The Ongoing Neikos

Thersites, Odysseus, and Achilleus

Bibliographic Data

ID9317814
AuthorsJohn Marks (0000-0002-4959-5776, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume126
Issue1
Pages1-31
Publication date2005-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe American Journal of Philology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9475 • E-ISSN: 1086-3168
PublisherJohns Hopkins University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/ajp.2005.0021
OpenAlexW2124612255
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited30

Comparison of the Iliadic Thersites with his character in non-Homeric traditions, the iambic personas Archilochos and Hipponax, the disguised Odysseus in the Odyssey, Karna in the Mahābhārata, and with sociological models suggests that his ongoing neikos ("conflict") with Odysseus and Achilleus (neikeieske, Iliad 2.221) is constructed as one between social equals, and so can be described in terms of elite competition, in contrast with the common interpretation of the scene as class conflict. The elite competition model offers fresh perspectives on class relations in Homeric society and can help to explicate the opposition between the heroics of Odysseus and of Achilleus and help to delineate the thematics of the fragmentary Aithiopis

Art · Classical Antiquity Studies · History

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