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Crime and Punishment Eγκλημα Και Τιμωρ Iα in Homeric and Archaic Epic Στην Oμηρικh Και Αρxαϊκhπoiηση

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Crime and Punishment Eγκλημα Και Τιμωρ Iα in Homeric and Archaic Epic Στην Oμηρικh Και Αρxαϊκhπoiηση exofyllo ithaca 3:Layout 1 12/29/14 10:36 PM Page 1 Centre for odyssean studies Kentρο οΔυσσειακων σπουΔων Crime and Punishment eγκληΜα και τιΜωρ iα in homeriC and arChaiC ePiC στην oΜηρικh και αρXαϊκhπoiηση Proceedings από τα πρακτικά of the 12th international symposium on the odyssey του iB΄ Διεθνούς συνεδρίου για την οδύσσεια ithaca, september 3-7, 2013 ιθάκη, 3-7 σεπτεμβρίου 2013 EγκΛημα και τιμωρIα στην Oμηρικh και αρXαϊκh πOIηση Εικόνα εξωφύλλου: editors Επιστημονική επιμέλεια O Οδυσσέας φονεύει τους μνηστήρες. Λεπτομέρεια ερυθρόμορφου σκύφου, Μenelaos ChristoPoulos Μενελαοσ χριστοπουλοσ περίπου 450 π.Χ. ΜaChi Paϊzi-aPostoloPoulou Μαχη παϊζη-αποστολοπουλου Βερολίνο, Staatliche Museum Front cover illustration: Odysseus slaying the suitors, detail of a red-2gure skyphos, c. 450 Bc. Ithaca 2014 ISSN 1105-3135 ιθα κ η 2 0 1 4 Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Crimein and homeriC Punishment and arChaiC ePiC ISBN 978-960-85093-7-5 Ithaca protoselida:Layout 1 12/15/14 10:03 AM Page 4 Centre for odyssean studies Crime and Punishment in homeriC and arChaiC ePiC Proceedings of the 12th international symposium on the odyssey ithaca, september 3-7, 2013 Editors μENELaos christoPouLos μachi Paϊzi-aPostoLoPouLou ithaCa 2014 Ithaca protoselida:Layout 1 12/15/14 10:03 AM Page 5 KentΡΟ ΟΔΥΣΣΕΙακΩΝ ΣΠΟΥΔΩΝ EγΚλημα ΚαΙ τΙμωρiα Στην oμηρΙΚh ΚαΙ αρXαϊΚhπoiηΣη από τα πρακτικά του iB΄ Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου για την οδύσσεια Ιθάκη, 3-7 Σεπτεμβρίου 2013 Επιστημονική επιμέλεια μΕνΕλαοΣ χρΙΣτοπουλοΣ μαχη παϊζη-αποΣτολοπουλου Ιθακη 2014 Ithaca protoselida:Layout 1 12/15/14 10:03 AM Page 9 πΕρΙΕχομΕνα / coNtENts Δ. ν. μαρωνΙτηΣ, Ένα σκάνδαλο της Οδύσσειας: o φιλέταιρος οδυσσέας και οι νήπιοι εταίροι 11 EgBErt J. BakkEr, crime and Punishment in the Narrative condition 23 c. aNtyPas, Dike in a Pre-polis society: the Evidence from homeric Epic 39 Naoko yaMagata, The Justice of Zeus revisited 47 EFstratios sarischouLis, Hybris in den Epen homers: der feststehende ausgang der Vorbestimmung des schicksals und des Planens der götter oder das Ergebnis der individuellen absicht und des freien Willens? 57 aNaïs MarchiaNdo, Les Erinyes dans la poésie épique: essai de comparaison 81 ariadNi gartziou-tatti, Erotic Pursuit and Punischment in the Odyssey. the Eternally Punished of Nekyia 97 EFiMia d. karakaNtza, Who is Liable for Blame? Patroclus’ death in Book 16 of the Iliad 117 gEorg daNEk, achilles hybristēs? tisis and Nemesis in Iliad 24 137 MENELaos christoPouLos, odysseus, diomedes, dolon and Palamedes. crimes of Mystery and imagination 153 FLora P. MaNakidou, ταῦτ’ έθέλοιμ’ ἂν ἰδεῖν: the optative aspect of Punishment in the Odyssey 167 daVid BouViEr, Et si ulysse était un criminel de guerre? À une larme près! 189 NaNcy FELsoN and Laura sLatkiN, Nostos, Tisis, and two Forms of dialogism in homer’s Odyssey 211 MaLcoLM daViEs, Badmouthing Punished: the death of Locrian ajax at Odyssey 4.499-511 223 Ithaca protoselida:Layout 1 12/15/14 10:03 AM Page 10 FraNçoisE LétouBLoN, Les suppliciés des enfers: des châtiments sans crime 235 oLga LEVaNiouk, Fun and Punishment: the iros Episode of the Odyssey revisited 257 JiM Marks, Tisis and Dike: the role of zeus in the Mnesterophonia 289 aLEXaNdra zErVou, the Mnesterophonia and the game of reception(s): conflictual readings, opposite Versions and other Narratives 309 JoNathaN BurgEss, Framing odysseus: the death of the suitors 337 JENNy strauss cLay, Justice in the Theogony or the Lady Vanishes 355 athaNassios VErgados, defining Δίκη in hesiod’s Works and Days 367 ΕυρΕτηρΙo oNoMatων / iNdEX NoMiNuM 379 ΕυρΕτηρΙο ομηρΙΚων χωρΙων / iNdEX oF hoMEric PassagEs 386 JOnATHAn BurgESS FRAMING ODYSSEUS : T HE DEATH OF THE SUITORS 1 he Homeric poem clearly describes the behavior of the suitors in neg - Tative terms, and Odysseus’ killing of them is portrayed as just. The gods, notably Athena, approve of their slaughter. However, the Odyssey suggests that the issue of Penelope’s re-marriage is more complicated than the anti- suitor rhetoric indicates. The Homeric epic allows the suitors to defend their actions, and their arguments are never completely addressed. Odysseus in - sists on slaying all the suitors, yet we are well aware that not all are equally at fault. A peaceful resolution through indemnity is refused, though Odysseus expects exile to be the consequence of his actions. After the fact, the Ithacan populace is mostly critical of the slaughter, and the families of the suitors demand revenge. It is only the intervention of Zeus and Athena that stops short an incipient battle between them and the small faction loyal to Odysseus. In short, the slaughter of the suitors is controversial, as the poem signals early on when Telemachus twice predicts that suitors will die “un- avenged” for their bad behavior. 