View from Vanishing Point

Abstract

This paper explores the aspects of mortal temporal awareness which Eteocles reveals as he struggles with the paradox that we have epistemic access to the past but not to the future. His rejection of divine assistance and his attempt to shape strategy and control future events have particular resonance for contemporary Athens where control of muthos and kairos was increasingly viewed as key to determining the future of the polis. The Pindaric model of the myth in Pythian 8 bolsters oligarchic tradition, while Aeschylus suggests a new strategic model for the evolving democratic meta-city. Through analysis of critical moments, imagery and Aeschylus’ stylistic use of tense and mood, we see how Eteocles follows a linguistic trajectory which articulates his psychological journey and highlights the spatio-temporal dynamics of the play.

Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus

“…Yet even as he comes to his fullest realization of the threat before him, he still 58. Foster 2017, 156-57; see also Griffiths 2014, 748. See Uhlig 2019, for the temporal complexities of Pythian 8.…”

“…7. Foster 2017Griffiths 2014;Herington 1984;Kurke 2013;Nagy 2000;Sailor and Stroup 1999, 160-71;Steiner 2010;Swift 2010, 104-72. On the generic interactions between lyric and tragedy more generally, see Andújar, Coward, and Hadjimichael 2018. On identifying and conceptualizing "genre" in Archaic Greek poetry, see Davies 1988;Ford 2006;Harvey 1955;Nicholson 2016, 29-30, 46-50, 51-52;Silk 2013. Pindar's Fragment 128c (Sn.-M.) lists several types of songs, suggesting the poet's awareness of poetic genre and function, as he describes the "seasonableness" of paeans (Ford 2006, 292).…”