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The Mother's Perspective: Thetis and Masculinity in Statius’ Achilleid

This lecture explores the intersection of motherhood and masculinity as depicted in Statius' Achilleid, focusing on Thetis, Achilles' mother. Unlike Venus in Virgil's Aeneid, Thetis presents a complex narrative surrounding her son's transformation into a man amidst the backdrop of war. The lecture examines how her attempts to protect Achilles lead to unforeseen consequences, including his actions on Scyros and the portrayal of desire and power dynamics. Through Statius’ lens, we delve into themes of biological sex, gender performance, and the darker aspects of heroic identity in imperial Rome.

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The Mother's Perspective: Thetis and Masculinity in Statius’ Achilleid

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  1. The mother’s story: Statius’ Achilleid Vulnerable Body Term 2, lecture 10

  2. Peleus and Thetis (1677 engraving)

  3. What does epic (warfare) look like from the point of view of a mother? [nb: this partly depends whose mother we are talking about: Thetis plays a very different role to that played by Venus, mother and protector of Aeneas in Virgil’s Aeneid, who will himself ‘play Achilles’ in the final duel with Turnus]

  4. A plan backfires… • In hiding Achilles on Scyros (apparently a female, pastoral, elegiac idyll), Thetis creates the circumstances in which Achilles can mimic his mortal, rapist father, Peleus. • Achilles’ revelation of his biological sex and his rape of Deidamia are the first in a series of events which will ensure he leaves the island for the oceans and battlefields of war.

  5. Becoming a man in imperial Rome • One is not born, but becomes, a man (?) • Masculinity must be continually reiterated and performed

  6. ‘Here there are only the wands of Bacchus’ (Achilleid1.393)

  7. Primus amor:Apollo and Daphne (right)Jupiter, Juno and Io (above)[handout 3b]

  8. Thetis as Pygmalion?(J.-L.Gerome, Pygmalion and Galatea, 1890)

  9. Or as Ovid’s Echo?(John William Waterhouse 1903)

  10. Achilles as Ovid’sActaeon?

  11. Achilles as (not) Pentheus / Acteon?

  12. Seminar discussion of Ach.1.640ff. • Look at how Statius’ account of the rape differs from Ovid’s in Ars Amatoria1.689ff. • How does Statius respond to Ovid’s account: what is different, and to what effect? • Consider what happens to Thetis’ voice, and who her perspective is represented in this passage. • Do you think Statius’ Achilles fully succeeds in ‘becoming a man’ by raping Deidamia? • How does Statius’ poem get us thinking about the interplay between biological sex, and gender?

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