Poine: a study in ancient Greek blood-vengeanceTreston, Hubert Joseph
History
Poine: a study in ancient Greek blood-vengeance
Treston, Hubert Joseph
Criminal law (Greek law); Greece -- Civilization; Greek drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism; Homicide (Greek law); Vendetta
atonement, (not, as it was amongst Achaean militarists, a mere flight
from death,) was respected despite doctrinal innovations, because it had
been sanctified by time.
Glotz holds[96] that this immunity in foreign states of exiles who were
guilty of wilful murder in their home-land was due to occasional treaties
of ἀσυλία between Greek States. We shall see that such immunity was
more probably derived from Greek extradition law, and such law implies
international authorisation. It was precisely because such laws could be
made and enforced that Greek homicides required no ‘cities of Refuge.’
Thus, the Greek pollution-doctrine bears on the face of it the stamp of a
compromise between tribe and State, between local gods and international
religion.
But there was a further compromise, which we must also indicate, namely,
that which inevitably took place between the ghosts of the slain and
the purifying gods, the καθάρσιοι θεοί. We have argued[97] that the
chaotic centuries which followed the Achaean domination produced a much
more monstrous and bloodthirsty conception of the Erinnyes than that
which existed in the Homeric age. We have suggested that the revolt
of the clansmen against Apolline innovations which abolished material
retribution for homicide may have rendered still more ferocious and
implacable the Erinnyes of the slain. Yet when the Greek Apolline
doctrine of pollution was finally accepted by Hellenic tribes and States,
the Erinnyes, like the Titans, were subdued, and became so mild that they
could be identified with the Semnai Theai and called Eumenides! They
could live in peace again, as in Homer, with the Olympian gods whom they
had learned to loathe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account