The Role of Thetis in the Iliad

  The Role of Thetis in the Iliad

Thetis, the leader of the fifty sea nymphs called the Nereids, played a central and critical role in Homer’s Iliad. She was the wife of Peleus and the mother of the Greek hero Achilles. Achilles was mortal because only his mother was divine. Thetis was reluctant to accept the mortality of her son and she did everything in her power to put off or circumvent his inevitable death, but to no avail. Legend has it that she had dipped him in the River Styx when he was a baby in an attempt to ensure his immortality, but the heel by which she held him proved to be his “Achilles heel”, and this is where the fatal arrow eventually struck him during the Trojan War.

The involvement of Thetis in the war dated right back to its very origins. The Trojan prince Paris had abducted the lovely Helen of Sparta because he had been promised the most beautiful woman in the world by Aphrodite if he selected her as the fairest over Hera and Athena in the famous beauty contest, known to us as the Judgement of Paris. The event where this occurred was the marriage of Thetis to the mortal hero and former Argonaut Peleus. An invasion force was mounted by the Greeks against the Trojans in an attempt to return Helen and the Spartan treasury to King Menelaus. Achilles, the son of Thetis, was one of the Greeks who rallied under the leadership of King Agamemnon of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus.

It is interesting to note that some versions of the myth have the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, the abduction of Helen and the start of the Trojan War all happening in very quick sequence. But Achilles was not born until after the wedding and so this would have made the storyline inconsistent. Most scholars believe that the gap between the wedding and the start of the war had to be some 15-20 years and this would have made Achilles 15-18 years of age when he joined the fighting. With him being just a teenager, it is no small wonder that his mother took such a protective role in guiding and guarding him throughout the years of the conflict. Homer always described her as a devoted mother but also referred to the beautiful immortal goddess as fair-haired, silver-footed and sea-born.

It seems that her maternal devotion to her son Achilles was just part of her caring nature. Thetis was always pictured in Greek mythology as being a nurturer and a saviour. When Hephaestus was angrily cast out of Olympus and fell to the earth, it was Thetis who rescued him and nursed him back to health. The god of the forge repaid her kindness when he fashioned a new set of armour for Achilles after his weapons had been stripped off the body of Patroclus by Hector. In another myth, Thetis saved the young god Dionysus when he was being attacked by the Thracian king Lycurgus. Dionysus presented her with a beautiful urn that Hephaestus had made as a token of his thanks. This became the urn in which Thetis would place the ashes of her dead son Achilles. In another myth, Thetis saved Zeus himself when he was about to become a victim of a coup d’état led by Hera, Poseidon and Athena.

We witness Thetis taking on a protective role over her son very early in the Iliad and in fact right at the beginning of Book One. Achilles had suffered a great slight at the hands of Agamemnon when the king insisted that the Pythian hero had to give up his war prize Briseis because the Mycenaean was being forced to return his own prize Chryseis to her father. Achilles prayed to his mother for assistance.

But Achilles, having wept bitterly at his loss, sat down by the side of the foamy waves apart from his comrades and gazed upon the wine dark sea. And stretching forth his hands, he prayed sincerely to his blessed mother. “Mother, you gave me life, short as it might be, so at least Olympian Zeus the mighty thunder-maker should give me some honour, but alas he grants me none. For indeed Agamemnon, the wide ruling son of Atreus dishonours me for he takes back for himself what was given to me.”

Thetis promised her son that she would go to Mount Olympus and plead on his behalf. But I will go myself to snow-capped Olympus and place your request before the god who delights in thunder to see if I might persuade him on your behalf. The goddess made a strong case to the father of the gods and asked that the Trojans be allowed to get the upper hand in the conflict in order to teach Agamemnon a lesson. Zeus even went against his own wife Hera with his decision in her favour. Of course we know that agreeing to this proposal of hers led to a prolonging of the war and countless casualties on both sides. The maternal protection she provided to her own son resulted in the maternal grief of hundreds of Greek and Trojan wives and mothers who lost their own husbands and sons because of her interference in the conflict.

“O father Zeus, if at any time past I have pleased you among the immortals in my words or in my actions, then grant me this request. Grant honour to my son, fated to be short-lived compared to others, for Agamemnon the lord of men has dishonoured him. He has grasped and taken for himself the award previously given to my son. But you could grant him honour, Olympian counsellor Zeus. Give supremacy to the Trojans until such time as the Achaeans honour my son and build up reverence toward him.”

            The dutiful mother ensured that her young son always had everything that he needed. Later on in the epic, when Achilles was preparing Patroclus to go into battle in his place, we got insight into the preparations that Thetis had made for the comfort of her son in Troy.

But Achilles went inside his tent and opened the lid of a beautiful and cunningly-wrought chest that silver-footed Thetis had placed on his ship for him to bring with him and she had filled it with garments and tunics to keep off the wind and woven woolen rugs. Inside the chest there was a beautifully fashioned drinking goblet that no other man had ever drunk the fiery wine from and from which he had never poured a libation to any god except his father Zeus.

            Achilles lost his own armour when Hector stripped it from the body of Patroclus after he had killed him. Thetis went to the workshop of the god Hephaestus and ordered a new set of stunning armour for her son. Hephaestus agreed to supply the armour because he was beholden to Thetis for having saved him in the past when he was cast from Olympus. Thetis made Achilles promise not to engage in the fighting until she returned from Hephaestus with new armour for him.

