Thersite en son Palais ou la désastreuse épopée d'Alexis III Ange dans l'Histoire de Nicétas Chôniatès

Abstract

Alexios III Angelos was one of the most hated emperors of Byzantine history since the historian Niketas Choniates heartfully despises him in the books dedicated to his reign within his History. Niketas describes him as indolent, impotent, conceited, and as liable for the first fall of Constantinople under the crusaders’ and Venetians’ armies. This paper does not claim to restore to favor nor discharge Alexios, but to consider how Niketas creates a character modeled by literary patterns, such as Eteocles or Thersites, which are all related to the antihero archetype. The aim of Niketas seems not to be only to frame a persona as a playwrighter or a novelist would do, but as a mosaist to allow each protagonist of his History to fit into God’s designs for the Roman Empire.

Keywords

• nicetas choniates, alexios iii angelos