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One of the most iconic Greek heroes is a gay man with a profoundly moving, breathtakingly beautiful, dazzling and tragic love that bloomed in the ancient world and spilled across a battlefield, proving that the desire to be vulnerable & connect intimately is, and always has been, universal.
The pendant depicts tragic Greek lovers Achilles and Patroclus locked in a passionate gaze, a representation of love that transcends the boundaries of tradition, norms and even life itself. With a double raised border modeled after classic Greek laurel crowns, this old-world style coin is slightly larger than most Awe pendants. Bold and strong yet unquestionably tender, the Achilles pendant is a powerful symbol of unabashed queer love, created to inspire joy and shine light on a story that deserves representation.
This love story defies the bounds of death, reaching through the ages to touch us many centuries later. It begins with Achilles, young, glorious and searching for meaning. In Homer’s Iliad, an epic poem recounting the Trojan War, Achilles danced on the same stage as Athena, Aphrodite, Hera, Zeus, Helen of Troy and Odysseus. A Greek solider with little interest in war and politics, he only truly cared for his lover and companion, Patroclus.
After Patroclus was killed in battle, he was brought to Achilles, who cradled the body of his lover in his arms. His grief was so powerful that the soul of Patroclus felt his lover’s touch through the veil of death itself.
Returning to the battlefield with nothing but grief and wrath in his heart, Achilles avenged Patroclus, knowing it would cost his own life. After his own death, the lovers’ ashes were mixes in the same urn, so that the two souls would meet in the afterlife, united as one forever after.
"In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun." — Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles
