DOCSLIB.ORG

The Erinyes in Aeschylus' Oresteia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Erinyes in Aeschylus' Oresteia The Erinyes in Aeschylus’ Oresteia Cynthia Werner A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington (2012) ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the Erinyes’ nature and function in Aeschylus’ Oresteia. It looks at how Aeschylus conceives the Erinyes, particularly their transformation into Semnai Theai, as a central component of the Oresteia’s presentation of social, moral and religious disorder and order. The dissertation first explores the Erinyes in the poetic tradition, then discusses the trilogy’s development of the choruses, before examining the Erinyes’ / Semnai Theai’s involvement in the trilogy’s establishment of justice and order and concluding with an analysis of why Aeschylus chooses Athens (over Argos and Delphi) as the location for trilogy’s decision making and resolution. Chapter One explores the pre-Aeschylean Erinyes’ origin and primary associations in order to determine which aspects of the Erinyes / Semnai Theai are traditional and how Aeschylus innovates in the tradition. It further identifies epithets and imagery that endow the Erinyes / Semnai Theai with fearsome qualities, on the one hand, and with a beneficial, preventive function, on the other. The discussion of the development of the choruses throughout the trilogy in Chapter Two takes three components: an examination of (1) the Erinyes’ transformation from abstract goddesses to a tragic chorus, (2) from ancient spirits of vengeance and curse to Semnai Theai (i.e. objects of Athenian cult) and (3) how the choruses of Agamemnon and Choephori prefigure the Erinyes’ emergence as chorus in Eumenides. Of particular interest are the Argive elders’ and slave women’s invocations of the Erinyes, their action and influence upon events, and their uses of recurrent moral and religious ideals that finally become i an integral part of the Areopagus and the cult of the Semnai Theai. The Erinyes’ / Semnai Theai’s role as objects of Athenian cult supports the institutionalised justice of the Areopagus, putting an end to private vendetta, promoting civic order and piety and rendering the city and its citizens prosperous as a result. Chapter Three explores how the Erinyes’ transformation into Semnai Theai relates to the Oresteia’s development from conflict and disorder to harmony and order. It examines a selection of the trilogy’s speech acts, emotions and attitudes, socio-religious practices and laws and their relationship to the Erinyes’ function as goddesses of vengeance and curse and objects of Athenian cult. It suggests that Athens’ reception of the Semnai Theai runs analogous with the removal of corruption and perversion from the key terms analysed in the chapter (i.e. ἀρά and ὅρκος, φόβος and σέβας, θυσία, ξενία and ἱκετεία, νόµος and θεσµός); the promotion of social, moral and religious norms that benefit the polis is integral to the Semnai Theai as objects of Athenian cult. Chapter Four examines Athens’ ability to settle differences without violence in the trilogy; it explores the polis’ capacity to resolve the trilogy’s cycle of vengeance and curse, particularly to placate the Erinyes, and relates Athens to Argos as a hegemonic city and to Delphi as Panhellenic centre of worship. The dramatic events at Athens positively represent the polis’ ideology and hegemony: addressing the social and political situation at 458BC, the trilogy’s final scenes advocate internal civic harmony, encourage alliances and metoikia, and the pursuit of imperialistic strategies to project Athens as Panhellenic leader. