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The Role of Athena in Fifth Century Athenian Drama "The role of Athena in fifth century Athenian drama" by Eleanor Sibley, BA (Hons) Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, May 1995 TABLE OF CONTENTS The role of Athena in fifth century Athenian drama. Page number Abstract Preface 11 Acknowledgements iii 1. Introduction 1 2. Athena as warrior and reconciler I: Iliad and Odyssey. 13 3. Athena as warrior and reconciler II: Eumenides and Lysistrata. 46 4. Athena as warrior and reconciler Ill: Other drama. 70 5. The relationship between Athena and Athenian women. 120 6. Conclusion 154 Bibliography 160 ABSTRACT The goddess Athena is currently perceived through a series of contradictions. She is both warrior and reconciler, killer and patron of the artisan, a goddess who denies her own womanhood and ignores the existence of women. Using Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and the extant complete plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes, this thesis reconciles each of these contradictions both within themselves and with each other. It finds that Athena had a prominent role as goddess of the polis: as a warrior she protected the polis from the external threat of war, and as a reconciler she protected it from the internal threat of civil strife. As polis goddess, Athena encourages peace and prosperity in her city; this requires that she inspire the artisan with techne, and the politician with wisdom. As polis goddess, Athena was also concerned for the perpetuation of her city and as such protected the children who were to be the future citizens, and the mothers who bore and nurtured them. This thesis argues that, as patron of techne, Athena becomes the patron of all women's work (which was all craft work). From this association the evidence of civic religion and the drama is used to argue for a relationship between Athena and Athenian women which was independent from Athenian men, independent from their relationship with Athena, and just as special. A unified interpretation of Athena as the polis goddess affords us a fuller and more realistic image of her as the goddess of Athens and patron of all its people than does one based on the "Imperial Athena" of the fifth century who represtents only one side of Athena's nature. Preface The corpus of plays for this thesis is the extant complete dramas of the Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. When I refer to 'fIfth century' drama, I will be referring to this corpus of plays. Where I quote lines from a play or from Homer, I have used whichever translation provides the best sense of the Greek as it relates to the issue concerned. The translations used are listed in the bibliography, and I do not attribute translations. I have used where possible, the most familiar spelling of Greek words, whether Latinised (Clytemnestra) or transliterated (Achaians). Where neither form is particularly familiar, I have transliterated. I have transliterated religious terms. There are some names which I have used and spelt specifIcally: Ajax I use to refer both to Sophocles' play and to its subject; whereas Aias is the 'lesser' one, and the one who seizes Cassandra from Athena's temple. With the Athenian autochthony myth, I use the names and genealogy of Euripides' Ion (Erechtheus as the autochthonous child, and Erichthonius as Kreousa's father), since I discuss the autochthony myth most within the context of that play. In the Introduction, however, I follow Brule when discussing his opinion. Finally Athena: I have chosen to use the Attic form throughout, rather than change between the Attic and Homeric forms as the discussion moves between Homer and the fifth century. Throughout however, when quoting, I follow the quoted author's usage. ii Acknowledgements First and foremost my thanks go to Alan Sommerstein. The sheer breadth and depth of his knowledge left me speechless, often. He knew when and how to inspire me, and equally when to leave me to my own devices. Quite simply I could not have had a better supervisor, and I hope this thesis does justice to his contribution. Also to Akbar Khan who supervised my studies when Alan Sommerstein was on study leave. Adrienne Edwards, secretary of the Classics Department, was always there, and always ready with ideas, coffee and humour - many thanks. The staff of the Classics Department variously helped and humoured me along. Thanks must go to Sue Hammersley, Andrew David, Janet Ashworth and John Hammersley who diligently read through this thesis and gave me both encouragement and suggestions. Angela White and Helen Henry gave me huge amounts of support, encouragement and affection, way beyond the call of their professions. My thanks also go to the staff of the Hallward Library, and