Round trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean tradition: visits to the underworld from antiquity to Byzantium

416 Pages·2018·5.43 MB·English

by  Ekroth Gunnel

Round Trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition
Cultural Interactions in
the Mediterranean
Editor in Chief
Floris van den Eijnde, Utrecht University
Editorial Board
David Abulafia, Cambridge University
Diederik Burgersdijk, Radboud University
Volume 2
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/c im
Round Trip to Hades in the
Eastern Mediterranean Tradition
Visits to the Underworld from Antiquity to Byzantium
Edited by
Gunnel Ekroth and Ingela Nilsson
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Entrance wall with Last Judgment, detail (damned on the right), Cathedral (Santa Maria
Assunta), Island of Torcello. ©Photo, SCALA, Florence, 2018.
The Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available online at http:// catalog.loc.gov
LC record available at http:// lccn.loc.gov/2018033025
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill.” See and download: brill.com/ brill-t ypeface.
ISSN 2405- 4771
ISBN 978-90-04-37266-5 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-37596-3 (e- book)
Copyright 2018 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of Figures and Tables viii
Notes on Contributors xii
1 Round Trip to Hades: An Introductory Tour 1
Gunnel Ekroth and Ingela Nilsson
2 Travels to the Beyond: A Guide 11
Fritz Graf
3 Hades, Homer and the Hittites: The Cultic- Cultural Context
of Odysseus’ ‘Round Trip’ to the Underworld 37
Gunnel Ekroth
4 Divine Bondage and Katabaseis in Hesiod’s Theogony 57
Ivana Petrovic and Andrej Petrovic
5 Introducing Oneself in Hades: Two ‘Orphic’ Formulas
Reconsidered 82
Scott Scullion
6 Pathein and Mathein in the Descents to Hades 103
Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui
7 From Alkestis to Archidike: Thessalian Attitudes to Death and the
Afterlife 124
Sofia Kravaritou and Maria Stamatopoulou
8 Round Trip to Hades: Herakles’ Advice and Directions 163
Annie Verbanck- Piérard
9 Hades in Hellenistic Philosophy (The Early Academy and Stoicism) 194
Adrian Mihai
10 Following the Dead to the Underworld: An Archaeological
Approach to Graeco-R oman Death Oracles 215
Wiebke Friese
vi Contents
11 The Sounds of Katabasis: Bellowing, Roaring, and Hissing
at the Crossing of Impervious Boundaries 240
Pierre Bonnechere
12 Down There and Back Again: Variations on the Katabasis
Theme in Lucian 260
Heinz- Günther Nesselrath
13 From Hades to Hell: Christian Visions of the Underworld
(2nd– 5th centuries CE) 273
Zissis. D. Ainalis
14 The Virgin in Hades 287
Thomas Arentzen
15 Why did Hades Become Beautiful in Byzantine Art? 304
Henry Maguire
16 Hades Meets Lazarus: The Literary Katabasis in Twelfth- Century
Byzantium 322
Ingela Nilsson
17 “Heaven for Climate, Hell for Company”: Byzantine Satirical
Katabaseis 342
Przemysław Marciniak
18 Many (Un)Happy Returns: Ancient Greek Concepts of a Return
from Death and Their Later Counterparts 356
Sarah Iles Johnston
19 Epilogue: Below the Tree of Life 370
Eric Cullhed and Sigrid Schottenius Cullhed
Index 385
Acknowledgements
The present volume goes back to a conference held at Uppsala University, 9–
12 October 2014, under the title Round Trip to Hades: Visits to the Underworld
in the Eastern Mediterranean Tradition. The conference was organized in
collaboration between the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History
and the Department of Linguistics and Philology, and generously financed by
The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (Riksbankens
Jubileumsfond), Kungliga Humanistiska Vetenskapssamfundet i Uppsala and
Helge Ax:son Johnssons Stiftelse. The aim of the conference was to explore
the theme of the visit to the Underworld as broadly as possible and to bring
together scholars working not only on different periods of the Greek tradition
(from Homer to Byzantium), but also on different kinds of material (such as
literature, inscriptions, material culture, art and music). We wanted to create
fruitful discussions among philologists, archaeologists, and art historians to
offer a wider interdisciplinary and comparative perspective.
Not all papers presented at the conference are included in the present vol-
ume, and some of the contributors did not attend the meeting at Uppsala. The
call for papers and the conference remain, though, the source of inspiration
for the majority of articles, and we would therefore like to thank all those who
were present in Uppsala and contributed to the interesting and stimulating
discussions. We are grateful also to those contributors who agreed to join the
volume at a later stage, making the final product as comprehensive and inter-
esting as we find it to be.
A heartfelt thanks goes to Adam Goldwyn for taking on the task of proof-
