LARDINOIS, ANDRÉ, Greek Myths for Athenian Rituals: Religion and Politics in Aeschylus' "Eumenides" and Sophocles' "Oedipus Coloneus" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 33:4 (1992:Winter) p.313 Greek Myths for Athenian Rituals: Religion and Politics in Aeschylus' Eumenides and Sophocles' Oedipus Coloneus Andre Lardinois THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS have seen a renewed interest in the variety of local traditions in Greek religion, and studies on the religious practices of different parts of early Greece are appearing in record numbers.l For as Walter Burkert em­ phasizes, "each tribe, each locality and each city has its own tenaciously-defended tradition."2 At the same time, scholars have given serious attention to Panhellenism, a phenomenon that, since the eighth century B.C., had helped to obscure the variety in regional beliefs. The Greek poets, beginning with Homer and Hesiod, worked around local traditions and created 1 E.g. C. Sourvinou-Inwood, "Persephone and Aphrodite at Locri: A Model for Personality Definitions in Greek Religion," in 'Reading' Greek Culture: Texts and Images, Rituals and Myths (Oxford 1991) 147-88; A. Schachter, Cults of Boiotia (=BICS Supp!. 38.1-2, 4 [London 1981-86]); E. Simon, Festivals of Attica: An Archaeological Commentary (Madison 1983); F. Graf, Nordionische Kulte (Rome 1985); M. Jost, Sanctuaires et cultes d'Arcadie (Paris 1985); E. Kearns, The Heroes of Attica (=BICS Supp!. 57 [London 1989]); R. Parker, "Spartan Religion," in A. Powell, cd., Classical Sparta: Techniques behind Her Success (Worcester 1989) 142-72; C. Auffarth is preparing a monograph on the religion of Argos, and Robert Parker a new study of Athenian religion. 2 W. Burkert, Greek Religion, tr. J. Raffan (Cambridge [Mass.] 1985) 8. Burkert nevertheless follows the old practice of categorizing material from throughout Greece by the twelve or more different gods. This is defensible only in so far as these regional cults, despite real differences, share certain 'family resemblances' as wel!. On the notion of family resemblances between different human cultures, see T. C. W. Oudemans and A. P. M. H. Lardinois, Tragic Ambiguity: Anthropology, Philosophy and Sophocles' Antigone (Leiden 1987) 8. 313 LARDINOIS, ANDRÉ, Greek Myths for Athenian Rituals: Religion and Politics in Aeschylus' "Eumenides" and Sophocles' "Oedipus Coloneus" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 33:4 (1992:Winter) p.313 314 GREEK MYTHS FOR ATHENIAN RITUALS a Panhellenic image of the heroes and gods to which all Greeks could relate. 3 A reverse trend, in which Panhellenic figures become reattached to a local context, has been largely ignored. Such re­ locations are probably as old as Panhellenism itself; from earliest times Greek cities would have wanted to claim that the gods and heroes they venerated were at the same time of Panhellenic stature. This process of relocation was particularly important for the new colonies in Southern Italy and Asia Minor, which in this way could claim their own place in the mythological landscape of Greece. 4 But there are examples from the Greek mainland as well. In the sixth century, Sparta tried to adopt the family of the Atreidae as its own by persuading poets to locate the palace of Agamemnon not in Mycenae but in Sparta, and by ostentatiously 'bringing home' the bones of Orestes from Tegea to Sparta. 5 The Naupactia, a genealogical poem ascribed to the local poet Carcinus of Naupactus, provides another example. According to Carcinus, Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, came to Corcyra after the death of Pclias and his own son Mer- 3 Here the work of Gregory Nagy deserves special mention: The Best of the Achaeans (Baltimore 1979); more recently, Pin dar's II omer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past (Baltimore 1990) and Greek Mythology and Poetics (Ithaca 1990), esp. eh. 3. Nagy relies in part on, and refers to, studies of Anthony Snodgrass and Ian Morris. • Some scholars have tried to connect our Iliad with the Troad and the family of the Aeneadae: U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Die !lias und Homer (Berlin 1916) 83f (Bk 22 only); F. Jacoby, "Homerisches," Hermes 68 (1933) I-50, esp. 37f; More recently, Nagy, Achaeans (supra n.3) 265-75; P. M. Smith, "Aeneiadai as Patrons of Iliad XX and the Homeric lIymn to Aphrodite," HSCP 85 (1981) 17-85. For examples from Southern Italy, see R. R. Holloway, Italy and the Aegean (Louvain 1981) 97f; N. M. Horsfall, "The Aeneas Legend from Homer to Virgil," in J. N. Bremmer and N. M. Horsfall, Roman Myth and Mythography (=BICS Suppl. 