Who killed Patroclus? The short answer is Hector, and the true answer is far more interesting: Patroclus dies from three blows, dealt by three different hands. First Apollo disarms him, without his realizing it. Then the Trojan Euphorbus wounds him from behind. And only then does Hector arrive for the finishing blow. Anyone who reads the scene closely in Book XVI of the Iliad sees that the poem insists on this sequence, and it is this very order that explains what happens next to the wrath of Achilles.
The passages quoted in this article follow the Greek text of Monro and Allen (Oxford, 1920), in our own translation, with book and line numbers in parentheses.
The borrowed armor
To understand who killed Patroclus, one must begin with why he was there in the first place. Achilles, humiliated by Agamemnon, has withdrawn from the war, and the Greeks are losing ground. Standing high upon his ship, he watches a wounded warrior being carried away and sends his dearest friend, Patroclus, to find out who it is. Homer does what he so often does: he pauses the action and reveals the end right away. Concerning this commonplace request in Book XI, he remarks that here lay the beginning of Patroclus' undoing.
Patroclus returns weeping and begs Achilles to enter the fray. Achilles, who still cannot bring himself to do so, chooses an alternative: he lends him his armor. This is the plan: when the Trojans catch sight of the armor, they will believe Achilles has returned, the enemy ranks will panic, the fire threatening the ships will be quenched, and Patroclus will head back. Nothing more. The poem states in no uncertain terms that Patroclus' plea is a tragic misstep: "so he spoke in supplication, the great fool: for he was soon to beg for his own grim death and doom" (XVI, 46-47).
The boundary Achilles repeats
Achilles sets a strict condition, and he repeats it more than once: after driving the fire away from the ships, Patroclus must return. "And if the loud-thundering husband of Hera grants you the glory of victory, do not seek to fight without me against the war-loving Trojans, for you will make me less honored" (XVI, 87-90). And he adds that he must not press the assault as far as Ilion, "so that none of the ever-living gods from Olympus intervenes, for Apollo who strikes from afar loves them dearly" (XVI, 91-94).
This condition brings Achilles both hope and fear, and he presents them to Zeus in prayer: that Patroclus may turn battle away from the ships and return safe and sound, together with his arms and companions. The poem answers with a grim, terse remark: one thing the Father granted him, the other he denied with a nod. To drive combat away from the ships, that he granted; to return safe and sound, he refused (XVI, 250-252).
What Patroclus does with the armor
For a time, the plan succeeds. The Trojans, catching sight of Patroclus and his squire gleaming in that armor, assume Achilles has cast aside his wrath and made peace. Patroclus drives the Trojans back from the ships, puts out the blaze, and chases down the fleeing troops. He kills, among others, Sarpedon, the son of Zeus, and the poem reflects on what passes through his mind with a verse that lays everything bare: "and he committed a great folly, the fool: had he kept the word of Peleus' son, he would have escaped the evil doom of black death" (XVI, 685-687).
Patroclus finally reaches the very walls of Troy. Three times he scrambles up the angle of the wall, and three times Apollo thrusts him back. On the fourth attempt, the god speaks directly to him: "Fall back, divine Patroclus! It is not fated that the city of the proud Trojans should be laid waste by your spear, nor even by Achilles', who is far greater than you" (XVI, 707-709). Patroclus steps back. It is the last sensible thing he does.
The first blow: Apollo disarms Patroclus
The death scene begins with a god. Apollo comes upon Patroclus cloaked in thick mist, so that Patroclus never sees him coming, and delivers the blow that strips him of his defenses:
"He stood behind him and struck his back and broad shoulders with his open hand, and his eyes spun. And from his head Phoebus Apollo knocked the helmet" (XVI, 791-793).
The helmet rolls away beneath the horses' hooves. His spear is shattered, his shield drops to the earth, and the god unfastens his corslet. Consider what this signifies: Achilles' helmet, which until that moment had never been soiled with dust, is handed over by Zeus to Hector (XVI, 796-800). Patroclus remains standing, dazed, weaponless, and defenseless. The one who disarms him is no mere mortal, but a god, and the striking image of a divinity slapping him with an open palm, rather than piercing him with a spear, lingers in the reader's mind.
