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Rhesus “to see, to enjoy, to forget” J. Ferguson, A companion to Greek Tragedy (1972), 499 Akropolis, from Arde2os Hill 1 Athens 2 THRACE Rhesus ITHAKA Odysseus TROY Hector Aeneas Dolon Paris Athens ARGOS Diomedes 3 AKc red-­‐figure lekythos. Dolon. Ca. 460 BCE. Louvre CA180 4 Lucanian red-­‐fig. krater, c. 380 BCE. London F 157. Dolon w/ weasel cap and wolf skin. Odysseus to 5 leY, Diomedes to right. Lucanian red-­‐fig. krater, c. 380 BCE. London F 157. Dolon w/ weasel cap and wolf skin. Odysseus to 6 leY, Diomedes to right. Apulian red-­‐figure situla, from Ruvo. Lycurgus Painter, c. 360 BCE. Naples 81863 Rhesos not in Greek art un\l 4th cent. BCE. To the right, Odysseus, with cloak and skull cap brandishing his sword. Diomedes stands at the leY. At the top are three dead Thracians. 7 Apulian red-­‐figure situla, from Ruvo. Lycurgus Painter, c. 360 BCE. Naples 81863 Rhesos not in Greek art un\l 4th cent. BCE. To the right, Odysseus, “heroically nude” but with cloak and skull cap brandishing his sword.. Diomedes stands at the leY. At the top are three dead Thracians. 8 Apulian red-­‐figure krater [looted] Darius Painter, ca. 340 BCE. An\kensammlung Berlin 1984.39 Diomedes about to kill Rhesus [ΡΗΣΟΣ]. Female at upper rt. = Muse. Odysseus steals horses. River god (Strymon) lwr rt. 9 Diomedes about to kill Rhesus [ΡΗΣΟΣ]. Female at upper rt. = Muse. Apulian red-­‐figure krater [looted] Darius Painter, ca. 340 BCE. An\kensammlung Berlin 1984.39 10 Apulian red-­‐figure krater [looted] Darius Painter, ca. 340 BCE. An\kensammlung Berlin 1984.39 Odysseus steals horses. River god (Strymon) lwr rt. 11 Athens 12 Messenger [to Atossa, King Xerxes’ mother] Then Day arrived on her chariot, pulled by her white steeds, and she flooded the whole earth with her bright beauty; and at that very moment a shrieking war cry rang out from the Greeks! A song that echoed all about us from every rock and crag on the island. A song of terror that engulfed us all. Fear shook everyone of the barbarians [βαρβάροις – barbarois]. Their hopes of victory was proven false. Aeschylus, Persians 386-­‐392 (472 BCE) (trans. Theodoridis) 13 Iphigenia [to Clytemnestra] And it is right, mother, that Hellenes should rule barbarians, but not barbarians Hellenes, those being slaves, while these are free. Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis 1400-­‐1401 (trans. Theodoridis) Helen I have become a slave although I am free by birth; for among barbarians all are slaves except one. Euripides, Helen 275-­‐276 (trans. Coleridge) 14 Phrygian I bow down, yessir. I kiss the ground, lord. Is Eastern [barbarian] custom, yes. Orestes This is Argos, fool, not Troy Euripides, Orestes 1507-­‐1508 (trans. Arrowsmith) Jason [to Medea] There is no Greek woman who would have dared such deeds, out of all those whom I passed over and chose you to marry instead, a bi2er destruc\ve match, a monster, not a woman, having a nature wilder than that of Scylla in the Tuscan sea. Euripides, Medea 1339-­‐1343 (trans. Warner) 15 Agamemnon [to old man] Well, Helen, unfortunately, old man, chose Menelaos! AYer that, Paris, the man who, according to the legend, judged the three goddesses, Hera, Aphrodite and Athena, for their beauty, arrived at Sparta. He came all the way from Troy, dressed in all his colourful garb, and, typical of the barbarians’ love for splendour, his whole body was sparkling with gold jewels! Helen fell in love with him and he fell in love with Helen…. Paris … carried her off back to his own home, in Ida, a place where the cows graze in luxurious pastures. Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis 70-­‐77 (trans. Theodoridis) 16 Chorus There you were, Paris: a man brought up to be a cowherd, looking aYer the grazing, …
