UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Marital Ruptures and Ritual
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Marital Ruptures and Ritual Space in Classical Greece DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Classics by Teresa Yates Scott Dissertation Committee: Associate Professor Andromache Karanika, Chair Associate Professor Zina Giannopoulou Professor Thomas Scanlon 2017 © 2017 Teresa Yates Scott DEDICATION To My boys, Daniel and Tristan, without whom I’d be lost ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv CURRICULUM VITAE v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION vi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: Afflicted by Adultery: Wives and Consorts in Greek Tragedy 18 CHAPTER 2: Aristophanes’ Explorations of Female Adultery 79 CHAPTER 3: Adultery in Rhetoric and Law 141 CHAPTER 4: Inter-Species Adultery in Euripides’ Cretans: Hybridity and Civic Representation in Athenian Thought 182 CHAPTER 5: Paternal Anxiety and Breaches of Union in the Ritual Record 237 CONCLUSION 301 BIBLIOGRAPHY 311 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Andromache Karanika, who was so much more than a dissertation chair. She read countless drafts, took part in innumerable brainstorming meetings, and every time I left her office, I felt smarter and more confident than when I entered. She challenged me to think more clearly, take my arguments a step further, and always avoid generalizations. In short, she is the consummate advisor, scholar, and human being, and I am very grateful that she spent so much time helping me grow, as an academic, but more importantly, as a person. I would also like to thank Dr. Zina Giannopoulou, who was a similarly formative force during my time at UCI. As the professor of my first graduate seminar, she taught me to look for holes in every argument, to value clarity, and to be bold. I treasure our many informal conversations, which led me to reflect on life in an extremely valuable way. These conversations have made me a more honest and introspective scholar and human being; I cannot begin to say how much I appreciate her unwavering and continued support of me. Dr. Thomas Scanlon has been a most valued mentor since I entered college in 2006, and for that, I am most grateful. Taking his courses as an undergraduate sparked my interest in Classics and eventually led me to graduate school. I can honestly say that without his engaging teaching style, rigorous expectations, and steadfast support, I would not have a doctorate in Classics. Next, I would like to thank my family for their support of me through the various stages of my education. To my parents, I cannot say how much I appreciate that you encouraged me to pursue a field of study that I love; truly, Dad, it does not feel like a job if you love what you do. And Mom, you are one of the strongest women I know, and I have so much love and respect for the example you set for me: that of the academic woman who knows her worth and expects others to do so as well. Matt, you have always been my best friend and confidante, and your support of me has always been humbling and encouraging. Finally, to my beloved Daniel. You are the most hardworking person I know, and your example led me to become a more dedicated scholar. I cherish our innumerable conversations about our respective research projects and the insights you have been able to give me into my own thinking. You have kept me sane through the dissertation process, but more importantly, you have kept me somewhat sensible as our lives have evolved. You gave the most beautiful son I could have asked for, and you continue to anchor our family. You are a treasure, and I am thankful every day to have you in my life. iv CURRICULUM VITAE Teresa Yates Scott 2010 B.A. in Classical Studies, University of California, Riverside 2011-16 Teaching Assistant, Department of Classics, University of California, Irvine 2014 M.A. in Classics, University of California, Irvine 2014-15 Teaching Associate, Department of Classics, University of California, Irvine 2017 Ph.D. in Classics, University of California, Irvine FIELD OF STUDY Classical Greek Literature; Feminism in Classics; Greek Religion; Ancient Magic and Ritual; Cultural and Social History in Classical Greece PUBLICATIONS “Ritual Time and Restoration in Sophocles’ Trachiniae and Euripides’ Medea” in Engendering Time in the Ancient Mediterranean, L. Maurizio and E. Eidinow (eds.) “Olympic Imagery in Pericles’ Epitaphios Logos” in Proceedings of the 18th International Seminar on Olympic Studies for Postgraduate Students, 2012: Eptalofos, SA, Athens. v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Marital Ruptures and Ritual Space in Classical Greece By Teresa Yates Scott Doctor of Philosophy in Classics University of California, Irvine, 2017 Associate Professor Andromache Karanika, Chair This dissertation investigates adultery and the appropriation of ritual space in Classical Greece, focusing on the portrayal of women and adultery in Greek literary and material sources. It is the first study which analyzes in detail