Tragedy's Workshop

The following story of Oedipus’ sons famous fight over the throne of Thebes as told by Euripides comes from a tradition that differs some what from that provided by Aeschylus. In this one, Oedipus is still alive, as is Iocasta, but Oedipus only shows up at the end of the play. Here we also get another good look at Antigone, who will play the leading role in the next tragedy that bares her name for a title.

Human sacrifice is also a theme in this work. We learn from Teiresias that Creon’s son, Menoeceus, must be sacrificed if Thebes is to survive. This comes as the result of an old quarrel Ares, god of war, has with Cadmos when he slew the dragon. Ares has never been compensated, and if Thebes is to be spared, the last remaining virginal descendent of Cadmos must be sacrificed. In this as in other Greek tragedies, we see that the innocent, maybe innocence itself, must be sacrificed before the successful waging of war. In the introduction to the book Euripides, Orestes and Other Plays, the translator Vellacotta tells us that Teiresias’ declaration that Haemon is not a virgin because he’s betrothed to Antigone is nonsense. 

To sharpen the irony, Teiresias in his explanation talks seriously about Ares and his dragon, in an atmosphere which makes fairy-tales ridiculous; and add some formal nonsense about the virginity of Menoeceus which is a palpable manoeuvre to accommodate the accepted legend about Haemon and Antigone. (Introduction by Vellacotta, page 64.)

This, Vellacott's statement, is itself pure nonsense, and the reader would do well to ignore this discussion of Teresias' argument. Otherwise Vellacott's discussion of the play is excellent. Euripides is right on target with the ancient Greeks’ perception of virginity. Virginity to an ancient Greek had nothing to do with first sex and everything to do with a divine commitment. In a virgin, life flowed through them as if they were a sieve where nothing was retained, but a non-virgin was closed off so that s/he retained that which was beneficial for life. This was essentially what happened to the soul during initiation to The Mysteries at Eleusis, the soul being then nourished, as a child in its mother’s womb. Thus Menoeceus was a virgin, and Teiresias' words should stand true as literally interpreted. This fact wasn’t realized at the time this introduction was written (1972). The subject of virginity has been subsequently investigated fully and the results published in a book titled Greek Virginity by Giulia Sissa in 1990. The full implications of Menoeceus' virginity and sacrifice along with the shadow that casts over the events can only be fully realized in the context of Giulia Sissa's revelations on virginity.

As with Oedipus, home is also the issue with Polyneices. He is an exile, and the nature of being an exile is part of the central theme in this tragedy. We’ve seen this first with Demeter when she went into voluntary exile at Eleusis when Hades kidnapped her daughter. Next we learned of Dionysus, his birth and being raised in exile by Ino, Semele’s sister. Then came Laius, who was raised by Pelops until he was old enough to be king and then returned to Thebes. Next came Oedipus, who was exposed on Kithaeron only to be saved and raised at Corinth. Lastly came Polyneices, who argued with his brother over the throne of Thebes and went into exile at Argos. All these returned to take over the throne except of course Dionysus, who wanted only to be worshiped as a god. But even his return resulted in the overthrow and death of the king.

The subject of being an exile is approached directly by Iocaste, who asks Polyneices what it’s like to be an exile. He responds:

Iocaste: This above all I long to know: What is an exile’s life? Is it great misery?
Polyneices: The greatest; worse in reality than in report.
Iocasta: Worse in what way? What chiefly galls an exile’s heart?
Polyneices: The worst is this: right of free speech does not exist.
Iocasta: That’s a slave’s life—to be forbidden to speak one’s mind.
Polyneices: One has to endure the idiocy of those who rule.
Iocasta: To join fools in their foolishness—that makes one sick.
Polyneices: One finds it pays to deny nature and be a slave.
Iocasta: What keeps exiles alive is hope—or so they say.
Polyneices: hope wears a kind face, always full of promises.
Iocasta: Yet surely time teaches the emptiness of hope?
Polyneices: Hope beguiles misery with a strange seductive charm.

So this is the nature of Polyneices’ suffering at the hands of his brother, Eteocles. And at the end of the play, we again hear of exile. This time it is Oedipus exiled by Creon. And we know how it ends at Colonus. But Polyneices’ exile does not only end in death. He is refused burial, and this will result in another confrontation, this time between Oedipus’ heroic daughter Antigone and the king.

One of the most interesting parts of this tragedy is the ending. Antigone and her father have a run-in with Creon. He expels Oedipus and forbids Antigone to bury Polyneices. Antigone then decides to go into exile with her father. Then follows a short argument between Oedipus and Antigone about forgetting the past and the hard fate for her to follow. Oedipus tells her to call upon Dionysus. And this is the really interesting part of it, because Dionysus and Oedipus have been so closely linked. Antigone is mystified that he would make such a suggestion. Her last remarks,

Appeal to Dionysus?
To the god for whose honour, in days past,
I dressed the holy mountain-dance of Semele—
An act of worship that won me no reward?

Thus on this question the play ends, and seemingly with the full weight of the tragedy of their lives placed at the feet of Dionysus, the twice-born god whose life Oedipus has paralleled. Remember that Euripides was frequently accused of impiety, and here is one of the strongest examples. Think back to The Bacchantes. There the people of Thebes were forced by Dionysus to see a dual world, two Thebes. Here at the end of The Phoenician Women Antigone is saying essentially that she has seen that dual world, but seeing it didn’t help because Fate, as spun by the three divine weavers, cannot be changed. Thus the impiety of Euripides by presenting worshiping the gods as meaningless.  

Euripides: The Phoenician Women

OPTIONAL READING:

Prophecy.