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Babette Pütz and John Davidson for their supervision in the first three years of writing this thesis. Special appreciation and gratitude go to David Rosenbloom for seeing me through the last two years of this thesis. He strengthened me with encouraging words, imparted his substantial knowledge of the subject to me, referred me to important (recent) publications, pushed me to go beyond my limits and guided me in structuring and conceptionalising this thesis. I would further like to thank the Victoria University of Wellington Scholarships Office for awarding me two Victoria Doctoral Scholarships; the realisation of this thesis owes much to its financial support. My gratitude also goes to my parents who not only supported me financially but also helped me dealing with life’s daily struggles especially throughout the last years of research and writing. I am particularly grateful for my mother’s help as a librarian in the final period. I would further like to thank Kristina McGuiness-King for her emotional and practical assistance. Her support as a friend and arrangements as an employer helped me to keep focussed on the thesis in the last two years. Last but not least I would like to show my gratitude for the Classics Administrator Hannah Webling. She maintained a high level of swift and untiring support including the supply of documentation and letters for administration throughout the years. iii The Erinyes in Aeschylus’ Oresteia Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Antecedents and Primary Associations 7 1.1 Introduction 7 1.2 Origins 8 1.3 Pre-Aeschylean literary treatments of the Erinyes 13 1.4 Primary Associations 23 1.4.1 Epithets and association with other daimones 23 1.4.2 Naming and invoking the Erinys (or Erinyes) 24 1.4.3 Semnai Theai 30 1.4.4 Gorgones 33 1.4.5 Atê 37 1.5 Physical Appearance 42 1.5.1 General 42 1.5.2 Blood 42 1.5.3 Black 50 1.5.4 Snake 53 1.5.5 Dog 57 1.6 Conclusion 62 Chapter 2: The Choruses of the Oresteia 65 2.1 General 65 iv 2.2 Agamemnon 67 2.2.1 The first two choral odes 67 2.2.2 Paean, thrênos and choros 75 2.2.3 The Argive elders’ inaction, µάθος and change of sentiment 85 2.2.4 Summary 88 2.3 Choephori 91 2.3.1 The first choral ode 91 2.3.2 Paternal versus maternal curse 94 2.3.3 The kommos 96 2.3.4 Peithô and pathos 102 2.3.5 Orestes’ vision 105 2.3.6 Summary 108 2.4 Eumenides 110 2.4.1 The nature of the chorus of Erinyes – a brief outline 110 2.4.2 The Erinyes in Delphi 112 2.4.3 The Erinyes’ arrival at Athens and the Binding Song 121 2.4.4 The second choral ode 130 2.4.5 Athena’s establishment of the Areopagus and Orestes’ trial 137 2.4.6 The choral exodus and coda 143 2.4.7 Summary 154 Chapter 3: From Erinyes to Semnai Theai 158 3.1 Introduction 158 3.2 Ara 159 3.3 Oath 169 v 3.4 Phobos and Sebas 178 3.5 Sacrifice 193 3.6 Guest-host relationship 202 3.7 Supplication 210 3.8 Laws 216 Chapter 4: Why Athens? 228 4.1 Introduction 228 4.2 Athens and Argos 230 4.3 The Areopagus 240 4.3 Athens as Panhellenic centre 246 Chapter 5: Conclusion 257 Bibliography 275 vi The Erinyes in Aeschylus’ Oresteia Introduction The Erinyes have left traces throughout ancient Greek mythology, art and literature, as well as in later European culture, and idioms of our day.1 Throughout these widespread sources the Erinyes are commonly associated with violence, punishment, madness and the supernatural, but also to no lesser degree with justice and morality.2 One may ask how such an ambiguous conception developed. Aeschylus’ Oresteia is the most revealing and influential extant work that focuses on the Erinyes’ characteristics and functions.3 Aeschylus’ adaptation of the Orestes myth removes the Erinyes from a vague mythical sphere, gives them form and meaning, elucidates their nature and role and employs them to expound on religious, social, judicial, moral and political phenomena in his drama and his society in general. The Erinyes’ dramatic character and their 1 In non-Greek literature and art the Erinyes’ Roman title ‘Furiae’ (which leads, for example, to the English term ‘Furies’) is more common; this thesis