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CAPANEUS: HOMER TO LYDGATE
By
ROBERT NAU, B.A., M.A.
A Thesis
Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies
in Partial Fulfilment of the Roquirements.
for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
McMaster University
© Copyright by Robert S. Nau, July 2005
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CAPANEUS: HOMER TO LYDGATE
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DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2005) McMaster University
(Classics) Hamilton, Ontario
TITLE: Capaneus: Homer to Lydgate
AUTHOR: Robert Nau, BA. (York University),
M A (University of Western Ontario)
MA (McMaster University)
SUPERVISOR: Professor Howard Jones
NUMBER OF PAGES: viii, 272
ii
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ABSTRACT
A generation before the war at Troy, king Adrastos led an ill-fated expedition against
Thebes. One of his commanders, Capaneus, died so spectacularly that he was virtually
guaranteed a lasting place in the myth. He boasted that he would take Thebes whether the
gods willed it or not and was subsequently struck from the city’s wall by a lightning bolt from
Zeus. Despite this simple narrative Capaneus’character is handled in a variety of ways. As
would be expected he is at times portrayed as a villain. Thus in Aeschylus’ Septan,
Euripides’ Phoenissae, and Statius’ Thebaid, he is an impious, vicious, threatening, and
boastful character who is finally punished at Thebes. This portrayal, however, was not the
only possibility in handling his character. In Euripides’ Suppliants, Capaneus is held up as
a model citizen whose moderate life and tragic downfall should serve as a lesson to others.
The earliest artistic depictions of Capaneus show a similar divergence in characterization.
An artist could emphasize the villainy of the hero by including elements like a ladder to scale
the Theban wall, a torch to bum the town, a lightning bolt to imply his punishment, or
converselyportray him as a vulnerable youth struck down suddenly in war. Christian writers
of the Medieval period take these lines of development further. Gower presents him as a
warning against excessive pride, one of the seven deadly sins, and Dante lets him rage in hell
against God under a continuous rain of lightning, hi both the French Le Roman de Thebes
and Lydgate’s Siege of Thebes the hero is a noble and beloved knight who, while dying at
Thebes, lives long enough to take part in the later Athenian attack on the city.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Dr. Jones, my supervisor, and to the other members of my supervisoiy committee,
Dr. P. Kingston and Dr. A.G. McKay, I offer my sincere thanks for their guidance, and
instruction. Mrs. Carmen Camilleri, Administrative Assistant forthe Department of Classics
at McMaster University, deserves special credit and thanks for all her help during the
process. My appreciation must also be expressed for my friends and family for their
continual support and encouragement of my undertakings.
iv
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