Complex sentence: In the "Iliad" Homer never suggests that Achilles and his close friend Patroclus were homosexual or that they had sexual relations, despite there being no evidence in the text of the Iliad that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers this theory was speculated by some later authors.
Split into simpler sentences: In the "Iliad" Homer never suggests that Achilles and his close friend Patroclus were lovers. Despite there being no direct evidence in the text of the Iliad that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers, this theory was asserted by some later authors.