Re: Iliad I.348-356, XVI.1-19
OK, so they didn't and don't have quite the same idea about men crying in the Mediterranean world as they do in America and Northern Europe, that is the whole "boys don't cry" concept. Even so, Achilles seems to make fun of Patroclus for crying in Book 16 of the Iliad, by comparing him to a little girl trying to get her mother to pick her up. Thing is, Patroclus has just been around the Greek camp and seen the sorry state of affairs and was fearing for the survival of the Greek army--who can blame him for a few tears? Achilles, on the other hand was bawling to his mummy in Book 1 just because his prize (viz. the girl Briseis) was taken away from him.
Some people argue that the little girl simile is actually not a taunt, but a reference to the plight of women and children taken captive in war and thus a very sympathetic remark by Achilles. They're welcome to their opinion, though I think the evidence is circumstantial, dependent on the assumption that Homer "whoever he were" carefully chose words that conjur the image of a rich woman fleeing a sacked city with her young daughter trying to keep up--without making any explicit reference to those circumstances of war and flight. *shrug* Anyway, it's funnier my way.
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