Restless Dead

by Sarah Iles Johnston

  53. Dictynna/Aphaia: Call. H. 3.189-zo3, D.S. 5.76.3; Paus. 2.30.3, 3.14.2, 8.2.4, 9.40.3; Ant. Lib. 40; Verg. Ciris 294-309•

  54. On the daughters of Cecrops, see Burkert 1966; on the Proetides, Seaford 1988.

  55• See, e.g., Larson, u6, for a recent discussion and the earlier discussions she cites. This phenomenon is closely similar to what Nagy calls "ritual antagonism" (rzr).

  56. On Leucippus, see Leitao.

  57. Erigone #i: Apollod. 3.14; Ael. NA 7.18; Nonn. D. 47.148-155; Hsch., s.v. aiora, and EM, s.v. aletis (4z); Hyg. Astr. 2.4; Serv. ad Verg. Geo. 2.389; and cf. Solmsen and Escher on the recreation of Eratosthenes' version of the myth. Analysis at Deubner, 118-23; Burkett 1983, 241-43. Merkelbach 1963 offers what seems tome a difficult reconstruction of the myth's origins that associates it with the Egyptian myth of Isis.

  58. Erigone #z: Marm. Par. 40; Apollod. Ep. 6.25; EM, s.v. aiora and aletis (4z and 6z); Hyg. Fab. izz. A third ending, developed by the comic poets, has Orestes marry Erigone: Paus. z.18.6; Apollod. Ep. 6.z8. Cf. Escher, 450-51.

  5 9• As alluded to, apparently, at Ov. Met. 6.125.

  6o. Cf. Deubner, "9.

  61. Burkert 1983, zz1-zz; Deubner, 98-99.

  6z. On the importance of the brother to the unmarried sister in Greek myth, see Bremmer 1997.

  63. King.

  64. Ath. Deip. 14, 618e; Hsch., s.v. aiora; EM, s.v. aiora (41); Hyg. Astr. 2.4, Serv. ad Verg. Geo. 2.389; cf. Nilsson 1967, 585; Burkert 1983, 241-43. On the vase paintings, see the list and descriptions given at Burkert 1983, 241 n. it. There seems to be some indication in the vase paintings that little boys were allowed to swing as well, although it is difficult to be sure that the scene indicates the Aiora and not simply play: e.g., chous, Coll. Vlasto, van Hoorn #z70, fig. io = ARV2 1149.14, Pickard-Cambridge, fig. 9, which shows a garlanded man setting a garlanded boy on a swing. Burkert argues from the fact that an open pithos is shown nearby sunk in the ground and that women's clothing and a wreath lay nearby on a throne that this scene takes place during the Anthesteria. Other vases show erotes swinging girls, which seems to have no obvious connection to the Anthesteria: e.g., hydria Louvre CA 2191 = ARV2 1131.173, CV France 635. Vases such as Burkert's #5, which is reproduced as pl. 37.2. in Nilsson 1967 and as pl. 18 in Deubner, seem most convincing: it shows a satyr (naturally at home at the Anthesteria) swinging what looks like a full-grown female: skyphos Berlin 2589 = ARV2 1301.7; cf. Immerwahr, 259.

  It is possible that small puppets were also hung from trees so that they would swing in the breeze, much like the Roman oscilla, although this possibility rests on somewhat confused late passages. Servius tells us that puppets or masks (oscilla) were hung in trees at the Aiora (ad Verg. Geo. z.389). After telling the story of Erigone's suicide, he says that first, people swung from ropes in trees so as to better search for Erigone's body. Then, the body having been found, they hung oscilla in trees to commemorate the event. He is followed in this by the Vatican Mythographers (I. 1g and 11.61) and Festus 194b Lindsay. As Servius's purpose was to clarify and find parallels for the Georgics' description of masks or puppets hanging from trees in honor of Bacchus (oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu), we must suspect that he has combined different traditions. Despite the attempts of Servius and others to derive oscillum from os (face) the word can refer to anything that swings (cf. oscillare), including people. Cf. Deubner, 118-z1.

