Who was the father of Patroclus?

Who was the father of Patroclus? Menoetius was Patroclus’s father. In Greek mythology, Menoetius was the son of Actor and a descendant of the island-god Asopus. He ruled Opus in Locris, where Patroclus was born.

Patroclus was exiled as a child after accidentally killing another boy during a game. Menoetius sent him to Peleus, king of Phthia, where Patroclus grew up alongside Peleus’s son, Achilles. Their close bond became one of the central relationships in the Iliad.

The Iliad repeatedly identifies Patroclus through his father, using the patronymic Menoetiades, meaning “son of Menoetius.” Later traditions disagree about Patroclus’s mother, naming figures such as Sthenele, Philomela, Polymele, or Periopis, but Menoetius is the consistent paternal figure.

A common mix-up is Peleus, who was Patroclus’s guardian and Achilles’s father—not Patroclus’s biological father. Menoetius also appears in the Argonautic tradition as one of the Argonauts.