The Thebaid
Page 55
1.720:Mithras The sun god of the Persians. Roman Mithraism was one of the mystery cults, confined to men, with secret rites and stages for devotees to pass. Statius alludes to the tauroctony: represented in art, Mithras kneels on the back of a bull and looks away as he kills it. The cult spread through the Roman Empire, starting in the second half of the first century. It included a form of baptism, a ceremonial meal, and ordeals.
Book 2. Ambush
2.71:That day The Bacchanalia, or Dionysia, were festivals held in honor of Bacchus at various times of the year. They provided an opportunity for drunkenness and frivolity in the form of dances and plays; but by Statius’s day, they had a reputation of promoting criminal behavior and sexual deviance. This celebration contrasts with the Argive festival in honor of Apollo in book 1.
2.82:Bistonians A Thracian tribe
2.85:Iacchus One of the mystical names for Bacchus (cf. Met. 4.15); poetic for wine
2.163:Pharaeans Pharae was a town in Thessaly.
2.166:the Pisan father’s chariot An allusion to the chariot race between Pelops and Oenomaus, king of Pisa and father of Hippodamia. After Oenomaus heard a prophecy that he would be killed by his son-in-law, he tried to prevent his daughter’s marriage. When many suitors approached him, he declared that he would hold a contest whereby any man who could defeat him in a race would win Hippodamia (the losers would be beheaded). Pelops bribed Oenomaus’s charioteer, who removed a pin from the chariot so it would break down in the midst of the race. Oenomaus was thrown from the chariot and died. Adrastus seems oblivious to the baleful significance of his allusion.
2.179:in Sicyon Adrastus himself had been an exile in Sicyon, where he became king before being readmitted to Argos; according to Lactantius, the Argives asked him to rule because his lenient nature would tame their barbaric customs.
2.184:Mycenae’s crimes That is, misbehavior that occurred in Mycenae, one of the oldest Greek cities. According to Greek myths, Thyestes slept with Atreus’s wife and deceived his brother into killing his own son; Atreus (the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus) murdered Thyestes’ sons and served their flesh to him in a banquet. Atreus then forced Thyestes into exile. Seneca’s Thyestes, a Roman play, was a favorite source of revenge plays like Hamlet.
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2.185:Elis The western portion of the Peloponnesus (cf. Met. 2.679)
2.217–22:so skillfully was it conceived The following ecphrasis (the literary convention of describing a painting or sculpture) consists of a sketchy genealogy of the kings of Argos. Inachus is depicted with his son Phoroneus and grandson Iasius. Danaus was made king after taking refuge in Argos with his fifty daughters; he ordered the women to kill their husbands, his nephews, who had ousted him from his kingdom in Libya. Abas, Danaus’s grandson, was the twelfth king of Argos. His son Acrisius was the father of Danaë, whom Jupiter raped when he appeared to her as a shower of gold. See Met. 4.604. Coroebus may refer to the hero whose story is told in book 1.
2.237:fierce sister Diana, goddess of the moon and the hunt, patroness of virginity, who is identified with the Greek Artemis
2.239: from Cynthus and from Aracynthus Cynthus is a mountain of Delos, birthplace of Apollo and Diana (see Met. 2.221); Aracynthus is a mountain in Aetolia, south of Thessaly, between Boeotia and Attica.
2.268–96:this gift The necklace of Harmonia, a symbol of treachery, brought misfortune to all who owned it. The striking description of this piece of jewelry includes various references to harbingers of doom (such as Medusa and the Golden Fleece). Statius’s digression gives him the opportunity to allude to the miseries of the Theban women who were cursed by the ornament. Lemnos is the island where Vulcan kept his forge. The Telchines were members of a race descended from Neptune; they excelled in brass work; see Met. 7.365. The mournful fruit refers to the golden apples of the Hesperides, which were guarded for Juno by a hundred-headed serpent. The cestus was the girdle of Venus, imbued with her powers of seduction. The passage describes the effects of the necklace on several of its owners. Harmonia and Cadmus were turned into snakes, though not apparently as a direct result of the necklace (see Met. 4.582). Their daughter Semele (mother of Bacchus) died when, at Juno’s urging, she asked to see Jupiter in his full glory (see Met. 3.259–315). Jocasta’s misfortunes continue through the epic.
2.299:The wife Eriphyle, Amphiaraus’s wife, coveted Argia’s necklace and devised a plot to obtain it (see 4.190–212). Amphiaraus reluctantly participated in the war on Thebes, losing his life in the bargain; Alcmaeon, his son, eventually avenged his death by killing Eriphyle. Like Orestes, Alcmaeon was driven mad by the Furies because of his impiety. See Met. 9.403–17, where Themis mentions the war against Thebes.
