This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ SEA JOURNEYS IN ANCIENT GREEK TRAGEDY Papadopoulos, Leonidas Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 02. Oct. 2021 SEA JOURNEYS IN ANCIENT GREEK TRAGEDY Thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. by Leonidas Papadopoulos King’s College London 2015 1 To my parents 2 This thesis was financially supported by the Greek State Foundation Scholarship and the Onassis Foundation Scholarship. Η ολοκλήρωση της εργασίας αυτής έγινε στο πλαίσιο της υλοποίησης του µεταπτυχιακού προγράµµατος το οποίo συγχρηµατοδοτήθηκε µέσω της Πράξης «Πρόγραµµα χορήγησης υποτροφιών ΙΚΥ µε διαδικασία εξατοµικευµένης αξιολόγησης ακαδ. έτους 2012-2013» από πόρους του Ε.Π. «Εκπαίδευση και Δια Βίου Μάθηση» του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινωνικού Ταµείου (ΕΚΤ) και του ΕΣΠΑ (2007-2013)». Η εργασία αυτή συγχρηµατοδοτήθηκε από το Ίδρυµα Ωνάση. 3 CONTENTS Contents 4 Acknowledgements 8 Note on Translations 9 Abstract 10 Introduction 11 Chapter 1: The Sea as a space of Death in Aeschylus’ Persians 16 1.1 Introduction 16 1.2 Historical Content 17 1.3 Previous Interpretations of the Theme of the Sea in Persians 20 1.4 The aquatic reflections in Aeschylus’ Persians 21 1.4.1 The imagery of the Sea as a space of death in Aeschylus’ Persians 22 1.4.2 The haunted Hellespont – A passage of hubris 29 1.4.3 The ‘departed’ Persians – An invisible chorus in the dark blue waters of Salamis 41 1.4.4 Strymon- The icy bridge of revenge 46 1.4.5 The sea-metaphors in Aeschylus’ Persians 50 1.4.6 The Necromancy of the king Darius and the symbolic anaklisis of the ‘departed’ souls from the depth of Hades 54 Chapter 2: The Seashore as a liminal space in Euripides’ Hecuba and Trojan Women 61 4 2. Introduction 61 2.1 The metaphysical dimension of the Prologue in Hecuba and Trojan Women 63 2.1.1 The sea as a place of departure 64 2.1.2 The semiotics of the dead body 67 2.1.3 Polydorus’s Entrance 73 2.1.4 Memory spaces 77 2.2 The seashore as a boundary between home and exile 79 2.3 Spaces of Exile 85 2.4 The nautical imagery in Euripides’ Hecuba and Trojan Women 92 2.5 Cynossema: A warning landmark for sailors 101 Chapter 3: Sea, Sanctuary and Salvation 109 3.1 Aeschylus’ Suppliants 109 3.1.1 Introduction 109 3.1.2 Crossing the boundaries – The sea as an avenue to exile 111 3.1.3 The silent gods on the coast of Argos 122 3.1.4 Danaids: The Water Nymphs of Argos 133 5 3.2 Euripides’ Andromache 144 3.2.1 Introduction 144 3.2.1.1 Waiting for Thetis 147 3.2.1.2 Transportations and Harbours 162 3.2.1.3 The Islander Achilles 167 3.3 Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris 179 3.3.1 Reflections on the sea. ‘Tὸ κλεινὸν ὄνοµα τῆς σωτηρίας’ through the nautical imagery in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris 179 3.3.2 The poetry of Sound in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris 199 3.3.3 A flight to Salvation 206 3.3.4 Coloured images and holy droplets 217 3.4 Euripides’ Helen 224 3.4.1 Introduction - Pursuing Victories in Exotic Lands 224 3.4.1.1 The Imaginary Islands in Euripides’ Helen 229 3.4.1.2 The Wanderer Sailors 240 3.4.1.3 The Tomb of Proteus the islander 247 3.4.1.4 The Traveller Gods 250 6 3.4.1.5 Sea Rituals in Barbaric Lands - Euripides’ Helen and Iphigenia in Tauris 253 Chapter 4: Sophocles’ Philoctetes - The ‘island tragedy’ 261 4.1 The theatrical scene as an island in the centre of Athenian polis 261 4.2 The Cave of Philoctetes as a primitive oikos. A passage from suffering to freedom 271 4.3 Sea journeys in Sophocles’ Philoctetes 276 4.4 Isolated heroes, Fire, and Salvation 280 Conclusion 286 Bibliography 293 7 Acknowledgements I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Edith Hall, whose constant encouragement and support has been invaluable during the research years. Her inestimable insight and recommendations, her useful comments, and our fruitful discussions, have helped me to improve skills, knowledge, and ideas. She is the most precise, perceptive and critical reader of this work. I would also like to thank my second supervisor Doctor Ismene Lada-Richards for her constant support and warm presence during the course of this work. I am full of sincere gratitude to my tutors