will use the term ‘Erinyes’ for Greek contexts, and ‘Furies’ with respect to some other primary and secondary sources. See Mitchell- Boyask (2009) 23 on a succinct paragraph on the Erinyes’ popular names. The terms Erinys, Erinyes, Furiae and its derivatives occur in Homer (e.g. δασπλῆτις Ἐρινύς Od. 15.234; ἠεροφοῖτις Il. 9.571), Hesiod (e.g. περιπλοµένου ἐνιαυτοῦ / γείνατ Ἐρινῦς τε κρατερὰς µεγάλους τε Γίγαντας Th. 184-5), Greek drama (e.g. A. Th. 70; E. Tr. 809; Med. 1260), Greek comedy (e.g. Ar. Pl. 422-3; Lys. 807), Pausanias (e.g. 1.28.6), Greek art (Prag [1985] 44-51, esp. 48-51, pls. 28b, 29a, 30a, b, 31a-c, 32a, 33a), English literature (e.g. ‘Comes the blind Fury with the abhorrèd shears, / And slits the thin-spun life’ (Milton, Lycidas [1638] ll. 75-6), French drama (Sartre [1978] Act III Scene I, IV, V) and idioms (e.g. ‘wie von Furien gehetzt’ [Röhrich {1991} s.v. Furie]; ‘Wer den Furien in die Hände fällt, ruft umsonst nach Gnade.’ [Beyer {1984}]). Prag (1985) 43 comments that painters seized upon the struggle between Orestes and the Erinyes rather than showing the terrifying killings of the Orestes myth. 2 Henrichs (1994) 46 presents a succinct introductory paragraph on the polarity of the Erinyes and Eumenides. See also Sansone (1988) 16. 3 The Orestes myth and Oedipus myth furnish the foremost early appearance of the Erinyes (cf. e.g. A. Th.; S. OC for the Erinyes’ nature and function in the Oedipus myth). 1 transformation into Semnai Theai form a principal ingredient in the trilogy’s exploration of conflicts and solutions between old and new, chthonian and Olympian, female and male, retributive and distributive justice, as well as savagery and civilisation.4 The presence and dramatic trajectory of the Erinyes in the trilogy view vengeance, justice and piety against the concerns of 5th century BC Athenian society.5 Through the vengeful cyclical events in the house of Atreus Aeschylus presents the Erinyes’ development from abstract deities of vengeance and curse to objects of Athenian cult that endorse fair civic justice (i.e.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • FICTIONAL NARRATIVE WRITING RUBRIC 4 3 2 1 1 Organization
    FICTIONAL NARRATIVE WRITING RUBRIC 4 3 2 1 1 The plot is thoroughly Plot is adequately The plot is minimally The story lacks a developed Organization: developed. The story is developed. The story has developed. The story plot line. It is missing either a interesting and logically a clear beginning, middle does not have a clear beginning or an end. The organized: there is clear and end. The story is beginning, middle, and relationship between the exposition, rising action and arranged in logical order. end. The sequence of events is often confusing. climax. The story has a clear events is sometimes resolution or surprise confusing and may be ending. hard to follow. 2 The setting is clearly The setting is clearly The setting is identified The setting may be vague or Elements of Story: described through vivid identified with some but not clearly described. hard to identify. Setting sensory language. sensory language. It has minimal sensory language. 3 Major characters are well Major and minor Characters are minimally Main characters are lacking Elements of Story: developed through dialogue, characters are somewhat developed. They are development. They are Characters actions, and thoughts. Main developed through described rather than described rather than characters change or grow dialogue, actions, and established through established. They lack during the story. thoughts. Main dialogue, actions and individuality and do not change characters change or thoughts. They show little throughout the story. grow during the story. growth or change during the story. 4 All dialogue sounds realistic Most dialogue sounds Some dialogue sounds Dialogue may be nonexistent, Elements of Story: and advances the plot.