2.421:Geloni A northern Scythian tribe, from modern Ukraine
2.563–64:Pholus . . . Lapiths The Centaurs and Lapithae, both races descended from Ixion, were mortal enemies due to a dispute over rights to their progenitor’s kingdom. The simile seems to refer to the drunken brawl that started up at the wedding of Pirithoüs (Ixion’s son and leader of the Lapithae) and Hippodamia (see Met. 12.210ff.). The centaur Pholus derives from a story tangential to the fourth labor of Hercules (see Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4).
2.574–75:Halys/and Phaedimus These characters appear to be Statius’s creation.
2.596:Briareus Briareus, also called Aegaeon, was one of the three Uranidae, sons of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth). They were hundred-armed giants who tried to
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overthrow the Olympian gods in a war waged in Thrace (Phlegra). Homer mentions the battle in the first book of the Iliad (see also Aeneid 6.287 and Met. 2.10). 2:598:Pelethronium A district in Thessaly inhabited by the Lapiths and Centaurs 2:599:Pyracmon One of the Cyclopes (see Aeneid 8.425)
2.629–43:Thespiadae The brothers, from the town of Thespiae in Boeotia, at the southeastern foot of Helicon, die in each other’s arms, an emblem of fraternal piety; the scene ironically foreshadows and contrasts the deaths of Polynices and Eteocles at each other’s hands.
2.666:Celenaean Celaenae was a town in Phrygia where Marsyas competed with Apollo on the flute.
2.684:Tritonian maiden Triton was a river and lake in African near the Lesser Syrtes where, according to some myths, Minerva was born. The goddess of handiwork, Minerva was identified with the Greek goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athena. The places Tydeus mentions when he prays to her after the battle were sacred to Minerva. Itone, a town in Boeotia, had a sanctuary to her.
2.693:Maeon Homer depicts Maeon as grateful for having been spared by Tydeus (Iliad 4); that tradition indicates that Maeon later buried Tydeus out of respect (Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.18).
Book 3. Omens
3.34–35:Tethys drove Hyperion Tethys was goddess of the sea and mother of the sea nymphs and river gods (see Met. 2.509). She and Hyperion, father of the Sun (Met. 4.192), but here identified with the sun, were children of Gaea (Earth), according to an early tradition recorded by Hesiod, Theogony.3.88:he thrust Statius invented Maeon’s suicide; the eulogy that follows has no source.
3.106:Dodona’s sacred grove/and Cirrha’s prophetess Dodona, a city of Epirus, where the oracle delivered prophecies interpreted from the rustling of leaves (see Met. 13.716). Cirrha is a town in Phocis devoted to Apollo; Cirrha’s prophetess is probably a figure of speech for the Delphic oracle.
3.134:twins The Thespians whom Tydeus killed (2.629)
3.168:mingle your precious ashes in one urn Ide’s prayer anticipates the mutual funeral pyre of Polynices and Eteocles in book 12. The translation reflects a possible pun on urnaand una (one).
3.178–213:Aletes recounts the misfortunes of the house of Cadmus; Ovid relates the stories of Cadmus, Semele, Athamas, Pentheus, Niobe, and Actaeon in the Met. 3, 4, and 6. Statius has alluded to all these myths at least once prior to Aletes’ narrative.
3.205:queen According to later commentators (cf. Apollodorus, Library 3.5.5), Dirce,
the wife of the Theban prince Lycus, was either thrown into a fountain or metamorphosed into it on account of her cruelty to Antiopa, her husband’s former wife, whom she tied to the neck of a bull.
3.227:Sarmatia Area controlled by a Slavic people; modern Poland and Russia. This passage may allude to Domitian’s recent campaign against the Dacians.
3.274–75:Lemnos . . . Vulcan Deceived by his wife Venus and Mars, Vulcan devised a net to
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catch the lovers in the act (see Met. 4.167–89). Vulcan was born on the island of Lemnos (cf. Met. 13.313).
3.319:Othrys . . . Ossa Mountains in Thessaly, according to Virgil (Aeneid 7.675), but Statius locates Othrys in Thrace (4.655).
3.353:Bebrycian woods In Bithynia, a district in Asia Minor
3.381:by which he tried their hearts Polynices’ manipulative behavior puts him on a par with the rabble-rousers in Thebes and implies that, despite the wrong he has suffered, he is not morally superior to Eteocles.
3.410:Nereus . . . Hours Nereus was an ancient sea god, one of the Titans. The Hours were three daughters of Zeus and Thetis; they were associated with the passing of the seasons and other divisions of time.
3.422:Therapnae Taenarus, Nemea, and Therapnae (the birthplace of Helen and her brothers Castor and Pollux, in Laconia; cf. 7.793) were towns and regions surrounding Argos.
3.438:Cyclades Islands including Myconos and Gyaros near Delos in the Aegean Sea. Delos had been a floating island until Neptune fixed it to the neighboring islands so that Leto could safely give birth to her twins Apollo and Diana.
3.462:Aphesas A mountain near Nemea. After his successes in northern Africa, Perseus returns to Argos and uses the Gorgon to defeat Proetus (see Met. 5.236ff.). Perseus’s mother was Danaë.
3.474–76:Cirrha . . . Chaonian See note to 3.106. Chaonia is another name for Epirus and the Molossi were people who lived in the eastern part of Epirus. Amphiaraus refers to various means of prophecy; he prefers augury, the study of the flights of birds.
3.481:Dictaean Poetic for Cretan, from a mountain named Dicte, where Jupiter was concealed in a cave to save him from his father Saturn
3.476–80: Amphiaraus lists a number of famous oracles of various gods. Ammon, in Africa, held an oracle near a temple where Jupiter was worshiped. Lycia, a region of Asia Minor, housed an oracle of Apollo at Patara. The sacred ox refers to the Egyptian Apis, represented as a bull, who had a shrine at Memphis, in Egypt. Branchidae, on the coast of Ionia, housed the oracle of Apollo Didymeus, established by Apollo’s son Branchus, according to Lactantius (gloss to Thebaid 8.199–200). Mount Lycaon, in Arcadia, was sacred to Pan (cf. Met. 1.217; Aeneid 8.344). This list acts as an invocation of sorts.
3.513:god of Thymbra Apollo, who had a temple in Troas at Thymbra (cf. Aeneid 3.85)
3.547:know all too well Amphiaraus sees an omen of his own death.
3.557–59:entrails . . . horrors in Thessaly Statius refers to various means of prophecy: haruspices (the reading of entrails of sacrificial animals), augury, astrology, and witchcraft.
3.595–96:Enceladus . . . Pelorus Enceladus was a giant who attempted to overthrow the gods; Jupiter killed him and buried him under Mount Aetna (cf. Aeneid 3.578). Pelorus is the northeast corner of Sicily.
3.598:Excited Capaneus moved Capaneus takes on the role of rabble-rouser in this passage, as the crowd’s response to his speeches implies. His disdain for the gods assures his death.
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3.683:Thessander The son of Polynices went on to lead the sons (the Epigoni) of the seven leaders of the Argive army on a second siege of Thebes. Their venture was successful; the citizens of Thebes fled, and Thessander gained the throne. He later died en route to Troy with Agamemnon, according to Pausanias (Description of Greece 9.5.14). Virgil includes a Thessander among the Greeks hiding in the Trojan horse (Aeneid 2.261).
Book 4. Thirst
4.6:Bellona Goddess of war and sister of Mars, who is more personification than deity at this point in the narrative. She represents the spirit of warfare that grips the city of Argos in the wake of Capaneus’s call to arms.
4.32–186: What follows is a catalog of arms, a standard epic device. Statius describes the troops of the seven heroes. Each leader of the Argive army is singled out for recognition; each has some distinctive (and often symbolic) insignia or armor. Ovid gives a somewhat similar catalog of Theban allies (Met. 6.412–20).
4.43:Arion Fabled offspring of Neptune and Ceres, a war horse known for his swiftness. He leads Polynices’ chariot in the funeral games in book 6 and helps Adrastus escape Thebes at the end of the war; he also talks, like the steed of Achilles at the end of Iliad19, an example of what Aristotle in the Poetics called an acceptable marvel, a probable impossibility.
4.44–48:Prosymna . . . Thyrea Statius identifies neighboring towns in Argolis that enlist to fight the war. The Spartans had captured Thyrea (a town on the border between Argolis and Laconia) from Argos in the seventh century b.c., but they were eventually overthrown by the Thebans (who were supported by the Argives and Arcadians) in a siege led by Epaminondas in the fourth century. As a result of this conflict, the Spartans lost supremacy over Greece, and Thebes became the dominant force of Greece for a brief time.
4.50:Sicyon Town in northern Argolis where Adrastus was king, known for its olive oil. See note to 2.179.
4.53–58:they say The story appears to be Statius’s invention. He once again alludes to the crimes of various families: the houses of Atreus (Mycenae) and Cadmus (Thebes), and the Thracian people under King Lycurgus, who was cursed by Bacchus for his insolence; the god put him into a Bacchic frenzy during which he inadvertently killed his own son (Apollodorus, Library 3.5.1).
4.60:the river that inspires poets A reference to the Pirene, a spring in the citadel of Corinth that bubbled up when Pegasus struck his foot on a rock. Corinth’s Mount Helicon, near the harbor, was sacred to the gods, particularly the muses, who were responsible for poetic inspiration.
4.69:some great bull Statius uses an apt simile to describe the old warlord.
4.80:Adrastus gave/his son-in-law Because Polynices wages war against his own homeland, he has no cities from which he can tap soldiers. Adrastus gives him command of troops from these cities. Troezen, in southeast Argolis, was the birthplace of Theseus; it was named after one of the sons of Pelops.
4.87:a sphinx The figure on the handle of Polynices’ sword calls to mind the plague on Thebes before Oedipus’s arrival; the image does not appear to portend victory.
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4.101ff.:Aetolia Tydeus’s home province, north of the Gulf of Corinth. Pleuron has special significance as the place where Meleager’s sisters were turned into guinea hens as they grieved their brother’s death (Met. 8.526ff.). The grim-visaged river is the Achelous, where Hercules wrestled the river god in its manifestation as a bull. The hero removed one of Achelous’s horns, which the Naiads turned into the Cornucopia. Statius imitates Ovid’s description of Achelous’s dejection (Met. 9.81–88).
4.118:Achaean rivers The numerous references to rivers in the catalog of Hippomedon’s troops foreshadow the means of his death. The rivers Lyrcius, Inachus, Asterion, and Erasinos are all in Argolis.
4.124:Enna Town in central Sicily where Proserpina was picking flowers when Pluto carried her off: “that fair field/of Enna, where Proserpin gath’ring flow’rs/ Herself a fairer Flow’r by gloomy Dis/Was gather’d” (Milton, Paradise Lost 4.268–270; cf. Met. 5.385).
4.127:Nestor The old warrior who counseled the Greeks in the Iliad. Neleus refused to purify Hercules for a murder the hero had committed, and Hercules took vengeance by killing all his sons but Nestor.
4.133:the night of Danaus Hippomedon’s shield depicts the story of the Danaïds (see note to
2.217); the image suggests the guilt that still hangs over Argos due to the massacre.
4.137:War terrified h
is steed According to the ancient glossator Lactantius, the steed is terrified because it is new to war.
4.140:Hylaeus A centaur who tried to rape Atalanta (cf. Aeneid 8.294). According to Lactantius, the phrase “both his chests” refers to his human and his equine chests.
4.158:Oete Mount Oete, the site of Hercules’ death and apotheosis (see Met. 9.159–272)
4.160:Molorchus A poor tender of vines, at whose home outside of Nemea (in Cleonae) Hercules stayed prior to completing his first labor (cf. Statius’s Silvae 3.1.29)
4.169:Hydra The ecphrastic representation of the Lernaean Hydra, one of Hercules’s labors, makes for a daunting introduction of the fierce Capaneus.
4.178–82:the troops assigned Messenia was the southwest province of the Peloponnesian peninsula; Messene, at the foot of Mount Ithome, was its capital. Amphigenia, Helos, Pteleon, Dorion, Thyron, and Aepy are all towns mentioned in Homer’s catalog of Nestor’s troops in the second book of the Iliad.4.183–86:Thamyris . . . Marsyas Statius provides two examples of impiety toward the gods. Thamyris, a Thracian singer, challenged the Muses to a contest. He lost, and for his impertinence, the Muses blinded him and deprived him of his musical skills; see Ovid’s Ars Amatoria 3.399. Marsyas, a skilled flute player, challenged Apollo to a contest between his flute and the god’s lyre. The Muses judged in favor of Apollo, who flayed Marsyas alive; the tears shed for him by the satyrs and nymphs collected into a river which took his name (Met. 6.382–400). See also the note to 1.709.
4.190:The ruses of his wife Eriphyle. See 2.268 for references to those cursed by the necklace.
4.223:Amyclae The Laconian town where the beautiful Hyacinthus, loved by Apollo, was accidentally killed by a discus thrown by the god. The remorseful Apollo turned the young man into a flower (Met. 10.162–66) The myth foreshadows the honor that Apollo will bestow on Amphiaraus.