  65. On evidence for the Aiora being held on the third day, see the analysis of Burkett 1983, 241 and n. ii. There is also some evidence that an Aiora festival was performed in Colophon and by expatriate Athenians everywhere: Aristotle reportedly mentioned in his Constitution of Colophon that the Colophonian poet Theodorus wrote songs for women to sing at the Ewpa (ap. Ath. Deip. 14 618e) and Callimachus (fr. 178) tells of an Athenian living in Egypt who observes the "yearly ceremony of Erigone, Icarius' child."

  66. Ath. Deip. 14 618e; Poll. 4.55 Hsch., s.v. aletis. On the timing of the song, see discussion at Burkett 1983, z41. Regarding the female performance of this dance, cf. the remark of Call. fr. 178, which says that Erigone was "greatly lamented by Athenian women."

  67. Calarne passim, and see now also Graf 1995a.

  68. Cf. the analysis of Graf 1997a, who brings out the episodic nature of Medea's mythic career and the number of locales with which it was associated.

  69. EM 41, s.v. aiora.

  70. Serv. ad Verg. Geo. 2.3 89: sed post aliquantum tempus Atheniensibus morbus im- misus est talis, ut eorum virgines quodam furore compellerentur. Hyg. Astr. 2.4: cum infinibus Atheniensium multae virgines sine causa suspendio sibi mortem consciscerent, quod Erigone moriens erat precata ut eodem leto filiae Atheniensium afficerentur quo ipsa foret obitura.

  71. Cf. Hsch., s.v. eudeipnois, which refers to rites in honor of Erigone.

  7z. A. Ch. 484, Photius, Hsch., s.v. We are reminded of the "suppers" (deipna) taken once a month to the crossroads, to keep the dead away (see chapter z above and Johnston 1991).

  73. See discussion at Burkett 1983, z16-3o, and 1985, 237-42; Deubner, iii-16.

  74. Scurlock 1995a and 19956•

  75. In Lesbian Methymna, there was a cult to Artemis that is likely to have been very similar to those we are discussing in this chapter; see n. 104 below. Perhaps Gello was the mythic virgin whose death was narrated in this cult's aition.

  76. Ariadne's suicide or death in childbirth: Plu. Thes. zo; Ariadne as Dionysus's bride: Hes. Th. 947-49• Discussion at Seaford 1988 and Nilsson 1967, 314-15.

  77. Pl. Phd. 77e3-9, quoted on p. 168 n.16 above. Cf. PI. R. 381e1-6, quoted on p. 169 n.zo above.

  78. Erinn. 25-27, and cf. Hp. Peri earth. 5-12; see also previous chapter's discussion.

  79. Serv. ad Verg. Ecl. 8.z9.

  8o. Seaford 1988, 125-36, and 1994, 303-4.

  81. Paus. 3.10.7 and cf. 4.x6.9; Th. 5.55.3-4; Lucian Salt. ro-11; Phot., s.v. karuatieia; Lact. comm. Star. Theb. 4.z5. Cf. the analysis of Cole 1998, z7-30, as to why sanctuaries such as this one must be located at the boundaries of territories.

  8z. Cf. Seaford 1994, 303; Calarne, 15z-55.

  83. The latter seems more likely, however, because typically it is innocent girls who are transformed into cult statues or priestesses and guilty girls who are killed.

  84. Ad Stat. Theb. 4.Z5.

  85. Scholiasts, however, assign various individual names to the Pandareids. For the names and discussion, see Roscher 1896.

  86. I have discussed this myth, its importance for understanding the nature of the Erinyes, and its relevence to our interpretation of Penelope's behavior in greater depth in Johnston 1994; see also briefly chapter 7 below.

