The funeral of Patroclus includes the sacrifice of four horses, two dogs, and twelve Trojan youths by Achilles. While some scholars have argued that these sacrifices should be disregarded, this thesis argues that the sacrifices should instead be viewed as non-normative sacrifices. This thesis proposes a re-interpretation of these funerary sacrifices based on a Dumézilian framework, in which the horse, dog, and human sacrifice all signify tripartite elements in a cyclical sacrificial complex. Through enacting sacrifices which bridge the connections between the three Indo-European social structures, the power and authority of Achilles is in turn affirmed.