Beyond Death in the Oresteia: Poetics, Ethics, and Politics

259 Pages·2022·1.548 MB·English

by  Amit Shilo

BEYOND DEATH IN THE ORESTEIA
TheOresteiaispermeatedwithdepictionsoftheafterlife,whichhave
neverbeenexaminedtogether.Inthisbook,AmitShiloanalyzestheir
intertwinedandconflictingimplications.Hearguesfora“poeticsof
multiplicity”anda“poeticsofthebeyond”thatinformtheongoing
debatesoverjustice,fate,ethics,andpoliticsinthetrilogy.Thebook
presents novel, textually grounded readings of Cassandra’s fate,
Clytemnestra’sghostscene,mourningritual,herocult,andpunish-
mentbyHades.Itoffersafreshperspectiveonthepoliticalthoughtof
thetrilogybycontrastingtheethicalfocusoftheErinyesandHades
withAthena’sinsistenceondivineunityandwarfare.Sheddingnew
lightonthetrilogyasawhole,thisbookiscrucialreadingforstudents
andscholarsofclassicalliteratureandreligion.
amit shilo isAssistantProfessorintheDepartmentofClassicsat
the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a cofounder of
ClassicsandSocialJustice,agroupforthoseusingClassicstoaddress
inequalities in the world. He has published on Greek tragedy and
Plato.

BEYOND DEATH
IN THE ORESTEIA
Poetics, Ethics, and Politics
AMIT SHILO
UniversityofCalifornia,SantaBarbara
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108832748
doi:10.1017/9781108963862
©AmitShilo2022
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Firstpublished2022
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names:Shilo,Amit,1978–author.
title:BeyonddeathintheOresteia:poetics,ethics,andpolitics/AmitShilo.
description:NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2022.|Includesbibliographical
referencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2022004783(print)|lccn2022004784(ebook)|isbn9781108832748
(hardback)|isbn9781108963862(ebook)
subjects:lcsh:Aeschylus.Oresteia.|Futurelifeinliterature.|Greekliterature–
Historyandcriticism.
classification:lccpa3825.a6s552022 (print)|lccpa3825.a6 (ebook)|
ddc882/.01–dc23/eng/20220420
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2022004783
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accurateorappropriate.
To my family, partner, and true friends.

Contents
Preface pageix
ANoteonAbbreviationsandTranslations xi
Introduction 1
1 TheHeraldoftheAgamemnon:AccountingtheDead 29
2 TheChorusoftheAgamemnon:HumanViewsontheBeyond 51
3 ProphecyontheBanksoftheAcheron:ThinkingCassandra
PastHerDoom 69
4 AfterlivesattheTombofAgamemnon 91
5 HeroesintheOresteia 114
6 TheGhostofClytemnestra 145
7 TheTablet-WritingMindofHades:OmniscientEthical
Judgment 176
Conclusions 213
References 228
GeneralIndex 243
IndexLocorum 246
vii

