Telamonian Ajax: The Myth in Archaic and Classical Greece

298 Pages·2021·6.141 MB·English

by  Sophie Marianne Bocksberger

OXFORD CLASSICAL MONOGRAPHS
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Telamonian Ajax
The Myth in Archaic and Classical Greece
SOPHIE MARIANNE BOCKSBERGER
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Acknowledgements
The debts I owe for the making of this book are far too numerous to be
comprehensively listed here. I hope that everyone who has contributed to it
alreadyknowshowgratefulIamfortheirhelpandsupport.Idecidedinsteadto
use this space to trace back the path that led to the achievement of this book in
order to explain how my work on Ajax came to life, and what influenced my
thoughtsmostdeeply.
The seeds that sprouted and grew to become this monograph on Telamonian
Ajax wereplantedalongtime ago.They started with thelongwalksItookwith
my father as a child, walks that I would not tolerate without complaint unless
entertained by his fascinating stories about historical figures or events. My
father—himself a teacher of ancient Greek—gave me a taste for genealogies,
history, and mythology, made me attentive to questions of causation, interpret-
ation, and language, and most importantly sparked my interest for research by
describinghisinnovativeideasandteachingmetoquestionconsensus.
When I studied at the University of Lausanne, I had the chance to follow the
lectures and seminars of Claude Sandoz (historical linguistics), and François
Zufferey (Gallo-Roman philology). I will be forever grateful to both professors
for teaching me to think about language and ideas both synchronically and
diachronically, and to keep both perspectives present in my mind at the same
time. Moreover, the rigour they displayed in their own research, and the most
interestingresultstheyachievedthroughit,madeadeepimpressiononme.They
setmeabenchmarktowhichIhaveaspiredeversince.
At the occasion of a seminar on the Iliad led by David Bouvier, I noticed a
passageinthepoemthatintriguedmebecauseIwasreadingSophocles’Ajaxand
ponderingabout Ajax’s reason for refusingAthena’s help. InBook Ε,Diomedes
severely criticizes Hector for his reliance on the support of gods and even
questionshisworthasawarrior,althoughDiomedeshimselfhasjustbeenhelped
by Athena in an extraordinary manner. She not only healed Diomedes’ deadly
wounds, fought Aphrodite alongside him, but also drew away from his eyes the
cloud(ἀχλύς)thatpreventstheeyesofmortalsfromperceivingthegods.Ithought
I was onto something: the myth of Ajax was somehow concerned with the
questionofmerit.SincecertainpassagesintheIliadsuggestedthattheassistance
ofgodsonthebattlefieldcouldcallintoquestionheroicvalour,Ajax’srejectionof
Athena’shelpinSophocles’Ajaxhadperhapsmuchearlierroots.Thisseemedto
beanentirelynovelideawhichcouldshednewlightonTelamonianAjax,andso
Idecidedtopursuedoctoralstudiesinordertoexploretheissue.
viii 
ThankstothegenerosityoftheFondationSophieAfenduli,Ispentasemester
at UCL, London where I was taught by Fiona Macintosh. I was then awarded a
one-year research fellowship to study at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.
There,Imetawelcomingcommunityofincrediblydedicatedscholarswhosework
andpassionIfoundimmenselystimulating.Ihadalsotheopportunitytopresent
some of my work at Glenn Most’s research seminar, and received invaluable
feedback which helped me trim and shape further the branches of my doctoral
project.
Thanks to the generous support of the Berrow Fondation, the Swiss National
Fund, and the Fondation Théodore Lagonico, I was able to pursue my doctoral
studiesatLincolnCollege,Oxford,amostintellectuallyinvigoratingplacewhose
hospitable and nurturing climate enabled my ideas to grow and flourish.