    [Show full text]
  • Fiction and the Theory of Action
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by White Rose E-theses Online Fiction and the Theory of Action A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Laurence Piercy School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics University of Sheffield May 2014 Abstract This thesis explores four mid-twentieth century fictional texts in relation to concepts of action drawn predominantly from Anglo-American analytic philosophy and contemporary psychology. The novels in question are Anna Kavan’s Ice, Samuel Beckett’s How It Is, Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire and Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano. The theory of action provides concepts, structures, and language to describe how agency is conceptualised at various levels of description. My exploration of these concepts in relation to fiction gives a framework for describing character action and the conceptualisation of agency in my primary texts. The theory of action is almost exclusively concerned with human action in the real world, and I explore the benefits and problems of transferring concepts from these discourses to literary criticism. My approach is focused around close reading, and a primary goal of this thesis is to provide nuanced analyses of my primary texts. In doing so, I emphasise the centrality of concepts of agency in fiction and provide examples of how action theory is applicable to literary criticism. i Table of Contents Abstract i Table of Contents ii Introduction 1 Chapter One
    [Show full text]
  • Llt 121 Classical Mythology Lecture 32 Good Morning
    LLT 121 CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY LECTURE 32 GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME TO LLT 121 CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY IN WHICH WE RESUME OUR ADVENTURES IN THE CITY OF THEBES. THE CITY THAT THE GODS SEEM TO LOVE TO HATE. THE ORIGINAL FOUNDER TURNS INTO A SNAKE. WE'VE GOT THAT AT THEBES. A YOUNG MAN IS TURNED INTO A STAG FOR SEEING ARTEMIS BATHING IN THE NUDE. YES, WE HAVE THAT AT THEBES. THE SON KILLS THE FATHER. WE HAVE GOT THAT. WE DO THAT AT THEBES. THE SON MARRIES MOTHER. WE DO THAT TOO. BROTHER KILLS BROTHER, YEP. IF IT'S BAD AND IT HAPPENED IN ANCIENT GREEK MYTHOLOGY YOU CAN BET IT HAPPENED AT ANCIENT THEBES. I'VE ALREADY TOLD YOU WHY THAT IS. IT HAPPENS TO BE RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO ATHENS. WHERE I WANT TO START TODAY IS WITH ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS CHARACTERS IN ALL WESTERN CIVILIZATION, ONE OF THE MOST COMPLEX PEOPLE YOU'LL EVER WANT TO MEET. THIS GUY IS BY THE NAME OF OEDIPUS. OEDIPUS STARTS OFF AS A LITTLE BABY. HE IS A CUTE LITTLE BABY. HE USED TO BE A LITTLE BOY. THEN HE WINDS UP AS THIS SAD, MULING, PUKING, UNHAPPY MAN WHO HAS POKED HIS OWN EYES OUT WITH A BROOCH. THIS IS THE GORE DRIPPING OUT OF HIS EYES AND ALL OF THAT BECAUSE HE SUFFERS FROM CLASSICAL GREEK MYTHOLOGY'S WORST DOCUMENTED CASE OF ARTIMONTHONO. NOW I GET IT. I PAUSE FOR YOUR QUESTIONS UP TO THIS POINT. WHEN LAST WE LEFT OFF LAIUS HAD BECOME KING AFTER A LONG WAIT WITH SOME INTERESTING MATHEMATICS BEHIND IT IF YOU'LL RECALL.
    [Show full text]
  • Oedipus and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex: a Comparative Study مسرحية توفيق الحكيم الملك أوديب ومسرحية سوفكليس أوديب ملكا: دراسة مقارنة
    I Tawfiq Al-Hakim’s King Oedipus and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex: A Comparative Study مسرحية توفيق الحكيم الملك أوديب ومسرحية سوفكليس أوديب ملكا: دراسة مقارنة Prepared by: Israa Jamil Mohammed Supervised by: Professor Tawfiq Yousef A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master’s Degree in English Language and Literature Faculty of Arts and Science Department of English Language and Literature Middle East University August 2015 II III IV Acknowledgment My deepest thanks and gratitude are to Allah, the Greatest, who gave me the patience and strength to do this research. My special appreciation and thanks are to my supervisor Professor Tawfiq Yousef who has been a tremendous mentor for me. I would like to thank him for supervising my research and for allowing me to grow as a researcher. His comments, guidance, and advice on my research have been very helpful. Special thanks also are given to my parents. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my father and my mother for all of the sacrifices that have made on my behalf. Their prayers and their support for me were what sustained me thus far. Finally, I would like to thank my brothers and sisters who stood by my side during the period of preparing the thesis. V Dedication I would like to dedicate this research to my parents, who were my strongest supporters throughout this whole experience. I also would like to dedicate it to my brothers and sisters who also supported me. Finally, I dedicate it to my uncles, aunts and friends.
