InGreek mythology,Antilochus (/ænˈtɪləkəs/;Ancient Greek: ἈντίλοχοςAntílokhos) was a prince ofPylos and one of theAchaeans in theTrojan War. He was the youngest prince to command troops.
Antilochus was the son of KingNestor either byAnaxibia[1] orEurydice.[2] He was the brother toThrasymedes,Pisidice,Polycaste,Perseus,Stratichus,Aretus,Echephron andPeisistratus.
TheIliad tells of Antilochus' actions during theTrojan War.[3] One of thesuitors of Helen, Antilochus accompanied his father Nestor and his brother Thrasymedes to the war. When fighting there resumed after the aborted duel of Paris andMenelaus, Antilochus was first to kill a Trojan captain (named Echepolus).[4] 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 ofthe gods and a close friend ofAchilles.[5]
In an early battle, Menelaus ill-advisedly goes to the front lines to faceAeneas, a strong fighter for the Trojans. Antilochus goes to join Menelaus, causing Aeneas to withdraw rather than fight them both.[3] Later, Menelaus directs Antilochus to lead a fight against the Trojans during a low period for the Greeks. Antilochus obeys and fights well.[3]
Antilochus was commissioned to tell Achilles of the death of his belovedPatroclus.[6]Ajax believed Antilochus was obviously the best person to share the news, and asked Menelaus to find Antilochus.[3] According toPhilostratus, 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.[5] Antilochus held Achilles' hands because he feared that Achilles would cut his own throat.[3] Antilochus' touch, and his relationship with Achilles, served to comfort and distract Achilles from his grief.[5] From this point, Achilles and Antilochus' relationship grew to replace the one betweenAchilles and Patroclus, but never fully eclipsed the prior relationship.[3]
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.[3]
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.[7] 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.[3]
The epic cycle of theAethiopis details Antilochus' death during the Trojan War.[3] When Antilochus' father, Nestor, was attacked byMemnon, Antilochus sacrificed himself to save Nestor, thus fulfilling an oracle which had warned to "beware of an Ethiopian".[8] 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.[9] Achilles then killed Memnon to avenge Antilochus' death, and drove the Trojans back to the gates, where Achilles was killed by Paris.[10] In later accounts, Antilochus was slain byHector[11] or byParis in the temple of the ThymbraeanApollo, together with Achilles.[12]
Nestor deeply grieved the death of Antilochus after the war. Peisistratus also mourned Antilochus, even though the brothers had never met.[13]
Antilochus' ashes, along with those of Achilles and Patroclus, were enshrined in a mound on the promontory ofSigeion, where the inhabitants ofIlion offered sacrifice to the dead heroes.[14][15] 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.[3] In theOdyssey,[16] the three are represented as always united in the underworld and walking together in theAsphodel Meadows. However, according toPausanias,[17] they dwell together on the island ofLeuke.[6]
Among the Trojans he killed wereMelanippus,Ablerus, Atymnius, Phalces, Echepolos, and Thoon, although Hyginus records that he only killed two Trojans.[18]
Antilochus left behind inMessenia a sonPaeon, whose descendants were among theNeleidae expelled from Messenia, by the descendants ofHeracles.[19]
There are strong parallels between the trio of Achilles, Patroclus, and Hector in theIliad, and Achilles, Antilochus, and Memnon in theAethiopis. This has led scholars to wonder if one of the trios was inspired by the other, and which set were the original.Neo-analysts claim that an early version of theAethiopis inspired theIliad, and some scholars claim that both epics influenced and contaminated each other.[3]
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.[20][21] 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.[21] Other analysis focuses on whether Antilochus even had a close relationship with Achilles in theIliad 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.[20] Other scholars disagree that Antilochus is portrayed as growing significantly close to Achilles in theIliad, 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.[22]
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.[7]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Antilochus".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 126–127.