131. Hes. Th. 404-1 r. The fact that Hecate's parentage varies substantially in sources later than Hesiod similarly suggests that there were no strong links between Hecate and other members of the Greek pantheon. Bacchylides calls her the daughter of Night, Pherecydes the daughter of Aristaeus, Sophron the child of Zeus and Hera, and Euripides, Callimachus, and Orphic authors make her the daughter of Demeter, just to give a few examples. See B. fr. 1B (Campbell); Pherecyd. 3 F 44; Sophr. ap. schol. Theocr. Id. z.iz; E. Ion 1048; Call. fr. 466; Orph. fr. 41.
3. Although most contemporary scholars generally agree in understanding Erinys to have been something more complex than an utterly negative entity, there are still a few holdouts, e.g., Neumann 44-45.
I. Fh 39o; Fp r.8; V 5z. See Neumann; Heubeck, who transcribes the tablets.
z. Od. i5.z34; A. Eu. e.g., 728, 825.
4. Paus. 8.25.6 tells us that the word erinys is derived from the Arcadian verb erinuein, which means "to be angry" but this seems like a clear example of back formation. Further on etymologies, see Neumann; Burkett 1979, 127; Wiist, cols. 83-84; Harrison 1922, 213-14.
5. The theory that Erinyes were the dead was first articulated by Rohde 1925, 178- 8o; see also Lloyd-Jones 199o, zo6; Nilsson 1967, Too and n. 8; Harrison 1899, zo5; id. 1922, 213-zz; Roscher 1896, 39-42; and cf. discussion of the Derveni Papyrus, below.
6. Oedipus and Epicaste: 61 r'.279-8o. The oaths: II. 3.276-80:... Kai 01 U'TrE- vEp6E KagovTag avOp6Troug TivucOov, 6TL3 K' €TriopKov opoaarj ... and cf. the virtually identical phrasing at 19.258-6o. There is debate about the translation and interpretation of these passages, which centers on two related problems. Does the verb TivuaOov mean that they are "avenging" or "punishing" the dead (KagovTag avOptTroug)? And does uTrEVEp6E refer to where the Erinyes dwell, where they do their avenging (i.e., where those whom they punish dwell), or where those whom they avenge dwell? The lack of any other evidence at this period for postmortem punishment of ordinary people (see discussion in chapter i) makes it unlikely that the Erinyes punish the dead. See the comments of Kirk ad 3.276, who adduces further reasons for understanding the Erinyes, but not their victims, as being under ground, and M. Edwards ad 119.257-6o. This being settled, the second point falls into place: if it is not the Erinyes' victims who are underground, then they are acting on behalf of dead people, avenging them.
7. Phoenix: R. 9.454; Oedipus: W. Tu.z79-8o; brothers (Zeus and Poseidon) Il. 15.z04; Ares angers Hera, who invokes Erinyes: R. 21.400-414; Meleager kills his uncle: R. 9.566-72; son and mother: Od. 2.133-36. In other Homeric passages, we are told what the Erinyes do-they send madness, for example, or become the guardians of young girls stolen by the harpies-but are not told why they do these things; the audience must have known fuller versions of these stories than we do. They are witnesses to oaths made by Agamemnon at 11. 3.276-8o and 19.258-60; they receive the daughters of Pandareus from the harpies who have snatched them at Od. zo.81-8z (discussed in chapter 6 and on pp. 262-63 below); they stop Achilles' horse from speaking at Il. 19.418 (discussed on pp. 265-67 below); they drive Agamemnon and Melampus mad for reasons that are not specified at Il. 19.87 and Od. 15.234; they avenge the insulted beggar at Od. 17.475.
8. Orestes, e.g.: A. Ch. 1048-62, Eu. 94-177 and passim; E. IT 77-81, 940-4z; Or. 35-38; El. 1151-53. Alcmaeon, e.g.: Apollod. 3.7.5; schol. Od. 11.316. Polyneices and Eteocles, e.g.: Theb. fr. z; Pi. O. z.41-z; A. Th. 695-701, 785-91; E. Ph. 154-55. Iphigenia, e.g.: A. A. 1433.
