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Erotic undertones in the Language of Clytemnestra

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Simon Pulleyn
Simon Pulleyn
Affiliation:
Merton College, Oxford
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Extract

Well over a decade ago now, John Moles drew attention to the fact that the words of Clytemnestra at Aesch. Ag. 1388ff. included some striking sexual imagery that had gone unnoticed. To summarize a rich and detailed discussion, he said: ‘Clytemnestra represents the dying Agamemnon as having an ejaculation of dark blood—and herself as rejoicing in reciprocal climax as her husband bespatters her—with his blood’. My purpose here is to draw attention to two more examples of this kind of language to be found in close proximity to the foregoing.

Information

Type
Shorter Notes
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , December 1997 , pp. 565 - 567
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1997

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References

1 J. Moles, LCM 4.9 (Nov. 1979), 179–89. Tragedy is not so elevated that it cannot mention sex. Jocasta, I believe, is referring to precisely this when she sings of (Eur. Phoen. 338) and Hecuba does not shy away from it at Eur. Hec. 824–8. In Homer, too, Agamemnon can taunt Chryses by referring to his anticipation of sex with Chryseis (1.31).Google Scholar

2 (Denniston and Page) does not recommend itself since is not attested. Fraenkel reads , seeing no difficulty with the double genitive: what is brought is an which is also a of her More immediately problematic is the fact that Fraenkel believes that itself is a corruption because he cannot imagine Queen Clytemnestra talking so openly of the pleasures of her bed. Thus he also argues that the language of 1391f. is not sexual but has to do with Clytemnestra's lust for revenge. The sexual connotations of lines 1389–92 seem to me so plain (see Moles, art. cit.) that I have no hesitation in retaining .

3 Denniston and Page say that can have this meaning of ‘to bring in somebody over another’ and cite Soph. Aj. 1296, Tr. 378. The verb need not have this meaning. It can simply mean, ‘to introduce’; cf. LSJ s.v. Hence other interpretations are possible.

4 Fraenkel (ad loc.) is sure that Cassandra is the subject but, as Denniston and Page point out, the pronoun in line 1446 may be enough to introduce Agamemnon as the new subject.

5 J. Henderson, The Maculate Muse (Yale, 1975), pp. 47–8, 52, 60f., 142ff., 174. Although Henderson's observations about the double-meanings of words are based on the language of Old Comedy, one assumes that not all these usages were invented overnight by Aristophanes. It is far more reasonable to suppose that these are reflections of connections that already existed in the language.Google Scholar

6 J. Davidson, ‘Fish, Sex and Revolution’, CQ 43 (1993), 53–66, esp. pp. 62ff.Google Scholar

7 Cf. the recurrent Homeric formula ; also Hdt. 8.99, .

8 Ag. 1095ff., 1191ff., 1241f.

9 Fraenkel on 1435. There may, however, be some tensions beneath the surface here. The hearth in Greek thought is rich in feminine connotations, see J.-P. Vernant, ‘Hestia-Hermes: the Religious Expression of Space and Movement in Ancient Greece’, in (id.) Myth and Thought Among the Greeks (Eng. tr. London, 1983), pp. 127–175. We have been told that Clytemnestra is somewhat manly (Ag. 11); Aegisthus' masculinity, already called into question by Cassandra (1224) and later by the chorus (1625f.), may in fact be subordinate to that of Clytemnestra. It seems highly suggestive that she calls the hearth her own (; 1435), making Aegisthus appear less like the dominant male and more like a household attendant.

10 Hy. 5.21ff. For more details see the article ‘Hestia’ in Der kleine Pauly (Munich, 1979), Band 2, pp. I l l 8ff.Google Scholar

11 Hes. Op. 734ff. with M. L. West's note ad. loc. (Oxford, 1978).Google Scholar

12 At line 234E, Helen says that Paris . Given the purpose of his voyage, the presence of Aphrodite (238), and the possibly phallic connotations of the barbarian oar, I do not think we can rule out this slightly risque thought.

13 Sappho 31.9f. is a well-known example.

14 It appears that there did indeed exist in Greek an idiom comparable to that of the popular song lyric ‘Come on baby, light my fire’. We find at Xen. Cyr. 5.1.16 the phrase and at Ap. Rhod. 3.296f. . cf. A.P. 12.83 (Meleager) where and are used respectively of and its effects.

15 She also has an awareness of these places as military installations, e.g. 293, 301; scarcely a feminine concern.Google Scholar

16 E.g. the false sincerity of 601ff., 896f; the ‘Carpet Scene’, 931ff.