    [Show full text]
  • Hesiod Theogony.Pdf
    Hesiod (8th or 7th c. BC, composed in Greek) The Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are probably slightly earlier than Hesiod’s two surviving poems, the Works and Days and the Theogony. Yet in many ways Hesiod is the more important author for the study of Greek mythology. While Homer treats cer- tain aspects of the saga of the Trojan War, he makes no attempt at treating myth more generally. He often includes short digressions and tantalizes us with hints of a broader tra- dition, but much of this remains obscure. Hesiod, by contrast, sought in his Theogony to give a connected account of the creation of the universe. For the study of myth he is im- portant precisely because his is the oldest surviving attempt to treat systematically the mythical tradition from the first gods down to the great heroes. Also unlike the legendary Homer, Hesiod is for us an historical figure and a real per- sonality. His Works and Days contains a great deal of autobiographical information, in- cluding his birthplace (Ascra in Boiotia), where his father had come from (Cyme in Asia Minor), and the name of his brother (Perses), with whom he had a dispute that was the inspiration for composing the Works and Days. His exact date cannot be determined with precision, but there is general agreement that he lived in the 8th century or perhaps the early 7th century BC. His life, therefore, was approximately contemporaneous with the beginning of alphabetic writing in the Greek world. Although we do not know whether Hesiod himself employed this new invention in composing his poems, we can be certain that it was soon used to record and pass them on.
    [Show full text]
  • Seven Tragedies of Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus
    Seven Tragedies of Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus Translated in verse by Robin Bond (2014) University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Seven Tragedies of Sophocles : Oedipus at Colonus by Robin Bond (Trans) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/10505 Oedipus at Colonus (Dramatis Personae) Oedipus Antigone Xenos Chorus of Attic Elders Ismene Theseus Creon Polyneices Messenger Seven Tragedies of Sophocles : Oedipus at Colonus Page 2 Oedipus Antigone, my child, since I am blind and old, what is this place that we have reached, to whom belongs the city here and who will entertain the vagrant Oedipus today with meagre gifts? My wants are small and what I win is often less, but that small gain is yet sufficient to content me; for my experience combines with length of life and thirdly with nobility, teaching patience to a man. If, though, my child, you see some resting place beside the common way or by some precinct of the gods, 10 then place me there and set me down, that we may learn our whereabouts; our state is such we must ask that of the natives here and what our next step is. Antigone Long suffering, father Oedipus, as best as my eyes can judge, the walls that gird the town are far away. It is plain to see this place is holy ground, luxuriant with laurel, olives trees and vines, while throngs of sweet voiced nightingales give tongue within. So rest your limbs here upon this piece of unhewn stone; your journey has been long for a man as old as you.
    [Show full text]
  • Alcmaeon in Psophis
    Alcmaeon in Psophis Psophis was said to have been originally called Erymanthus, and its territory to have been ravaged by the Erymanthian Boar.Pausanias, "Description of Greece" viii. 24. § 2-10] [Hecat. "on Stephanus of Byzantium s.v." polytonic|Ψωφίς] [Apollodorus, ii. Alcmaeon (mythology) â” In Greek mythology, Alcmaeon, or Alkmáon, was the son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. As one of the Epigoni, he was a leader of the Argives who attacked Thebes, taking the city in retaliation for the deaths of their fathers, the Seven Against Thebes ⦠Alcmaeon in Psophis. Year: between 180 and 200 AD. Scripts: Alcmaeon in Psophis by Euripides. Genres: Tragedy. Psophis. How to cite this ancient performance. Alcmaeon in Psophis, accessed at http://www.apgrd.ox.ac.uk/ancient- performance/performance/98 <16 September 2018>. Alcmaeon in Psophis (Ancient Greek: Ἀλκμαίων ὠδιὰ Ψωφῖδος, AlkmaiÅn ho dia Psophidos) is a play by Athenian playwright Euripides. The play has been lost except for a few surviving fragments. It was first produced in 438 BCE in a tetralogy that also included the extant Alcestis and the lost Cretan Women and Telephus. The story is believed to have incorporated the death of Argive hero Alcmaeon.[1]. Alcmaeon in Psophis. Alcmaeon (mythology)'s wiki: In Greek mythology, Alcmaeon (Greek: Ἀλκμαίων), was the son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. As one of the Epigoni, he was a leader of the Argives who attacked Thebes, taking the city in retaliation for the deaths of their fathers, the Seven Against Thebes, wh.
