The Iliad 23.103–107 — Achilles speaking to Achilles | The Lexicon

The Iliad 23.103–107

for the whole night long hath the spirit of hapless Patroclus stood over me, weeping and wailing, and gave me charge concerning each thing, and was wondrously like his very self.

ὢ πόποι ἦ ῥά τίς ἐστι καὶ εἰν Ἀΐδαο δόμοισι ψυχὴ καὶ εἴδωλον, ἀτὰρ φρένες οὐκ ἔνι πάμπαν· παννυχίη γάρ μοι Πατροκλῆος δειλοῖο ψυχὴ ἐφεστήκει γοόωσά τε μυρομένη τε, καί μοι ἕκαστʼ ἐπέτελλεν, ἔϊκτο δὲ θέσκελον αὐτῷ.

Lattimore commentary

Achilleus understands the look and words of Patroklos to indicate that soul (psykhê) and image (eidôlon) survive death. That he draws the conclusion about the absence of the “heart of life” (phrenes, the seat of intelligence, in Homer) is not surprising, since Greeks connected thought and consciousness closely with physical organs. The phrenes were localized near the lungs.

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phren psyche