achilles in the underworld, accompanied by Patroclus, the Great Aeas, and Antilochus.
A Croton general confirmed that both Autoleon and Leonymus reportedly visited the small island of Leuke when they recovered from the wounds they had suffered from their war with Locri Epizefiri. This event is believed to have occurred in the late or mid 7th century BC. He described having met Patroclus, accompanied by Achilles, Little Aeas, Great Aeas, Antiochus, and Helen.