9. A. Th. 721-z6, 1054-55; Eu. 354; E. Pb. 1501-z; Or. 411; S. Tr. 893-95, 807-9; El. 11z-,6, 275-76, and 489-91. Sophocles' Ajax offers an odd twist on this idea, calling on the Erinyes to witness his suicide and cause his tormenters to similarly be slain by kindred hands (S. Aj. 835-44).
10. Hes. Th. 183-87.
u. E.g., at A. Th. 699-700, the Erinys who inflames Eteocles to kill his brother is described as wearing a black goatskin, i.e., a maenadic costume (cf. Seaford 1993, 140); at A. Eu. 500, the Erinyes call themselves maenads; at E. Or. 337-38, the "spirit of vengeance" (alastor) that sprang from his mother's blood is said to "play the bacchant" against him, and at 411 the same verb is used of the Erinyes themselves (cf. also 835). At E. Ph. 1489-1503, Antigone describes herself as a "bacchant of the dead," singing a dirge consecrated to the Erinyes. Cf. also E. Hec. 684-87, where Hecuba's dirge for Polydorus is described as a song of the bacchic alastor. Later, Hecuba and the other women killing Polymestor's children are described as bacchantes from Hades (1076).
1z. Seaford 1993; Schlesier.
13. Seaford 1988 (cf. pp. zz6-27 above).
14. Oedipus curses Polyneices and Eteocles because of their improper treatment both of him and of the heirlooms of his father at a banquet, according to Theb. fr. z (from Ath. Deip. II.465e, who gives further commentary), but because they served him bad cuts of meat at a banquet, according to Theb. fr. 3.
15. Always virgins:, e.g, A. Eu. 68-70; S. Aj. 835; S. OC zz.5; E. Or. 256; Verg. Aen. 6.z8o; Servius ad loc.; cf. Orph. H. 69.8.
i6. Fr. rz9.r3-14.
17. Aellen, 24-91; on the question of Erinyes vs. Furies, see 14-34; See also Sarien 1986 for further examples of Erinyes in vase paintings.
18. Paus. 8.25.2-110.
i9. Paus. 8.4z. Cf. the frequent description of the Erinyes as wearing black clothing, e.g., A. Th. 977.
2o. Call. fr. 652; schol. Il. 23.346 = Theb. fr. 6C; Apollod. 3.6.8. Cf. also schol. Lyc. 153 and Hsch., s.v. Arion.
11 zi. See Johnston 199zb on the tradition and its application to Achilles' horse. And see further (and also on the myth in general) Jost 301-17; Janko; Burkert 1979, 125-19; Dietrich 1g6z, 1964, and 1965, 118-38; Fontenrose 1959, 366-74; Wilamowitz 193132, 1: 4oz-3.
zz. Johnston 199zb.
23, Other ancient versions of the story are listed and discussed at Clinton 1986, 47-48.
24. Borgeaud 1996, 40-45 shows that the story was sometimes altered through Demeter's identification, not only with Erinys, as in Thelpusa, but also with other closely related goddesses such as the Mother. Moreover, as in the Demeter-Erinys version, the goddess's return is not always accomplished by the return of her daughter alone; sometimes other gods have to plead with her or cajole her. It looks as though the story of Demeter was so popular as to be drawn into the orbit of many local goddesses.
z5. A. Eu. 479, 781-87 = 81z-17, 802-3, 8z9-36, 895, 903-15, 938-48, 956-60.
