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Disrobing in the Oresteia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

R. Drew Griffith
R. Drew Griffith
Affiliation:
Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
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Extract

In Eum. 1028–9 the Furies mark their transformation into Eumenides by donning red robes over their black costumes (Cho. 1049, Eum. 352, 370) in imitation of the robes worn in the Panathenaea by metics (Phot. s.v. σκάφας = Men. fr. 166 Koerte; cf. Eum. 1011). Greek epic was sensitive to the symbolic value of clothing and Aeschylus had experimented in the Persians with the greater scope that drama offered for clothing-symbolism. Scholars have detected a wealth of associations in the Furies' robing-scene: this culmination of the trilogy echoes the red carpet upon which Agamemnon walks to his death in the first play, which is actually referred to as ‘garments’ (εἵματα Ag. 921, 960, 963), and the net in which Agamemnon is caught (Ag. 1126, 1382, 1580, Cho. 1000, Eum. 635), which is brought on stage in the middle play (Cho. 973–1006). Another series of stage-actions of equal importance in preparing for the robing of the Furies has not been so well explained.

Type
Shorter Notes
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , December 1988 , pp. 552 - 554
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1988

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References

1 See Headlam, W., JHS 26 (1906), 268–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 See Griffin, J., Homer on Life and Death (Oxford, 1980), pp. 3–4, 18, 21, 28–9Google Scholar and Block, E., TAPA 115 (1985), 1–11Google Scholar.

3 In Pers., the queen dreams that Xerxes tears his clothing (line 199); he actually tears his clothing after Salamis (468–70, 1030) and enters at 909 still wearing his torn clothing (cf. 832–6). When he complains in 1017 of his ruined στολή we take him to be referring both to his army and to his robes. See Taplin, O., The Stagecraft of Aeschylus (Oxford, 1977), pp. 121–7Google Scholar on Pers. 1017 and Thalmann, W. G., AJP 101 (1980), 260–82Google Scholar.

Ar. Ran. 842 and 1063 portrays Aeschylus as being contemptuous of Euripides' realism in the treatment of clothing.

4 See Headlam, , JHS 26 (1906), 266–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Thompson, G., Oresteia2 ii (Prague, 1966), pp. 221–3Google Scholar, Lloyd-Jones, H., The Eumenides of Aeschylus (London, 1970), pp. 72–3Google Scholar, Lebeck, A., The Oresteia: a Study in Language and Structure (Washington, D.C., 1971), p. 15Google Scholar, MacLeod, C. W., Maia 27 (1975), 201–3Google Scholar = Collected Essays (Oxford, 1983), pp. 41–3Google Scholar, Taplin, , The Stagecraft of Aeschylus, pp. 412–13Google Scholar, and Tarkow, T. A., Maia 32 (1980), 153–65Google Scholar.

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6 See Vermeule, E., AJA 70 (1966), 4Google Scholar.

7 See von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, U., Griechische Tragödie ii (Berlin, 1900), p. 59Google Scholar, Kranz, W., Hermes 54 (1919), 310Google Scholar, von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, U., Griechische Verskunst (Berlin, 1921), p. 182 n. 1Google Scholar, Fraenkel, E., Aeschylus, Agamemnon ii (Oxford, 1950), p. 138 on 239Google Scholar, Maas, P., CQ 45 (1951)Google Scholar, 94 = Kleine Schriften (Munich, 1973), p. 42Google Scholar, who offers ABV 97.27 as an illustration, Lloyd-Jones, H., CR n.s. 2 (1952), 132–5Google Scholar, Denniston, J. D. and Page, D., Aeschylus, Agamemnon (Oxford, 1957), pp. 90–1 on 239Google Scholar, Grassi, E., Atene e Roma 6 (1961), 138–42Google Scholar, Lebeck, A., GRBS 5 (1964), 35–41Google Scholar, Hooker, J. T., Agon 2 (1968), 59–65Google Scholar, Bollack, J., L'Agamemnon d'Eschyle = Cahiers de Philologie 7 i.2 (Lille, 1981), pp. 300–3 on 239Google Scholar.

