In Dreadful Blood, In Terrible Blood
The Phoenician Women by Euripides
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT AN ANCIENT GREEK SCHOLAR. FOR THE FULL DISCLAIMER, READ HERE.
“Men honor property above all else;
it has the greatest power in human life.”
Polynices; lines 439-40
Retreading A Familiar Myth
The Phoenician Women by Euripides is a retelling of the famous Siege of Thebes with some details changed. In exposition, it also retells the story of King Laius of Thebes, his son Oedipus, and the horrifying events that followed. If you want a single work that gives an account of this (in)famous story, The Phoenician Women is the work to read.
The Phoenician Women enjoyed a great deal of popularity in the ancient and Medieval world, but declined in the modern era due to renewed appreciation for Aeschylus and Sophocles and their versions of the myth.
Here’s a summary of the events as it is generally told (or, at least, as it is told by other sources like Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, and Sophocles). Afterward, I will point out the details that are different in Euripides’ play:
King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes are childless and so consult Apollo on what to do. The oracle of Apollo warns Laius to never have children, especially a son. If he does, his son will be his undoing not only for himself, but for Thebes as well. One day, drunk and inflamed with lust, Laius ignores the oracle and sometime later Jocasta gives birth to a son. Baby Oedipus is handed off to a shepherd so he can take him to the mountains to die of exposure, but the shepherd has compassion on the baby and he gives it to the childless Polybus, king of Corinth.
This next part is a little unclear to me. I believe, after Oedipus grows up, he hears a rumor (or maybe it was directed at him as an insult?) that the couple who raised him aren’t his real parents. The couple denies this, though Oedipus is made suspicious by their answers for some reason. Oedipus’ personality for wanting to know the truth (which ends up being his undoing in the long run) does not allow him to be content, so he goes to consult Apollo’s oracle. This is where he learns the dreadful prophecy about him: he is to murder his father and have children with his mother. Horrified, he decides to never return to Corinth.
On the way to Thebes, he runs into Laius. Laius was on his way to Apollo’s oracle to get clues about dealing with a Sphinx that has been terrorizing Thebes. Not knowing who the other is, Oedipus and Laius end up quarreling. Oedipus kills Laius, having no clue he just killed his father. Oedipus goes to Thebes, solves the Sphinx’ riddle, and slays it. Again, not knowing who the other is, Oedipus is rewarded for his actions with marriage to the now widowed Jocasta, Queen of Thebes, and becomes Thebes’ new ruler. Oedipus ends up having two sons and two daughters with his mother: Eteocles, Polynices, Ismene, and Antigone.
Years go by and a plague begins to tear through the populace of Thebes. Oedipus, who is a just king, desperately tries to figure out how to deal with the plague. Through a series of events, Oedipus learns the plague is his fault because he killed his father and had children with his mother. In response, Jocasta commits suicide and Oedipus blinds himself and is eventually sent into exile. His daughter Antigone decides to go into exile with Oedipus and be his guide. Years later, when Oedipus is old, he dies in Colonus, an Athenian suburb, and Antigone returns to Thebes where she is to marry her cousin Haemon, son of Creon.
During Oedipus’ exile, rulership of Thebes is divided between his two sons Eteocles and Polynices. The agreement was that the brothers would alternate rule every other years. Polynices left Thebes, but when it was his turn to rule, Eteocles refused to give up power. Polynices, now an exile, ends up in Argos where he marries one of the daughters of King Adrastus. Polynices convinces Adrastus to allow him to raise an army and attack Thebes. The result is the famous Siege of Thebes (or the Seven Against Thebes) which was just as famous of a war in ancient Greece as the Trojan War was. The siege fails, but Eteocles and Polynices end up killing each other. Their uncle, Creon, takes over as king.
Creon decrees that Polynices is to not have a proper burial, but his corpse be thrown outside the walls of Thebes. Any attempts to bury Polynices will earn that person the death penalty. Antigone defies this order and attempts to bury Polynices, but is caught. While Antigone is imprisoned, she commits suicide. Her fiance Haemon, devastated, also commits suicide, which causes his mother to commit suicide as well. Creon is now childless (or, at least, without sons) and a widower. Later on, he is killed by a usurper.
Notable differences in the story in The Phoenician Women:
Jocasta does not commit suicide after learning Oedipus is her son, but after Eteocles and Polynices kill each other (which happened, not during the siege, but afterward in a one-on-one duel).
Oedipus was forced into isolation in his own home after the truth came out about killing his father and marrying his mother. Since his sons were responsible for this forced isolation, he ends up cursing them that they will be divided by steel (the results of the curse was the siege).
Eteocles and Polynices agree to alternate rule of Thebes to prevent Oedipus’ curse from coming to pass. Polynices goes into temporary exile to make sure no bad blood comes between the brothers. However, when Eteocles tastes power, he can’t bear the thought of anyone else ruling over him and forces Polynices into permanent exile.
Oedipus is not exiled until after the siege.
It is Eteocles, before his death, who rules that if Polynices is killed he is not to be properly buried. Creon upholds this decree when Antigone insists on burying Polynices. Rather than defying Creon with suicide, she defies him by refusing to marry Haemon and instead goes into voluntary exile to take care of her father.
If you are interested in reading other works that deal with the ill-fated Labdacid line, read Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes and Sophocles’ Theban plays (Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and Oedipus at Colonus).
