"Oaths were ubiquitous rituals in ancient Athenian legal, commercial, civic and international spheres. Their importance is reflected by the fact that much of surviving Greek drama features a formal oath sworn before the audience. This is the first...
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Universitätsbibliothek der Eberhard Karls Universität
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"Oaths were ubiquitous rituals in ancient Athenian legal, commercial, civic and international spheres. Their importance is reflected by the fact that much of surviving Greek drama features a formal oath sworn before the audience. This is the first comprehensive study of that phenomenon. The book explores how the oath can mark or structure a dramatic plot, at times compelling characters like Euripides' Hippolytus to act contrary to their best interests. It demonstrates how dramatic oaths resonate with oath rituals familiar to the Athenian audiences. Aristophanes' Lysistrata and her accomplices, for example, swear an oath that blends protocols of international treaties with priestesses' vows of sexual abstinence. By employing the principles of Speech Act theory, this book examines how the performative power of the dramatic oath can mirror the status quo, but also disturb categories of gender, social status and civic identity in ways that redistribute and confound social authority"-- Cover; PERFORMING OATHS IN CLASSICAL GREEK DRAMA; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgments; A note on abbreviations; Introduction; WHAT IS AN OATH?; 1) The preface (an invitation or offer to swear an oath); 2) The invocation; 3) A verb or expression of swearing; 4) The body of the oath; 5) The curse; 6) Gestures, sacrifices and sanctifying features; OATHS AND DRAMATIC PLOTS; HOMER; HOMERIC HYMNS AND ARCHAIC POETRY; HERODOTUS; CHAPTER 1 From curses to blessings: horkos in the Oresteia; OATHS OF REVENGE; HORKOS AND GENDER; QUESTIONING HORKOS; THE OATH IN ATHENS. CHAPTER 8 Swearing off sex: the women's oath in Aristophanes' LysistrataMATTER AND FORM; THE OATH SACRIFICE; THE WOMEN'S HORKOS; FIRE AND WATER; LYSISTRATA TAKES CONTROL; RECONCILIATION; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index locorum; General Index. SUBVERTING THE PARADIGM: THE PHRYGIAN'S OATH IN ORESTESPERJURY AND THE IMPERFECT BODY: CYCLOPS; CHAPTER 5 Twisted justice in Aristophanes' Clouds; CHAPTER 6 Women and oaths in Euripides; OATHS, FAMILY CURSES AND TRAGIC PLOTS; SWEARING TO MEDEA; OATHS OF SILENCE IN HIPPOLYTUS; IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS: BODY, OATH AND TEXT; CHAPTER 7 How to do things with Euripides: Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae; BECOMING A WOMAN; EURIPIDES' OATH; OATHS AND INTERTEXTS; INTERSEXED INTERTEXTS; TRAGIC INTERTEXTS; A DEMETRIAN/DIONYSIAN HYBRID; A PARODIC TRILOGY?; EURIPIDES' CONTRACT WITH THE WOMEN. THE ERINYES: FROM CURSES TO BLESSINGSTHE ARGIVE OATH OF ALLIANCE; CHAPTER 2 Speaking like a man: oaths in Sophocles' Trachiniae and Philoctetes; OATHS AND RITUAL FRIENDSHIP: A DIVINE PARADIGM; TELEMACHUS; TRACHINIAE; PHILOCTETES; A CIVIC PARADIGM?; CHAPTER 3 Horkos in the polis: Athens, Thebes and Sophocles; ANTIGONE: NOMOS AND HORKOS; OEDIPUS, A MAN OF HIS WORD; OEDIPUS AT COLONUS: WORDS OF POWER; CHAPTER 4 Perjury and other perversions: Euripides' Phoenissae, Orestes and Cyclops; NOBILITY AND EUORKIA; THE GENEALOGY OF LANGUAGE IN PHOENISSAE; OENOMAUS AND THE PERJURY OF PELOPS.