    [Show full text]
  • Chthonians in Sicily Curbera, Jaime B Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Winter 1997; 38, 4; Proquest Pg
    Chthonians in Sicily Curbera, Jaime B Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Winter 1997; 38, 4; ProQuest pg. 397 Chthonians in Sicily Jaime B. Curbera To the memory of Giuseppe Nenci ICILY WAS FAMOUS for her chthonic deities. 1 According to tradition, Hades abducted Kore at Syracuse, Henna, or SAetna; Pindar calls Acragas <l>EpoE<j)6vac; EDOC; (Pyth. 12.2); and the whole island was said to be sacred to Demeter and Kore (Diod. 5.2.3; Cic. Verr. 2.4.106). Indeed, archaeological and numismatic evidence abundantly confirms the literary sources.2 This paper deals with some previously unnoticed epi­ thets of Sicily's chthonic gods and with the reflection of their cult on personal names on the island. I. The Kyria Earlier in this century, a grave in ancient Centuripae, some 30 km southwest of Mt Aetna, yielded an interesting lead curse tablet, first published by Domenico Comparetti after a drawing by Paolo Orsi, and again, in apparent ignorance of Comparetti's edition, by Francesco Ribezzo with a drawing from autopsy.3 Neither text was satisfactory. Using Orsi's and Ribezzo's drawings, J. J. E. Hondius, "adiuvantibus Cr[onert] et Wil­ h[elm]," produced in 1929 what is now the best text, SEG IV 61. I Abbreviations: DTAud=A. Audollent, Defixionum tabellae quotquot in­ notuerunt (Paris 1904); DTWu=R. Wunsch, Defixionum tabellae (Berlin 1897); IGDS=L. Dubois, Inscriptions grecques dialectales de Sicile (Rome 1989); Jordan=D. R. Jordan, • A Survey of Greek Defixiones Not Included in the Special Corpora," GRBS 26 (1985) 151-97. 2 See e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shield As Pedagogical Tool in Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes
    АНТИЧНОЕ ВОСПИТАНИЕ ВОИНА ЧЕРЕЗ ПРИЗМУ АРХЕОЛОГИИ, ФИЛОЛОГИИ И ИСТОРИИ ПЕДАГОГИКИ THE SHIELD AS PEDAGOGICAL TOOL IN AESCHYLUS’ SEVEN AGAINST THEBES* Victoria K. PICHUGINA The article analyzes the descriptions of warriors in Aeschylus’s tragedy Seven against Thebes that are given in the “shield scene” and determines the pedagogical dimension of this tragedy. Aeschylus pays special attention to the decoration of the shields of the com- manders who attacked Thebes, relying on two different ways of dec- orating the shields that Homer describes in The Iliad. According to George Henry Chase’s terminology, in Homer, Achilles’ shield can be called “a decorative” shield, and Agamemnon’s shield is referred to as “a terrible” shield. Aeschylus turns the description of the shield decoration of the commanders attacking Thebes into a core element of the plot in Seven against Thebes, maximizing the connection be- tween the image on the shield and the shield-bearer. He created an elaborate system of “terrible” and “decorative” shields (Aesch. Sept. 375-676), as well as of the shields that cannot be categorized as “ter- rible” and “decorative” (Aesch. Sept. 19; 43; 91; 100; 160). The analysis of this system made it possible to put forward and prove three hypothetical assumptions: 1) In Aeschylus, Eteocles demands from the Thebans to win or die, focusing on the fact that the city cre- ated a special educational space for them and raised them as shield- bearers. His patriotic speeches and, later, his judgments expressed in the “shield scene” demonstrate a desire to justify and then test the educational concept “ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς” (“either with it, or upon it”) (Plut.
    [Show full text]
  • Fear and Healing Through the Serpent Imagery in Greek Tragedy
    Fear and Healing Through the Serpent Imagery in Greek Tragedy The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Dasteridou, Magdalini. 2015. Fear and Healing Through the Serpent Imagery in Greek Tragedy. Master's thesis, Harvard Extension School. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:24078361 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Fear and Healing through the Serpent Imagery in Greek Tragedy Magdalini Dasteridou A Thesis in the Field of Foreign Literature, Language, and Culture for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies Harvard University November 2015 © 2015 Magdalini Dasteridou Abstract This work explores how the tragic poets, by means of snake imagery, convey the notion of disease. Moreover, it examines how snake imagery contributes to the process of healing through the emotion of fear that it triggers. My analysis of the tragedies in which the three main tragedians employ snake imagery builds upon findings from ancient authors that refer to snakes and their characteristics, and upon the findings of contemporary scholars. My overall method relies on tools from structuralism and psycholinguistics. Through snake imagery the tragic poets portray disease as it manifests itself through arrogance, deception, physical pain, and madness. For this purpose the poets employ images inspired by the particular anatomy and behavior of the snake.
    [Show full text]
  • Persephone: Symbol of Rebirth
    SECTION II CHAPTER 7 PERSEPHONE: SYMBOL OF REBIRTH PAPER CONTENTS INTRODUCTION MYTHIC TALE: SYNOPSIS LORD HADES: ARCHETYPE OF THE DEATH FORCE DEMETER: ARCHETYPE OF THE LIFE FORCE THE UNDERWORLD: WORLD OF SHADOWS AND SOULS PERSEPHONE: THE WAY OF THE FEMININE Name and Origins Daughterhood Abduction and Marriage Pomegranate Judgment of Seasons Motherhood Queenhood Deep Feminine Caretaker of Souls RETURN AND REBIRTH FEMININE INDIVIDUATION CLOSING COMENTS 1 INTRODUCTION The mythic tale of Persephone’s abduction by Hades, the personification of the Death Force, and the unremitting search by her mother, Demeter, Goddess exemplar of the Life Force, relates a fascinating account of how Death and Life Forces interact with each other. In the tale, Persephone holds the tension between Life and Death Forces and in doing so produces a new alterative, Rebirth. As maiden she is ever ready to birth, to give Life. Although Persephone's name means 'Bringer of Destruction', as Queen of the Underworld she regenerates the Souls that come to her realm. The mythic tale suggests that the resolution of the tension between Life and Death leads to the transcendent third. The prior two chapters focus on transformation that is needed for the feminine to carry out the “return” from its suppressed state. The chapter on Pele and Hi’iaka brought attention to feminine transformation that occurred when relationship based on fertility gave way to relationship based on personal encounter. The chapter on The Goose Girl addresses the transformation that leads to feminine personhood when daughter separates from the mother. In this chapter attention is given to the transformation that rebirth brings about, namely, enabling and revitalizing the Individuation Process.
    [Show full text]
  • Demoting and Restoring the Underground Goddesses Judy Schavrien Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
    International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Volume 29 | Issue 2 Article 14 7-1-2010 War and Nature in Classical Athens and Today: Demoting and Restoring the Underground Goddesses Judy Schavrien Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies Part of the Philosophy Commons, Psychology Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Schavrien, J. (2010). Schavrien, J. (2010). War and nature in classical Athens and today: Demoting and restoring the underground goddesses. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 153–179.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29 (2). http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2010.29.2.153 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Special Topic Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. War and Nature in Classical Athens and Today: Demoting and Restoring the Underground Goddesses Judy Schavrien Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Palo Alto, CA, USA A gendered analysis of social and religious values in 5th century BCE illuminates the Athenian decline from democracy to bully empire, through pursuit of a faux virility. Using a feminist hermeneutics of suspicion, the study contrasts two playwrights bookending the empire: Aeschylus, who elevated the sky pantheon Olympians and demoted both actual Athenian women and the Furies—deities linked to maternal ties and nature, and Sophocles, who granted Oedipus, his maternal incest purified, an apotheosis in the Furies’ grove.
    [Show full text]