particularly the porters who will now have significantly fewer books to reshelve. The staff at the Medical Research Council's Institute of Hearing Research, where I worked whilst doing this thesis, are now a group of scientists who know more about Athena than most Classics undergraduates; my thanks go to them for listening, and for at least pretending to follow! Thanks to my family and to countless friends who kept me (largely) human, and who laughed at my theories and my distraction. I will now be able to repay them with my attention and my company. Finally, my thanks go to Chris Barkway, who gave so much, and reminded me about the wood when I was up in the trees. My overriding memory of this time and these studies is the humour and unending support of these and many other people; this thesis would not have been the same without these people and is undoubtedly better for their contributions. However, I was the only one who could do the work, and ultimately it was up to me, with a pile of books facing me and an empty page staring belligerently at me. This thesis is a testimony to the power of the human spirit and its will to survive. m Page 1 Chapter 1 Introduction The initial defInition of Athena in the Collins Dictionary of Classical Mythology' runs: "Athena or Athene. The virgin goddess of arts, crafts and war, and the patroness of Athens". This summary accurately reflects the current image of Athena, an image which this thesis will not reject but will expand into a redefinition. Athena was the daughter of Zeus and of Metis (Wisdom)2. After Zeus had swallowed Metis, Athena was born out of his head, an adult and a fully armed warrior. She was a warrior goddess3 whose thinking violence contrasted with the unthinking violence of Ares, god of war. Among the gods, Athena was Zeus' favourite child; she alone knew where the thunderbolt was kept; she alone had Zeus' aegis. Zeus had shown his favouritism by granting her wish that she remain unmarried and virgin; "motherhood she steadfastly refuse[d]"4 and she was dependent on no one but her father. Athena was goddess of cities, worshipped as such in Athens, Thebes, Sparta, and Troy; through this, Homer gives her the epithet 'AA.a.A.1CO~£VTJtr; 'A9rlVTJ, 'Athena who stands by her people' (Iliad IV 8, V 908)5. She was patron of Athens, having won the patronage in a contest for it against Poseidon by giving Athens the cultivated olive tree6. One of the ways in which she was able to help her city was through her intimacy with her father, 'the gods keep safe the goddess Athena's city' (Aes. Persae 347). As goddess of Athens, Athena was considered by her people to be involved in the political and military life of the city. As a natural corollary to this, she was linked with Nike, Victory, whether by association with the separate goddess Nike, or as representing victory herself, with the epithet Nike7• With Hephaestus and Prometheus, she gave techne, skill and craft, to humans and was Athena Ergane, patron goddess of the artisan. As such she watched over and inspired the carpenter and the weaver. She was also goddess of wisdom, and particularly practical wisdom: Tripp 1988, p. 115. For a summary of Athena, see Burkert 1985, p. 139-43; for a more progressive interpretation, see Loraux 1993: and for the mythological background, see Parker 1988, p. 190-96. 2 Hesiod Theog., 894-96,924-26. 3 I refer to Athena throughout this thesis interchangeably as god and as goddess. For an interesting discussion on the gender issues and meanings of these words, see Lomux 1992. 4 Jane Harrison 1903, p. 301. 5 On this epithet of Athena, see Bemal1991, pp. 81-87 and 104-105. 6 On her patronage of Athens, see Garland 1992, p. 28-31. On the possible Egyptian background to her struggle with Poseidon, see Bernal 1991, pp. 88-90. There is also a myth (in Augustine's City o/God, XVIII, 9) in which the struggle of Athena and Poseidon and the name of the city is put into gender terms: Cecrops the king of Athens is told to let the people of Athens vote to decide the issue. The men vote for Poseidon, and the women for Athena. Athena wins because there are more women than men. Poseidon avenges the vote by flooding Attica, and the men avenge it by denying women any future role in Athenian politics. 7 On the temple of Athena Nike, see Meiggs 1972, pp. 135,498-503: and on Athena Nike in dmma, see for example, Jebb 1890, p. 30-31, note on 134. Page 2 for example8 where Poseidon was god of the horse, Athena taught men to tame horses and build chariots; where Poseidon was god of the sea, Athena taught men to build ships and to sail; where Hermes was god of the flock, Athena taught women to use wool and to weave; and where Demeter was god of the crop, Athena taught cultivation and cookery.
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