Since prophecy plays such a large role in all these tragedies, I’ve suggested material on its mythological origin and an explanation of how it was accomplished by the great seers. The practice comes from Prometheus, the god who stole fire and gave it to man. Prometheus is the one god who sides with mankind, and for it he suffers 30,000 years of punishment at the hands of Zeus.

First, I suggest reading Hesiod’s Theogony, which is our best source of the genesis of the Universe. It also provides the story of Prometheus stealing fire and giving it to man, and the story of him setting up the first sacrifice and tricking Zeus (who is willing to be tricked) into accepting the inferior portion of the sacrifice. Prometheus also gave us the art of prophecy and reading entrails.

Second, I suggest reading another tragedy by Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, which provides our best source of information on Prometheus. It also provides a list of all the gifts Prometheus gave to mankind including the ability to read the will of the gods.

I also suggest reading an excerpt from a book titled The Etruscans in the Ancient World. The Etruscans lived just north of Rome in Italy and were known as the most religious people in the world. Much of our information concerning the practice of entrail reading comes from them. The Greek practice was similar. I also suggest reading an excerpt from The Bronze Liver of Piacenza. This contains the description of a replica of a sheep’s liver containing all the markings showing the area of the liver affected by each god.

Plato.

The subject of the liver being the center of prophecy went further than the stories provided by tragedies. The following is an excerpt from Plato’s Timaeus dialogue concerning the nature of the liver and its propensity to reflect the will of the gods. Socrates is speaking:

The part of the soul which desires meats and drinks and the other things of which it has need by reason of the bodily nature, they placed between the midriff and the boundary of the navel, contriving in all this region a sort of manger for the food of the body; and there they bound it down like a wild animal which was chained up with man, and must be nourished if man was to exist. They appointed this lower creation his place here in order that he might be always feeding at the manger, and have his dwelling as far as might be from the council-chamber, making as little noise and disturbance as possible, and permitting the best part to advise quietly for the good of the whole. And knowing that this lower principle in man would not comprehend reason, and even if attaining to some degree of perception would never naturally care for rational notions, but that it would be led away by phantoms and visions night and day-to be a remedy for this, God combined with it the liver, and placed it in the house of the lower nature, contriving that it should be solid and smooth, and bright and sweet, and should also have a bitter quality, in order that the power of thought, which proceeds from the mind, might be reflected as in a mirror which receives likenesses of objects and gives back images of them to the sight; and so might strike terror into the desires, when, making use of the bitter part of the liver, to which it is akin, it comes threatening and invading, and diffusing this bitter element swiftly through the whole liver produces colours like bile, and contracting every part makes it wrinkled and rough; and twisting out of its right place and contorting the lobe and closing and shutting up the vessels and gates, causes pain and loathing. And the converse happens when some gentle inspiration of the understanding pictures images of an opposite character, and allays the bile and bitterness by refusing to stir or touch the nature opposed to itself, but by making use of the natural sweetness of the liver, corrects all things and makes them to be right and smooth and free, and renders the portion of the soul which resides about the liver happy and joyful, enabling it to pass the night in peace, and to practise divination in sleep, inasmuch as it has no share in mind and reason. For the authors of our being, remembering the command of their father when he bade them create the human race as good as they could, that they might correct our inferior parts and make them to attain a measure of truth, placed in the liver the seat of divination. And herein is a proof that God has given the art of divination not to the wisdom, but to the foolishness of man. No man, when in his wits, attains prophetic truth and inspiration; but when he receives the inspired word, either his intelligence is enthralled in sleep, or he is demented by some distemper or possession. And he who would understand what he remembers to have been said, whether in a dream or when he was awake, by the prophetic and inspired nature, or would determine by reason the meaning of the apparitions which he has seen, and what indications they afford to this man or that, of past, present or future good and evil, must first recover his wits. But, while he continues demented, he cannot judge of the visions which he sees or the words which he utters; the ancient saying is very true, that "only a man who has his wits can act or judge about himself and his own affairs." And for this reason it is customary to appoint interpreters to be judges of the true inspiration. Some persons call them prophets; they are quite unaware that they are only the expositors of dark sayings and visions, and are not to be called prophets at all, but only interpreters of prophecy.

Such is the nature of the liver, which is placed as we have described in order that it may give prophetic intimations. During the life of each individual these intimations are plainer, but after his death the liver becomes blind, and delivers oracles too obscure to be intelligible. The neighbouring organ [the spleen] is situated on the left-hand side, and is constructed with a view of keeping the liver bright and pure-like a napkin, always ready prepared and at hand to clean the mirror. And hence, when any impurities arise in the region of the liver by reason of disorders of the body, the loose nature of the spleen, which is composed of a hollow and bloodless tissue, receives them all and dears them away, and when filled with the unclean matter, swells and festers, but, again, when the body is purged, settles down into the same place as before, and is humbled.

Herodotus.

In addition to this reading from Plato, I suggest reading the last chapter from Herodotus’ The Histories. Herodotus is known as the father of history (also as the father of lies). He it was who wrote the first historical book. In it he describes the battles fought against the Persians (Iranians) when king Xerxes invaded Greece (480 BC). Read the last chapter of his book and look for all the references to sacrifices and omens the seers relate from reading the livers. This is not myth, but in fact the prophetic art put to work.

The Archeology of Thebes.

Finally I also suggest reading the first chapter of the guidebook for the museum at Thebes. Much of this is a repetition of that provided in The Topography of Thebes, but it does contain a great deal more information on the artifacts found at Thebes, in particular, the Oriental cylinder seals and the ivory leg of the throne over which so much blood was shed.