DOCSLIB.ORG

HERCULES NB the Following Notes Are Intended Be Read In

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
HERCULES NB the Following Notes Are Intended Be Read In HERCULES N.B. The following notes are intended be read in conjunction with my earlier commentary on this play; I have tried, so far as possible, to avoid repeating here points made in the commentary. Herc 20 The line is missing in A; E preserves it in the unmetrical form Thebana tellus nuribus sparsa impiis. The reasons for my conjectural replacement of sparsa with aspersa, which mends the metre with min- imal change to the text, are given at AJP 1981 66 and in my comm.1 Two conjectures have since been published. Axelson through Zw. proposed Thebana tellus matribus sparsa impiis, which he intended in the sense “stained with blood by an impious mother,” viz. Agave (with matribus as a generalising plural).2 Critics have rightly found this ellipse of cruore difficult (Hudson-Williams 1989 236, Watt 1996 248, Bill. ad loc.). Further, matribus in this line and this passage would inevitably be understood as referring to the mothers of Jupiter’s bas- tards, not to Pentheus’ mother. Consequently at 1989 246 I sug- gested that the words of Axelson’s conjecture would more naturally carry the sense, “scattered with ungodly mothers.” These “mothers” would be women made so by Jupiter (Alcmene, Semele, Antiope), called impiae by Juno for their flouting of her (as she sees it). This forceful use of “mothers” would be characteristic of Sen.’s pointed style, and could well have given rise to nuribus as a gloss or intended correction. The reference to the women as “mothers” also gives spe- cial point to Juno’s reference to herself as “stepmother” to their offspring (21). (Similarly Juno complains about Semele, mater—quod vix mihi contigit—uno/de Iove vult fieri,Ov. Met. 3.269f.). Though these 1 A complete statement of the stylistic and metrical objections to the rearrange- ment found in KQ, Thebana nuribus sparsa tellus impiis, will be found in those places. There I also give parallels for passive forms of aspergo used in the sense ‘strewn, scattered.’ 2 Zw. first explained matribus ...impiis as referring to all the impiae Cadmeides (758) who attacked Pentheus (KK ), but later as referring to Agave alone (Zw. 1987 83); subsequently he identified the latter as Axelson’s intention. 6 HERCULES women were not literally scattered through the land, but concen- trated in Thebes itself, one must allow for the misrepresentation and exaggeration of Senecan rhetoric, which can speak (e.g.) of Priam as “buried beneath his whole realm,” (Tro 30), and of Achilles as sparsus per omne caelitum regnum (Tro 345). Watt 1996 248 writes, “I think it probable that nuribus is a guess which has supplanted another word ending in -us omitted because of homoeoteleuton. There is no reason why the omitted word should have been one (like nuribus or matribus) denoting women; I think it may well have been caedibus.” These impiae caedes, Watt explains, could include those of Pentheus, Laius, Eteocles and Polynices, and the terrigenae (Ov. Met. 3.123). This conjecture gives additional significance to the otherwise vague phrase dira ac fera (19), but it seems less relevant to the context than either nuribus or matribus. Why should Sen. have had Juno elaborate here on the Theban tradition of familial murder? Once that question is asked, a possible answer suggests itself: the phrase could foreshadow a further impia caedes which will stain Thebes in the course of this play. But I am not confident that Sen. uses foreshadowing of this kind. When foreshadow- ing of the tragic outcome is unconscious, as it would be here, it usu- ally takes the form of ‘dramatic irony,’ in which the speaker’s statement can be understood, or question answered, in a sense other than that envisaged by the speaker, e.g. 306–07, 613–15, 899, 938f., Med 25f. (with Gronovius’ comment on the last passage, quoted by Costa ad loc.). Since the pointed use of novercam in 21 is the rhetorical climax of the sentence, and since matribus (= mothers of Jupiter’s offspring) is the best preparation for it, I am inclined to accept Axelson’s con- jecture as reinterpreted above. Herc 26 The context makes the traditional punctuation, with a comma at the end of the line, slightly preferable to Axelson’s question-mark. As Juno has conceded the heavens to her rivals (4), so she concedes (licet 21) the coming elevation of Alcmene and Hercules, which seems inevitable to her at this point. The phrasing of 27–29 suggests not a campaign with an immediate and specific goal, viz. to prevent their elevation, but rather a perpetual state of war, continuing after their ascent. The hope of preventing Hercules’s deification occurs to her only later in the prologue (121f.); for the development of her thought in this monologue, see pp. 115f. of my comm..