Editing Antilochus

{{Short description|Mythological Greek hero in the Trojan War}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Neck-amphora Antilochus Louvre G213.jpg|thumb|Antilochus on an [[Red-figure pottery|Attic red-figure]] [[amphora]] ''ca.'' 470 BC from the [[Louvre]]]]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Antilochus''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|n|ˈ|t|ɪ|l|ə|k|ə|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Ἀντίλοχος ''Antílokhos'') was a prince of [[Pylos]] and one of the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]] in the [[Trojan War]]. He was the youngest prince to command troops.

== Family ==
Antilochus was the son of King [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]] either by [[Anaxibia]]<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' 3.451–52</ref> or [[Eurydice (Greek myth)|Eurydice]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 1.9.9]</ref> He was the brother to [[Thrasymedes (mythology)|Thrasymedes]], [[Pisidice]], [[Polycaste]], [[Perseus of Pylos|Perseus]], [[Stratichus]], [[Aretus]], [[Echephron]] and [[Peisistratus of Pylos|Peisistratus]].

== Mythology ==
The ''Iliad'' tells of Antilochus' actions during the [[Trojan War]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Willcock |first=M. M. |date=April 1973 |title=THE FUNERAL GAMES OF PATROCLUS |url=https://academic.oup.com/bics/article/20/1/1/5701005 |journal=Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies |language=en |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1111/j.2041-5370.1973.tb00120.x |issn=0076-0730}}</ref> One of the [[suitors of Helen]], Antilochus accompanied his father Nestor and his brother Thrasymedes to the war. When fighting there resumed after the aborted duel of Paris and [[Menelaus]], Antilochus was first to kill a Trojan (namely Echepolus).<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 4.457–8</ref> Antilochus was distinguished for his beauty, swiftness of foot, and skill as a charioteer. Though the youngest among the Greek princes, he commanded the Pylians in the war and performed many deeds of valour. He was a favorite of [[Gods of Olympus|the gods]] and a close friend of [[Achilles]].<ref name=":0">[[Philostratus]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/225#2.7.1 2.7.1] ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0601%3Abook%3Dpos%3D2%3Achapter%3D7 Original Greek text])</ref>

In an early battle, Menelaus ill-advisedly goes to the front lines to face [[Aeneas]], a strong fighter for the Trojans. Antilochus goes to join Menelaus, causing Aeneas to withdraw rather than fight them both.<ref name=":1" /> Later, Menelaus directs Antilochus to lead a fight against the Trojans during a low period for the Greeks. Antilochus obeys and fights well.<ref name=":1" />

=== Death of Patroclus ===
Antilochus was commissioned to tell Achilles of the death of his beloved [[Patroclus]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]] believed Antilochus was obviously the best person to share the news, and asked Menelaus to find Antilochus.<ref name=":1" /> According to [[Philostratus of Lemnos|Philostratus]], Menelaus believed that Antilochus would be the best choice because Achilles already loved Antilochus. While they lamented Patroclus together, Antilochus made sure that Achilles did not commit suicide.<ref name=":0" /> Antilochus held Achilles' hands because he feared that Achilles would cut his own throat.<ref name=":1" /> Antilochus' touch, and his relationship with Achilles, served to comfort and distract Achilles from his grief.<ref name=":0" /> From this point, Achilles and Antilochus' relationship grew to replace the one between [[Achilles and Patroclus]], but never fully eclipsed the prior relationship.<ref name=":1" />

At the funeral games of Patroclus, Antilochus finished second in the chariot race and last in the foot race. Antilochus entered the chariot race with the slowest horses of any of the heroes, and listened to detailed advice from his father before competing. During the competition, the leading hero, Eumelus, crashed via divine sabotage. Antilochus was later able to slip past Menelaus by aggressively making Menelaus fall back at a point in the track where both of their chariots could not fit side-by-side anymore. When prizes were given, Achilles felt sorry for Eumelus and suggested giving him second place instead of Antilochus. Antilochus objected, saying he would fight Achilles to keep the prize. This made Achilles smile, likely for the first time since Patroclus' death, and Achilles left the prize to Antilochus.<ref name=":1" /> 