  87. Some scholars argue that the reason can be found behind a Hellenistic myth telling about how their father stole a golden dog belonging to Zeus: Heubeck, 146; Harrison 19zz, zz6-z8; Roscher 1898; Rohde 1898. Criticism at Johnston 1994, 138•

  88. For the association or equation of these two groups of goddesses, see discussion in chapter 7 below.

  89. A. Eu. 834-36, 956-60.

  go. See comments on the verb at Johnston 1994, 15z n. z (where I opted for a somewhat different interpretation of it than I do here).

  91. PGM IV.i443-57 and for the tablet, see Jordan 1994.

  9z. The latter is probably more likely; see Dowden, z9. Cf. Lloyd-Jones 1983, 93; Cantarella, z1-z3; Brelich, 271-7z; Jeanmaire, z6o; Burkett 1966, 19 n. z. On the probability that some-not all-local girls participated in such rites (representing their age group), see most recently Dowden, z6-z8.

  94. Paus. 3.19.9-11.

  93. The particular combination of ingredients are not found elsewhere to my knowledge. Roscher 1896, 3, also suggests that the ingredients made up some sort of kukeon.

  95. On Helen Dendritis in Sparta and Rhodes, see Nilsson 1967, z11 and 315, and also on Helen's divinity more generally, M. L. West 1975 and Clader.

  96. Polyaen. T.13.

  97. Plu. Thes. 31.

  98. Correspondingly, in Nauplion, Hera was believed to renew h
er virginity periodically by bathing, as if returning to the moment immediately before defloweration (Paus. z.38.z-3).

  99. Cf. Burkert 1985, 173•

  loo. Among those that 1 'do not have space to treat here are the stories of Phyllis as told by Serv. ad Verg. Ecl. 5.io; Ariadne (n. 49 above); and Charilla as told by Plu. QG z93d-f, all of which, to some degree, fit the paradigms we are examining.

  ror. Plu. De mul. vir. z49b-d.

  Ioz. In cult, the girls at the Brauronia are sometime shown running naked on kra- teriskoi from the cult implying that nudity was part of the process (Dowden, 3 1). Male transition involves nudity, too: see Leitao. Myth articulates the importance of nudity differently, making it the introduction to crisis (to mention just one example, Callisto's problem is revealed when she removes her clothing to bathe, which transitional girls often do as a group in myth) or the mark of crisis: as Gloria Pinney kindly reminded me, the Proetides are often shown as nude or semi-nude during their period of madness in artistic representations (Kahil 7.z: 413) and are described as such at Ael. VH 3.4z.

  103. On the evidence for Artemis Chitone in Miletus and elsewhere, see Deubner, 242-43. Discussion at Cole 1998, 39; Gunther, 234-35; and Burkert 1979, 131-32 (who emphasizes the idea of new clothing being brought periodically to the goddess's statue, which need not contradict my suggestion here).

  104. Paus. 8.23.6-7; Call. fr. 187 = Clem. Al. Protr. 2.38.3. The cult is frequently discussed by historians of religion; most useful for our purposes is King. There is some chance that Artemis Who Hangs Herself was also worshipped at Methymna on Lesbos. Clement says: "The Arcadians worship an Artemis called Apanchomene, says Callimachus in his Aitia, and in Methymna another Artemis Condylitis is honored." As we know that Artemis Apanchomene was also called Condylitis in Arcadia, we must wonder whether the Methymnian cult similarly imagined Artemis as hanging. The epithet Condylitis seems to come from the locale in Arcadia where she was worshipped (Condylea), but, notably, it also means something such as "She Who Has Injured Herself" (from kondulizo, to strike with the fist; cf. the masculine cognate noun kondulistes, used of a horse that injures itself at Hippiatr. io).

  105. Johnston 1997a.

  1o6. See ibid., 6o-61, and Will 1955, 94.