2 Of course, the successful restoration of Odysseus to wife and home is a fundamental aspect of the traditional story, as is, probably, the death of his rivals. 3 What remains in play is how this plotline is to be articulated, and whether it should be portrayed as justice, as opposed to a typical example of 1. I would like to thank Menelaos Christopoulos, Effimia Karakantza, and all the con - ference organizers for their wonderful hospitality. All the conference presentations by my colleagues were of great assistance for my project. 2. νήποινοι; see 1.376-380, 2.141-145, where Telemachus punningly uses this word also in reference to the suitors’ consumption of resources without compensation. On the prolep - tic preparation here for the anger of the suitors, see dE JOng 2001, 582. 3. In the tale type of the return of the husband, driving a rival away without killing him can be sufficient. See HAnSEn 2002, 201-211; dAnEK 1998, 426 wonders if some suitors might be spared in an alternative version of the Odyssey . 337 J. BurgESS destructive heroic behavior. 4 Instead of exploring the issue in terms of ethics or theology, however, my analysis will concentrate on methodology. How should one frame the question? An internal frame can demonstrate how the poetics of the Odyssey construct an extensive justification of its hero. An ex - ternal frame considers non-Homeric evidence that suggests Odysseus’ ac - tions are questionable. It will be argued below that the Odyssey contains within itself elements that correspond to non-Homeric material; the di - chotomy between internal and external frames can and should be bridged. As recently as 2004 one could speak of a “consensus” among Homerists that the poem described “the triumph of the good, the destruction of the bad.” 5 To be sure, the standard commentaries reflect a general willingness to identify with Odysseus, as the epic expects. 6 But there is also a strong anti- Odyssean element within Homeric scholarship. At the Ithaca conference on “crime and punishment,” Odysseus was often portrayed as the criminal. for example, Maronitis (this volume) argues that the death of the companions becomes a “scandal” in the poem, while Marks (this volume) explores how the slaughter of the suitors makes it difficult for Athena and Zeus to con - clude the plot, and felson and Slatkin (this volume) note the implausibly 4. The Odyssey raises the question of whether Odysseus should return openly (with a military force?) or secretly, though presumably the latter suits Odysseus’ traditional charac - terization. Teiresias is undecided (11.120), and in two lying tales “Odysseus” seeks advice at dodona on the question (14.330=19.299). Athena insists on secrecy (13.308-310), but nestor wonders if Odysseus might return in vengeance with an army (3.216-217). Cf. the concern of the suitors that Telemachus might raise an army (2.325-327). Athena/Mentes advises Telemachus to slay the suitors either openly or by guile (1.296) after a hypothetical re-mar - riage. 5. BuCHAn 2004, 1-4, where the consensus is thought to prevail despite the decentering of Odysseus’ perspective through Bakhtinian or feminist readings ( PErAdOTTO 1990; KATZ 1991; ZEITlIn 1996). 6. STAnfOrd 1959; HEuBECK et al. 1988-1992; dE JOng 2001. d AnEK 1998 is organized as a commentary, but its interest in “external” contextualization is often harmonious with my argument. for skilled pro-Odysseus exposition of the poem, see ruTHErfOrd 1986, and ATHAnASSAKIS , this volume. I agree that the Homeric poem constructs a damning case against the suitors, but the issues seized upon as transcendental signifiers – like the wasting of the palace’s resources, the plot against Telemachus, or the suitors’ “real” motivations – are all more complex than often alleged. 338 frAMIng OdySSEuS: THE dEATH Of THE SuITOrS “utopian” nature of the divinely imposed resolution. In the past also a good number of scholars have been critical of the poem’s hero. 7 I’m sympathetic to this line of argument, but it is not my ambition to judge Odysseus one way or the other in some definitive manner. It seems to me, rather, that interpretation must shift as one moves back and forth between in - ternal and external framing of the issues. An internal framing of the mnes - terophonia demonstrates the poem’s successful validation of its hero; an external framing often (but not uniformly) suggests a darker, condemnable Odysseus. It was once conventional to dismiss non-Homeric narratives like the Telegony as perverse and inept sequels to the Odyssey .8 It’s rather more common now to consider this material indicative of pre-Homeric or contem - poraneous visions against which the Odyssey competes. 9 The anti-Odyssean shadow within the Homeric Odyssey can thus be attributed to vestigial roots or alternative, perhaps contemporary, versions of the hero’s story. Correspondences between Homeric and non-Homeric perspectives on Odysseus are potentially very significant. I don’t think that the Odyssey fails to repress a non-Homeric view of Odysseus, or includes it only to de-au - thorize it.
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