26. Sparta: Hdt. 4.149.2, and see further Johnston 1994, 157 n. 48. Argos: Stat. Theb. 1.557-626, and see Johnston 1994, 146 and n. 49 (with references to other ancient versions and modern treatments).
z7. Megaira as child-killer: Orph. lith. zz4-z5; cf. Orph. lath. keryg. 2.4. Megaira as Erinys: e.g., Apollod. 1.1.4; Verg. Aen. 12.845-47; Lucan 1.572-77, 6.730, and often elsewhere (cf. Wust, col. 125). The inscription: IG XI1.5 310 = Peek 1871. Phoenix: R. 9.454; cf. 493-94.
z8. The fact that the Erinyes' portrayal as virgins reflects their primary allegiance to ties of blood rather than marriage enables us to understand how Erinys can nonetheless be pulled into stories where she is allied with Demeter, the mother par excellence, for Demeter's interests, as we already noted, focus primarily upon the mother-child relationship rather than the husband-wife relationship.
z9. Apollo's statement: 68-70. Clytemnestra takes a different approach, describing their wombs as bringing forth not children but fire, which like their blood-reeking breaths will shrivel and ruin all that it touches (137-39). She is motivated by different concerns from Apollo's. Wishing to remind them of their obligations to mothers who have been mistreated by their children, she describes their destructive abilities in imagery that inverts maternity and thereby emphasizes the latent ability of mothers to kill as well as nurture their offspring.
30. The Erinyes' promise: 956-60; Athena's statements: 834-36 895•
31. Zeitlin 1978.
3z. I quote fragments zz B 3 and zz B 94 as now reconstructed as a single fragment in the Derveni Papyrus. See Laks and Most i997b; Sider; and Tsantsanoglou. The translation is
my own, based on that of Laks and Most.
33. On what this means, see Sider, 140-44, who offers a resume of proposed interpretations and himself suggests that it has to do with the "quenching" of the Sun every evening, the time at which it appears to be at its zenith.
34. Most recently, Sider, 141-4z.
35. Castor's Xanthus: Stesich. fr. 178; Alcm. frs. z5 and 76 (and cf. Ael. NA 12.3); schol. Verg. Geo. 3.89. Arion: Star. Theb. 11.442-43, 6.4z4-z5; Prop. 2.34.37-38. The Argo's figurehead: A. fr. zo Radt; A.R. 1.524-25, 4.580-83; Apollod. 1.9.16; V. Fl. 1.305, 8.203. Discussion of all these passages at Johnston lggzb, 86-88, 96-97.
36. Timon of Phlius quoted in D.L. 9.6; Cic. De finib. z.5.15 and often.
37. I accept here the proposal of Tsantsanoglou, who assumes that a verb meaning "change" or "alter" belongs here; from the context, I cannot see any alternative. The surviving µE, the space in the papyrus for approximately ten more letters, and what we know of Heraclitus's treatment of popular opinions elsewhere makes his proposed µe[TaGKEU6(mv] an excellent candidate (but see Sider, 135, contra).
38. M. Nussbaum, "Heraclitus," in OCD, 3d ed. (1996), 687.
39. Contra Tsanstanoglou io8-io; Sider, 143-44.
40. A. Eu. 1040-41, and cf. use of the word semnai at 383 and 1007; E. Or. 38, 3Z1, 836, 1650, and z38, z64, 58z (the name "Eumenides" is used in the four first places and the name "Erinyes" in the other three to describe the same goddesses); but see Henrichs 1991, 175, who argues that Euripides had already equated them in the earlier IT.
41. See esp. Clinton 1996; Henrichs 1994; Jameson, Jordan, and Kotansky, 77-81; Lardinois; Henrichs 1991; Lloyd-Jones 19go; A. L. Brown 1981 and 1984.
42. Cf. also Henrichs 1991, 161-79; Lloyd-Jones 1990.
43. Lardinois also suggests that the attachment of Oedipus to the local Attic cult of the Eumenides at Colonus represents an innovation that similarly attempted to connect Athens with a well-known figure from panhellenic epic (the epic tradition buried him in Thebes and another tradition, perhaps early as well, buried him at a sanctuary of Demeter in Boeotian Eteonos). Oedipus's promise that he will help to protect Athens from its enemies after his death would be relevant in the context of the late fifth-century Theban alliance with Sparta against Athens. The problem of the location of Oedipus's hero cult and its connection with the Semnai Theai of the Areopagus and the Eumenides of Colonus is also well discussed by Kearns, zo8-9, who leans toward believing that his cult at Colonus was old (although she admits that the evidence is less than definitive). Another important recent treatment is Edmunds. As I have nothing more to contribute to this debate than Lardinois and Kearns already have offered, I shall not discuss Oedipus and his connection to the Eumenides and/or the Semnai Theai here. I cannot see how the association sheds any light on the topic of this chapter, namely, the nature and function of these goddesses, save to illustrate, once again, how they might be identified with the Erinyes and how they were closely concerned with the welfare of the dead.