Menelaus then contested Antilochus' prize, stating that Antilochus insulted him by defying him at the narrow point in the race. As their argument grew, Menelaus demanded that Antilochus swear the win came without treachery. Antilochus defused the situation by deferring to Menelaus, stating that the king was older and superior. Still, Antilochus did not admit fault. He and Menelaus then alternated public offers to give their prize to the other man.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Stocking |first=Charles H. |title=Homer's Iliad and the Problem of Force |date=May 2023 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=129-133 |chapter=Force and Discourse in the Funeral Games of Patroclus |doi=10.1093/oso/9780192862877.003.0004}}</ref> Later, when Antilochus lost the foot race, he made a speech declaring that the others were all older than him, and thus honored by the gods. He then complimented Achilles, and Achilles doubled Antilochus' prize.<ref name=":1" />

=== Death and afterlife ===
The epic cycle of the ''[[Aethiopis]]'' details Antilochus' death during the Trojan War.<ref name=":1" /> When Antilochus' father, Nestor, was attacked by [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]], Antilochus sacrificed himself to save Nestor, thus fulfilling an oracle which had warned to "beware of an Ethiopian".<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Pythian Odes'' 6.28</ref> The Achaeans retrieved Antilochus' body on the battlefield and lamented him. Achilles embraced Antilochus and lamented as well, promising him a glorious funeral and vengeance, in the same way Achilles had honored Patroclus.<ref>[[Philostratus]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/225#2.7.2 2.7.2] ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0601%3Abook%3Dpos%3D2%3Achapter%3D7 Original Greek text])</ref> Achilles then killed Memnon to avenge Antilochus' death, and drove the Trojans back to the gates, where Achilles was killed by Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/epic-cycle/cypria/|title=Cypria - Livius|website=www.livius.org}}</ref> In later accounts, Antilochus was slain by [[Hector]]<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 113</ref> or by [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] in the temple of the Thymbraean [[Apollo]], together with Achilles.<ref>[[Dares Phrygius]], 34</ref>

Nestor deeply grieved the death of Antilochus after the war. Peisistratus also mourned Antilochus, even though the brothers had never met.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Frame |first=Douglas |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Frame.Hippota_Nestor.2009 |title=Hippota Nestor |publisher=Center for Hellenic Studies |series=Hellenic Studies Series |volume=37 |location=Washington, DC |chapter=Chapter 6. Odyssey 3 and Iliad 8}}</ref> 

Antilochus' ashes, along with those of Achilles and Patroclus, were enshrined in a mound on the promontory of [[Sigeion]], where the inhabitants of [[Troy|Ilion]] offered sacrifice to the dead heroes.<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' 24.72</ref><ref>[[Strabo]], 13</ref> The ashes of Achilles and Patroclus were mixed together in one urn, with Antilochus's ashes kept separately but nearby in the mound. Antilochus is described as the companion Achilles honoured most after Patroclus.<ref name=":1" /> In the ''[[Odyssey]]'',<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' 11.468</ref> the three are represented as always united in the underworld and walking together in the [[Asphodel Meadows]]. However, according to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]],<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 3.19</ref> they dwell together on the island of [[Leuke]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

=== Legacy ===
Among the Trojans he killed were [[Melanippus]], [[Ablerus (mythology)|Ablerus]], Atymnius, Phalces, Echepolos, and Thoon, although Hyginus records that he only killed two Trojans.<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 114</ref> 

Antilochus left behind in [[Messenia]] a son [[Paeon (son of Antilochus)|Paeon]], whose descendants were among the [[Neleidae]] expelled from Messenia, by the descendants of [[Heracles]].<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.18 2.18.7–9]</ref>

