Journal Article

Thetis in Identity Crisis

Alepidou, Apostolia

2020

Overview

This article focuses on Statius’ representation of Thetis in the Achilleid in comparison with her representation in the Iliad . Statius, it is argued, goes against the Homeric tradition, depicting the goddess with features opposite from those she possesses in Homer. Thetis, generally perceived as a modest and ladylike speaker in the Iliad , employs masculine-gendered rhetoric and becomes offensive in the Achilleid ; paternal acts linked to Peleus in the Homeric tradition are in Statius’ poem undertaken by Thetis; Homer’s omniscient and powerful goddess is almost ridiculed in Statius: being obsessed with the impossible, i.e. Achilles’ salvation, she repeatedly fails to achieve a possible delay of his doom. Through this technique, Statius inverts Thetis’ traditional character, creating a heroine that fits perfectly in his unconventional epic of cross-dressing and role-play.