Then the silver-footed goddess Thetis answered him. “Truly as you say to me child, it is not a bad thing to ward off destruction from your comrades when they are distressed. But your shining armour of bronze is being held among the Trojans and Hector with the flashing helmet bears it gloriously on his own shoulders, but he will not glory in it for long for his demise is close at hand. But you must not return to the turmoil of Ares before you see me return with your own eyes, for come morning and the rising of the sun, I will come back bearing wondrous armour from Lord Hephaestus.”

            Homer’s description of the armour and in particular the shield of Achilles, is generally regarded as one of the most famous and detailed passages in the Iliad.

Now take and accept from Hephaestus this rich and beautiful armour which no man has ever worn on his shoulders before. So speaking she laid the armour at the feet of Achilles and all its embellishments flashed brightly. All the Myrmidons trembled when they saw it and they could not look at it fully, for they were so struck with awe. But not Achilles for the more he looked at it, the more furious he became and his eyes flashed brightly for he was gladdened to hold the beautiful gift which the god had sent to him.

            Despite the protection that his mother provided and the new armour with which he was furnished, the fact remains that Achilles was mortal and he would die. The cards were stacked against him for two reasons; first of all, his father was the mortal Peleus, and secondly, as Apollo explained to Aeneas, Achilles was the son of a lesser god.

Offer your prayers to the immortal gods, O hero, for it is said that you are born of Aphrodite the daughter of Zeus whereas that man is born of a goddess of lesser rank. Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus whereas Thetis is the daughter of the old man of the sea. So bring your shining spear upon him and do not walk away in sadness from his threats.

            When Achilles was trying to make up his mind about abandoning the fight and returning home, he made it very clear that he knew about the choices that were available to him. He could live a long life in relative obscurity back in Pythia, or he could achieve his Kleos by dying gloriously in battle on the plains of Troy. His mother had laid out his options for him.

For my mother, the silver-footed goddess Thetis, had advised me that a double-fated death approaches me. If I stay here and fight about the city of Troy, then lost is my return home but great will be my fame. If I return home to my dearly beloved fatherland, then my glorious fame will be lost and I will live a long time and the fate of death will not soon come upon me.

Thetis realized fully that she could try to comfort Achilles in his agony, but she was incapable of changing his fate. She expressed her deep distress to her fellow Nereids.

Listen to me my sister Nereids so that each of you may know all the sorrows that are in my heart. Woe is me who am so unhappy, me the unhappy mother of the son whom I bore, for after I had given birth to such a peerless and stalwart son, one who stood out amongst all others. He grew up quickly like a sapling and I had brought him up like a rich plant in a garden plot, I then sent him off in the curved-bow ships to Ilios to make war with the Trojans. But I will never receive him back into his house, the home of the son of Peleus. But while he is alive and can see the light of the sun, he is in sorrowful pain and I cannot help him in any way regardless of my going to him. But I will go and I will see my dear child and listen to what grief has come upon him while he keeps himself aloof from the fighting.

            Thetis shared with her son the fate that was set before him. Then shedding great tears, Thetis spoke to him again. “An early death will come to you as you say my child, for your own death will be right at hand following that of Hector.” In response to this chilling news, Achilles acknowledged his fate. But Zeus does not bring to pass all that mankind plans for both of us are fated to stain the soil of Troy with our blood for never will I go back to be made welcome in the halls by the old horseman Peleus nor by my mother Thetis, but instead I shall be held fast by the earth here in this place.

            The final role that the goddess Thetis played in the Iliad was the part that she played in convincing her son to return the body of Hector to his father Priam. The gods were angered when Achilles desecrated the body of Hector and refused him a proper burial. Thetis persuaded Achilles to accept the ransom that Priam offered and to turn over his son’s corpse to him.

But listen to me for I bring you a message from Zeus. He says that all the gods are angry with you and he, more so than all the others, is filled with rage towards you because you, in the fury of your heart, are keeping Hector near the crooked-beaked ships and will not release him. Now you must give him up and accept ransom for his corpse.

            Thetis, the divine mother of Achilles, played several key roles in Homer’s Iliad. She intervened with Zeus to alter the course of the Trojan War in favour of the Trojans so that her son’s insult at the hands of Agamemnon could be avenged. This intervention led to immense suffering by the Greeks which eventually forced the Mycenaean king to recognize her son’s value and to attempt reconciliation with him. Thetis played a major role in providing support and comfort to her son Achilles. She was also the bearer of the details of the choices available to him and his ultimate fate if he chose to stay and fight. This choice of his led to us witnessing a display of extreme maternal grief. Thetis knew that her son was not immortal but continued to provide him with everything that he needed while he was still alive. This included the goddess commissioning a new set of armour for him fashioned at the hands of Hephaestus. Finally, Thetis played a major role in convincing Achilles to return the body of Hector to the Trojans for his proper burial.

            Thetis is significant to the Iliad because she embodies profound maternal love and the ongoing struggle between divine power and inevitable fate. Even though she has the power of a goddess, she cannot alter the fate that is destined for her son, that of having a short but glorious life. Despite her best efforts to prolong his existence, he will achieve his Kleos with an early death on the battlefield. Her actions were driven by her love for Achilles and her motivation as a protective mother, but they had large scale and disastrous results for all who were involved in the conflict of the Trojan War.