"}Were Achilles and Patroklos Lovers? - Tales of Times Forgotten
The Athenian philosopher Plato (lived c. 429 \u2013 c. 347 BCE) has the speaker Phaidros in his dialogue\u00a0The Symposion\u00a0say that Achilles and Patroklos were lovers. Contrary to Aischylos, however, Phaidros insists that Achilles was the eromenos and Patroklos was the erastes. Here is what Phaidros says,\u00a0as translated by Benjamin Jowett:
\u201cVery different was the reward of the true love of Achilles towards his lover Patroklos\u2014his lover and not his love (the notion that Patroklos was the beloved one is a foolish error into which Aischylos has fallen, for Achilles was surely the fairer of the two, fairer also than all the other heroes; and, as Homer informs us, he was still beardless, and younger far). And greatly as the gods honour the virtue of love, still the return of love on the part of the beloved to the lover is more admired and valued and rewarded by them, for the lover is more divine; because he is inspired by God.\u201d
very happy to learn that the ancient Greeks also had seme-uke discourse