Never Bury My Bones Apart from Yours- Iliad Reception In

“Never bury my bones apart from yours”

Iliad Reception in Xena: Warrior Princess

Sarah Brucia Breitenfeld University of Washington [email protected]

Abstract available at this link. Achilles and Patroclus in 5th and 4th c. Athens • Aeschylus Myrmidons, fragment 136 • Achilles mourns the dead Patroclus with erotic language, Achilles as erastes, Patroclus as eromenos. • “I honored the intimacy of your thighs.”

• Plato Symposium 180a • Phaedrus disagrees with Aeschylus, Patroclus as erastes and Achilles as eromenos. • Achilles “was much more beautiful than Patroclus.”

• Aeschines Against Timarchus 142 • Aeschines says the sexual relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is self-evident. • Later, Achilles is mentioned as erastes and Patroclus as eromenos. • “The exceptional extent of their affection makes things clear to the educated members of the audience.”

• Xenophon Symposium 8.31 • Socrates says that Achilles and Patroclus were not in a sexual relationship. • They are celebrated “not because they slept together but because of mutual admiration and respect.”

For the Greek and full quotations, ask me at the end of the presentation. “Xena” played by Lucy Lawless “Gabrielle” played by Renee O’Conner Gabrielle and Xena Gabrielle dressed as Xena in 1x21 “The Greater Good” Xena comforts Gabrielle in 6x6 “The Abyss” Xena: Warrior Princess 6x6 “The Abyss”

Gabrielle: “Xena, I have a last wish.” Xena: “I don’t want to hear it.” G: “No, I’m serious. You don’t want to know?” X: “What is it then?” G: “I don’t want to be buried with the Amazons.” X: “Alright, well in 50 years when the time comes...” G: “Xena, I want to lie with you, with your family in Amphipolis.” X (stroking G’s cheek): “What about your family?” G (taking X’s hand): “I love them, but I’m a part of you. I want it to be like that forever. I love you.” Homer Iliad 23.82-92. (Trans. Fagles 1990)

ἄλλο δέ τοι ἐρέω καὶ ἐφήσομαι αἴ κε πίθηαι: μὴ ἐμὰ σῶν ἀπάνευθε τιθήμεναι ὀστέ᾽ Ἀχιλλεῦ, ἀλλ᾽ ὁμοῦ ὡς ἐτράφημεν ἐν ὑμετέροισι δόμοισιν, [...] ὣς δὲ καὶ ὀστέα νῶϊν ὁμὴ σορὸς ἀμφικαλύπτοι χρύσεος ἀμφιφορεύς, τόν τοι πόρε πότνια μήτηρ.

But one thing more. A last request— grant it, please. Never bury my bones apart from yours, Achilles, let them lie together... just as we grew up together in your house, [...] So now let a single urn, the gold two-handled urn your noble mother gave you, hold our bones— together! Gabrielle to Xena in XWP Patroclus to Achilles in the Iliad (Xena’s lines removed)

“Xena, I have a last wish.” But one thing more. A last request—

“No, I’m serious. You don’t want to know?” grant it, please.

“I don’t want to be buried with the Never bury my bones apart from yours, Achilles, Amazons.” let them lie together... “Xena, I want to lie with you, with your family in Amphipolis.” just as we grew up together in your house,

[Xena asks about her family] [...]

“I love them, but I’m a part of you. I want it So now let a single urn, the gold two-handled urn to be like that forever. I love you.” your noble mother gave you, hold our bones— together! Xena and Gabrielle in 6x21 “A Friend in Need Part 1” Xena shortly before she dies on a suicide mission in 6x21 “A Friend in Need Part 1” Xena appears to Gabrielle as a ghost in 6x22 “A Friend in Need Part 2” Xena’s hand passes through the chakram in 6x22 “A Friend in Need Part 2” Xena’s decapitated head in 6x22 “A Friend in Need Part 2” Gabrielle duels Xena’s killer in 6x22 “A Friend in Need Part 2” Gabrielle catches the chakram in 6x22 “A Friend in Need Part 2” Xena’s ghost fades in 6x22 “A Friend in Need Part 2” Final scene in 6x22 “A Friend in Need Part 2” The spirit of Xena, and Gabrielle with Xena’s urn

