Thersites

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the asteroid of the same name, see (1868) Thersites .

Thersites ( Greek  Θερσίτης Thersítēs ) is a figure in Greek mythology . After Homer's Iliad , he participated in the Greek army in the Trojan Warpart. Homer portrays him drastically as an ugly, insulting and therefore despised, generally hated and unsuccessful demagogue, despised by the heroes. These characteristics make him a unique exception among the Homeric fighters. He is repulsive both because of his body shape and because of his disposition. This extremely negative characterization has given rise to many speculations about his origin, his rank, his role in the Greek army and his importance as a literary figure.

Depiction in the Iliad

Thersites appears only once in the Iliad (Book Two, verses 212-277). After the dispute between King Agamemnon and the hero Achilles , Agamemnon wants to put the combat readiness of the Greek army to the test by suggesting to the army assembly that the war should be broken off as hopeless. The plan fails, because instead of contradicting as hoped, the Greeks rush to the ships to start the journey home. Odysseus, who has seized Agamemnon's scepter, can only persuade the army to turn back with difficulty . He persuades the noble, he beats simple warriors with the scepter. The meeting continues. This is followed by the appearance of Thersites, whose physical deformity the poet first describes. Thersites makes a diatribe in which he suggests that the war will only continue because of Agamemnon's selfishness and greed for prey. He calls on the army to refuse to obey and to go home. Odysseus opposes him violently (verses 245 ff.), Insults and threatens him and insinuates that he acted out of envy of Agamemnon. Finally he hits him hard on the back and shoulders with the scepter. Thersites cannot defend himself; he doubles up in pain, bursts into tears, and sits down. The army laughs at him, the deed of Odysseus is praised. Then Odysseus and other speakers manage to get the assembled fighters back to their old readiness to fight.

The technical narrative framework is complex because Homer works with several perspectives that contradict one another: that of Odysseus, that of the narrator and that of Thersites himself. Depending on which perspective is taken, one arrives at a different assessment of this famous scene of suppressed speech, said Ralph M. Rosen in a 2013 study.

Social historical interpretation

One of the various interpretations of what happened in the Iliad makes Thersites a representative of the common rank and file, the non-noble fighters whom he incited to mutiny against their noble leaders. His humiliating public punishment by Odysseus reflects a social contrast that is only discussed in this one scene in the Iliad and presented from the point of view of the nobility. The following arguments can be made for this point of view:

• Contrary to his usual habit of naming the ancestors of the fighters, Homer does not give Thersites any information about ancestry.
• The criticism that emerged in the speech of the Thersites (especially verses 225–242) applies to the entire leadership group: Because of their internal conflicts, they made a success of the army in front of Troy impossible. While the Achaeans suffered "misfortune", the management staff would enjoy privileges that were illegal because of the lack of success. In this way the interests of the “lower-elite class in the army camp before Troy” are contrasted with those of the “elite”.
• Odysseus chastises Thersites with the scepter, just as he used to defeat ordinary fighters with it. He treats him contemptuously from the outset, in contrast to equally dissenters whom he tries to convince. Without making any arguments, Odysseus uses a violent measure to restore the social and political order endangered by the speech of Thersites.
• Thersites finds no partisan or advocate among the gentlemen, apparently he has no relatives or friends among them. Instead, he seems to act narrative as a representative of the majority of the simple fighters.
• The arguments of the Thersites against Agamemnon tie in with those that Achilles had already put forward in an even more harsh manner against the ruler; he even resorts to the hero's language, but does not achieve anything. In this way Homer apparently wants to express that a person of the rank of Thersites is not entitled to represent a point of view on which Achilles, in turn, may well stand.

Prehomeric tradition

Achilles kills Thersites. Depiction on a Roman sarcophagus , Antalya Archeological Museum

From a few indications and a few surviving information, the main features of a lost pre-Homeric saga can be deduced, in which Thersites plays a role. However, the relevant non-Homeric sources contain further development and embellishment of the material of the Iliad . In this tradition, Thersites appears posh; his father is said to have been Agrios , his cousin Tydeus , the father of the famous hero Diomedes . This is hardly compatible with Homer's account; It was pointed out in ancient times that if Thersites had been related to Diomedes, Odysseus would not have humiliated him so.

