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The Γενναῖον of Oedipus in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus
The Oedipus in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus at first glance seems an unlikely hero: he is
blind, filled with shame, and is doomed to a life of wandering around Greece bereft of a polis.
However, by the end of the play, he assumes the function of cult hero, who will provide a
continual benefit, κέρδη (OC 92, 578, 579), to the city of Athens as a savior, σωτήρ (OC 460,
463; Burian 1974). While some scholars have sought to minimize the role of Oedipus’ apparent
heroization to the meaning of the play (e.g., Linforth 1951), it nevertheless functions as
important plot device that must be integrated into any cohesive scholarly interpretation (e.g.,
Bowra 1944, Mikalson 1991).
One aspect to this point neglected in the study of Oedipus as cult hero the degree to which
the Oedipus’ innate nobility, his γενναῖον, factors into his fittingness to become Athens’ σωτήρ.
At the beginning of the play, the importance of this concept is set forth when Oedipus
programmatically describes his important characteristics to the audience (7-8): “My sufferings,
the long expanse of time, and thirdly my nobility (τὸ γενναῖον) are what have taught me to go
on.” Falling in the important third spot in this list, the quality of nobility remains an important
theme throughout, the term recurring no less than five more times to describe both Oedipus and
Theseus as king of Athens (8, 76, 569, 1042, 1636, †1640†).
This paper will argue that the nobility of Oedipus factors heavily into his eventual
heroization at the end of the play and explore the consequences that entail from such an
interpretation. Most notably, it will suggest that the connection between heroization and nobility
highlights the problem of how to integrate an institution (namely hero cult) that traditionally
served as a way to glorify tyrant-like figures into the burgeoning democracy that was forming at
the same time as tragedy itself (Carter 2011). This problem is especially important in the
consideration of Oedipus at Colonus, which Sophocles likely composed between 409 and 406
BCE, but was not actually staged until after 402BCE—all these dates point to a time when
democracy was challenged by the denouement of the Peloponnesian War. By exploring this
angle of Oedipus’ heroization, I hope to add to the burgeoning field exploring the intersections of
Sophoclean poetry and concepts of democracy (e.g., Wilson 1997, Beer 2004, Markantonatos
2007) as well as to the established study of Greek hero cult as a religious practice (e.g., Kearns
1989, Antonaccio 1995, Ekroth 2002).
Works Cited:
Antonaccio, Carla M. 1995. An Archaeology of Ancestors: Tomb Cult and Hero Cult in Early
Greece. Lanham, MD.
Beer, Josh. 2004. Sophocles and the Tragedy of Athenian Democracy. Contributions in Drama
and Theatre Studies 105. Westport, CT.
Bowra, C.M. 1944. Sophoclean Tragedy. Oxford.
Burian, Peter. 1974. “Suppliant and Saviour: Oedipus at Colonus.” Phoenix 28: 408-29.
Carter, D.M., ed. 2011. Why Athens? A Reappraisal of Tragic Politics. Oxford.
Ekroth, Gunnel. 2002. The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early
Hellenistic Periods. Kernos Supplement 12. Liège.
Kearns, Emily. 1989. The Heroes of Attica. BICS Supplement 57. London.
Linforth, Ivan M. 1951. “Religion and Drama in Oedipus at Colonus.” University of California
Publications in Classical Philology 14: 75-191.
Markantonatos, Andreas. 2007. Oedipus at Colonus: Sophocles, Athens, and the World. UaLG
87. Berlin.
Mikalson, Jon D. 1991. Honor Thy Gods: Popular Religion in Greek Tragedy. Chapel Hill.
Wilson, J.P. 1997. The Hero and the City: An Interpretation of Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus.
Ann Arbor.