I benefited from the advice of Bruno Currie, Christopher Pelling, Simon
Hornblower, and Gregory Hutchinson at various stages of examination. I am
most grateful to Adrian Kelly and Eric Csapo, my examiners, for reading and
engaging with my thesis so thoroughly. Their intelligence, erudition,and enthu-
siasm turned my viva into one of the most thrilling discussion I have ever had.
IhadtheimmenseprivilegetobesupervisedbyFelixBudelmannwhoseguidance
andexpertisehavebeeninvaluable.Iamverythankfulforhissupport,hisextreme
generosity with his time, and for the detailed criticisms and suggestions he gave
methroughoutthewriting ofmydoctorate.Ihave learnt agreatdealfrom him,
and hope that I have succeeded in emulating his outstanding intellectual clarity
andhisrigour.
Afterreceivingmydoctoratein2016,IhaveworkedatSomerville,Brasenose,
andWorcesterCollegewhereIhavebeenblessedwiththebestcolleaguesIcould
everhavedreamtof.ScottScullionadvisedmethroughouttheprocessofturning
my doctorate into this monograph. His input has been invaluable, and his
encouragementscrucial. In 2018, the Swiss National Fund allowed me to stay at
Centre for Classical and Near Eastern Studies of Australia at the University of
Sydney, while since 2019 the Humboldt Fellowship and Susanne Gödde have
enabledmetojointheInstitutfürReligionswissenschaftattheFreieUniversitätin
Berlin.Inbothplaces,Ihavemetamostwelcominganddynamiccommunityof
scholars.Iwouldliketothankeveryonefortheirsupport,interestinmyresearch,
stimulatingdiscussions,andkindness.
List of Figures
1.1 LinearBtabletfromCnossos. 17
1.2 DetailfromafriezeinAkrotiri,Thera(miniaturefrieze,northwall,west
house,room5);c.sixteenthcentury. 21
1.3 The‘lionhunt’dagger;foundingraveshaftIV,Mycenae;c.sixteenth
century. 21
1.4 Mycenaeanwarriorcarvedonanivoryplaquefoundinthefoundation
depositofthetempleofArtemis(c.seventhcentury)inDelos.Theartefact
itselfdatesfrombetweenthefourteenthandthethirteenthcenturies. 23
1.5 WarriorwithaBoeotianshieldheldonhisbackwithatelamon;bronze
figurine;Karditsa(Thessaly);c.700. 24
1.6 Wall-reliefsofSennacherib’spalaceinNineveh;700–692. 24
1.7 TerracottafromCyprus;600–480. 25
1.8 Atticamphora;c.525. 35
1.9 ThesuicideofAjax.Sandstone.MetopefromthetempleofHerain
Paestum;middleofthesixthcentury. 39
1.10 Protocorinthianἀρύβαλλος;earlyseventhcentury. 40
1.11 CorinthianκρατήρfromCaere;c.600. 42
1.12 Chalcidianamphoranowlost;550/540. 43
1.13 TerracottamouldfromLemnos;secondhalfoftheseventhcentury. 49
1.14 BronzeshieldbandfromOlympia;secondhalfoftheseventhcentury. 49
1.15 TerracottarelieffromTarento;middleoftheseventhcentury. 51
1.16 StampontheneckofanamphorafoundinPithecusaefromc.700. 52
1.17 IvorysealfromPerachora;lateeighthcentury. 52
1.18 AtticκύλιξfromVulci;c.560. 53
1.19 AtticamphorafromVulci;c.540. 54
1.20 Atticamphora;c.510. 55
1.21 AthenianamphorafromEtruria,Cerveteri(?);575/525.
Beazleynumber:310064,Karlsruhe,BadischesLandesmuseum,B2423. 55
1.22 Atticὄλπη;550–500.Oxford,AshmoleanMuseum:1885.623(V.224). 61
1.23 FragmentofaCorinthianλήκυθοςfromThebes;600–575. 65
1.24 Corinthianκύλιξ;c.580. 65
2.1 DetailfromwestpedimentofAphaeatempleonAegina. 92
xii   
2.2 DetailfromeastpedimentofAphaeatempleonAegina. 92
2.3 AtticπελίκηfromEtruria;520–490. 137
3.1 Detailfromthe‘TheFrançoisvase’;Atticvoluteκρατήρ;570/560. 148
3.2 Atticκύλιξ;c.540. 149
3.3 AtticamphorafromVulci;c.510. 150
3.4 AtticamphorafromVulci;c.520/510. 151
3.5 AtticamphorabyExekiasfromVulci;c.535–530. 151
3.6 Atticστάμνος;c.490/480. 154
3.7 Atticκύλιξ;between490and475. 169
3.8 Atticκύλιξ;between490and475. 169
3.9 =versoofFig.3.7. 170
3.10 =versoofFig.3.8. 170
3.11 =tondoofFig.3.7. 173
3.12 =tondoofFig.3.8. 174
4.1 Bronzefigurine;endofeighthcentury. 217