Thersites
The ugliest Greek at Troy and the first commoner to challenge aristocratic authority in Western literature.
The Legend of Thersites
The ugliest man at Troy, Thersites was bandy-legged, lame, and sharp-tongued. He publicly denounced Agamemnon for hoarding prizes and keeping Chryseis, criticisms that Achilles and Odysseus silently agreed with but would not voice. Odysseus beat him with Agamemnon's sceptre until Thersites wept. Later, when Achilles mourned the Amazon queen Penthesilea's beauty in death, Thersites mocked him, and Achilles killed him. He represents the common soldier's voice against the aristocratic order that Zeus, Athena, and the heroes enforced — the one dissenter in a world ruled by the strong.
Symbols
Fun Fact
Shakespeare gave Thersites a major role in Troilus and Cressida as a bitter commentator on the futility of the war — the character has become a symbol of anti-war dissent.
Explore Further
Antinous
🗡 heroNone recorded
The most arrogant of the suitors who occupied Odysseus' palace in Ithaca
Elephenor
🗡 heroAbantian leadership, exile
Commander of the Abantes from Euboea who was an exile leading his people despite his fugitive status
Nireus
🗡 heroBeauty, Weakness, Trojan War
Considered the most beautiful Greek at Troy after Achilles, but brought only three ships and minor military impact.
Ajax
🗡 heroThe immovable warrior who held the Greek line
The massive warrior from Salamis who carried a shield like a tower wall and held the Greek line when every other defender broke.
Theseus
🗡 heroFounder-hero of Athenian democracy
The hero who killed the Minotaur and later united Attica under Athens, becoming the mythological founder of Athenian democracy.
Neleus
🗡 herokingship
Son of Poseidon and Tyro, founder of Pylos, father of Nestor, killed by Heracles for refusing purification.
Hippolytus
🗡 heroSon of Theseus destroyed by Aphrodite
Hippolytus was the chaste son of Theseus who rejected Aphrodite and was destroyed when his stepmother Phaedra fell in love with him.
Anchises
🗡 heroLove, royalty, Troy
Trojan prince beloved by Aphrodite and father of Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome
Peneleos
🗡 heroBoeotian leadership, ferocity
Boeotian commander at Troy known for his savage killing of the Trojan Ilioneus
Pentheus
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Thebes torn apart by his own mother for opposing the worship of Dionysus
Tydeus
🗡 heroThe ferocious warrior who forfeited immortality
A hero of savage courage who fought as one of the Seven Against Thebes but lost Athena's gift of immortality in his final moment.
Amphinomus
🗡 heroNone recorded
The most decent of Penelope's suitors, killed despite Odysseus' veiled warning to flee