THERSITES IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Thersites was a soldier or hero of the Achaean forces during the Trojan War. Thersites is most famous today for his appearance in the Iliad, in which Homer has him as a relative comic character who is bow-legged and outspoken.
Thersites Son of Agrius
In the Iliad, Homer makes no mention of the family line of Thersites, which has given rise to the possibility that Thersites was a common soldier in the Achaean army.
The activities undertaken by Thersites during the Trojan War though tell of a noble standing, and so ancient writers made Thersites a son of Agrius; Agrius being a son of Porthaon and therefore brother to Oeneus, King of Calydon.
Thersites, as a son of Agrius, was said to have had five brothers, Celeutor, Lycopeus, Melanippus, Onchestus and Prothous; and Thersites and his brothers are famous for their role in the overthrow of Oeneus.
The activities undertaken by Thersites during the Trojan War though tell of a noble standing, and so ancient writers made Thersites a son of Agrius; Agrius being a son of Porthaon and therefore brother to Oeneus, King of Calydon.
Thersites, as a son of Agrius, was said to have had five brothers, Celeutor, Lycopeus, Melanippus, Onchestus and Prothous; and Thersites and his brothers are famous for their role in the overthrow of Oeneus.
Thersites and the Overthrow of Oeneus
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Oeneus had already lost his son, Meleager, shortly after the Calydonian Hunt, and when Tydeus was killed during the war that was the Seven Against Thebes, the king of Calydon found himself in a vulnerable position.
The six sons of Agrius, Thersites, were said to have acted, overthrowing their uncle, and placing their father on the throne of Calydon. Diomedes, the son of Tydeus, eventually heard about the overthrow of his grandfather, and travelled quickly to Calydon, whence Agrius was expelled and the sons present in Calydon killed. Oeneus was too old to be king now, and so Diomedes put the king’s son-in-law, Andraemon upon the throne. It is commonly said that these events occurred before the Trojan War, though some tell of it occurring afterwards; but in either case, Thersites was not present in Calydon at the time, and so was not killed by Diomedes. Descriptions of ThersitesThersites comes to the fore during the Trojan War, with the son of Agrius commonly described as the ugliest man amongst the Achaean force.
Thersites was thus called bow-legged with a lame foot, a hunchback with receding hair; this of course put him at odds, with the other named heroes of the Trojan War who were collectively regarded as amongst the most handsome of all mortal men. |
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The Words of Thersites
It is not necessarily for his appearance that Thersites is remembered for he has been described as insubordinate and one who made use of vulgar and obscene language and in doing so has become known as the voice of the common soldier in the Achaean ranks.
As the Trojan War dragged on, Agamemnon decides to test the resolve of his men, and makes a speech indicating that he was willing to give up on the war, but once the speech is given a good proportion of the Achaean army depart for the ships in the belief that they were about the return home.
It is left to Thersites to put into word what many of the common soldiers were thinking. For as the war has dragged on the men had died and suffered, whilst Agamemnon had gotten a great deal richer with looted gold and beautiful women as his concubines.
The words spoken might well be the truth, and what many were thinking, but any army only works because of discipline; and so Odysseus interacts to strike down Thersites and end the argument about returning home.
Odysseus does literally strike Thersites down with the sceptre of Agamemnon, and threatens to strip him naked and thrash him if there was any more insubordination from him. The striking down of Thersites brings the army together, for they now all laugh at the prone Thersites, as he wipes tears of pain away, although this doesn’t diminish the fact that the words of Thersites were effectively true.
As the Trojan War dragged on, Agamemnon decides to test the resolve of his men, and makes a speech indicating that he was willing to give up on the war, but once the speech is given a good proportion of the Achaean army depart for the ships in the belief that they were about the return home.
It is left to Thersites to put into word what many of the common soldiers were thinking. For as the war has dragged on the men had died and suffered, whilst Agamemnon had gotten a great deal richer with looted gold and beautiful women as his concubines.
The words spoken might well be the truth, and what many were thinking, but any army only works because of discipline; and so Odysseus interacts to strike down Thersites and end the argument about returning home.
Odysseus does literally strike Thersites down with the sceptre of Agamemnon, and threatens to strip him naked and thrash him if there was any more insubordination from him. The striking down of Thersites brings the army together, for they now all laugh at the prone Thersites, as he wipes tears of pain away, although this doesn’t diminish the fact that the words of Thersites were effectively true.
Achilles and Thersites - H. C. Selous in The Plays of William Shakespeare c1868 - PD-art-100
The Death of Thersites
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Thersites would ultimately die at Troy, but not in a glorious battle against a noted Trojan defender, for Thersites would be slain by Achilles.
The death of Thersites would occur after Homer’s Iliad has drawn to a close, for new defenders had come to the aid of King Priam, with Memnon coming from Aethiopia, and Penthesilia leading the Amazons. Achilles would kill both these named heroes, but having killed Penthesilia, Achilles was taken by the beauty of the Amazon queen, and had fallen in love with her. Thersites would mock Achilles for feeling compassion for the dead Amazon, and it was said by some that Thersites then cut out one of the eyes of Penthesilia. An angry Achilles would then have his revenge upon Thersites, for Achilles struck Thersites down, and then banged his head against the ground until he was dead. For killing a fellow Achaean, Achilles would have to seek purification for his crime; and Achilles would thus sail to the island of Lesbos where he offered up sacrifices to Leto, Apollo and Artemis, after which Odysseus, in his position as King of Ithaca, absolved him. Some tell of how the death of Thersites caused bad-blood between Diomedes and Achilles, because of the family link between Diomedes and Thersites, although if the overthrow of Oeneus had already occurred, then this presumably would not be the case. |
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Thersites in the Underworld
It was not just in the written word that the story of Thersites was told, for Thersites also appeared on the reliefs of ancient pottery. One vase painting attributed to Polygnotos of Athens, shows Thersites in the Underworld alongside Palamedes and Ajax the Lesser, the three Achaeans playing dice together.
Palamedes, Ajax the Lesser and Thersites being linked together as they were all antagonists of Odysseus within the Achaean camp.
Palamedes, Ajax the Lesser and Thersites being linked together as they were all antagonists of Odysseus within the Achaean camp.
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Colin Quartermain - Thersites - 5th May 2018