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Teiresias As Magus in Oedipus Rex Kent J
    Teiresias as Magus in "Oedipus Rex" Rigsby, Kent J Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1976; 17, 2; ProQuest pg. 109 Teiresias as Magus in Oedipus Rex Kent J. Rigsby AVING QUESTIONED an obstinate Teiresias with increasing irrita­ H tion only to be himself accused as the country's plague, Oedipus concludes that the seer has conspired with Creon to overthrow him and denounces them both (OT 385ft): KpEWV 0 mcroc, oug apxfjc t/JLAOC Aa8p~ p.' U1T€A8wv EKf3aA€LV ip.€Lp€TaL, V't'€tc<,/.., p.ayov1 TOLOVO€1 ~ p.7JXavoppa't'0V','/'' ~ 1\ 'I " , ~ 'I:' OO/UOV ayvpT7Jv, oene EV TO Le KEPO€CLV , ~ ,~ " ~, "A.. A.. \ , P.OVOV OEOOPK€, T7JV TEXV7JV 0 €'t'V TV't'I\Oe. He goes on to attack Teiresias' supposed prophetic powers, which could not solve the riddle of the sphinx; he, Oedipus, had had the wisdom to do that (and thus become king). Creon is motivated by envy (380ft), Teiresias by the ambition to stand next to Creon's throne (399£). Why does he call Teiresias a 'Magus'? The traditional view is eloquently stated by Jebb: "The word p.ayoc expresses contempt for the rites of divination practised by Teiresias: ayvpT7Je taunts him as a mercenary imposter ... The passage shows how Asiatic superstitions had already spread among the vulgar, and were scorned by the edu­ cated, in Greece ... So Bur. Or. 1496 (Helen has been spirited away), ~ t/Jap/LaKOLCLV (by charms), ~ p.aywv I TExvaLCLv, ~ 8€wv KA01TaLc."l Kamerbeek has commented recently in a somewhat different vein: "The word is very common in Hdt.
    [Show full text]
  • Thebaid 2: Oedipus Descendants of Cadmus
    Thebaid 2: Oedipus Descendants of Cadmus Cadmus = Harmonia Aristaeus = Autonoe Ino Semele Agave = Echion Pentheus Actaeon Polydorus (?) Autonoe = Aristaeus Actaeon Polydorus (?) • Aristaeus • Son of Apollo and Cyrene • Actaeon • While hunting he saw Artemis bathing • Artemis set his own hounds on him • Polydorus • Either brother or son of Autonoe • King of Cadmeia after Pentheus • Jean-Baptiste-Camile Corot ca. 1850 Giuseppe Cesari, ca. 1600 House of Cadmus Hyrieus Cadmus = Harmonia Dirce = Lycus Nycteus Autonoe = Aristaeus Zeus = Antiope Nycteis = Polydorus Zethus Amphion Labdacus Laius Tragedy of Antiope • Polydorus: • king of Thebes after Pentheus • m. Nycteis, sister of Antiope • Polydorus died before Labdacus was of age. • Labdacus • Child king after Polydorus • Regency of Nycteus, Lycus Thebes • Laius • Child king as well… second regency of Lycus • Zethus and Amphion • Sons of Antiope by Zeus • Jealousy of Dirce • Antiope imprisoned • Zethus and Amphion raised by shepherds Zethus and Amphion • Returned to Thebes: • Killed Lycus • Tied Dirce to a wild bull • Fortified the city • Renamed it Thebes • Zethus and his family died of illness Death of Dirce • The Farnese Bull • 2nd cent. BC • Asinius Pollio, owner • 1546: • Baths of Caracalla • Cardinal Farnese • Pope Paul III Farnese Bull Amphion • Taught the lyre by Hermes • First to establish an altar to Hermes • Married Niobe, daughter of Tantalus • They had six sons and six daughters • Boasted she was better than Leto • Apollo and Artemis slew every child • Amphion died of a broken heart Niobe Jacques Louis David, 1775 Cadmus = Harmonia Aristeus =Autonoe Ino Semele Agave = Echion Nycteis = Polydorus Pentheus Labdacus Menoecius Laius = Iocaste Creon Oedipus Laius • Laius and Iocaste • Childless, asked Delphi for advice: • “Lord of Thebes famous for horses, do not sow a furrow of children against the will of the gods; for if you beget a son, that child will kill you, [20] and all your house shall wade through blood.” (Euripides Phoenissae) • Accidentally, they had a son anyway.