8 Reading καὶ Χέουσα (Stinton's emendation). See Sourvinou, C., CQ 21 (1971), 339–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Stinton, T. C. W., CQ 25 (1975), 11–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Perlman, P., GRBS 24 (1983), 115–20Google Scholar, Lloyd-Jones, H., JHS 103 (1983), 91–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Henderson, J., Aristophanes, Lysistrata (Oxford, 1987), p. 156Google Scholar on 645. Vases found at Brauron depict the Bears, some clad, some naked; see Ghali-Kahil, L., AK 8 (1965), 20–33Google Scholar, AK 20 (1977), 86–98Google Scholar, and Hesperia 50 (1981), 253–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 The Oresteia's pattern of characters disrobing before death seems to have influenced the other dramatists (e.g. Soph, . Trach. 924–6, 1076–80Google Scholar, Eur, . Hec. 555–60Google Scholar, Andr. 832–3). With similar meaning, one can also dress for death (Eur, . Supp. 1054)Google Scholar. Pentheus both dons and removes special clothing before his death (Eur, . Bacch. 925–44 and 1115–17)Google Scholar.

10 Taplin, O., Greek Tragedy in Action (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1978), p. 61CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Walton, J. M., Greek Theatre Practice (Westport, 1980), p. 191Google Scholar deny that the scene was staged on the grounds that Clytaemnestra was played by a male actor, but a masked theatre where all female characters (howsoever clad) are played by males will not baulk at problems of verisimilitude, and a similar scene in , Eur.Andr. 832–3Google Scholar was explicitly staged. Moreover, the frequent allusions to the Oresteia in Eur. Or. (e.g. 238 = Cho. 1026; 256 = Cho. 1048–50 and Eum. 48–59; 262 = Eum. 64; 553–8 = Eum. 657–73; 1225–45 = Cho. 479–509; 1395 = Ag. 121, 139 and 159; 1402 = Cho. 938; 1477 = Ag. 1651; 1667 = Cho. 559 and Eum. 615) suggest that , Eur.Or. 527 and 841Google Scholar, which describe Clytaemnestra baring her breast, refer specifically to the Aeschylean treatment of the myth. It is therefore better to suppose that when Clytaemnestra points to her breast τόνδε Cho. 896), she reveals it. This is the view of Tucker, T. G., The Choephori of Aeschylus (Cambridge, 1901), p. 199 on 895Google Scholar,Sommerstein, A. H., BICS (1980),74n. 32Google Scholar, and, apparently, Garvie, A. F., Aeschylus, Choephori (Oxford, 1986), pp. 292–3 on 896–8Google Scholar.

11 Cho. 899 is the first and only time in the murder-scene that Orestes uses the word μήτηρ of Clytaemnestra.

12 Cf. Il. 3.56–7, Alc. fr. 129.17–18 Voigt, Theog. 428, Simon.fr. 6.3–1 West, Pind. JVem. 11.16, , Eur.Hel. 851–4Google Scholar, Tro. 1148, , Xen.Cyr. 6.4.6Google Scholar, , Theoc.Epigr. 9.4Google Scholar, Ap. , Rhod.Argon. 1.691Google Scholar, Anth. Pal. 7.238, 242, 255, 446, 480, 551, and Kaibel, Ep. Gr. 243.34Google Scholar.

Resurrection in the Christian view also involves a change of clothing (cf. 1 Corinthians 15.53).

13 See Richardson, N. J., The Homeric Hymn to Demeter (Oxford, 1974), p. 164 on 42Google Scholar. , Arist.Eth. Nic. 3.1Google Scholar says that Aeschylus had been initiated at Eleusis. I would like to thank Professor Gloria D'Ambrosio-Griffith and an anonymous referee for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this note.