thank you my problem was with labeling achilles a sexual predator presumably sommerstein will go on to identifying daedaluas as the first aviator and andromache as the first feminist without in any way denying the existence of sexual predation then and now this particular use of the phrase strikes me as homophobic it raises the question which other nonmurderous sexual predators he is thinking of solon socrates aeschines i can only view it as a homophobic remark directed at the greeks in general if so that raises questions about the propriety of repeating it here to add to that what information do we have on the respective ages of the two am i mistaken or was troilus described as a boupais it has been a while since i studied the topic but i seem to recall he was nineteen when he died one year short of the magic twenty needed to save troy achilles on the other hand was sixteen when he shed his female garb and left with oedipus to join the battle i believe and the killing is said to have happened early in the war so what can sommerstein be editorializing about an adolescent preying upon an adult on a separate note i never saw anything claiming that achilles fell in love with polyxena at the same time as with troilus everything points to his lying in wait at the lion fountain expressly to get the boy not the girl though it may be significant that she was sacrificed by the greeks at his tomb one more thing when the brothers which ones of troilus ride too late to his rescue achilles meets them in apollo's temple with an unusual weapon troilus' head which he is swinging around by the hair it is such a gory detail it would be a pity to not include it i just no longer have the sources