both the extant literary and epigraphic sources for presentations of adultery, its multiple frames, the responses to adultery, and its tight and pervasive connections to ritual. Such representations show how the male portrayal of female sexuality, and ultimately maternity, seeks to problematize adulterous sexual contact. The creation and control of gendered space, which included both ritual and domestic spheres, allowed men to restrict female mobility and to protect their own lineage by ensuring the legitimacy of their children. Each chapter focuses on depictions of female movement and action in different literary genres and other types of sources (tragedy, comedy, oratory, the catalogues of oracles and curse tablets, and tragic fragments). Similar themes surrounding female sexuality appear in each of these sources alongside the ubiquitous ritual frame; most notably, conspicuousness, tactility, and the manipulation of time and space are all vi presented as ways in which women could express their own autonomy. It is this self- expression, which is frequently connected to ritual, that the authors of the above genres portray as destructive to both the oikos and the polis. In addition, I make use of contemporary sociological, anthropological, and feminist theoretical perspectives to explain the purpose behind these portrayals; in essence, to show why female sexuality is negatively portrayed and so often associated with ritual space. I am particularly interested in ritual as spectacle and the presentation of adultery within these parameters in a variety of different sources, from the theater to curse tablets. vii INTRODUCTION Ancient Greek women, not unlike women of other eras throughout history, existed in a world of externally imposed social structures designed to restrict their activity, sexuality, and mobility. In Classical times, and especially within the Athenian context, adultery was often perceived as the result of women working against these socially promulgated restraints and was therefore framed by male authors as an act injurious to the polis. There have been several substantial and enlightening studies undertaken on the topic which I briefly review in the following paragraphs. In my investigation of diverse sources that present adultery, which include rhetorical, poetic, and historical works and archaeological material, I detect a consistent intersection of women, adultery, and ritual. It is this heretofore unexplored association that provides the focal point of this dissertation. Another departure from previous studies is the breadth of sources that I explore; instead of focusing solely on the legal-rhetorical corpus, I examine a wide variety of texts from the Classical period, ranging from the theater to curse tablets, which involve marital ruptures. This dissertation builds upon the legal-historical foundation and unearths previously undetected patterns and connections in the various portrayals of adultery that invite further questions and investigation. 1 Contemporary scholarship about adultery in ancient Greece is largely found as a section of a larger study; for example, about the family and marriage or sexual violence and its legal implications. Studies of the family in ancient Greece include brief summaries of adultery, as it affected the marital bond. William Lacey’s book, for example, investigates the effect that adultery had on the family; this section takes up no more than three pages, and, in addition to enumerating its punishments, focuses on the domestic and civic importance of legitimacy.1 Furthermore, his methodology rejects the use of tragedy as evidence for the family and urges caution when considering oratory (orators were “prepared to be liars”, so Lacey does not consider the “exact truth” of what they say); he argues that comedy, on the other hand, should be considered a valid source for evidence, since comic figures are “normal human beings in comic situations.”23 Similarly, Sarah Pomeroy’s book gives an excellent overview of marriage and heredity in Classical Greece, but she, too, refers to adultery only in passing. Cynthia Patterson, on the other hand, devotes two chapters to adultery in her book on the Athenian family; one that defines adultery and gives basic legal guidelines, and another which deals with adultery as it was performed onstage and in courts.4 Her tragic focus is limited to Clytemnestra, both in the Oresteia and the Electras, and her discussion of adultery in comedy is limited to a few paragraphs discussing Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae. She turns to adultery in court, focusing on a pair of fragmentary speeches by Hyperides and Lysias’ paradigmatic On the Murder of 1 Lacey 1968: 113. 2 Lacey 1968: 10. Sarah Pomeroy similarly claims that the use of tragedy as evidence by historians is problematic; she does, however, concede that tragedy was a “representative element of popular culture at Athens.” She further claims that Lacey uses comedy too liberally, which I agree with, and does not fully take into account the exaggerations and other stylistic elements inherent to comedy.