Thersites

From Phantis
Jump to navigation Jump to search

In Greek mythology, Thersites, son of Agrius, was a rank-and-file soldier of the Greek army during the Trojan War.

Homer described him in detail in the Iliad, even though he plays only a minor role in the story. He is said to be bow-legged, lame and had shoulders that caved inward. His head was covered in tufts of hair and came to a point. He was vulgar, obscene, somewhat dull-witted, and Homer has much fun at his expense. He called Agamemnon greedy and Achilles a coward, causing Odysseus to hit him with Agamemnon's sceptre.

According to later stories, Achilles eventually killed him for making fun of Achilles' grief over the death of Penthesilea.

A portion of content for this article is credited to Wikipedia. Content under GNU Free Documentation License(GFDL)