during my school years, my teachers in the Contemporary Theatre of Athens’ Drama school, my professors in the University of Athens, and all the actors and directors, whose patience, learning, and love for the theatre, inspire and help me to improve my understanding of ancient Greek tragedy. I gratefully acknowledge the generous financial support of the State Scholarship Foundation and the Onassis Foundation Scholarship. Special appreciation and thanks goes to Vangelis Scotiniotis, Kiki Selioni, Thanos Zartadoulis, and Olga Bisbikis for their assistance and support. Finally, this project would have neither begun, nor been completed without the constant support of the co-voyagers of my life: all my friends and collaborators, my best friend Georgios, and my beloved family. L.P. 8 Note on Translation References to the extant plays of the tragedians and translations of ancient Greek passages are to the following editions: Aeschylus’ Persians: Hall, E. (ed.). (1996). Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women: Bowen, A.J. (2013). Euripides’ Andromache: Lloyd, M. (1994). Euripides’ Hecuba: Collard C. (1991). Euripides’ Helen: Dale A.M. (1967). Euripides’ Iphigenia in Tauris: Cropp (2000). Euripides’ Trojan Women: Barlow S.A. (1986). Sophocles’ Philoctetes: Ussher R.G. (1990). 9 Abstract My field of interest concerns the representation of the sea and its prominent presence as a space with multiple dynamics, symbolism and interpretations in ancient Greek tragedy. Using the wanderings of mortals as a main axis, I will attempt to explore how the sea, as an open dramatic milieu, acquires a significant function, which is directly connected with mortals’ destiny. The sea’s unpredictable nature is projected as a metaphysical environment, which could be identified as a boundary between the Greeks and the barbarians, life and death, nostos and nostalgia. Increasingly, recent scholarship has produced a variety of detailed analyses and considerations concerning the spatial dynamics of tragedy. Although the seascape is recognized as an influential landscape at the centre of the Greek world, only a limited amount of scholarly attention has been devoted to this nautical realm as illustrated in ancient Greek tragedy. The aim of this thesis is to discuss the use and the perception of this powerful and effective space in a selection of tragedies, and to focus on the treatments of the sea as an intersection of multiple connotations and references. The thesis concludes that within the context of a world in constant turmoil, journeys at sea can be interpreted as illustrating and revealing, through the adventures and aspirations of mortals, the socio-political and historical framework of the Greek society contemporary with the tragedies. The poetic image of the sea, as expressed in the tragic texts and connected with the capability of the human imagination to re-create a personal vision of history and myth, forms a remarkable topographic environment full of instability which, in many cases, depicts humanity’s ambivalent emotions and uncertain future. 10 Introduction Journeys in the sea…Journeys in life… Every man is a sailor travelling in time. His life is an adventure of departures and arrivals, victories and disasters, calm waters and storms. In ancient Greek tragedy, human’s trajectories are at the mercy of divine powers and natural forces; but most and above all, they are at the mercy of their own destiny (µοίρα). Man, struggling with divinities (δαίµονες), Furies (Ἐρινύες), and the all-tamer time (πανδαµάτωρ χρόνος), fights to escape his predicted fate. His wanderings in a sea of despair, metaphorically, illustrate the pursuit of a desired eternity within the limits of his mortal life. Ancient Greek tragedy enquires into the endless agony and the fatal decisions of humans in the face of life’s dilemmas, exploring how the characters who suffer are the dramatic representation of ‘ourselves’ through the image of the mythic, ethnic, gendered and faraway ‘others’.1 A doctoral dissertation is an intellectual journey on uncharted paths based on the experience and the expertise of previous explorers, but, like a play written for the theatrical stage, it should be confined within the limits of space and time.