44. On the use of other names for Hades and Persephone, particularly in the context of the Eleusinian mysteries, see Clinton 199z, esp. 51-55, 61-63; he also offers a good discussion of the phenomenon of "dual" divinities.
45• See Henrichs 1991, 177-79, where he gives further examples of the phenomenon both with respect to the goddesses under examination here and other divinities, and id. 1994, 37.
46. E.g., Neumann 45; A. L. Brown 1981 and x984; Henrichs 1994, 46.
47. There are two possible exceptions. A dedicatory inscription on Thera may read "Erinyes" (IG XII.3 367). Cf. Wilamowitz 1931-3z, 1: 398-99. A small altar has been found in Pergamon, dated to the third century c.E., dedicated to Megaira, which is usually used as the name of one of the Erinyes. Whether an Erinys is meant here or not, the name refers to some "envious," potentially harmful creature and thus suggests that appeasement offerings were made on the altar. See W. Radt.
48. Cf. Jameson, Jordan, and Kotansky, 79-80, who also come to this conclusion and also discuss the passage from Apollonius.
49• A. Eu. io6-ro.
50. Discussed by Henrichs 1994, 42 and n. 70, who gives further sources, Nilsson 1967, 151, and Graf 1985, Z7 n. 61.
51. This is the assumption of Tsantsanoglou, 96, and cf. 99.
5z. Laks and Most 1997b, ro-r z. The footnotes attached to the translation here are also taken from Laks and Most i997b. Professor Tsantsanoglou's transcription of the Greek can be found in Tsantsanoglou, 93-95.
53. Or "are souls."
54. Or writing oi: "the daimones beneath this mound." The text is uncertain; the apparent absence of the definite article is surprising.
55. Or: "both by fault and by another kind of pleasure." Tsantsanoglou suggests "by sin as well as by pleasure."
56. Or "change."
57. I shall not discuss here any of the many fascinating aspects of these columns that do not bear directly on the topic at hand. For a start, see Tsantsanoglou; Burkett 1997; Obbink; and M. L. West 1997.
58. Cf. most recently Tsantsanoglou, 98-99.
6o. A. Eu. 273-75, 339-40, and frequently thereafter (e.g., Verg. Aen. 6.605-6) (see also discussion in chapter 4 above, and cf. Nilsson 1967, 641.5). On south Italian vases, see Aellen, 58-7z, and Sarien 1986, 3.1, 8z8-2-9, 3.2, 595-96.
59• Contra Tsantsanoglou, 99-100, and the more tentative suggestion of Henrichs 1984.
61. Porph. ad II. 9.571.
6z. As Henrichs 1994, 254-55, notes, "souls" in the plural always refers to souls of the dead, rather than souls of the living. The adjective "countless" (anarithmoi) later in this fragment echoes others that always refer to souls of the dead (i.e., hoi pleiones).
63. Notably, the more specific description of offerings in the middle of this column specifies water, milk, and cakes, all of which are found in descriptions of offerings to the dead. We have already seen in several other chapters that incantations (epaoidai) were used to appease and control the dangerous dead.
64. Or perhaps "puts out of the way"; cf. the discussion of Tsantsanoglou, iii-r z, who (like me) prefers "change."
65. WD izi-z6. Heraclit. zz B 63 D-K.
66. Henrichs 1984, 263, in contrast, takes the equation more seriously as reflecting popular cult, as does Tsantsanoglou.