    [Show full text]
  • Pausanias' Description of Greece
    BONN'S CLASSICAL LIBRARY. PAUSANIAS' DESCRIPTION OF GREECE. PAUSANIAS' TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH \VITTI NOTES AXD IXDEX BY ARTHUR RICHARD SHILLETO, M.A., Soiiii'tinie Scholar of Trinity L'olltge, Cambridge. VOLUME IT. " ni <le Fnusnnias cst un homme (jui ne mnnquo ni de bon sens inoins a st-s tlioux." hnniie t'oi. inais i}iii rn>it ou au voudrait croire ( 'HAMTAiiNT. : ftEOROE BELL AND SONS. YOUK STIIKKT. COVKNT (iAKDKX. 188t). CHISWICK PRESS \ C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCEKV LANE. fA LC >. iV \Q V.2- CONTEXTS. PAGE Book VII. ACHAIA 1 VIII. ARCADIA .61 IX. BtEOTIA 151 -'19 X. PHOCIS . ERRATA. " " " Volume I. Page 8, line 37, for Atte read Attes." As vii. 17. 2<i. (Catullus' Aft is.) ' " Page 150, line '22, for Auxesias" read Anxesia." A.-> ii. 32. " " Page 165, lines 12, 17, 24, for Philhammon read " Philanimon.'' " " '' Page 191, line 4, for Tamagra read Tanagra." " " Pa ire 215, linu 35, for Ye now enter" read Enter ye now." ' " li I'aijf -J27, line 5, for the Little Iliad read The Little Iliad.'- " " " Page ^S9, line 18, for the Babylonians read Babylon.'' " 7 ' Volume II. Page 61, last line, for earth' read Earth." " Page 1)5, line 9, tor "Can-lira'" read Camirus." ' ; " " v 1'age 1 69, line 1 , for and read for. line 2, for "other kinds of flutes "read "other thites.'' ;< " " Page 201, line 9. for Lacenian read Laeonian." " " " line 10, for Chilon read Cliilo." As iii. 1H. Pago 264, " " ' Page 2G8, Note, for I iad read Iliad." PAUSANIAS. BOOK VII. ACIIAIA.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ancient Reception of Euripides' Bacchae from Athens to Byzantium
    Simon Perris and Fiachra Mac Góráin The ancient reception of Euripides’ Bacchae from Athens to Byzantium Abstract: This chapter offers a reception history of Euripides’ Bacchae from its original production until its intertextual transformation in the Byzantine Christus Patiens. It traces a broad arc from Classical Athens through the Roman Empire, taking in also Hellenistic Alexandria, the Greek-speaking East, Christianity, and Byzantine literature. By examining the cultural contexts and inflections of the different receptions of one poetic text – Greek, Roman and Italian, ‘Eastern’, and Christian – it exposes distinctions between religious or cultural attitudes to Bac- chus/Dionysus across a broad range of Greek and Latin sources. The discussion is divided into four thematic sections, within which receptions are mostly pre- sented in chronological order: Classic Bacchae; Performances; Narratives; and Christian discourse. These sections encompass drama, epic, didactic, epyllion, historiography, biography, epigram, scholarly citations, and theological texts. A selection of the most significant case studies receive in-depth discussion in the body of the chapter; for completeness, the reception history of Bacchae is filled out by listing additional receptions in summary form in an appendix. Introduction Euripides’ Bacchae was undoubtedly the single most influential literary text for constructions of Dionysus throughout Greco-Roman antiquity. In this chapter, we examine how receptions of the play across the spectrum of Greek and Roman literature act as a barometer for cultural attitudes to Dionysus. Many of the most significant and revealing receptions occur in Latin texts or in Greek texts that deal with Roman subjects, whether Plutarch’s Antony, Greek epigrams about Italian pantomime performances, or Christian writings polemicizing against Greek and Roman cults.