The second blow: Euphorbus strikes from behind
Stunned and disoriented, Patroclus is wounded from behind by Euphorbus, a Trojan, who pulls out his spear and flees, refusing to face an unarmed man. The poem makes the gesture plain: it is the strike of someone who does not face his man. Wounded, Patroclus retreats toward the shelter of his comrades.
The third blow: Hector kills
Only then does Hector, noticing him wounded, step forward and strike him through the lower belly. Hector gloats above the dying warrior, and Patroclus, his strength rapidly fading, answers with what has become the most widely quoted line of the entire episode:
"Boast now, Hector, as much as you will: Zeus son of Cronus and Apollo granted you victory, they who overcame me with ease, for it was they who stripped the armor from my shoulders. If twenty like you had confronted me, all would have fallen here, slain by my spear. But destructive Moira killed me, and the son of Leto, and among men Euphorbus; you strip me only in third place" (XVI, 844-850).
Patroclus flatly refuses to grant Hector the honor of being his true slayer. He tallies the true authors of his death: destiny, Apollo, Euphorbus, and only in third place, Hector. He then utters the prophecy that Hector will not live long, destined to fall at the hands of Achilles (XVI, 851-854). Hector responds with uneasy doubt: who knows whether Achilles himself might not lose his life first, struck down by my own spear? (XVI, 859-861).
The rage that shifts targets
Patroclus went into battle dressed as Achilles and died in his stead. The fire Achilles kindled against Agamemnon ended up consuming the person he loved most in the world. When word reaches him, Achilles collapses to the ground, pours ashes over his head, tears at his hair, and his anguished cry echoes down to the deepest recesses of the sea. His mother rises from the waves to console him and gives him warning: if he kills Hector, his own death must follow swiftly. He accepts the terms without hesitation.
His wrath, however, does not cease: it merely finds a new target. Achilles reconciles with Agamemnon, and the fury that was previously aimed at a king is turned entirely upon Hector, and subsequently upon all the Trojans. This trajectory is traced from beginning to end in The Wrath of Achilles, while his resolve to pay the ultimate price with his own life forms the core of What a Life Is Worth: The Choice of Achilles. The frantic chase that ends in Achilles' grip, three laps around the walls of Troy, is recounted in Hector Flees from Achilles.
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View the recommended reading listFrequently asked questions
Who killed Patroclus in the Iliad?
Hector delivers the final blow, but Patroclus dies in three stages: the god Apollo disarms him first, the Trojan Euphorbus wounds him from behind, and only then does Hector strike and kill him. Patroclus himself, as he dies, names all three: destiny and Apollo, and among men Euphorbus, with Hector coming third (Iliad, XVI, 849-850).
How did Patroclus die?
After reaching the walls of Troy, Patroclus is struck by Apollo, hidden in mist: the god strikes his back with an open hand, knocks off his helmet, shatters his spear, and loosens his corslet. Euphorbus wounds him from a distance, and Hector, seeing him wounded and unarmed, strikes him in the lower belly.
Why was Patroclus wearing Achilles’ armor?
Because Achilles, still enraged at Agamemnon, refused to return to battle, but lent his weapons to his friend so that the Trojans would mistake him for Achilles, take fright, and fall back from the Greek ships. It was meant to be only that: drive the fire away from the ships and return.
Did Achilles tell Patroclus to go all the way to Troy?
No. Achilles instructed him otherwise, and more than once: after driving the fire from the ships, Patroclus was to return, not lead the assault up to Ilion. That was the boundary Patroclus crossed, and Zeus, hearing Achilles’ prayer, granted only half of what he asked.
Continue: The Wrath of Achilles: Why the Iliad Begins with Anger · What a Life Is Worth: The Choice of Achilles · Hector Flees from Achilles: The Detail of the Three Laps · Galleria Doria Pamphilj and Caravaggio
Source class: Ilíada, de Homero