playing Asian tunes in your reedy pipes, airs much like those Trojan songs from Mount Olympus when, suddenly, you had to judge between three goddesses; and it was this judging that has sent you to Helen’s ivory palace in Hellas. Once there, a maddened gaze of love from each of you had sent you both into Eros’ confusion and sent Greece to Troy with strife-­‐searching ships and spears. Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis 573-­‐589 (trans. Theodoridis) 17 Charioteer (to Hector) You are barbarian, so are we. Why do you parry my charge by threatening these men? Why make a Greek lawyer’s speech here?... It would take you a long and ar•ul speech to convince me that you have not been killing your friends. Euripides, Rhesus 833-­‐838 (trans. LaKmore) 18 βάρβαρος barbaros = non-­‐Greek the “Other” •  unintelligible; some\mes cacophonous •  foreign, non-­‐Greek (na\onality); exo\c (esp. in Aeschylus) •  foreign with implica\on of inferiority •  savage 19 βάρβαρος barbaros = non-­‐Greek the “Other” AKc red-­‐figure oinochoe, Chicago Painter ca. 460 BCE Greek a2acks Persian 20 BMFA 13.196 βάρβαρος barbaros = non-­‐Greek the “Other” 21 Hermippus in his Lives refers to Thales [Miletus, ca. 624 -­‐ ca. 546 BCE]…, namely, that he used to say there were three blessings for which he was grateful to Fortune: ‘first, that I was born a human being and not one of the wild animals; next, that I was born a man and not a woman; thirdly, a Greek and not a barbarian’. Diogenes Laer\us, Lives of the Philosophers, 1.33 22 “barbarian” •  polariza\on AND cultural interac\on •  uncivilized AND great thinkers blurred dis\nc\on •  Homer •  “orientalizing” period (7th cent. BCE > >) 23 “barbarian” •  polariza\on AND cultural interac\on •  uncivilized AND great thinkers blurred dis\nc\on •  Homer •  “orientalizing” period (7th cent. BCE > >) Protocorinthian olpe. 640-­‐630 BCE. Louvre 10475 24 Post-­‐Persian Wars (479 BCE), Greek construct? “unorientalizing”? •  Greek art •  e.g. Parthenon: Amazonomachy, Centauromachy, Ilioupersis, Gigantomachy •  Greek lit. (e.g. Athenian tragedy) 25 Post-­‐Persian Wars (479 BCE), Greek construct? “unorientalizing”? •  Greek art •  e.g. Parthenon Parthenon metopes: Gigantomachy (leY); Centauromachy (below) 26 Post-­‐Persian Wars (479 BCE), Greek construct? “unorientalizing”? •  Greek art •  e.g. Parthenon: Amazonomachy, Centauromachy, Ilioupersis, Gigantomachy •  Greek lit. (e.g. Athenian tragedy) Alexander [the Great] Yunanistan (“Yunan” = “Ionian”; “-­‐stan” = “-­‐land”) 27 İskender kebab < İskender [<Alexander] Efendi, Bursa, late 19th century 28 Other “Others” Athens Theater audience ci\zens “others” women? foreigners? me\cs? slaves? 29 Athens in 431 BCE (“radical democracy”): •  “ci\zens” (aka Athenian men) 50,000 •  Athenian women / children 130,000 •  slaves 100,000 •  me\cs/foreigners 40,000 320,000 Athens Theater audience ci\zens “others” women? foreigners? me\cs? slaves? 30 Athenian (AKc) red-­‐figure ca. 460 BCE Athens Agora Museum P 29766 If I am to speak also of womanly virtues, referring to those of you who will henceforth be in widowhood, I will sum up all in a brief admoni\on: Great is your glory if you fall not below the standard which nature has set for your sex, and great also is hers of whom there is least talk among men whether in praise or in blame. (Thucydides 2.45) 31 Slaves and me\cs at Athens lead a singularly undisciplined life; one may not strike them there, nor will a slave step aside for you… : if it were legal for a free man to strike a slave, a me\c, or AKc red-­‐figure plate, 520-­‐510 BCE. a freedman, an Athenian would Ashmolean 1879.175 (V.310) oYen have been struck under the mistaken impression that he was a slave, for the clothing of the common people there is in no way superior to that of the slaves and me\cs, nor is their appearance. ("Xenophon," ConsCtuCon of the Athenians 1.10-­‐11 [4th cent. BCE]) 32