    [Show full text]
  • Socrates, Cadmus, and the Case for Unphilosophical Parenting
    374 Socrates, Cadmus, and the Case for Unphilosophical Parenting Socrates, Cadmus, and the Case for Unphilosophical Parenting Avi Mintz Independent Scholar When my eldest son was in third grade, he started reporting that he was regularly eating doughnuts at school in the morning.1 Neither my partner in these parenting decisions nor I hold any particular ill will towards doughnuts. They aren’t exactly her sweet of choice—she comes from a family of chocolate worshippers and the quantity and quality of chocolate in doughnuts, even a chocolate doughnut with a chocolate glaze, just doesn’t excite her. I, at least, can recognize their fatty and sweet appeal. But between her indifference and my range of food intolerances (curse you, my weak-stomached ancestors!), we fed our children doughnuts very rarely, making them almost exclusively a birthday treat (since our kids prefer them over birthday cake). But, of course, the main reason that the doughnut purchases were so rare was that we have been habituated in a parenting culture that induces feelings of guilt and shame when feeding children high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar snacks. In the part of red state America in which I lived, many of the parents at our children’s school had no such hang-ups. Oddly, they seemed to think that pleasure was a sufficient reason to feed their children doughnuts. I envied those parents. Oh—what it must be like to let one’s children eat inexpensive, convenient treats without suffering waves of existential angst about one’s moral failure as a parent! So, back to my son’s school, where doughnuts, so he claimed, had seemingly become a staple of daily classroom life.
    [Show full text]
  • Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes, Probability, and a New Theory Of
    Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, Probability, and a New Theory of Tragedy In Euripides’ Bacchae, the worst-case scenario happens to Pentheus if the stranger spreading a seditious cult happens to be a god, and not a hobo. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the worst-case scenario happens to Macbeth if his opponent happens to be not born of woman. In Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the worst-case scenario happens to Loman if he discovers that his insurance policy makes him worth more dead than alive. In Sophocles’ Oedipus rex, the worst- case scenario happens to Oedipus if he finds out that he is the regicide. What were the odds of the worst-case scenario happening in each of these cases? Although the odds appear to be a longshot, they are impossible to quantify. In the tragic canon, there is one play—and one play only—where it is possible to quantify and demonstrate the odds of everything that does happen and does not happen. This fascinating play is Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes. In Aeschylus’ Seven, seven attacking captains—one of whom is Polyneices—lay siege to seven-gated Thebes. Seven defending captains—one of whom is Polyneices’ brother Eteocles— defend Thebes’ seven gates. The worst-case scenario takes place if brother confronts brother at the seventh gate: brother will kill brother, kindred blood will be shed, and, in addition to the normal hazards of warfare, miasma results and the Furies will be unleashed. Because the captains are assigned their gates by a random, lottery process (Hermann, 2013), it is possible to precisely quantify the odds of the worst-case scenario.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bacchae of Euripides
    The Bacchae of Euripides By Wole Soyinka Directed by Prof. Judyie Al-Bilali Dramaturgy by Prof. Megan Lewis STUDY GUIDE Contact: Prof Megan Lewis [email protected] DIRECTOR’S NOTE Dionysus and his magnificent initiates, the Bacchantes, have come back for me. I met them twenty years ago when I directed this same adaptation by distinguished Nigerian Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka. I embraced his vision as it foregrounds the social and political transformations inherent to the ancient drama, and now two decades later, Soyinka’s script rings even more true as we face unprecedented environmental, ecological, and spiritual challenges. A play is relevant after 2,400 years because it illuminates primal forces, notable among them, sexuality. Dionysus, called by many names including ‘The Liberator’ has often symbolized gender fluidity. In the rigid caste system of ancient Greece, his devotees included slaves, women, and foreigners -- allowing those usually excluded to participate in the annual Dionysian festivals. Our play is set in 2020, just across the threshold into the upcoming decade, at the pivot point of a new era in human history. Our location is Gaia, the mythological Greek name recognizing our beloved and beleaguered planet Earth as a sentient, living goddess. Right now, Gaia demands our attention. She calls us beyond ideology to unity, a call we must heed for our survival as a species. Myth is how we navigate and ultimately evolve both individual and collective psyches. Myth must change for us to grow. Artists are the antennae for society and we are re-imagining Euripides’ myth of Dionysus to address our need for balance between reason and passion.
