Ancestral Fault in Ancient Greece

566 Pages·2013·2.58 MB·English

by  Renaud Gagné

ANCESTRAL FAULT IN ANCIENT GREECE
AncestralfaultisacoreideaofGreekliterature.‘Theguiltlesswillpay
for the deeds later: either the man’s children, or his descendants
thereafter’, said Solon in the sixth century bc, a statement echoed
throughout the rest of antiquity. This notion lies at the heart of
ancient Greek thinking on theodicy; inheritance and privilege; the
meaningofsuffering;thelinksbetweenwealthandmorality;individ
ual responsibility; the bonds that unite generations and the grand
movementsofhistory.FromHomertoProclus,itplayedamajorrole
insomeofthemostcriticalandpressingreflectionsofGreekculture
ondivinity,society,andknowledge.Theburningmodernpreoccupa
tion with collective responsibility across generations has a long, deep
antecedent in classical Greek literature and its reception. This book
retracesthetrajectoriesofGreekancestralfaultandthevarietiesofits
expressionthroughthemanygenresandcenturieswhereitisfound.
renaud gagne´ isUniversityLecturerinClassicsattheUniversity
of Cambridge and a Fellow of Pembroke College. His publications
includetwoco editedvolumes,aswellasvariousarticlesandchapters
on archaic and classical Greek literature, Greek religion, and the
history ofclassical scholarship.

ANCESTRAL FAULT IN
ANCIENT GREECE
RENAUD GAGNÉ
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©RenaudGagné2013
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Firstpublished2013
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyCPIGroupLtd,CroydonCR04YY
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Gagné,Renaud,1976–
AncestralfaultinancientGreece/RenaudGagné.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-03980-3(Hardback)
1. Greekliterature–Historyandcriticism. 2. Mythology,Classical. 3. History,Ancient.
4. Heredity. I. Title.
pa3061.g342013
880.90001–dc23 2013005148
isbn978-1-107-03980-3Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
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anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Acknowledgements page vii
Note on abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 The theology of progonikon hamartēma 22
DedecemdubitationibuscircaProvidentiam 22
Deseranuminisvindicta 39
Confrontationsandtranslations 54
IsaakSebastokrator 65
WilliamofMoerbeke 70
2 Haereditarium piaculum and inherited guilt 80
Parentumpeccata 82
Domestications 90
Grotius 97
Lomeier 112
ThescholarshipofinheritedguiltI 120
ThescholarshipofinheritedguiltII 133
3 The earliest record: exōleia in Homer and Hesiod 159
Hesiod 159
Homer 177
4 Sympotic theologies: Alcaeus, Solon, and Theognis 206
Alcaeus 210
Solon 226
Theognidea 249
5 Tracking divine punishment in Herodotus 275
TheoathofGlaukos 278
ThewrathofTalthybios 296
TheEnagees 306
CroesusandSolon 325
v
vi Contents
6 Tragic reconfigurations: Labdacids 344
SevenagainstThebes 351
Antigone 362
Phoenissae 376
OedipusatColonus 386
7 Tragic reconfigurations: Atridae 394
Oresteia 394
IphigeniainTauris 416
Orestes 425
Conclusion 438
Conclusion 446
Bibliography 473
Index locorum 539
General index 545
Acknowledgements
Itisagreatpleasuretothankallthosewhohavehelpedmewritethisbook
over the years. This is the end of a process that began with my doctoral
workatHarvardUniversity.Mydebtsaretoomanyandvariedtobefully
enumerated here. For the generosity and usefulness of their advice, com-
ments, criticism, and encouragement, all of which I have received in
greater abundance than anyone could hope for, I want to record my
sincere gratitude to Egbert Bakker, Pierre Bonnechere, Jan Bremmer,
SimonGoldhill,JonasGrethlein,AlbertHenrichs,MiguelHerrero,Mari-
anne Hopman, Richard Hunter, Nino Luraghi, Gabriella Pironti, Renate
Schlesier, Mark Somos, and Yuhan Vevaina. The two anonymous readers
of Cambridge University Press have provided very useful suggestions and
improvements to the manuscript, and I am grateful to Michael Sharp,
Elizabeth Hanlon, and Sarah Roberts for their editorial professionalism
and precision. The outstanding copy-editorial work of Jan Chapman has
been invaluable.
I have greatly benefited from a term of sabbatical leave from my duties
at the University of Cambridge and Pembroke College while working on
this book, as well as a research grant from the Fonds québécois de la
recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) as an Assistant Professor at
McGillUniversity.TheFondationHardtprovidedfundingforaproduct-
ive and stimulating stay at La Chandoleine. I warmly thank all of these
institutions for their support.
Parts ofChapters 2,3,and4have previouslybeen publishedseparately:
‘Spilling the sea out of its cup: Solon’s Elegy to the Muses’, QUCC 133
(2009): 23–49; ‘Atreid ancestors in Alkaios’, JHS 129 (2009): 39–43;
‘Invisible kin: Works and Days 280–285 and the Myth of Races’, Hermes
138 (2010): 1–21; ‘The poetics of exoleia in Homer’, Mnemosyne 62 (2010):
353–80; ‘Haereditarium piaculum: aspects of ancient Greek religion in the
17thcentury’,inBierl,A.andBraungart,W.(eds.),GewaltundOpfer.Im
DialogmitWalterBurkert.Berlin(2010),pp.115–48.Iamobligedtothese
vii
viii Acknowledgements
pressesandeditorsfortheirpermissiontorevisitthismaterialhere.Allofit
has been thoroughly rewritten, revised, or updated.
This book could not have been written without the love and under-
standing of my family and friends, most of whom now know more about
ancestral fault than they should. What I owe to my mother, Hélène,
Virginie and Héloïse I can never repay.
Note on abbreviations
Abbreviations of journal titles follow those of l’Année philologique. Epi-
graphical abbreviations follow the conventions of the Supplementum Epi-
graphicum Graecum. Abbreviations for titles of modern works, ancient
works and authors’ names correspond to those of the Oxford Classical
Dictionary and Liddell–Scott–Jones, A Greek–English Lexicon.
ix