The main source is a medieval extract from the Chrēstomátheia grammatik gramm, which has not been preserved in the original . This chrestomathy , which is ascribed to the Neo-Platonist Proklos , provided a summary of the lost epic Aithiopis , which was written after the Iliad , but made use of pre-Homeric myths. A late version can be found in the Posthomerica of Quintus of Smyrna (1.716–825).

According to this legend, Thersites reviled Achilles, who he accused of having killed the Amazon Penthesileia , who fought on the side of the Trojans , but also loved him. Achilles then killed him with a punch or a slap in the face. This manslaughter led to a revolt in the Greek army. Quintus and the mythographer Pherecytes of Athens add that Diomedes wanted to fight Achilles as the avenger of his relative. Achilles had to ritually cleanse himself of the defilement through his deed (an inhomeric motif).

What the Iliad and the non- Homeric tradition have in common is that Thersites appears as an aggressive critic who unrestrainedly reviles the most respected heroes and thus calls for a harsh reaction that he is not up to and that is his undoing. But there are also important differences. In the non-Homeric tradition, Thersites comes from the Aitolian nobility, even from a royal house, his fate is less disgraceful than in the Iliad , he is not completely isolated as with Homer and also not misshapen. Accordingly, two jugs from the 4th century BC show A normally designed thersites in nonhomeric scenes. On a vase picture from the 5th century BC However, Thersites is depicted ugly in a scene from the Iliad .

The etymology of the name has Thersites the most striking feature of the wearer out: it is translated "Naughty Ling" and refers to an audacious man. The Aeolic output word thérsos but was used mainly positive in the sense of "bold". In Thessaly "Thersites" is in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. BC as the name of historical persons. Such a name choice for a child cannot have been linked to the Homeric saga, but proves that the name also had positive connotations.

reception

The name of the Homeric thersites became proverbial in ancient times. Thereby one alluded partly to the physical ugliness, partly to the audacity and demagoguery or to the combination of these characteristics.

Thersites was also included in other sagas, including that of the Calydonian hunt , where he is said to have evaded the fight with the boar out of cowardice. The fact that he was even considered as a participant in the hunt indicates high social status.

In the 4th century BC The poet Chairemon brought the death of Thersites to the stage in a play that has not survived - probably a satyr play . In the tenth book of his dialogue Politeia, Plato let the soul of Thersites enter a monkey's body as part of the transmigration of souls .

In the 2nd century AD, Lukian of Samosata made Thersites the interlocutor in a grotesque dialogue: Thersites took part in a beauty contest among the dead and pointed out that Homer, who portrayed him as ugly, was known to be blind.

There was also the “Praise of Thersites” as a rhetorical exercise. In the 4th century AD, the orator Libanios wrote such a rehabilitation of the agitator, whose courageous appearance against the mighty he emphasized. This was also taken up by Heiner Müller in the poem Stories by Homer .

In William Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida , Thersites is a scorn and blasphemer who receives blows for his insolence. In the early 20th century, Stefan Zweig made him the title character of a verse drama.

Also the writer Michael Graf Soltikow , defense agent under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris , describes in his memoir I Was Mittendrin an ambitious collaborator and later informers because of his unpleasant appearance as "Thersites".

In the upscale colloquial language, "Thersites" is a cultivated swear word for agitators and malefactors.

literature

• Joachim Ebert : The figure of the thersites in the Iliad. In: Philologus . Volume 113, 1969, pp. 159-175.
• Stefan Fraß: Thersites: Agamemnon's most powerful opponent before Troy? Forms of conflict settlement between the elite and lower-elite strata in Homeric society. In: Michael Meißner, Katarina Nebelin, Marian Nebelin (eds.): Elites after the loss of power? Case studies on the transformation of elites in times of crisis. Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Berlin, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86573-665-9 , pp. 91-131.
• Eddie R. Lowry: Thersites. A Study in Comic Shame. Garland, New York 1991, ISBN 0-8240-4360-X .
• Luigi Spina: L'oratore scriteriato. Per una storia letteraria e politica di Tersite. Loffredo, Naples 2001, ISBN 88-8096-818-1 .