    [Show full text]
  • Thebaid 2: Oedipus Descendants of Cadmus
    Thebaid 2: Oedipus Descendants of Cadmus Cadmus = Harmonia Aristaeus = Autonoe Ino Semele Agave = Echion Pentheus Actaeon Polydorus (?) Autonoe = Aristaeus Actaeon Polydorus (?) • Aristaeus • Son of Apollo and Cyrene • Actaeon • While hunting he saw Artemis bathing • Artemis set his own hounds on him • Polydorus • Either brother or son of Autonoe • King of Cadmeia after Pentheus • Jean-Baptiste-Camile Corot ca. 1850 Giuseppe Cesari, ca. 1600 House of Cadmus Hyrieus Cadmus = Harmonia Dirce = Lycus Nycteus Autonoe = Aristaeus Zeus = Antiope Nycteis = Polydorus Zethus Amphion Labdacus Laius Tragedy of Antiope • Polydorus: • king of Thebes after Pentheus • m. Nycteis, sister of Antiope • Polydorus died before Labdacus was of age. • Labdacus • Child king after Polydorus • Regency of Nycteus, Lycus Thebes • Laius • Child king as well… second regency of Lycus • Zethus and Amphion • Sons of Antiope by Zeus • Jealousy of Dirce • Antiope imprisoned • Zethus and Amphion raised by shepherds Zethus and Amphion • Returned to Thebes: • Killed Lycus • Tied Dirce to a wild bull • Fortified the city • Renamed it Thebes • Zethus and his family died of illness Death of Dirce • The Farnese Bull • 2nd cent. BC • Asinius Pollio, owner • 1546: • Baths of Caracalla • Cardinal Farnese • Pope Paul III Farnese Bull Amphion • Taught the lyre by Hermes • First to establish an altar to Hermes • Married Niobe, daughter of Tantalus • They had six sons and six daughters • Boasted she was better than Leto • Apollo and Artemis slew every child • Amphion died of a broken heart Niobe Jacques Louis David, 1775 Cadmus = Harmonia Aristeus =Autonoe Ino Semele Agave = Echion Nycteis = Polydorus Pentheus Labdacus Menoecius Laius = Iocaste Creon Oedipus Laius • Laius and Iocaste • Childless, asked Delphi for advice: • “Lord of Thebes famous for horses, do not sow a furrow of children against the will of the gods; for if you beget a son, that child will kill you, [20] and all your house shall wade through blood.” (Euripides Phoenissae) • Accidentally, they had a son anyway.
    [Show full text]
  • Seven Against Thebes: Ritual Performativity Or Goos, Cledonomancy and Catharsis
    Anton Bierl* Themise en scène of Kingship and Power in Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes: Ritual Performativity or Goos, Cledonomancy and Catharsis Abstract This contribution focuses on Eteocles’ attempts to secure and assert his authority as king and military leader against the female chorus and both the semiotic and self-referential power struggle in the central scene regarding the description of the shields. The extensive pre-dramatic scene of the ecphrastic accumulation of visual signs is interpreted as a symbolic agonistic strife, the theatrical substitute of actual violence. Cledonomantic speech serves as a performative means to convey the oracular anticipation and enigmatic interpretation of the events. Moreover, the paper sheds some light on the mutual reciprocity and circular interaction of fatal entanglements in Thebes and its ruling family. Seen in a cultural perspective of a western Asian healing ritual, the description of the shields can be read as a mise en abyme and mise en scène of the entire play about mutual destruction and the resulting salvation of the polis. Keywords: Aeschylus; Babylonian healing and purification ritual; cledonomancy; choreia; Dionysian palintropic harmony; euphemia; fear and lament; mise en abyme; power struggle with words and bodily regime; Seven against Thebes; supplication. Introduction: The King as Military Leader in a Situation of Crisis Classical Greek tragedy preferably stages mythic kings of heroic times in dramatic situations that can be partially associated with Athenian political issues valid at the time of the actual performance. These kings are, in the perspective of Dionysian distortion (Brelich 1982; Bierl 2011), often highly problematic as they tend to be represented with a focus on tyrannical au- thority.