All quotes from The Phoenician Women are from the Elizabeth Wyckoff translation. This translation is found in the Complete Greek Tragedies which were originally edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. I will be using the Third Edition which was edited by Mark Griffith and Glenn W. Most.
Being Without a Home Is Worse Than Death
During the play, Polynices relates to his mother what he suffered as an exile:
Jocasta: So now I ask what first I wish to know.
What is it to lose your country—a great suffering?
Polynices: The greatest, even worse than people say.
Jocasta: What is its nature? What’s so hard on exiles?
Polynices: One thing is worse: a man can’t speak out freely.
Jocasta: But this is slavery, not to speak one’s thought.
Polynices: One must endure the unwisdom of one’s masters.
Jocasta: This also is painful, to join with fools in folly.
Polynices: One must be a slave, for gain, against one’s nature.
Jocasta: The saying is that exiles feed on hopes.
Polynices: Lovely to look at, but they do delay.
Jocasta: And doesn’t time make clear that they are empty?
Polynices: They have seductive charm in a man’s troubles.
Jocasta: How were you fed before your marriage fed you?
Polynices: Sometimes I’d have a day’s worth, sometimes not.
Jocasta: Your father’s foreign friends, were they no help?
Polynices: Hope to be rich! If you are not—no friends.
Jocasta: Your high birth brought you to no lordly height?
Polynices: Need’s the bad thing. My breeding did not feed me.
Jocasta: It seems one’s country is the dearest thing.
Polynices: You couldn’t say in words how dear it is.Lines 387-407
Polynices wandered and wandered. He frequently went without meals. His family connections meant nothing. He was only saved when King Adrastus got a prophecy that he was to marry his two daughters to a lion and a boar. After that, Polynices and Tydeus, the father of Diomedes (future Greek hero of the Trojan War), end up on Adrastus’ doorstep. Both are exiles seeking hospitality, but when they meet they end up fighting each other. Adrastus believes Polynices and Tydeus to be the lion and the boar and gives his daughters to them. It is only then that Polynices is delivered from the hardships of his exile.
However, it isn’t enough. His homeland calls for him. And so, risking it all, he raises an army and returns to Thebes to claim his rightful inheritance—and he dies for it.
Personally, I would have been content staying in exile. If I found myself married to a beautiful princess from another land and got to enjoy the benefits of being a part of a royal family, I’m not sure I would want to go back to my homeland. My brother can have the throne of Thebes for all I care. I’ll send a letter to mom and dad every now and then.
But not Polynices. He was tied to his home in a way many of us aren’t today.
This has been one of the works of the modern era: the cutting off of peoples from their roots. This has caused many of us to lose what it means to have ties to land, ties to customs and traditions, ties to generations. And the way this has affected a lot of us in today’s world, it does appear to be worse than death.
I don’t know what it’s like to have those ties. It sounds nice. It sounds stable, comforting, meaningful. A place to belong. Something beyond myself to protect for dear life and nourish for future generations.
Maybe someday?
National Impurity
One of the elements of Oedipus’ story is that his killing of his father and having children with his mother caused a moral impurity that affected all of Thebes in the form of a plague. People who were wholly innocent of the ordeal suffered because of their king’s actions that he didn’t even know the full truth about.
For a long time, this really chafed me. Why should I have to suffer divine wrath for the actions of my ruler? However, once I started to consider that our culture today takes individualism way too far, I began to rethink my being offended at this element of the story. And once I did that, I began to reread the early books of the Old Testament.
God took sin in the land (or sin in the camp) very seriously. One of the most notable stories on this is the story of Achan in Joshua 7. Achan blatantly ignored God’s command for the Israelites to not keep any of the loot from the sacking of Jericho for themselves. He took some of the loot, buried it under his tent, and pretended nothing happened. As a result of this sin, God’s protection was lifted from the Israelites and they ended up losing their next battle. A few dozen fighting men even died. All because of Achan. Purity could only be restored after the Israelites took Achan, his family, and all his possessions out of the camp, then stoned everyone to death and burned everything up.
It sounds harsh… for the individualist. Also, people never consider the opposite. When everyone in the land/camp is doing what they’re suppose to, they all benefit from the blessing and protection that comes with it, as well as from the righteous actions an individual performs for the sake of his people. Together they prosper, together they suffer.
At some point, we are going to have to ditch the hyper-individualism/atomization that we’ve imposed on ourselves. Or, perhaps, it may be more accurate to say that at some point we will have no choice but to ditch it if we hope to continue on. We’re going to have to find that sweet spot between individualism and collectivism (or something to that effect).
At the same time though, I sometimes think about when we are going to have to pay for the sins our nation has committed (I’m American). The government, on our behalf (or so they say), has done a lot of bad within our nation and especially without. When are we truly going to pay the price for what our government has done? What will it look like?
When will the moral pollution of the land caused by our depravity finally catch up with us? What form will this backlash take? What will God’s wrath on us look like?
Maybe it’s already started? Maybe it’s been happening for a while?
In any case, we need to reverse course—sooner rather than later. I think the focus that the Dissident Right has placed on localism is very important. When the proverbial chickens come home to roost—whenever that will be—our family, neighbors, and surrounding land may be all we’ll have to rely on.
And woe to us if we don’t.
That's all for The Phoenician Women by Euripides.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos
Click here for the reading list I am going through.
Thumbnail: The Blind Oedipus Commending His Children to the Gods by Bénigne Gagneraux, 1784. Public domain.