52 [London 1987]) 12-24, esp. 13. 5 Stesichorus, PM G 216, Hdt. 1.67f. The Spartans also claimed to possess Agamemnon's grave at Amyclae (Paus. 3.19.6, cf Pind. Pyth. 11.31 f). See C. M. Bowra, "Stesichorus in the Peloponnese," CQ 28 (1934) 115-19, and Greek Lyric Poetry2 (Oxford 1961) 112-15; G. L. Huxley, Early Sparta (London 1962) 68; D. S. Rosenbloom, The Tragedy of Power: Myth, Memory, and Hegemony in the Theater of Aeschylos (diss.Princeton 1992) 369, with full bibliography. See also A. F. Garvie, ed., Aeschylus' Choephori (Oxford 1986) xviiif, who is skeptical of Sparta's influence on poets such as Stesichorus. LARDINOIS, ANDRÉ, Greek Myths for Athenian Rituals: Religion and Politics in Aeschylus' "Eumenides" and Sophocles' "Oedipus Coloneus" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 33:4 (1992:Winter) p.313 ANDRE LARDINOIS 315 merus was killed and, presumably, lay buried on the mainland nearby.6 Other examples can be found in fifth-century Athenian drama. The tragedians generally follow Homer and Hesiod in their Panhellenic portrayal of the gods. (An exception is the goddess Athena, who is often represented in her capacity of city-goddess of Athens.) Thus their plays could easily be per­ formed from Macedonia to Sicily. Some plays, however, refer specifically to local Athenian cults. Euripides especially liked to conclude his plays with the aition of a festival or cult. 7 This shows us that the tragic poets did not simply pass on a Pan­ hellenic theology, but were actively engaged with the religious views of their fellow citizens. Two prime examples are Aeschylus' Eumenides and Soph­ ocles' Oedipus Coloneus. Scholars have generally recognized Aeschylus' and Sophocles' debt to Homer and Hesiod, as well as their reliance on local traditions in these two plays. I would like to explore these different strands of influence in terms of Panhellenism versus local cult. The result should clarify the debate on the complex political and historical background of these plays. I shall argue that in these two plays Aeschylus and Sophocles tried to strengthen certain local institutions and, at the same time, claimed for Athens the heri tage of the whole of Greece. 1. The Eumenides The Eumenides ends with a procession that brings the Erinyes to their new home under the earth. There, in future time, "gracious and right-minded," they will watch over the land as "Semnai."8 It makes little difference whether one writes the word semnai here with a lower-case s (e.g. Page) or with a 6 M. L. West, The l1esiodic Catalogue of Women (Oxford 1985) 4f, with full references. 7 R. Garland, Introducing New Gods: The Politics of Athenian Religion (London 1992) 156, who also provides examples. The cults to which Euripides refers are not, however, exclusively Athenian. 8 Eum. 1040f: '{AuOt Of Kat EUeUot~). The description of the place of the battle is quite detailed, for no obvious reason in the text. The prominent role of the Athenian cavalry is striking as well (1063, 1068f). Perhaps we are dealing with a description of an historical battle. Diodorus (13.72)-whose chronology is unreliable-mentions a fight between the Theban and Athenian cavalry in 408/407, and Xenophon (Hell. 1.1.3) records a similar battle in 410. Whether Sophocles is referring to anyone of these battles in particular or they are one and the same is of little importance. The most important fact is that both authors agree that in the years immediately preceding the composition of ~C, the Spartans, with the help of the Theban cavalry, made raids on Athens from Decelea in northern Attica. These raids must have pro­ vided the Athenian and Theban cavalry wi th more than one occasion to fight one other.3? I should also mention that according to a scholium to Aelius Aristides, Oedipus once appeared to the Athenians when they were fighting the Thebans and exhorted them to make a stand. 