Preface
Thewritingofthisbookstartedduringatimeofglobalfinancialcrisisand
continuedthroughwarsanddeepeningpartisanship.Thebookwasfinal-
ized during protests against both particular violence and systemic racism,
taking place in the midst of a harrowing plague on a global scale, whose
gruesome toll is still unknown. While writing about ethical action and
politicalthemesinGreektragedy,Ihavekeptforemostinmymindthese
modern conflicts and pervasive, historicallyrooted issues of socialjustice.
The Oresteia has provided a way to think through a number of these
themesinmythicandhistoricaltime,sinceitdramatizestheconsequences
ofwar,oppression,andinterpersonalviolencewithprodigiouscomplexity.
One cannot comprehensively interpretatragic work,nor doI attempt
to here; instead, I analyze how human continuation beyond death trans-
formsanumberoftheOresteia’smostwidelydiscussedthemes.Onegoal
ofthisbookistodrawnewattentiontoindividualethicalclaims,especially
of those who are oppressed. Another is to demonstrate that the Oresteia
undercutsitsownjustificationsofwarfarethroughitspolytheisticconflicts
andpluralideasabouttheafterlife.Ithereforehopethattheanalysisofthe
“poetics of the beyond” and the “poetics of multiplicity” herein can be
morebroadlyunderstoodasacontributiontowardresponsibleethicaland
politicalthought.
In the dozen years since beginning this project, I have racked up more
intellectual and emotional debts than it is possible to acknowledge. The
book,asitstands,hasevolvedsignificantlyfromitsoriginsinmydisserta-
tionattheNewYorkUniversityDepartmentofClassics.Forhisperspica-
cityandsupport,Ideeplythank,firstofall,myadvisorPhillipMitsis.He
andDavidKonstancontinuedtohelpimprovedraftswellaftermytimeas
agraduatestudentended.SpecialthanksaswellgotoJoyConnolly,Peter
Meineck, and Raffaella Cribiore. They have each not only served as
scholarly paradigms with their wide-ranging interests but have also given
mesageadviceovermanyyears.Theideafortheprojectcameinpartfrom
ix
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108963862.001 Published online by Cambridge University Press
x Preface
my immersive experience as a graduate student on a fellowship at the
American School of Classical Studies in Athens, which I recommend to
allmystudents.
This book developed in manyways during my postdoctoral fellowship
atHarvard’sMahindraHumanitiesCenter.Thetimetowritewasinvalu-
able,aswasthefreedomtoattendworkshops,readinggroups,andtalksin
numerousHarvarddepartments,whichhelpedexpandmytheoreticaland
philosophical range. I am immensely grateful for the generosity of John
Hamilton, Gordon Teskey, and Jamey Graham, whose friendship
I cherish. The Harvard Department of the Classics in general, and
GregoryNagyandDavidElmerinparticular,providedasuperbresource
throughout.
I would especially like to thank each of my world-class UCSB col-
leagues, with a further debt of kharis for those who gave feedback on
chapters, namely Francis Dunn, Dorota Dutsch, Brice Erickson, and
Emilio Capettini. Other colleagues and friends to whom I am deeply
obliged for support, intense intellectual exchanges, and sharing work are
Dan-el Padilla Peralta, Helen Morales, Daniel Markovic, Rosa Andújar,
AlexanderLoney,andJoshuaBillings.SimonGoldhill’sSophoclescourse
during a visiting semester at Princeton and his sophisticated writing on
tragedy were an additional inspiration for this book. There are too many
otherteachers,colleagues,andstudentstothankbyname,butIhopeIam
abletoexpressgratitudeinpersonortopasstheirkindnessalongtoothers.
The UCSB Regents and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, run
bySusanDerwin,havegenerouslyawardedfellowshipsthatenabledmeto
completethisbook.IamgreatlyindebtedtoMichaelSharpforhelpwith
everyaspectofpublicationandtotheanonymousreviewersatCambridge
for their precise and positive feedback. I thank the American Journal of
Philology and its editor, David H. J. Larmour, for permission to use my
2018article,“TheGhostofClytemnestraintheEumenides:EthicalClaims
BeyondHumanLimits”(AJP139(4):533–76),arevisedversionofwhichis
Chapter6ofthisbook.
Fortheirsupportthroughoutthesetimesofturmoil,mygratitudetomy
family and friends defies expression. Three of my philoi deserve final
recognition, having improved dozens of drafts over many years: my part-
ner, Maren Lange, for joy, grace, immense patience, perspective, nimble
conversation,andunstintingsupport;myaunt,NancyFelson,forinspir-
ing me to take up Classics, homophrosynē, and boundless intellectual
generosity;andfinally,myfather,SteveFelson,whosemotto,“let’srethink
this,”encapsulatesalifetime’sworthofincisivecritique.
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108963862.001 Published online by Cambridge University Press