The Dice Symbol Analysis

Patroclus’s dice symbolize the ancient Greeks’ flawed understanding of honor. As a young child, Patroclus accidentally kills a young boy, Clysonymus, when Clysonymus tries to steal the dice. Patroclus doesn’t know where the dice came from, because neither his father King Menoitius nor his mother ever gave them to him; they have no sentimental value and are essentially meaningless. But Clysonymus demands them, and although Patroclus refuses, he steps backwards, which causes Clysonymus to call him a coward. Patroclus, intending to prove he isn’t, pushes Clysonymus against a bed of rocks, which kills him. The dice are lost when Patroclus runs away from the body.

Patroclus’s defense of the dice is a symbolic defense of his honor, which Clysonymus called into question. At the same time, Clysonymus is defending his own honor, because letting the famously weak Patroclus win a fight would be dishonorable. Ironically, Patroclus loses his honor (and, more literally, the dice themselves) by defending it: his father exiles him and strips him of his royal title after learning of the murder. Though Patroclus narrates the incident by suggesting that he didn’t know the fall would kill Clysonymus, he also admits that his kingdom was a “land of rocks”—in other words, he may have subconsciously intended to kill the boy, therefore acting dishonorably in defense of his honor. If that’s the case, honor is arguably as meaningless as the dice, meaning that it isn’t worth defending.