reading the entire volume in its final stage of production and to Floris van
den Eijnde who encouraged us to submit the manuscript to the newly started
Cultural Interactions in the Mediterranean series published by Brill.
It is our hope and belief that this volume and the conference from which it
originated are only the beginning of more extensive collaborations between
our respective fields of research, in Uppsala and internationally.
Gunnel Ekroth and Ingela Nilsson
Paris, 31 October 2017
Figures and Tables
Figures
3.1 Odysseus meets the shade of Elpenor. Attic red- figure pelike in Boston,
Museum of Fine Art, inv. no. 1934.79, by the Lycaon Painter, c. 440 bce.
Photograph: © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 45
3.2 Odysseus consults the shade of Teiresias by means of the blood from
two slaughtered sheep. Lucanian red- figure kalyx krater in the Cabinet
des Médailles in Paris, by Dolon Painter, c. 400– 375 bce. Source: From
A. Furtwängler and K. Reichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei, vol. 1, Munich
1900, pl. 60.1. 46
7.1 Map of Thessaly showing the sites mentioned in the text.
Source: M. Kopsacheili. 125
7.2 Plan of Pherai. Adapted from P. Arachoviti, “θολωτόσ πρωτογεωμετρικόσ
τάφοσ στην περιοχή των φερών”, in «θεσσαλία»: δεκαπέντε χρόνια αρχαιολογικήσ
έρευνασ (1975– 1990). aποτελέσματα και προοπτικέσ, πρακτικά διεθνούσ
συνεδρίου, λυών 1990, vol. 2, Athens 1994, 127, Fig. 1. 133
7.3 Gold leaf from the northern cemetery of Pherai in Athens, National
Archaeological Museum X1130. Photograph: M. Stamatopoulou. 136
7.4 Gold leaf from the cemetery of Pelinna. Photograph: Courtesy of the
Ephorate of Antiquities of Larisa. 137
7.5 Grave stele of Archidike from Demetrias. Athanasakeion Archaeological
Museum of Volos, Λ20. Photograph: Dai Athens. 143
7.6 Grave stele of Dikaios and Philista from Atrax. Larisa Archaeological
Museum 78/ 59. Photograph: Courtesy of the Ephorate of Antiquities of
Larisa. 145
7.7 Detail of the grave stele of Dikaios and Philista from Atrax. Larisa
Archaeological Museum 78/ 59. Photograph: Courtesy of the Ephorate of
Antiquities of Larisa. 146
7.8 View from the Thymarakia tumulus towards the southeast. Photograph:
M. Stamatopoulou. 150
7.9 Plan of Grave 12 of the Thymarakia tumulus. After V. Adrymi-
Sismani, “Τύμβος, Φερών”, Athens Annals of Archaeology 16, 1983,
28, Plan 4. 151
7.10 Finds from the cover slab of the cist tomb of the Pelinna tumulus.
Photograph: Courtesy of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Larisa. 152
Figures and Tables ix
7.11 B lack- glaze bowl with incised egg- motif on the body from the cover slab of
the cist tomb of the Pelinna tumulus. Photograph: Courtesy of the Ephorate
of Antiquities of Larisa. 152
8.1 Attic black- figure neck- amphora, c. 520 bce. Brussels, Royal Museums
of Art and History, inv. R 300. Attributed to the Circle of the Antimenes
Painter (Group of Würzburg 199). Source: © Musées Royaux D’art et
D’histoire de Bruxelles. 172
8.2a Vulci, Necropoli dell’Osteria. ‘Tomba A9/ 1998 del Kottabos’ during the
excavation. Source: © Su Concessione Del Ministero Dei Beni E Delle
Attività Culturali E Del Turismo – Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti
E Paesaggio Per L’area Metropolitana Di Roma, La Provincia Di Viterbo E
L’etruria Meridionale. 174
8.2b Attic black- figure hydria, c. 510 bce. Rome, Museo di Villa
Giulia, inv. 131422. Attributed to the Priam Painter. Source: © Su
Concessione Del Ministero Dei Beni E Delle Attività Culturali E Del
Turismo – Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti E Paesaggio Per
L’area Metropolitana Di Roma, La Provincia Di Viterbo E L’etruria
Meridionale. 175
8.2c Attic black- figure neck- amphora, c. 510– 500 bce. Rome, Museo di
Villa Giulia, inv. 131423. Attributed to the Leagros Group. Source:
© Su Concessione Del Ministero Dei Beni E Delle Attività Culturali
E Del Turismo – Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti E Paesaggio
Per L’area Metropolitana Di Roma, La Provincia Di Viterbo E L’etruria
Meridionale. 176
8.3 Apulian red- figure volute- krater, 330– 320 bce. Munich,
Antikensammlung, inv. 3297. Attributed to the Underworld Painter.
From A. Furtwängler And K. Reichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei, vol. 1,
Munich 1900, Pl. 10 (With Highlighted Blue Lines And Text By A. &
S. Verbanck). 177
8.4 Apulian red- figure volute- krater, 350– 340 bce. Karlsruhe, Badisches
Landesmuseum, inv. B4. Attributed to the Circle of the Lycurgus
Painter. Source: © Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Photo: Thomas
Goldschmidt. 178
8.5 Bronze shield band relief, 575– 560 bce. Olympia, Museum. From E. Kunze,
Archaische Schildbänder, Berlin 1950, 112, Beil. 7, 4. 181
8.6 Attic red- figure bell- krater, c. 380 bce. Athens, Kanellopoulos Museum,
188. Attributed to the Manner of the Jena Painter. Source: © Dea/ G. Dagli
Orti – Getty Images. 185