  107. In offering this hypothesis, I differ somewhat from the analyses of King, i i9, and Cole 1998, 30-32, who suggest that Artemis is properly worshipped as "Hanged" because she was an eternal virgin-eternally "strangled" in the same way that nonreproductive women are "strangled." But such strangulation, which was blamed on the dangerously excessive accumulation of blood in the body in consequence of inappropriately prolonged-that is, unsuccessful or troubled-virginity, can scarcely be understood as positive, as Artemis's virginity usually is.

  rob. Discussion at Loraux x998, 1z; Cantarella, 47; King, esp. 1 II -12; Dowden (fre quently throughout); and Stewart, 174.; cf. van Gennep, 87. Alcestis, in Euripides' play of that name, suggests that a woman must survive to raise her children if she wishes to fulfill her feminine role (168-69).

  io9. Ant. Lib. 13 = Nic. fr. 44. The word in the text that I have translated as "virgin" with reference to the goat is athoros, formed with an a-privative from throsko, to sire or impregnate.

  ri io. "Ameilete" I take to be cognate with, for example, ameilichos, an epithet of Hades at 11. 9.158 and elsewhere.

  iii. On the differing versions of Iphigenia's myth, their development and their significance, see Dowden, ch. z.

  i Brauron is discussed to some extent in virtually all treatments of initiatory cults. Specific studies include Cole 1984 and 1998; Dowden; Kondis; Linders; Osborne; Perlman; Rhodes and Dobbins; Sale 1975; and Sourvinou-Inwood 1988.

  iii. E. IT 1462-67. Half-finished garments: for example, the inscription known as L1514 + 15z3 from stele 1, lines 53-54, 59, and 72 of column III. See Linders, 17-19, for discussion of both this inscription and others that mention half-finished garments. She offers several possible interpretations, none of them like the one I have offered here, and seems to favor understanding these garments as honoring Artemis in a role as goddess of handicrafts.

  Hp. Peri parth. 5-6. King, 114, would prefer to understand the term gynaikes to refer I to the girls who had been afflicted themselves, arguing that their recovery consisted of menarche and that this moved them into the category of gyne. The change back and forth between singular (parthenos) and plural (gynaikes) nouns, however, makes this difficult to accept.

  115. E.g., AP 6.59, 6.146, 6.zoo, 6.zor, 6.zoz, 6.2.70, 6.x74; husband apparently joins in: 6.2.71. Cf. the discussion of Cole 1998, 36-42..

  i Another indication of her interest in birth may be glimpsed behind a story that Pausanias tells (z.zz.6-7): when Helen was pregnant with Iphigenia, she gave birth to the child in Argos and in thanks for this dedicated a sanctuary to Eileithyia (she then handed the baby over to her married sister, Clytemnestra, and married Menelaus herself). The story seems to attempt to explain a number of things at once, including perhaps some local connection between Eileithyia and Iphigenia. Interestingly, Pausanias goes on to tell us that there was a temple to Hecate next to the sanctuary of Eileithyia. Some scholars have argued that the name Iphigenia also provides evidence for her role as a birth goddess, on the understanding that it means "strong in birth," although Dowden (46) argues that it must be etymologized as "born beautiful" instead.

  117. Some examples are the Meso-American aore known as La Llorona, the Semitic Lilith, and the Aramaic "Strangler." See Johnston 1997a, 57-65, for discussion of all of these and of the topic in general.

  i18. Stesich. fr. z15 PMG. Approximately the same story is told in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women (fr. z3a M-W 17-z6; cf. z3b = Paus. 1.43.1), where Artemis rescues Iphigenia, makes her immortal and her own propolos under the name of either Artemis Enodia or Hecate. The story also appeared in the epic Cypria, judging from Proclus's summary, lines 55-64. Cf. also Ant. Lib. z7 = Nic. fr. 58.

  119. As noted in the first part of this chapter, Hecate's association with the souls of the dead was so firmly established by the mid fifth century as to allow the tragedians to allude to it without explanation. This was little more than a century after Stesichorus was composing, which makes it hard to imagine that the association was unknown to him.