Achilles and Patroclus in 5th and 4th c. Athens • Aeschylus Myrmidons, fragment 136 (addressed by Achilles to the deceased Patroclus) μηρῶν τε τῶν σῶν ηὐσέβησ’ ὁμιλίαν κλαίων. And I honored the intimacy of your thighs by mourning you. • Plato Symposium 180a Αἰσχύλος δὲ φλυαρεῖ φάσκων Ἀχιλλέα Πατρόκλου ἐρᾶν, ὃς ἦν καλλίων οὐ μόνον Πατρόκλου ἀλλ᾽ ἅμα καὶ τῶν ἡρώων ἁπάντων, καὶ ἔτι ἀγένειος, ἔπειτα νεώτερος πολύ, ὥς φησιν Ὅμηρος. Aeschylus talks nonsense when he claims Achilles was the lover; he was more beautiful than Patroclus, more beautiful than all the heroes, and still beardless. Besides he was much younger, as Homer says. • Aeschines Against Timarchus 142 λέξω δὲ πρῶτον μὲν περὶ Ὁμήρου, ὃν ἐν τοῖς πρεσβυτάτοις καὶ σοφωτάτοις τῶν ποιητῶν εἶναι τάττομεν. ἐκεῖνος γὰρ πολλαχοῦ μεμνημένος περὶ Πατρόκλου καὶ Ἀχιλλέως, τὸν μὲν ἔρωτα καὶ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν αὐτῶν τῆς φιλίας ἀποκρύπτεται, ἡγούμενος τὰς τῆς εὐνοίας ὑπερβολὰς καταφανεῖς εἶναι τοῖς πεπαιδευμένοις τῶν ἀκροατῶν. I shall speak first about Homer, whom we rank among the oldest and wisest of the poets. He mentions Patroklos and Achilles in many places, but keeps their erotic love hidden and the proper name of their friendship, thinking that the exceptional extent of their affection makes things clear to the educated members of the audience. • Xenophon Symposium 8.31 ἀλλὰ μήν, ὦ Νικήρατε, καὶ Ἀχιλλεὺς Ὁμήρῳ πεποίηται οὐχ ὡς παιδικοῖς Πατρόκλῳ ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἑταίρῳ ἀποθανόντι ἐκπρεπέστατα τιμωρῆσαι. καὶ Ὀρέστης δὲ καὶ Πυλάδης καὶ Θησεὺς καὶ Πειρίθους καὶ ἄλλοι δὲ πολλοὶ τῶν ἡμιθέων οἱ ἄριστοι ὑμνοῦνται οὐ διὰ τὸ συγκαθεύδειν ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ἄγασθαι ἀλλήλους τὰ μέγιστα καὶ κάλλιστα κοινῇ διαπεπρᾶχθαι. Or again, Niceratus, Homer makes Achilles view Patroclus not as his favorite but as a comrade, and in this spirit signally avenging his death. So also Orestes, Pylades, Theseus, Peirithous, and many another of the best demigods are celebrated in song for achieving glorious deeds of valor side by side, not because they slept together but because of mutual admiration and respect. Additional Links and Information on Fan Responses

• WHOOSH! fan article on Xena and Achilles: http://www.whoosh.org/issue35/horwood1.html • Melissa Good’s fanfiction novels: http://www.merwolf.com/ffiction.html#xwp • Xena/Gabrielle tag on Archive of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/works/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&work _search%5Bquery%5D=Xena%2FGabrielle • Achilles/Patroclus tag on Archive of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/works/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&work _search%5Bquery%5D=achilles%2Fpatroclus Select Bibliography on XWP and Classics

• Blondell, Ruby. 2005. "How to Kill an Amazon." Helios 32 (2): 183-213. • Caudill, Helen. 2003. "Tall, Dark, and Dangerous: Xena, the Quest, and the Wielding of Sexual Violence in Xena On-Line Fan Fiction." In Athena's Daughters: Television's New Women Warriors, edited by Frances Early and Kathleen Kennedy, 27-39. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. • Futrell, Alison. 2003. "The Baby, the Mother, and the Empire: Xena as Ancient Hero." In Athena's Daughters: Television's New Women Warriors, edited by Frances Early and Kathleen Kennedy, 13- 26. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. • Kennedy, Kathleen. 2003. "Love Is the Battlefield: The Making and Unmaking of the Just Warrior in Xena, Warrior Princess." In Athena's Daughters: Television's New Women Warriors, edited by Frances Early and Kathleen Kennedy, 40-65. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. • Potter, Amanda. 2009. "Hell Hath No Fury Like a Dissatisfied Viewer: Audience Responses to the Presentation of the Furies in Xena: Warrior Princess and Charmed." In Classics for all: Reworking antiquity in mass culture, edited by D. Lowe and K. Shahabudin, 217-236. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press. • Strong, Anise K. 2018. "Xena: Warrior, Heroine, Tramp." In Epic Heroes on Screen, edited by Antony Augoustakis and Stacie Raucci, 141-155. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Select Bibliography on XWP and Television Studies

• Crosby, Sara. 2004. "The Cruelest Season: Female Heroes Snapped into Sacrificial Heroines." In Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture, edited by Sherrie A. Inness, 153- 178. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. • Fiske, John. 1992. "The Cultural Economy of Fandom." In The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, edited by Lisa A. Lewis, 30-50. London: Routledge. • Gwenllian-Jones, Sara. 2014. "The Sex Lives of Cult Television Characters." In The Fan Fiction Studies Reader, edited by Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse, 116-129. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. • Hall, Stuart. 1993 [1973]. "Encoding, Decoding." In The Cultural Studies Reader, edited by Simon During. London and New York: Routledge. • Hanmer, Rosalind. 2014. "Xenasubtexttalk." Feminist Media Studies 14 (4): 608-622. • Helford, Elyce Rae. 2000. "Feminism, Queer Studies, and the Sexual Politics of Xena: Warrior Princess." In Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy Television, edited by Elyce Rae Helford, 135-162. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. • Inness, Sherrie A. 1999. Tough Girls: Women Warriors and Wonder Women in Popular Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. • Jenkins, Henry. 1992. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. New York and London: Routledge. Select Bibliography on Achilles and Patroclus

• Davidson, James. 2007. The Greeks and Greek Love: A Radical Reappraisal of Homosexuality in Ancient Greece. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. • Dover, K. J. 1978. Greek Homosexuality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. • Fantuzzi, Marco. 2012. Achilles in Love: Intertextual Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. • Foucault, Michel. 1978 [1976]. The History of Sexuality: Volume I: An Introduction. New York: Random House. • Halperin, David M. 1990. One Hundred Years of Homosexuality and Other Essays on Greek Love. London and New York: Routledge.