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Religious Exploration in Greek Tragedy

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Religious Exploration in Greek Tragedy Religious Exploration In Greek Tragedy Angela Paschini Submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in Greek and Latin at University College London 2 I, Angela Paschini, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signed: 3 4 Abstract My research project focuses on Greek tragedy’s specific contribution to fifth-century debate on issues of theodicy and on theological questions concerning the existence and nature of the gods, and their role in human lives. The relationship between the human and the divine as represented and explored in Greek tragedy is discussed with special attention to the problems inherent in the different forms of contact between deities and mankind. The dissertation is structured thematically: each of the three chapters deals with a specific religious theme and focuses on the analysis of a couple of paradigmatic plays. This project starts by studying one of the closest forms of contact between gods and mortals depicted in Greek tragedy, namely the stories of sexual intercourse between a male deity and a mortal girl (Aeschylus’ Suppliants and Euripides’ Ion). The second chapter concerns the opposition between human and divine knowledge in Sophocles’ OT and Euripides’ Bacchae, whereas the third addresses the topic of divine intervention in human life by analyzing the dramatic portrayal of the gods on stage in Aeschylus’ Eumenides and Euripides’ Orestes. This research aims to show how religious exploration in ancient Greek tragedy is tied up with a number of competing discourses informed by advances in medicine as well as by contemporary philosophical and political questions. Each chapter follows a similar methodology of close reading of the plays connecting the linguistic and thematic analyses of emblematic passages to broader fifth-century theological concerns. 5 Impact Statement This research can have an impact in two main areas: 1) Academic study on Greek tragedy: it aims to extend and deepen understanding of the function of Greek tragedy and of its interfaces with the contemporary world, with a specific focus on contemporary religious experience. More specifically, this study approaches the understanding of tragic plays through gathering evidence about their connection to the larger cultural and historical contexts as well as their engagement with contemporary religious anxieties, philosophical inquiry and socio-political concerns such as gender and civic definition. Drawing on the findings of my research, I have prepared some papers which have thus far been delivered orally at conferences and seminars intended for academic audiences: Lyceum Classics Community Seminar (UCL 16 November 2015); Departmental Research Seminar (UCL 18 November 2015); the Postgraduate Workshop ‘Euripide. Storia, testi, drammaturgia. Giornata di studi sulla tragedia greca’ (University of Padua, 13 September 2016); the Greek Drama V International Conference (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 5-8 July 2017). 2) Teaching and learning of Ancient Greek Drama at secondary school. The findings of my research can be used to improve the educational experience of secondary students and to shape their thinking on the classical world and on how drama, arts and society influence each other. It redefines not only knowledge of this topic amongst secondary students, but also the ways in which they learn about Greek tragedy. I have given two presentations of my work targeted at secondary school 6 students in Italy (Liceo classico ‘J. Stellini’, Udine, 22 March 2016 and 4 April 2018). Participants read and discussed selections from the tragic plays chosen for analysis and were asked to interpret the plays, comparing and contrasting tragic passages with other sources addressing or depicting the same topic (e.g. philosophical texts; Athenian vase-paintings). Such an inductive and interdisciplinary approach facilitates the students’ engagement with, and better insight into, ancient Greek drama and of its relevance to fifth-century Athenian life. 7 8 A Matteo 9 10 Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………..5 Impact Statement…………………………………………………........………...6 Table of Contents…………………………………………….…………………11 Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………..15 Notes on texts and translations……………………………………...………..16 0. Introduction……………………………………………….…………………17 1. The Problematization of the Myths of Sexual Intercourse Between Gods and Mortals in Greek Tragedy 1.0 Introduction ………………………………………………………………..47 1.1 Attitudes Towards Human Rape and Seduction………………………..49 1.2 Attitudes Towards Divine Rape and Seduction …….…….……..……. 57 1.3 Aeschylus’ Suppliants…….……………………………..….……….