38 It is tempting, though highly speculative, to connect this appearance of Oepidus with the battles that were fought at the end of the fifth century, and perhaps even to see in this alleged 36 Henrichs (supra n.35) 95, with earlier references. One may add: D. Birge, -The Grove of the Eumenides: Refuge and Hero Shrine in Oedipus at Colonus," C] 80 (1984) 11-17; M. W. Blundell, Helping Friends and Harming Enemies: A Study in Sophocles and Greek Ethics (Cambridge 1989) 257f. 37 ~ ad OC 57 preserves an oracle that warns against a Boeotian attack on Colonus (cited by Kearns [supra n.1] 51 n.33). While probably not authentic, it could have been created post factum. G. R. Bugh, The Horsemen of Athens (Princeton 1988) 84f, places the battle in the autumn of 407 and refers to a lecture by D. L. Page, who connected it with the scene in the 0 C. For a different explanation of the prominence of the Athenian cavalry in the play, see P. Siewert, -Poseidon Hippios am Kolonos und die athenischen Hippeis," in G. W. Bowersock, W. Burkert, and M. C. J. Putnam, edd., Arktouros: Hellenic Studies presented to B. M. W. Knox (New York 1979) 280-89; Edmunds, Theatrical Space (supra n.35) Ch. 3. 38 G. Dindorf, ed., Aristides III (Leipzig 1829) 560. LARDINOIS, ANDRÉ, Greek Myths for Athenian Rituals: Religion and Politics in Aeschylus' "Eumenides" and Sophocles' "Oedipus Coloneus" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 33:4 (1992:Winter) p.313 ANDRE LARDINOIS 325 appearance the occasion that inspired Sophocles to write his play. Or perhaps the play prompted the belief that Oedipus supported the Athenians in its battle against the Thebans­ perhaps exactly the effect Sophocles hoped it would have. According to the epic tradition, Oedipus was buried In Thebes. 39 This suits its Panhellenic character, which after all excluded any preference for local cults. The city of Thebes was so closely connected with the myth of Oedipus that it could be regarded as 'neutral' in terms of cult: no one could be offended by its association with the figure of Oedipus. Notably, we do not know of any heroic cult of Oedipus in Thebes and, as we shall see, the Thebans seem to have followed a tradition that he lay buried outside the city. This does not mean that there did not exist cults of Oedipus in other towns in the archaic period. We may compare the case of the Argive heroes, who in the epic followed the son of Oedipus against Thebes. They probably already possessed a heroan in Eleusis at the be­ ginning of the seventh century, but the epics never mention it. 40 A scholi urn to the 0 C preserves a story of the Alexandrian historian Lysimachus about a grave of Oedipus at Eteonos (FGrHist 383 F 2). It deviates significantly from both the epic tradition and the OC: When Oedipus died, his friends [or relatives] thought to bury him in Thebes. But the Thebans, holding that he was an impious person on account of the misfortunes which had befallen him in earlier times, prevented them from so doing. They carried him therefore to a certain place in Boeotia called Keos and buried him there. But the inhabitants of the village, being visited with sundry misfortunes, attributed them to the burying of Oedipus and bade his friends remove him from their land. The friends, perplexed by these occurrences, took him up and 39 Il. 23.679-80; Hes. fr. 192 M.-W., cf Aesch. Sept. 914, 1004; Soph. Ant. 899-902; see P6tscher (supra n.32) 41; Edmunds, "Cults" (supra n.35) 224. 40 A. M. Snodgrass, The Dark Age of Greece: An Archaeological Survey of the Eleventh to the Eighth Centuries B. C. (Edinburgh 1971) 194; W. Burkert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge [Mass.] 1992) 114. The first author actually to mention the heroan is Plutarch (Thes. 29.5). A. Pariente reports the discovery of a heroan for the seven Argive warriors in Argos, possibly dating from the sixth century B.C.: "Le monument argien des «sept contre Thebes,.," in M. Pierart, cd., Polydipsion Argos (=BCH Supp!. 22 [Paris 1992]) 196-225. LARDINOIS, ANDRÉ, Greek Myths for Athenian Rituals: Religion and Politics in Aeschylus' "Eumenides" and Sophocles' "Oedipus Coloneus" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 33:4 (1992:Winter) p.313 326 GREEK MYTHS FOR ATHENIAN RITUALS brought him to Eteonos. Wishing to bury him secretly, they interred him by night in the sancturary of Demeter-for they did not know the locality. When the facts transpired, the inhabitants of Eteonos asked the god [=Apollo?] what they should do. The god bade them not to move the suppliant of the goddess. So Oedipus is buried there and the sanctuary is called Oedipodeion.41 The name of the sanctuary is probably authentic and suggests an old connection between the shrine and the figure