Envy and Jealousy in Classical Athens

Envy and Jealousy in Classical Athens submitted by Edward Mark Sanders at UCL for the degree of PhD 1 I, Edward Mark Sanders, 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 ……………………………… Date ……………………………… 2 Abstract Emotions differ between cultures, especially in their eliciting conditions, social acceptability, forms of expression, and co-extent of terminology. This thesis examines the psychological sensation and social expression of envy and jealousy in Classical Athens. Previous scholarship on envy and jealousy (Walcot 1978, Konstan and Rutter 2003) has primarily taken a lexical approach, focusing on usage of the Greek words phthonos (envy, begrudging spite, possessive jealousy) and zêlos (emulative rivalry). This lexical approach has value, especially in dealing with texts and civilizations from the past, but also limitations. These are particularly apparent with envy and jealousy in ancient Greece as: a) overt expression of phthonos is taboo; b) there is no Classical Greek label for sexual jealousy. Accordingly a different, complementary approach is required, which reads the expressed values and actions of entire situations. Building on recent developments in the reading of emotion episodes in classical texts, this thesis applies to Athenian culture and literature insights on the contexts, conscious and subconscious motivations, subjective manifestations, and indicative behaviours of envy and jealousy, derived from modern (post-1950) philosophical, psychological, psychoanalytical, sociological and anthropological scholarship. This enables the exploration of both the explicit theorisation and evaluation of envy and jealousy, and also more oblique ways in which they find expression across different genres. Topics examined include: 1. Aristotle’s analysis of the nature of phthonos and its relationship to other emotions; 2. the persuasion or manipulation of audiences using phthonos , both overt and masked, in Attic oratory; 3. the arousal of envy and moral indignation (as a ‘safe’ form of transmuted envy) by ‘Old’ Comedy; 4. phthonos scenarios and their destructive outcome in tragedy; 5. the nature of Greek sexual jealousy, especially as a gendered emotion in tragedy, and the use of tragic themes in other genres to manipulate audiences’ expectations. 3 Contents Page Acknowledgements 7 Abbreviations 9 Notes 10 1. Introduction 11 1.1 Methodological approach 11 1.2 The scope of the thesis 15 1.3 Outline of the thesis 17 PART I 2. The Phenomenology of Envy, Jealousy and Related Emotions 23 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 Envy 23 2.2.1 Etymology 23 2.2.2 Envy scenarios 24 2.2.3 Transmutation of envy 27 2.3 Jealousy 29 2.3.1 Etymology 29 2.3.2 Jealousy scenarios 29 2.3.3 Comparison of envy and jealousy 31 2.4 Emotions that overlap with envy and jealousy 33 2.4.1 Emulation and admiration 34 2.4.2 Greed and covetousness 36 2.4.3 Schadenfreude , spite and malice 37 2.5 Emotions that envy and jealousy masquerade as 39 2.5.1 Indignation and anger 39 2.5.2 Desire for justice, and desire for equality 41 2.6 Conclusion 42 4 PART II 3. The Vocabulary of Greek Envy and Jealousy 45 3.1 Introduction 45 3.2 The Archaic background 45 3.2.1 The development of phthonos in the Archaic period 47 3.2.2 Zêlos in the Archaic and Classical periods 52 3.3 Phthonos in the Classical period 55 3.4 Conclusions: a comparison of phthonos usage with modern theory 68 4. Aristotle on Phthonos 70 4.1 Introduction 70 4.2 The placement of phthonos in the Rhetoric 71 4.2.1 Pain and pleasure at the fortunes of others 71 4.2.2 A three-way categorisation 75 4.3 The placement of phthonos in the Ethics 80 4.4 Envy and enviers 85 4.4.1 What goods excite envy? 85 4.4.2 Who feels envy, and when? 86 4.4.3 Who does not feel envy? 88 4.5 Conclusions: a comparison of Aristotelian phthonos with modern theory 91 PART III 5. Phthonos in the Attic Oratorical Corpus 95 5.1 Introduction 95 5.2 Phthonos accusations in oratory 96 5.2.1 Phthonos and the Aristotelian orator 96 5.2.2 Phthonos accusations in the Attic oratorical corpus 99 5.3 Arousal of envy and indignation in the audience 107 5.3.1 Aristotle’s to nemesan 107 5.3.2 Explicit suppression and arousal of audience phthonos 111 5.3.3 Covert arousal of audience envy 119 5.4 Conclusion 123 5 6. Audience Phthonos in Old Comedy 124 6.1 Introduction 124 6.2 An approach to Old Comedy 125 6.3 Politicians in Aristophanes 133 6.3.1 Ambassadors 133 6.3.2 Politicians 137 6.3.3 Generals 140 6.3.4 Kleon / Paphlagon, a case study 142 6.4 Conclusion 147 7. Onstage Phthonos in Tragedy 148 7.1 Introduction 148 7.2 Ajax ( Ajax ) 149 7.3 Phaidra ( Hippolytos ) 153 7.4 Aphrodite ( Hippolytos ) 155 7.5 Conclusion 158 PART IV 8. Sexual Jealousy 160 8.1 Introduction 160 8.2 Medea 161 8.3 Trachiniae 175 8.4 Andromache 181 8.5 Sexual jealousy outside tragedy 191 8.6 Conclusion 203 Conclusions 205 Bibliography 208 6 Acknowledgements I have incurred debts to many people in the course of researching and writing this PhD – and indeed in the years before it. It gives me great pleasure to be able to thank them here. My greatest debt and most profound thanks are owed to my supervisor, Prof. Chris Carey. On many occasions in the last four years, I have reflected on how fortunate I am to be supervised by him. Despite his many commitments he has given unstintingly of his time, readily making himself available whenever I needed advice, and reading draft after draft with unfailing attention to detail. His immense and wide-ranging knowledge has been a constant source of inspiration, and his regular ‘reminders’ of what “of course you will remember” have pointed me both to books I should never have missed, and to ancient references I would never have found. Equally important, Chris’ inexhaustible courtesy, optimism, and humour ensured that being his supervisee was as much a personal as an intellectual pleasure. I have incurred debts to many others who have taught or supervised me over the years. I would particularly like to thank my teachers at Birkbeck, especially Dr Christy Constantakopoulou, Prof. Emma Dench and Prof. Catharine Edwards, whose enthusiasm and excellent teaching helped awaken my fascination with the ancient world. I should also mention Prof. Robin Osborne, who helped expand my intellectual horizons dramatically as my primary tutor at Cambridge. I have also learned much from Prof. Malcolm Schofield, Prof. Simon Goldhill, and Prof. Bob Sharples, each of whom supervised some of my earliest work on phthonos . Bob, in his role as second PhD supervisor, has also read and commented on several chapters (1, 2, 4 and 8) of my PhD, as did Dr Steven Colvin and Dr Anne Sheppard (chapters 2 and 8) for my ‘upgrade’. Prof. Paul Stenner and Vagelis Chaikalis (chapter 2), Dr Jamie Dow (chapter 4) and Dr James Robson (chapter 6) have also given me the benefit of their expertise with detailed comments. My heartfelt thanks to all. Several friends have also been ready with support when I needed it, and have read and offered comments on 7 drafts of chapters, abstracts, papers or articles over the years, and I should particularly like to mention Joanna Atkin, Markus Boberek, Dr Daniel Grey, Dimitra Kokkini, Geraint Thomas and Dr Vasiliki Zali. I am more grateful than I can say for your friendship, love and support. On a less personal note, but no less important: the finance. I should particularly like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for their generous funding of two years of my PhD. I should also mention the UCL Department of Greek and Latin, which gave me a studentship in my first year, and the UCL Graduate School for a travel bursary to allow me to present the bulk of chapter 4 as a paper at the Penn-Leiden conference at the University of Pennsylvania – a paper which has now been published. Last, but far from least, I should like to thank my mother, Sharon Sanders. She has also given me generous financial support over the last few years, but as (if not more) important has been her moral support. Leaving an established and well-paid accountancy career for the uncertainties and struggles of academia was very daunting, but my mother supported me in that decision, and has throughout encouraged me to follow the path that would make me happy. I am extremely grateful to her. Finally, I should like to mention my father, Nigel Sanders, who was equally supportive of whatever I chose to do in life. He would, I’m sure, have been delighted to see me reach this milestone in my research. This thesis is dedicated to both my parents. 8 Abbreviations For Greek authors and works, I follow the abbreviations listed in Hornblower, S. and Spawforth, A. (eds) (1996) The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3 rd edn; Oxford and New York) xxix-liv where possible; otherwise those in LSJ. Austin Austin, C. (ed.) (1973) Comicorum Graecorum fragmenta in papyris reperta (Berlin) Kassel & Austin Kassel, R. and Austin, C. (eds) (1983-2001) Poetae comici Graeci (Berlin and New York), 8 vols Kock Kock, T. (ed.) (1880-8) Comicorum Atticorum fragmenta (Leipzig), 3 vols Lewis & Short Lewis, C.T. and Short, C. (1879) A Latin Dictionary (Oxford) LSJ Liddell, H.G., Scott, R.

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