….......72 1.4 Euripides’ Ion ………………………………………….….………..……..102 1.5 Conclusion………………………………..………………….…..………...132 2. Divine and Human Knowledge in Sophocles’ OT and Euripides’ Bacchae 2.0 Introduction………………………………………………………..……...135 2.1 The Process of the Human Search for Knowledge …………………....145 2.1.1 The Limitations of Human Knowledge and their Political Consequences ………………………………………..………...……...146 2.1.2 The Role Played by Affective Phenomena in Human Inquiry: the Tragic Interweaving of Epistemological Investigation, Religious Exploration, and Political Inquiry………….……..…………………150 11 2.1.2.a. Oedipus’ and Pentheus’ searches for truth: hindrances and limitations………………………..………….151 2.1.2.b. The Opposition between Mantic Knowledge and Human Knowledge …………………………………..….…...158 2.1.2.c. The Models of Distributed Knowledge and Autocratic Knowledge Compared …………………………………..…...164 2.2 The Knowledge of the Divine……………………………………………167 2.2.1 Changing Cultural Codes: the Interpretation of Catastrophic Events and the Function of Emotions ………….……...……………169 2.2.1.a. Sophocles’ OT ………………………………..…….....170 2.2.1.b. Euripides’ Bacchae ……………………….…….……..176 2.2.2 Changing Cultural Codes: the Limits of Human Knowledge About Divine Will ……………………………………………………188 2.2.3 The Emotional Construction of Religious Beliefs and Experience…………………………………….………….…..………..196 2.3 Conclusion………………………………………………………..……..…205 3. Divine Intervention in Aeschylus’ Eumenides and Euripides’ Orestes. An Analysis of How the Physical Presence or Absence of the Gods on Stage Influences Human Agency and Conveys Different Worldviews. 3.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………….209 3.1 The Complex Relationship between Human and Divine Agency in Greek Tragedy………………………………………………………….……..216 3.2 The Erinyes in the Oresteia………………………………..……..……….233 3.3 The Erinyes in the Orestes ………………….……………………...…….244 3.4 Athena in the Eumenides and in the Orestes ……………………....……252 3.5 Apollo in the Eumenides and in the Orestes ………………….…...…….259 12 3.5.1 Human Hope of Divine Assistance: an Analysis of the Various Dramatic Techniques used in the Eumenides and in the Orestes to raise and frustrate expectations of Apollo’s arrival respectively…………………………………………………………….259 3.5.2 Apollo’s Role in the Trial of Orestes: the Eumenides and the Orestes Compared ……………………………………..……..……….270 3.5.3 The Inadequacy of Human Institutions in Euripides’ Orestes and its Consequences ………………………………….………...…...276 3.5.4 The endings of the Eumenides and the Orestes: Apollo’s sudden entrance and exit ………………………………………..……...……..287 3.6 Conclusion ………………………….. …………………………….……..291 4. Conclusions…………………………………………………………...........297 4.1 Summary of Findings ………………………………….……...….298 4.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research……….…...301 Bibliography……………………………………………………….…..……..305 13 14 Acknowledgments I would first like to thank my supervisors Prof. Miriam Leonard and Prof. Phiroze Vasunia. My debt to both of you is boundless: your sharp comments and insightful suggestions have framed my research project and stimulated my intellectual curiosity. I am very grateful to the Wolfson Foundation for funding this research and for giving me the opportunity to attend international academic conferences abroad. My thanks also go to past and present staff of the Department of Greek and Latin at UCL, and especially to Dr. Antony Makrinos, for always being so helpful. I also thank Prof. Davide Susanetti from the University of Padua, who encouraged me to pursue this degree. To my Classicist friends (Giulia, Biagio, Giacomo, Antonio, Flavia, Chiara, Manuela, and Sofia), thank you for always being there to entertain and distract me. To my friends scattered around Italy and Europe, thank you for your Skype calls, texts, visits, thoughts, and well-wishes. Many thanks to Hero for providing me with all the help I needed when I decided to embark on my PhD journey. Much gratitude goes to my parents, who have always been supportive of my choices: you taught me that with hard work anything is possible. A special thanks to my sister Clara for our many dinners and conversations after long days in the library. 15 This work is dedicated to my newlywed husband Matteo for inspiring me to follow my dreams and for his constant support, motivation and love despite geographical distance. Notes on Texts and Translations All the Greek passages quoted in this work are taken from the Oxford Classical Texts edition, whereas I have used the Loeb edition for the translations, unless otherwise stated. Abbreviations for Greek and Latin sources are based on Liddell – Scott – Jones’ Greek – English Lexicon. 16 0. Introduction ‘A crucial frontier defined by tragedy is that between man and god. […] The Athenian citizen distinguished himself by his earthly habitat and mortality from the immortals.
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