== Analysis ==
There are strong parallels between the trio of Achilles, Patroclus, and Hector in the ''Iliad'', and Achilles, Antilochus, and Memnon in the ''Aethiopis''. This has led scholars to wonder if one of the trios was inspired by the other, and which set were the original. [[Homeric scholarship#Neoanalysis|Neo-analysts]] claim that an early version of the ''Aethiopis'' inspired the ''Iliad'', and some scholars claim that both epics influenced and contaminated each other.<ref name=":1" />

Some classicists and queer studies scholars interpret Antilochus, Achilles, and Patroclus as in love or as lovers. Their relationships could then be interpreted as successive or triadic.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Malcolm |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_DaviesM.The_Aethiopis.2016 |title=The Aethiopis: Neo-Neoanalysis Reanalyzed |publisher=Center for Hellenic Studies |year=2016 |series=Hellenic Studies Series |volume=71 |location=Washington, DC |chapter=Chapter 1. The Aethiopis and the Iliad}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |title=Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol, and Spirit |publisher=Cassell |year=1997 |isbn=0304704237 |editor-last=Conner |editor-first=Randy P. |pages=61 |chapter=Antilochus |editor-last2=Sparks |editor-first2=David Hatfield |editor-last3=Sparks |editor-first3=Mariya |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cassells-encyclopedia-of-queer-myth-symbol-and-spirit-gay-lesbian-bisexual-and-t_202305/page/61/mode/2up}}</ref> Triadic readings pinpoint the impact that Patroclus' and Antilochus' death had on Achilles, and the trio's unique eternal bond via their burials and afterlives.<ref name=":4" /> Other analysis focuses on whether Antilochus even had a close relationship with Achilles in the ''Iliad'' resembling that of Achilles and Patroclus. Some readings find Antilochus begins to take Patroclus' place: these focus on how Antilochus was dispatched to inform Achilles of Patroclus' death, how Antilochus physically held Achilles from suicide, and how Antilochus was the first to make Achilles smile thereafter.<ref name=":3" /> Other scholars disagree that Antilochus is portrayed as growing significantly close to Achilles in the ''Iliad'', stating that the text could have done much more to show a growing relationship and that Achilles and Patroclus were the only ones to be buried together originally.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=West |first=M. L. |date=2003 |title="Iliad" and "Aethiopis" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3556478 |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=1–14 |issn=0009-8388}}</ref>

[[Louis Gernet]], and later scholars, have claimed that the argument between Menelaus and Antilochus over who earned the second-place prize in their chariot race was one of the earliest examples of a judicial case in Greek history.<ref name=":2" />

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
{{Commons category|Antilochus (mythology)}}

* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
*[[Dares Phrygius]], ''from The Trojan War.'' ''The Chronicles of [[Dictys Cretensis|Dictys of Crete]] and Dares the Phrygian'' translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer Jr. (1931-). Indiana University Press. 1966. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/DaresPhrygius.html Online version at theio.com]
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Homer]], [[Iliad|''The Iliad'']] with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. {{ISBN|978-0674995796|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Homer, ''Homeri Opera'' in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. {{ISBN|978-0198145318|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Homer, [[Odyssey|''The Odyssey'']] with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. {{ISBN|978-0674995611|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0135 Greek text available from the same website].
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece''. W. H. S. Jones (translator). [[Loeb Classical Library]]. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918). Vol. 1. Books I&ndash;II: {{ISBN|0-674-99104-4}}.
* [[Pindar]], ''Odes'' translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DP. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Pindar, ''The Odes of Pindar'' including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0161%3Abook%3DP. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Strabo]], ''The Geography of Strabo.'' Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Strabo, ''Geographica'' edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0197 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Antilochus|volume=2|pages=126-127}}
{{Characters in the Iliad}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antilochus}}
[[Category:Suitors of Helen]]
[[Category:Achaean Leaders]]
[[Category:Children of Nestor (mythology)]]
[[Category:Mythological Pylians]]
[[Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Achilles]]
[[Category:People of the Trojan War]]
[[Category:Mythology of Pylos]]