67. We are not told exactly whose altars the suppliants were at when killed, but it is clear from context that it must have been the altars of the Semnai Theai. Plu. Sol. i z says that the men were on their way down from the temple of Athena, attached to it by a thread so as to retain their right to its protection. The string broke as they reached the precinct of the Semnai Theai (which lay at the foot of the Areopagus, more or less between it and the Acropolis). Those "outside" (the precinct, we presume) were immediately stoned, but others "fled to the altars," where they were slaughtered. Interestingly, Plutarch goes on to say that the only ones spared were those who supplicated the wives of the archons. If these well-born women were near enough to be supplicated, this strengthens the likelihood that the conspirators were near or inside of some precinct of deities worshipped by women, as the Semnai Theai were (A. Eu. 856 and ro26-27, Call. fr. 680; cf. lines 14-17 of the fragment of Melanippe Captive given on p. i of D. L. Page's Select Literary Papyri, vol. 3 of the Loeb ed., which mention women paying cult to the "nameless goddesses").
68. D.L. r.r io. The mixed colors reflect the fact that these goddesses could be either kindly or ill-disposed. The technique bears a close resemblence to a psychagogic ritual described in the Suda, s.v. psychagogia, according to which, when the location of the dead body whose ghost is causing trouble is not known (or cannot be recovered) the psychagogos "locates" the spirit by leading a black sheep around by the horns, forcing it to stand on its hind legs. When the sheep finally falls down, refusing to go further, the psychagogos and his assistants "hide" it (katakrupsantes) and perform sacrifices (this may be a euphemism for killing the sheep itself). Reciting spells, they walk all around the place and ask the dead person to explain why he/she is angry. Antoninus s
upposedly used this technique to interview his dead father, Commodus. Diogenes Laertius's description of the entities to whom the nameless altars are dedicated as theoi makes it impossible to understand the altars as having been dedicated to the murder victims; Henrichs (i 99 r, esp. 16179) is surely right in understanding them as altars to the Semnai Theai, for reasons to be stated shortly. Nonetheless, the similarity in technique is striking, and we must wonder whether what was once used to locate and appease the divinities who protected the dead was later adapted to locate and appease the dead themselves.
69. E. IT 944, and cf. a fragment of the Melanippe Captive (p. 112 of D. L. Page, Select Literary Papyri, vol. 3 of the Loeb ed.), with the comments of Henrichs 1991, 174-79, and 1994, 37.
70. For analysis of the ancient sources on these points, see Henrichs 1994, 45-46; Wallace I22-z3, 257-59; Mikalson, zz-z3; Pritchett 2.09-zg, esp. zio, z16, and 224; Rohde 1925, 178-79•
71. Hsch., s.v. deuteropotmoi; Plu. QR 5, z64d-z65b. Hesychius equates hystero- potmoi with deuteropotmoi. Perhaps what this means is that they were forbidden to enter it until they had undergone an elaborate ritual that symbolized rebirth, like that which Plutarch describes in connection with such people, whom he calls "later-fated," for Plutarch says that they can enter temples of the gods (he doesn't specify which) again only after the ritual is completed.
71. It is worth noting, as others have pointed out, that the cult Athena promises to the Erinyes aligns with what little we know of the cult to the Semnai Theai. See Henrichs 1991, secs. i and z, and 1994, 4z-46.
73. At any rate, as American history has recently shown, even the president of a country that prides itself on its scientific accomplishments and intellectual clarity might resort to astrological advice (Ronald Reagan). There are further examples of this among the Roman emperors, of course, and in legendary figures such as that of Merlin, advisor to Arthur. Aversion to accepting the likelihood of its occurrence among the Greeks is yet again a lingering remnant of what Dodds so vigorously combated in 1951. Pericles was friends not only with the philosopher Anaxagoras but also with the seer Lampon, as Hugh Lloyd-Jones reminds me; Plutarch Pericles 6 presents the former has attempting to lift him out of the superstitions into which the latter had cast him.
Restless Dead Page 43