ΕΠΕΑ ΑΚΟΣΜΑ. Il significato sociale dell’impudenza di Tersite nei confronti di Agamennone e lo studio delle «buone maniere» dei greci antichi

Francesco Mari

Abstract:

This paper proposes an analytical framework to study politeness in the Homeric epics, and applies it to a famous scene of the Iliad: the assembly during which Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaean expedition to Troy, is heavily insulted by Thersites, a simple soldier. My interpretation of both Thersites’ behaviour and Ulysses’ reaction in defence of Agamemnon is based on the categories developed by Erving Goffman to understand the codes of everyday behaviour. I take into consideration two main variables: the social density which characterises the Achaeans’ ἀγορή (defined as the degree to which people are under each other’s surveillance), and the distribution of authority within it. A close analysis of these variables within the social situation is helpful in defining its members’ social expectations towards each other, and, through the analogy between Goffman’s concept of face, allows a new understanding of the Homeric τιμή and the behavioural ideology which this latter underpins.