    [Show full text]
  • Ovid Pages 58-59 Pentheus.Indd
    Pentheus (III. 528-733) Bacchus in his chariot - Virgil Solis, 1514-1562 58 Pentheus (III. 528-733) Pentheus has listened to Tiresias tell the story of Narcissus, but foolishly mocks the blind, old prophet, who in turn warns Pentheus about the imminent arrival of Bacchus, whose divinity he would deny and for which act he would die, as he finally learns that Tiresias sees things all too clearly. When Bacchus does arrive, Pentheus (531-563) rebukes the citizens of Thebes for allowing their city to be captured by a boy, even send- ing men to arrest the pretender. Pentheus portrays the god as definitely not male and in fact as feminine, while the citizens forget their origins as men born from a serpent’s teeth sown by Cadmusand cede their city to a boy dressed like a perfumed girl. The men return without Bacchus, but with a young man named Acoetes, who is urged by Pentheus to tell his story. In a long (582-691) and rambling (check the digression on his father and his learning to sail or the crew turning into dolphins) story, Acoetes tells how Bacchus was brought from Chios to Naxos, and how he has been the god’s devoted follower since then. Taken off to be tortured at Pentheus’ angry order, Acoetes is freed by Bacchus’ intervention in a miraculous fashion. Pentheus, driven by more anger, chooses to go to Mt. Cithaeron to see what happens there. Almost immediately he is seen and attacked by the female members of his family, two aunts (one of whom, Autonoe, had lost her son Actaeon to the anger of the goddess Diana, who was accidentally seen bathing by the unfortunate Actaeon); believing him to be a wild boar, the women tear him limb from limb.
    [Show full text]
  • Myth Made Fact Lesson 12: Oedipus the Scapegoat with Dr
    Myth Made Fact Lesson 12: Oedipus the Scapegoat with Dr. Louis Markos Outline: Oedipus the Scapegoat Pentheus had a granddaughter named Jocasta and she had a brother named Creon. Cadmus also had a son named Polydorus. Polydorus had a grandson named Laius. Jocasta is the great granddaughter of Cadmus. Laius is the great grandson of Cadmus. Jocasta and Laius marry. Jocasta and Laius here a prophecy that their son will kill his father. Laius pins his sons feet together and has the boy left to die. Oedipus means swollen foot in Greek (because his feet were pinned together). The shepherd took pity on the boy, and he had a friend from Corinth, and so he gave him to the herdsmen. The shepherd turn the baby over to the King and Queen of Corinth. Oedipus goes to the Oracle of Delphi to ask about his birth. Before he could even get to the sacred space of the altar, the Oracle repels him saying, “Leave, you are a polluted man for you will kill your father and marry your mother.” Oedipus runs until he comes to a crossroad of three roads. He runs into a hunting party. Oedipus kills the whole hunting party, including Laius, except one who runs back to Thebes. At another crossroads, Oedipus met the Sphinx. o What animal is it that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs evening? (Man – Oedipus gets the answer). o The Sphinx kills herself and Oedipus goes to Thebes. Oedipus returns to Thebes. The kings had died and they have a beautiful queen.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rage, Healing and Daemonic Death of Oedipus: a Self-In-Relation Theory
    THE RAGE, HEALING AND DAEMONIC DEATH OF OEDIPUS: A SELF-IN-RELATION THEORY Judy E. Schavrien San Francisco, California Western psychoanalytic theory has at its center an analysis of the passions of Oedipus, his lust for his mother and his murderous rivalry with his father. But it offers no discussion of his healing. I propose first to return to Freud's source, Oedipus the King, by the 5th century Greek playwright, Sophocles, and offer a new perspective on the King's ills. This will be a Self-in­ Relation view of him drawn from Kohut's Self Psychology and from Object Relations Theory. Then I will examine Oedipus at a Colonus,written about a weathered Oedipus on the last day of Self-in- Relation his life, by a 90 year-old Sophocles. It is only through the view of revised understanding of what ailed Oedipus that the steps in Oedipus his healing can be discerned. Oedipus' healing and completion as a human being precedes his transmutation into divinity-he becomes a hero-daemon or mediating spirit between humans and gods who casts a protec­ tive shield over Athens. Androgyny plays its role in his human completion and post-human evolution: he merges at the last with the chthonic goddesses, the Furies, by dissolving into the elements of their sacred grove. A return to the archaic is involved as well, since the Furies are charged with the enforce­ ment of primal blood taboos. Early in his life Oedipus had suffered involuntary destruction of his human personality and involuntary immersion in the archaic, through living first in taboo relation to father and mother, and then discovering these relations.
    [Show full text]