  1zo. Call. fr. 461 = Eust. ad Od. iz.85; cf. Phot. s.v. agalma Hekates.

  izi. E.g., A. Supp. 458-65; Plu. De mul. vir. 153d-e; and cf. Schmitt.

  1zz. On the cult at Ephesus, see discussion at Calame, 178-85; Nilsson 19o6, 14347; Nilsson 1967, 497-98. There are two surviving aitia for the cult at Ephesus. The Etymologicum Magnum (s.v. Daitis) tells about how young people angered Artemis, who sent a plague until annual suppers were instituted in her honor; we hear nothing about one particular maiden offending the goddess or hanging herself. It is possible, however, that our sources choose not to tell this story because their interests lie in explaining the origin of the procession and the suppers (daites), as well as one of the titles of Artemis at Ephesus (Daitis), rather than the origin of the dance itself. Callimachus (Dian. 137-41) describes Amazons as establishing an armed dance in honor of Ephesian Artemis, for which, however, we have no other evidence.

  rz3. The Cypria set Iphigenia's apparent death and immortalization at Aulis; neither the Hesiodic Catalogue nor Stesichorus mentions a locale. Discussion of the locale of Iphigenia's cult and myth at Dowden, ch. z, who argues for Aulis as the place of origin. The story of Iphigenia's transformation into Hecate, and Iphigenia's strong association with Aulis, may explain why Statius (Ach. 1.447) refers to Aulis as a city sacred to Hecate.

  124. Alternatively, it is possible that this version of the story originated in an area where Iphigenia was prominant in local cult. Where this might have been is impossible to say; Stesichorus suggests a Sicilian connection, but the story also seems to have been told in the epic Cypria, which is credited to the shadowy figure of Stasinus of Cyprus, and in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, any part of which may or may not be Boeotian.

  125. Hecate a
s a dog, e.g., PGM IV.i434; Orph. Arg. 979; Porph. Abst. 3.17, 4.16. It is worth noting that in many of these sources each of her three (or four) heads is identified with a different animal: bitch, lion, bull, and mare being the most popular. Thus, it is hard to know whether her appearance as a bitch has anything to do with the bitch's earlier association as her agalma; the fact that some of the animals listed are male makes it particularly difficult.

  iz6. This particularly makes sense in the environment. Hecate, as I discussed in the first portion of this chapter, was an important goddess in the area around Ephesus from early times. Scholars agree that Artemis was the Greek name given to a local Ephesian goddess of similar interests when Ionians colonized the area. Our earliest mention of Artemis's worship at Ephesus is Ar. Nu. 599• Th. 3.104, however, notably contrasts the fact that Ionians "now" go to Ephesus for their pentennial celebration with the fact that they used to go to Delos for that purpose. He follows this with lines from Homeric poetry that mention Apollo and Artemis. This suggests that the cult was still perceived as relatively new in Thucydides' day.

  1 Plin. HN 3 "In magna admiratione est ... Hecate Ephesi in templo Dianae post aedem." Cf. Str. 14.1.23. On the problem of who the artist of the statue was, and what it looked like, see the resume at Kraus, 39-40. Imperial coinage shows a goddess who could be either Artemis or Hecate on the reverse: she holds two torches but also has a quiver over her back and is sometimes accompanied by a deer. BMC Ionia 104 no. 373; Imhoof-Blumer, 1: 6o, no. 66, tables z, zo. Discussion at Kraus, 41.

  iz8. Mitsopoulou-Leon, 306.

  iz9. See, e.g., Kraus, 34-35; Picard 19zz, 468; Wilamowitz 1931-3z, 1: 103. Picard argues that the displaced goddess was Opis/Upis, a local goddess concerned with childbirth. More generally on the close connections between Hecate and Artemis in Asia Minor, see Graf 1985, 227-36, 257-59.

  13 0. In some cases, such as that of Erigone, it is more difficult to be sure how she assumed the role of victim-was she once a divinity or was she a victim from the beginning? Her name, which means something like "Early Born," does not give much help.