In Greek mythology, as recorded in Homer's Iliad, Patroclus (/pəˈtroʊkləs, pəˈtrɒkləs/; Ancient Greek: Πάτροκλος Patroklos "glory of the father") was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and Achilles's beloved comrade and brother-in-arms.
Menoetius was a member of the Argonauts in his youth. He had several marriages, and in different versions of the tale four different women are named as the mother of Patroclus. Apollodorus names three wives of Menoetius as possible mothers of Patroclus: Periopis, daughter of Pheres, founder of Pherae; Polymele, daughter of Peleus, King of Phthia and older half-sister of Achilles; and Sthenele, daughter of Acastus and Astydameia.Hyginus names Philomela as Patroclus' mother.
Menoetius was a son of Actor, King of Opus in Locris by Aegina. Aegina was a daughter of Asopus and mother of Aeacus by Zeus. Aeacus was father of Peleus, Telamon and Phocus.
Actor was a son of Deioneus, King of Phocis and Diomede. His paternal grandparents were Aeolus of Thessaly and Enarete. His maternal grandparents were Xuthus and Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus and Praxithea.
617 Patroclus (/pəˈtroʊkləs/ pə-TROH-kləs) is a binary minor planet made up of two objects of similar size orbiting their common centre of gravity. It is a Jupiter trojan. It was discovered in 1906 by August Kopff, and was the second trojan to be discovered. Its binary nature was discovered in 2001; the name Patroclus now refers to the larger of the two components, whereas its slightly smaller companion body has been named Menoetius (/mᵻˈniːʃəs/ mə-NEE-shəs, official designation (617) Patroclus I Menoetius). Recent evidence suggests that the objects are icy like comets, rather than rocky like most asteroids.
Patroclus orbits in Jupiter's trailing Lagrangian point, L5, in an area called the 'Trojan node' after one of the sides in the legendary Trojan War (the other node, at the L4 point, is called the 'Greek node'). Patroclus is the only object in the Trojan camp to be named after a Greek character; the naming conventions for the Jupiter trojans were not adopted until after Patroclus was named (similarly, the asteroid Hektor is the only Trojan character to appear in the Greek camp).
In Greek mythology, Patroclus was Achilles’ best friend and, according to some, his lover. Due to the wide fame of Homer's work, it was used as a male first name throughout the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Patroclus may also refer to: