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Home , Aethra (mythology), Bacchylides, Ianeira

Eranos 77, 1979, 23-37

li' The Myth of Bacchylides 17: iZ' I Heroic Quest and Heroic Identity

For Bruno Gentili By Charles Segal ., Brown University, USA j

Bacchylides' Seventeenth Ode has been justly celebrated for its richness of language, its vividness of narrative, its combination of artfully symmetrical structure and limpidity of narrative. One aspect of the poem, however, has been insufficiently understood and has led to misapprehensions about a supposed lack of unity or inconsistency. Bacchylides' art and the genre to which it belongs use conventions, themes, and symbols whose meaning, obvious to his contemporaries, may not be immediately clear to us.' Ode 17 draws upon a vocabulary of mythic archetypes which the poet could assume his audience to command. His narrative exploits an ancient mythical pattern familiar to us from the Tele­ macheia of the and his contemporary's myths of and Iamos (, 01. I.65-100; 01. 6.57-73), namely the young hero's quest for his father by a journey on or under water.2 In this quest the hero proves his manhood in the double and obviously related realms of war and Jove. His journey both tests his martial prowess and symbolically initiates him into mature sexuality. Force in arms and sexual knowledge together constitute the hero's trial in his passage from youth to man. We cannot say for certain whether or not Bacchylides found the myth ·of ' underwater adventure with Minos already defined by this com­ plementation of its two parts, Minos' ring and a female divinity's gift of a 3 crown (the gift of a robe, however, seems to occur only in Bacchylides).

1 For Bacchylides' "creative use of imitation" and convention, see Mary R. Lefkowitz, ''Bacchylides' Ode S: Imitation and Originality", HSCP 73 (1968) 45-96, especially 45-48 and 94-96. 2 For the initiatory motifs in 01. 1 and 6 see Jacqueline Duchemin, Pindare, poete et prophete (Paris 1955) 160ff. and also 187ff.; C. P. Segal, "God and Man in Pindar's First and Third Olympian Odes", HSCP 68 (1964) 214ff. and 226-228; see also J. Th. Kakridis, "Des Pelops und lamos Gebet bei Pindar". Hermes 63 (1928) 424-429. For the Telemacheia see C. W. Eckert, "Initiatory Motifs in the Story of Telemachus", CJ 59 (1963) 49-57.

3 See the introductory notes to Ode 17 in F. G. Kenyon, ed,, The Poems of Bacchylides (London 1897) and R. C. Jebb, Bacchylides, the Poems and Fragments (Cambridge 1905); also A. H. Smith, .. Illustrations to Bacchylides", JHS 18 (1898) 276-280; Carl Robert, "Theseus

Eranos 77 ~~------·..... The myth of Bacchylides 17 25 24 Charles Segal .. U"tEQ0' EQCt"tUEV, 0(yEV Even ifBacchylides is the innovator, his contribution consisted in recombin­ or ).ruxav :riaQlltOwv · ing themes, motifs, and symbols which were already deeply rooted in the ~OOOE "t' 'EQ(~ma ;(MX0- mythic tradition and in one of the social functions of myth. He need only put 0ciJQa[xa Il]avb(OVO£ together into a new framework elements which lay to hand in the mythic exy[o)vov · (OEV Oe Elt)OEU£ ...s vocabulary, probably in the preexisting legends of Theseus. The specific design or groundplan may be new, but the building blocks were already This passage interweaves at once the two aspects o~ Th".s~u~· q~est for there for the poet to assemble. heroic maturity, for it involves the martial prowess 1mphc1t m his male If Bacchylides was indeed the first to link Theseus' visit to lineage ("bronze-armored descenda;it of Pandion", 14-16) and the force of and/or with the confrontation with Minos over the ring, then he the sexual instinct which however must be .made to conform to the is responsible for interweaving the initiatory motifs of the youth's proof of appropriate social norms in order to be a vahd part of our full .human paternity and test of martial prowess with the sexual initiation which com­ identity. In this latter respect Minos and Theseus contrast as negative and pletes this symbolical "rite de passage". Both elements in the hero's transi­ positive paradigms. Theseus' use of his martial streng~h .a~d c.our~ge to tion from youth to maturity, the martial and the sexual, are also combined defend Eriboea in the fii"st part of the ode parallels his m1!1a!lon mto a in the myth of Pelops in Pindar's First Olympian, although the mode of the legitimate, tempered, and sanctioned sexuality in. the second. P.a~. ~oth trial and initiatiqn is different.• One of the striking qualities of Bacchylides' episodes, the confrontation with Minos and the receipt of Amph1tnte s gifts, treatment of the myth is the way in which he has sel?arated out the two parts imply the ethical side of the heroic identity. . , of the hero's quest and thereby called attention to their complementary The most recent interpreter of the ode has suggested th.at Enb~ea s relation. In so doing, he could count on the coherence of the mythic reaction to Minos is exaggerated and hence the scene is not entirely senous. archetype, with the complementation of its two elements, to provide the On this view, the supposedly exaggerated tone her~ wou~d be ans':"e~ed by unifying frame for his narrative. the lightness of the second half of the ode, the meetmg with Amph1tnte. To Bacchylides plunges swiftly in medias res with the crisis which confronts quote Stern: the young Theseus. King Minos feels the sting of desire and approaches the The first part of this ode offers us, then, a pastiche o~ Homeric language and maiden Eriboea (8-16): motifs· but the presentation appears excessive, consct?usly de~elo~ed on a h perbolic level. That we are not to take it with complete seno~sness 1~ ev~dent from XVLOEV "tE MLVWL XEaQ t~e triviality of the immediate situation, and even more parttcularly 1n hght of ~he iµEQ<'tµ;n;uxo£ 0Ea£ second half of the ode, wherein we have found consi~te?t verbal con.trasts which Ku:riQ16o£ [a)yva o&Qa· present us with the lyrical,. feminine world of ~cpphttnte, her dancing , XELQO o' ou[xE-t1] :rtaQ0EVlXCt£ wreaths, and fillets. 6 und Meleagros bei Bakchylides" ,Hermes 33 (1898) 132-147;.Th. Zielinski, "Bacchylidea" , But· in fact there is no reason to think that there is anything "trivi~" ab?ut 5 (1898) 32-38; Hans Herter, "Theseus der Athener", RhM 88 (1939) 270-274; idem, Minos' attack. The language of 8-10 conveys the violence of ero!lc desire. .. Theseus'', RE. Suppl. 13 (1973) 1106-1109; Ellen Wi.ist, "Der Ring des Minos. Zur My­ Kv[~ElV (8) is a strong verb (cf. Pindar, Pyth. 8.32 and Pyth ...10.60;. Hdt. thenbehandlung bei Bakchylides", Hermes% (1968) 527-538. The evidence of'ihe Franr;ois 6.62.1). The litotes in tl-12, "no longer held his hand from , depicts a vase, the only version which certainly predates Bacchylides' ode, suggests that the main scarcely contained lust, explicitly identified as just that by T~eseus. ~oo~ outlines of the story were already established in the tradition long before our poem, but gives no clear indication about the motif of the garland or the ring, though the latter would seem to be after (21-23). Minos frequently has a bad character in the mythic trad1Uon, impli~it in Theseus' underwater journey. Where garland and ring do occur together, namely in the versions described by Pausanias 1.17.2-3 and Hyginus, Poet. Astron. 2.5, we cannot be s Citations are from B. Snell and H. Maehler, Bacchylides 10 (Leipzig 1970). sure that they are earlier than Bacchylides. Wilst 533 f. suggests that both the ring and a Jacob Stern, "The Structure ofBacchylides' Ode 17", RBPh 45 (1967) 4:4-4~· . Amphitrite's gifts of robe and garland were Bacchylides' innovations, the ring-motif enabling 1 E.g. , Minos, 312 D; see also Helbig, s. v. "Mino" in Roscher,Ausfuhrl1ches Lex~con.~er the poet to unite the pre-existing two versions of Theseus' watery descent, one to Poseidon and griechischen und riimischen Mythologie, II.2 (Leipzig 1894-97) 2994-5; Albert M~n1et, Le one to Amphitrite, in a single myth. These suggestions, however, are conjectural, and the caractere de Minos dans l'Ode XVII de Bacchylide", LEC IO (1941) 35-54,. especially 40ff., conventional nature of these motifs, which I try to establish later, militates against her thesis. h ncludes that Minos though made to seem not entirely unworthy of being a son of Zeus, We should also recall that in other cases where a version of the myth exists in vase-painting :d:itc~tre reprCsentC dans i·ode entiCre comme un homme cruel et grossie~" (52-3~. See also D. (e.g. the story of in Ode 3 or the daughters of Antenor in Ode 15), Bacchylides is not Comparetti "Les D_ithyrambes de Bacchylide'', Melanges H. Weil (Pans 1898) tn W. Calder the innovator; and we should expect the same relation between poet and painter to apply here and J. Ste~. eds., Pindaros und Bacchylides, Wege der Forschung 134 (Darmstadt 1970) 399; with respect to the cylix in the Louvre. For illustrations see Smith (above). Gail w. Pieper, "Conflict of Character in Bacchylides' Qde IT', TAPA 103 (1972) 3%ff. For 4 See above, note 2. Eranos 77 Eranos 77 ,,,.,.. 26 Charles Segal The myth of Bacchylides 17 27

and especially in the At.henian sphere of influence to whieh this ode, by end will be initiated in a symbolism whose allusive delicacy stands at the virtue of its performance at , probably belonged. 8 greatest possible remove from Minos' rash, intemperate act10n. What is perhaps more important, the same themes of love recur in the The ensuing contest between Theseus and Minos takes the form of _a second part of the ode: Amphitrite gives Theseus a dark-red robe and a battle of genealogies. Minos may be the son of Zeus, but Theseus ts "blameless garland, dark with roses, which once Aphrodite gave to her at descended from Poseidon (33-38): her marriage" (112-116). "Guileful Aphrodite'', dolios Aphrodita (116) is here connected with legitimate marriage, whereas in JO "Aphrodite's holy ... a)J...IJ. xt'xµ!: gifts sting" Minos with the lust that results in his attempt to violate Eriboea. IlLt0[t]oc; lhryan]Q Cx

( Europa "under Ida's brows" stands over against Aethra's meeting with abandonment of his main theme has puzzled interpreters. Frankel labelled it "Poseidon of the sea". This challenge by Theseus angers Minos, now given severely "a most awkward business"." Jane Harrison saw the shift of the significant epithet "son-in-law of " (50), and he replies with an emphasis as evidence for the female domination of the pre-Olympian appeal for "a lightning-flash with hair of fire ... from the heavens" (fut' world-order, Amphitrite having been the original ruler of the sea.16 Stem ouecxvou ... nu111Wnecxv aotQCXJtav, 55-56). It is auhis point that Minos suggests that the change reflects "the, feminine lightness" with which the formulates his terms: if Poseidon, "shaker of the earth" (onolx0cov, 58) is work ends, and finds a lack of consistency in keeping with Bacchylides' truly Theseus' father, he must fetch the ring from "the deep sea" (1'x quieter, less heroic tone: flcx0Eicxc; aJ..Oc;, 62), descending boldly "to his father's house" (63). Water, earth, and deep places (f\cx0elcxc;, 62) contrast markedly with fire, height and Poseidon is invoked by the hero, but Amphitrite is met because the male parent is heavens. The contrast is sharpened by Minos' epithet for Zeus in the last suggestive of the overly-extended, violent part of the ode which the poet has, by the line of his speech, avcxl;1~11tvtcxc;, "lord of the thunder" (66; cf. ~CXQU~Qoµov, second part of his poem, left behind, while the female parent 1.s n~eded to comple­ of the sea in 76-77). Zeus' lightning answers Minos' prayer (aotQCXljlE, 71) ment the lightness of that second part. What is loud and masculine m the first half of whereupon Minos spreads his hands "into the glorious aether" (73). Now he the ode, must be made lighter, more feminine in the second, or the contrast whlch i.s basic to the ode is lost. Similarly, the ring is ignored ~t the en~ of the poem bec~use .1t again bids Theseus to dive "into the heavy-sounding sea" (1'c; ~CXQU~Qoµov has become a Symbol of that episode which Bacchyhdes desires .to cont~ast with his n£Acxyoc;, 76-77), to test whether Poseidon "will accomplish (for him) high­ picture of Amphitrite and her nymphs beneath the sea. The substituted gift, the robe, est fame on the well-treed earth" (77-SO). "Earth-shaker", we recall, was on the other hand, has no such associations, and so can come to represe~t more ful~y his epithet for Poseidon in 58. Earth and sea show their gentle power, the feminine lightness with which the work ends. The poet has been quite orderly tn however, as "the sea's gentle grove" receives the hero (n6vnov ... 0EATJµi>v his echoes of significant words and motifs, but the logic of the ode's structure leads him to be inconsistent in his handling of certain tangible symbols. 17 i'xAooc;, 84-85). For all his braggadocio it is now the turn of Minos to "won­ der" (taq>EV, 86; cf. taq>ov, 48). Minos' invocation of the fiery lightning in 56 is, in fact, soon to be answered by a different kind of fire in Poseidon's Though there is much here with which we can agree, we s~ould ~ewa~e. of watery realm beneath the sea (o£Acxc; elite 1tUQ6c;, 104-105), a point to which falling into the disparagement of Bacchylides which even h~s admirers (hke 13 we shall return later. Stem) have been too willing to concede." Understood 1~ tern_is of ~he With the descent into the sea the ode takes a new direction. Theseus' mythic pattern which it follows, Bacchylides' narrative is neither mcons1st- journey involves a change from fiery heavens to the depths of the sea, from ent nor especially "light". . Zeus to the watery god who is the source of his life and his strength, but also First it is important to note that the verbal echo of the opening of the ode from male to female divinities, from harsh absolutes to a gentle blending of here in 'Theseus' watery descent reminds us that this is a new beginning: opposites. Theseus encounters not his mighty father, Poseidon, but his stepmother, Amphitrite, surrounded by beautiful Nereids (102-111). The h~ro brings back not the ring which Minos threw overboard, but the robe Harrison, CR 12 (1898) 85-86; Herter, RhM 88 (above, note 3) 272 f. a"'d the further literature and garland which Amphitrite presents to him. 14 The poet's apparent cited in his RE article (note 3) 1109; Kenyon (above, note 3) 153-157; Robert (above, note 3) 140 and 147; Stern (above, note 6) 40-41; Wlist (above, note 3) 533-537. . 2 If> Hermann Frankel, Dichtung und Philosophie des frUhen Griechentums (Munich. 1962) P· 13 For this echo with a different interpretation see Stem (above, note 6), 42. Despite occasionaJ 516, n. 23 (= p. 453, note 23 of the English translation, Early Greek Poetry and Phiiosophy, doubt~.g. R. C. Jebb, CR 12 (1898) 152ff. and Maniet (above, note 7) 3~there is tittle London and New York 1973). question that 'tCt

tlJAauytL yaQ Ev ; aAfY'J.OV

Erano,f 77 Eranos 77 32 Charles Segal The myth oJBacchylides 17 33

Adrastus' daughter in marriage." Robes, necklaces, and elaborate chaplets 15.34-5). Early lyric poets also mention roses in erotic contexts: cf. Sappho of flowers also adorn 's Pandora in preparation for presentation to 2.6 or 96.13 (Lobel-Page) or 288.4 (Page).28 mortals (Theog. 573-584, Erga 73-76), and we may once more recall Aph­ Aphrodite's gifts here in 115-16, as we have already noted, are defined rodite's kestos in the Iliad (14.214 ff.). ' within the sanctions of legitimate marriage, in contrast to Minos' response A passage in the Odyssey offers an interesting parallel to this gift of a to the "holy gifts of Kypris" at the beginning of the ode. These latter involve garment by an older woman to a youthful questing hero in search of a father a violation of marriage, since he would take from a maiden what she should on a watery journey. As Telemachus is about to take leave of and give only in marriage. That connection is strengthened by the fact that sail back to Ithaca, his host invites him to travel in his company around the Kypris in the first part of the ode (9-,-10) has the epithet iµEQaµn:u!;, "she of 29 "towns of men" collecting gifts of gold and bronze (15.8°"85), symbols of I the headband of desire" , and this aµn:u!; or headband is an article not male status in a society where "gift-giving ... was part of the network of dissimilar to the n)..6>tov or garland here in 114. To go a bit further afield, we competitive, honorific activity". 26 When Telemachus refuses, Menelaus may recall the association of the headband or >

Eranos 77 3-792839 Eranos 77 d 34 Charles Segal The myth of Bacchylides 17 35 returning home with new assertiveness from his watery journey, like Te­ within the established social institutions. Hence the pointed contrast' be­ lemachus, he remains below, cut off from his brawny. heroic companion, tween Minos' abuse of those "holy gifts" of Aphrodite at the beginning and , "a thin voice ... from the water" (Idyll 13.59--00). 32 Theseus' receipt of a gift which comes from Aphrodite, but carries with it The complementarity of the two aspects of Theseus' deed are perhaps the sanctions which Minos would violate. already implicit in the motif of the watery descent. On the' one hand, the The apparent neglect or'the ring, therefore, is part of a complex design. plunge into the ocean is a trial of strength and courage, a confrontation with That design involves not only the ethical and mythical import sketched death, both literally and symbolically, as part of a dangerous passage to a above, but also a structural significance. The thematic shift in the second new status. To quote Jeanmaire, half of the ode expands the antitheses there developed (Zeus/Poseidon, Aux particularites a la fois precises et fantastiques du recit de Bacchylide, ii faut sky/sea, etc.), which centered upon violent masculine conflict and cosmic reconnaitre une base rituelle. Une plongee, avec immersion plus ou moins prolon­ elements, to a second set of antitheses which center upon sexual roles and gee, etait, sans doute, J'une des epreuves par lesquelles se qualifiaient !es novices. II social institutions. We may present this movement schematically as follows: s'agit, en vCrite, de toute autre Chose que d'un bain ritueJ, a valeur purificatrice, OU d'une prouesse d'endurance physique. L'immersion, surtout si elle se prolonge Antitheses between first and jusqu'aux limites de la suffocation, est l'equivalent symbolique d'une mart rituelle, Antitheses lVithinfirst half second half - ce qui, naturellement, dans une mystique penetree de conceptions chamaniques, Zeus/Poseidon: male/male Father/mother; male/female 33 doit s'entendre d'un voyage dans l'au-del3., dans l'espace aux pays des Nereides. sky/sea; heavens/earth ring/ garland violation of a virgin/dike of a hero "guileful Aphrodite" /marriage On the other hand, as Nagy has recently suggested, the watery plunge is lightning, fire, wind/water proof of divine father by dangerous de­ also to be connected with the sexual act and the feeling of lassitude or scent/initiation into sexuality through death-like fainting that follows it. 34 In support of this view Nagy has gifts of mother mustered an interesting body of evidence ranging from the lover's leap of challenge/response effort/gift; danger/joy violence/dance and song Sappho to the leaping imagery found in erotic contexts in archaic and erotic violence/martial violence depths of sea/ship and winds on sutface distant house of father/lovely house of classical poetry. In both aspects of the plunge the hero touches the (81-91) mother (110) mysteries of existence. In both aspects too he passes through a deathlike ship (movement)/house (stability) point of transition on his way to rebirth, a transition which forms the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness, vitality and stupor, To take one example in detail, the contrasts between fire and sea, upper waking and sleep, darkness and light." air and depths of earth and of ocean in the challenges between Minos and The symbolical gifts which Theseus receives from his step-mother not Theseus discussed above (29-38, 55--M, 76--85) become more concrete, only complement his courageous assertion of masculine heroism in the first immediate, and intense when Theseus reaches that "deep sea" of his "fa­ part of the ode, but also answer the situation which requires this heroism. ther's house" (62-63, 109-111). There he finds a "brilliance like that of fire"; Theseus receives from Amphitrite both the sexual knowledge necessary for but this brilliance comes from female limbs, not from a potentially hostile his maturity, and also the knowledge of the proper uses of that sexuality aether (I 03-105): 32 On the scene and its significance see Charles Segal, "Death by Water: A Narrative Pattern in .mo yae ay'/..a­ Theocritus", Hermes 102 (1974) 31-33. &v MµJtE yu(wv ot'/..a> 33 Jeanrnaire (above, note 18) 330-331; see also Gregory Nagy, "Phaethon, Sappho's Phaon, OO'tE ltUQ6> ... and the White Rock of Leucas", HSCP 77 (1973) 144f.; Herter (above, note 3) 273, with note 132. See also W. Deonna, Le symbolisme de l'acrobatie ancienne, Collection Latomus 9 This is no longer the threatening, aggressive fire of Zeus, lord of the (Brussels 1953) 108-111, with the bibliography there cited, especially p. 110, note 6; contra, Herter, RE, Suppl. 13 (above, note 3) 1109 and also 1148f. thunderbolt (cf. 66), but a beautiful radiance only compared to fire which 34 Nagy (preceding note) 145-148. shines from the limbs and ornaments of lovely goddesses who take joy in the 35 See Nagy 173. On the pattern of death and rebirth in initiatory rituals in general see Brelich dance. Heroic confrontation in terms of contrasting elements gives way to a (above, note 14) 33 and Arnold Van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (1908; Engl. Transl., figurative union of elemental opposites, fire and water, in a context where Chicago 1960) chap. 6, especiaJly p. 75. We may also mention here the "ancient custom" of the "fear" passes quickly into "joy" (ilinoEV, 102 and cf. 'tQEooav, 92; hEQnov, bridegroom's ritual bathing before marriage, the Aou'tQbv wµcpu,6v, described by the scholion to Eur., Phoen. 347, with further discussion and examples in Konrad Millier, "Zu , 107-108). Romulus 17,T', MH 20 (1963) 114-118, especially 117 f., a reference for which I thank Profes­ This shift from stark conflict to happy welcome and acceptance is already sor F. E. Brenk, S. J. foreshadowed in the metaphorical fusion of earth and sea in the language of

Eranol' 77 Eranos 77 36 Charles Segal The myth of Bacchy/ides 17 37

84--85, it6vn6v "

36 A. W. H. Adkins, Merit and Responsibility (Oxford 1960) chap. 3 and passim. 37 See Ps.-Eratosth., Catasterism. 5, with the parallel passages in C. Robert's ed.; Hygin. I Astron. 2.5; and for the evidence of Vasepainting C. Robert, Die griechische Heldensage in Preller-Robert, Griechische Mythologie 11.1 4 (Berlin 1920) 681 f. See also Jeanmaire (above, note 18) 328; Fran<;oise Frontisi-Ducroux, Deda/e, mythologie de I' artisan en Grece ancienne (Paris 1975) 179; Herter (above, note 3) 272, note 130. 38 Comparing Bacchylides' myth with the story of the ring of Polycrates, Gemet (above, note 25) 110 remarks, "Le rO!e de l'anneau dans un Cpisode qui est un contest de royautC est un premier CICment a retenir: l'Cpreuve, unilaterale dans le cas de Polycrate, est bilaterale dans celui-ci [i.e. Ode 17]: mais ii ya Cpreuve dans les deux, c'est la puissance d'un tyran qui est en jeu comme une ICgitimitC royale qui est en cause, c'est le mCme geste, et le mCme objet est la matiere d'un rite". For the theme of royal succession implicit in the myth of Theseus and the labyrinth see also Borgeaud (above, note 7) 6fT., 14-18. 39 For the significan~e of such epithets in Bacchylides' art see Charles Segal, "Bacchylides Reconsidered: The Dynamics of Lyric Narrative'', QUCC 22 (1976), 99-130; Pieper (above, note 7) 395 and passim.

Eranos 77 Eranos 77