Web links

Commons : Thersites  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ↑ Iliad 2: 212-277. ( Memento from May 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Ralph M. Rosen: Comic Parrhêsia and the Paradoxes of Repression . In: S. Douglas Olson (Ed.): Ancient Comedy and Reception. Essays in Honor of Jeffrey Henderson . De Gruyter, Berlin, 2013, ISBN 9781614511250 , pp. 13–28, pp. 19–20
3. ↑ So judges z. B. Martin Persson Nilsson : History of the Greek Religion , Vol. 1, 3rd edition, Munich 1976, pp. 334 and 361; see also James Marks: The Ongoing Neikos: Thersites, Odysseus, and Achilleus. In: American Journal of Philology 126, 2005, pp. 1–31, here: 1–6; Stefan Fraß: Thersites: Agamemnon's most powerful opponent before Troy? In: Michael Meißner et al. (Ed.): Elites after the loss of power? , Berlin 2012, pp. 91-131.
4. ↑ Stefan Fraß: Thersites: Agamemnon's most powerful opponent before Troy? In: Michael Meißner et al. (Ed.): Elites after the loss of power? , Berlin 2012, pp. 91–131, here: 104.
5. ↑ According to Stefan Fraß, this is: Thersites: Agamemnon's most powerful opponent before Troy? In: Michael Meißner et al. (Ed.): Elites after the loss of power? , Berlin 2012, pp. 91–131, here: 104 the majority position (see evidence in note 57). Of course, it can be questioned whether Homer really depicts Thersites as a representative of a social class. Anne G. Geddes argues against the hypothesis of low ancestry: Who's who in 'Homeric' society? In: The Classical Quarterly New Series 34, 1984, pp. 17-36, here: 22 f. in front.
6. ↑ Viktor Gebhard : Thersites . In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE), Vol. VA / 2, Stuttgart 1934, Sp. 2455–2471, here: 2456 f .; Joachim Ebert: The figure of the thersites in the Iliad. In: Philologus 113, 1969, pp. 159-175, here: 161.
7. ↑ Viktor Gebhard: Thersites . In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE), Vol. VA / 2, Stuttgart 1934, Sp. 2455–2471, here: 2459.
8. ↑ The Chrestomathy passage is in James Marks: The Ongoing Neikos: Thersites, Odysseus, and Achilleus. In: American Journal of Philology 126, 2005, pp. 1–31, here: 17 f. reproduced.
9. ↑ Joachim Ebert: The figure of the Thersites in the Iliad. In: Philologus 113, 1969, pp. 159–175, here: 167 also traces this additional part of the tradition back to the Aithiopis .
10. ↑ Viktor Gebhard: Thersites . In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE), Vol. VA / 2, Stuttgart 1934, Sp. 2455–2471, here: 2459, 2461.
11. ↑ Joachim Ebert: The figure of the Thersites in the Iliad. In: Philologus 113, 1969, pp. 159-175, here: 168-170.
12. ↑ Viktor Gebhard: Thersites . In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE), Vol. VA / 2, Stuttgart 1934, Sp. 2455–2471, here: 2455 f .; Joachim Ebert: The figure of the thersites in the Iliad. In: Philologus 113, 1969, pp. 159-175, here: 168.
13. ↑ Viktor Gebhard has the evidence: Thersites . In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE), Vol. VA / 2, Stuttgart 1934, Col. 2455–2471, here: 2464–2466 compiled.
14. ↑ Viktor Gebhard: Thersites . In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE), Vol. VA / 2, Stuttgart 1934, Sp. 2455-2471, here: 2460 f.
15. ↑ Plato, Politeia 620c.
16. ↑ Lukian, Totenrechner 25 (online: translation by August Friedrich Pauly ; translation by Christoph Martin Wieland ).
17. ↑ Luigi Spina: L'oratore scriteriato. Per una storia letteraria e politica di Tersite , Napoli 2001, pp. 43–46 (pp. 92–108 uncritical edition of the Greek text with Italian translation and commentary).