Murder Among Friends : Violation of Philia in Greek Tragedy

303 Pages·2000·16.93 MB·English

by  Elizabeth S. Belfiore

Murder Among Friends
This page intentionally left blank
Murder Among Friends
Violation of Philia
in Greek Tragedy
ELIZABETH S. BELFIORE
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
2OOO
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta
Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul
Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai
Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 2000 by Elizabeth S. Belfiore
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford Unversity Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Belfiore, Elizabeth S., 1944-
Murder among friends ; violation of philia in Greek tragedy /
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-513149-5
1. Greek drama (Tragedy) —History and criticism.
2. Friendship in literature. 3. Murder in literature.
4. Family in literature.
5. Love in literature. I. Title
PA3136.B45 2000
882'.0109355 —dc21 99-13051
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
In Memory of Louise and John
ORESTES: If you had killed your brother, wretched woman.
IPHIGENEIA: You escaped by little an unholy death, struck by
my hands.
(Eur. IT 866-73)
Acknowledgments
Among the many scholars to whom I am indebted for reading drafts, dis-
cussing relevant issues, and encouraging me to complete this project are Alan
Boegehold, Peter Burian, Christopher Carey, Christopher Gill, Patricia
Easterling, Michael Ewans, Michael Haslam, Eva Keuls, Nita Krevans, David
Konstan, Nicholas Lowe, Daniel Ogden, Douglas Olson, Seth Schein, John
Wilkins, and Sumio Yoshitake. Two in particular, Richard Seaford and Mae
Smethurst, gave me their enthusiastic support from beginning to end of this
project. The anonymous readers for Oxford University Press provided valuable
criticisms that helped me to improve this book. I am indebted to Susan Chang
of Oxford University Press, and to Angela Blackburn and Barbara Norton of
Invisible Ink, for efficient and judicious editorial assistance. I also benefited
from helpful discussions provided by audiences at the annual meetings of
the American Philological Association (1997) and of the Classical Association
of the Middle West and South (1996, 1998), and at the Universities of
Cambridge, Exeter, Minnesota, Oxford, Pittsburgh, and Stanford. I am grate-
ful to Mark Griffith for allowing me to see a draft of his Antigone commentary
prior to publication. The Beazley Archive, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, gen-
erously provided me with a database on Greek vases. Special thanks are due
to my husband, Peter, for editorial assistance, literary discussions, and encour-
agement, to my son, Michael, for dramatic examples, and to Vincent Truitner
for the cover illustration. This book is dedicated to the memory of my parents,
John and Louise Stafford, who introduced me to Greece, to literature, and to
philia.
Research for this book was supported by several grants from the University
of Minnesota—a sabbatical leave and Bush Sabbatical Supplement in
1994-95, a Single Quarter Leave in 1997, and travel grants in 1996 from the
Institute of International Studies and Programs and from the McKnight Arts
viii Acknowledgments
and Humanities Fund for International Travel —and by an Honorary Research
Fellowship from the University of Exeter in 1994.
Earlier versions of parts of this book have been published previously. A
shorter version of chapter 1 was published as "Harming Friends: Problematic
Reciprocity in Greek Tragedy," in Reciprocity in Ancient Greece, ed. C. Gill,
N. Postlethwaite, and R. Seaford (Oxford 1998), 139-58, reprinted by permis-
sion of Oxford University Press. An earlier version of parts of chapter 4 was
published as "Xenia in Sophocles' Philoctetes," CJ 89 (1993-94): 113-29,
reprinted by permission of the Classical Association of the Middle West and
South.
Contents
A Note on Spelling and Abbreviations xi
Introduction xv
1. Philia Relationships and Greek Literature 3
1. Philia in Aristotle and Greek Society 3
2. Philia in Epic 9
3. Philia in Tragedy: Overview 13
4. Xenia and Suppliancy in Tragedy 15
Appendix to Chapter 1: David Konstan on Philos and Philia 19
2. Averting Fratricide: Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris 21
1. The House of Tantalos 22
2. Pylades as Savior and Kin 27
3. Recognition 29
4. Purification and Rescue 34
3. The Suppliant Bride: Io and the Danaids in Aiskhylos's Suppliants 39
1. The Danaids and Pelasgos 41
2. The Danaids and Zeus 45
3. Io and Zeus Hikesios 47
4. The Suppliant Bride 49
5. Io as Bride of Zeus Begetter 55
6. The Danaids and the Aigyptiads 56
7. The Suppliants and the Trilogy 58
4. A Token of Pain: Betrayal of Xenia in Sophokles' Philoktetes 63
1. Initiation of Xenia 65
2. Betrayal and Repentance 70