of Oedipus. It is possible that a Theban tradition lies behind the story. Lysimachus ascribes it to a certain Arizelus, which is a name other Thebans bore as well Qacoby, FGrHist IIIb 112 n.35). Sophocles perhaps alludes to this tradition when he makes the Thebans declare that they do not want to bury Oedipus in, but only near Thebes.42 Note that their motivation is also similar: according to the 0 C (407), Oedipus is not allowed burial in his native city because the blood of his father stains his hands. The Eteonos version is probably older than the oc. Together they repudiate the epic tradition by pointing out that the Thebans would never have allowed the burial of Oedipus in Thebes. At the same time, Sophocles rejects the Eteonos ac­ count and claims the grave of Oedipus for Athens. The battle between Creon and Theseus over the body of Oedipus in the o C can be interpreted as a symbolic fight between Eteonos/Thebes and Colonusl Athens over which city really possesses the tomb of the hero. Possession of the tomb was crucial to Athens at this moment in time, for it alone seemed to stand between the city and its enemies. III. Conclusion There are many parallels between the Oedipus Coloneus and Aeschylus' Eumenides. 43 It is no accident that Oedipus finds his final resting place in a shrine of the Eumenides, whom he also 41 Tr. A. B. Cook, cited by Edmunds, "Cults" (supra n.35) 223, who also provides a Greek text. The comments in brackets are mine. 42 OC 399, 404f, 784f, cf Robert (supra n.32) 9. 43 See esp. R. P. Winnington-Ingram, "A Religious Function of Greek Tragedy: A Study in the Oedipus Coloneus and the Oresteia," JHS 74 (1954) 16-24; more recently, Sophocles. An Interpretation (Cambridge 1980) 264-78, 324ff. LARDINOIS, ANDRÉ, Greek Myths for Athenian Rituals: Religion and Politics in Aeschylus' "Eumenides" and Sophocles' "Oedipus Coloneus" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 33:4 (1992:Winter) p.313 ANDRE LARDINOIS 327 refers to as semnai theai (0 C 89f).44 The pacification of the Erinyes in the Eumenides may have functioned as a model for the successful incorporation of Oedipus in the city, as repre­ sented in the oc. When the Pythia of Delphi sees the Erinyes at the beginning of Eumenides, she cries out that they are "horrible to speak about, horrible for eyes to behold» (34, ~ 8Elva AE~Ut, 8Elva 8' Oq>8UAIlO\.<; 8pwCElv). The reaction of the chorus in the OC is very similar. When it sees Oedipus for the first time, he is described as "horrible to see, horrible to hear" (141, 8£tvo<; IlEV opav, 8£tvo<; 8E KAU£tV).45 Athens is able to turn this horrible power of Oedipus and the Erinyes to its own advantage and to give it a place in its midst. The dramatic purpose of the two tragedians is nevertheless quite different. In Eumenides Athens adopts the vengeful spirits of the family of the mythological ruler of Greece and turns them into local guardians of justice. The emphasis in the text on the indulgence of its city goddess cannot conceal an element of imperialism behind all this: Athens presents itself as the inheritor of the power of the Erinyes and, consequently, as the moral leader of Greece. In the Oedipus Coloneus, on the other hand, the relocation of the Panhellenic figure of Oedipus in Athenian soil is meant to protect the city against the onslaught of its neighbor. Both plays rely, however, on the dynamic interplay between a local Athenian tradition, cults of other Greek cities, and a Panhellenic tradition.46 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY August, 1993 44 Its existence and designation as a shrine of the Semnai Theai is demonstrated by the recent find of a roof tile stamped LEMNilN 8EilN near the site (see supra n.13). 45 For the range of meaning of the word deinos, which is difficult to translate, see B. M. W. Knox, The Heroic Temper (Berkeley 1964) 23f, and Oudemans and Lardinois (supra n.2) 4, 87, 129ff. 46 I would like to thank Jan Bremmer, Lowell Edmunds, Richard Martin, David Rosenbloom, Charles Segal, H. S. Versnel, and Froma Zeitlin, as welI as the referee for GRBS, for their valuable comments at different stages of this article. An earlier version appeared in II ermeneus 62 (1990) 68-90 (in Dutch). I would also like to thank Lowell Edmunds for showing me a draft of his forthcoming book on the OC and Sarah Johnston for allowing me to read the manuscript of her forthcoming article on Penelope and the Erinyes.