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The Encyclopedia of Greek Tragedy, First Edition. Edited by Hanna M. Roisman. 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Violence, Divine and Human Violence(bia, kratos, ANANK, HYBRIS), both divineand human, is ubiquitous in Greek tragedy.Even if not a central theme, violence pervadesthe plays of the three tragedians due to

both the context and the content of tragedy.As to the context, tragedy is a product ofGreek religion and as such exposes theologi-cal ideas by describing the interaction of godsand humans. Whether as defenders of divineprerogatives or as guardians of human justice,the gods intervention in human affairsusually implies violence. As to the content,tragedy focuses on Greek MYTHwith its ruth-less stories of CANNIBALISM, INCEST, FRATRICIDE,

PARRICIDE, or MATRICIDE, meaning violencenecessarily lurks behind most plots.

The Greeks conceived of violence primar-ily as coercion or annihilation of the will(Ercolani 2005: 89), resulting either fromnecessity (anank) or from authority (kratos)(Goldhill 1991: 1820), which in turndepended on either persuasion (peith) orforce (bia) (Vernant and Vidal-Naquet 1981:15). Conscious of the gulf between will

and reality, they pondered the reasons behindthe frustration of their own desires or theconstraints upon acting against their ownintentions (Gorgias Hel. 6; Pal. 14). Theunpredictability of Homeric gods in grantingor withholding favors reflects very well anera in Greek thought in which individualstacitly accepted the violence done to theirdesires by reality or other individuals.However, simple divine arbitrariness did not

always suffice to account for human failure(Roig Lanzillotta 2010: 823). From Hesiodonwards, the increasing number of humanfaults explaining the need for godly interven-tion clearly shows a gradual moralizationof the divine apparatus (Latte 1921b/1968).Moreover, when no human faults justifiedevil, theodicy seemed to provide a soundexplanation, resorting to the inherited guiltattributed to the ancestors.

Consequently, in the context of tragedy,human and divine violence is always the resultof human hybris, either personal or inherited.Conceived of as a state of mind that pays noheed to the rules governing the life of the

community, hybrisexplains, on the one hand,the physical, verbal (e.g., Eur. Supp. 399562),or psychological (e.g., Aesch. Ag. 90511;93143) violence that seems to govern mosthuman relationships (Ercolani 2005: 914).On the other hand, it also explains divineviolence the ruin that sooner or later befallsthe entire house (Aesch.Ag. 76472) as thepunishing intervention of the gods. Humanexcesses seem to justify divine excess (see

EURIPIDES BACCHAE, with Burkert 1974: 109;see also PUNISHMENT) and the godly correc-tive interference which, by the principle ofsimilia similibus (like for like), reintroducesmeasure into human affairs.

All of AESCHYLUS plays go back to a violentincident that can be explained within the frame-work of hybris. As for the ORESTEIA,AGAMEMNONis focused on the MURDERof the ATREIDAE, theLIBATION BEARERS on the murder of

CLYTEMNESTRAby ORESTES, and the EUMENIDESon theVENGEANCEof this crime by the ERINYES.In his SUPPLIANTS, violence is also at the fore:the DANADS rejection of MARRIAGEas violence(Supp. 3926; Goldhill 1991: 20), theEGYPTIANS attempts to remove them from theALTAR, and PELASGUS determination to defendhis protges by force all structure the play.Even if it is not explicit, violence is also presentin SEVENAGAINSTTHEBESand the PERSIANS, the

former related to the OEDIPUSmyth and thelatter based on XERXES hybris. Whether or notby Aeschylus, *PROMETHEUS BOUND confrontsus with the violent enchainment of PROMETHEUS representative of human civilization byKRATOSand BIA, agents of Zeus tyranny, con-ceived of as excessive and violent (Citti 1964:769; Moreau 1985).

Even while moving within the same frame-work, violence in SOPHOCLES plays seems

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to acquire a new personal dimension. Due tohuman blindness, individuals contribute tothe level of violence through their own acts.OEDIPUSTYRANNUS, perhaps one of his mostviolent plays, combines parricide, incest, andSUICIDEwith examples of verbal, psychologi-cal, and physical violence. In addition to theEXILEof a BLINDold man, OEDIPUSATCOLONUSalso describes POLYNEICES and ETEOCLESfratricidal clash. Matricide is the main themeof ELECTRA, HERACLES excruciating DEATHand DEIANEIRAs suicide that of WOMEN OFTRACHIS. CREONs determination to hinderANTIGONEs plan to BURY her brother con-fronts us, in turn, with the violent exercise of

power (kratos).AJAX, also a very violent play,not only includes the suicide of the protago-nist on stage, but also the antecedents to theact, including the scorn heaped on the heroby ATHENAand ODYSSEUSand the self-reflec-tion that leads him to put a violent end to hisDISHONOR (see also PERFORMANCE; STAGING(ANCIENT) OFSOPHOCLEANTRAGEDY).

For EURIPIDES, violence is also central, buthe is the first tragedian to problematize its

use (Burkert 1974; Segal 1991: passim), anattitude which might be traced to both theinfluence of the SOPHISTICmovement (seeAlc.389; Med. 53638;Andr. 7846; Hel. 3956) and more generally to the historical situa-tion in which the plays were written(SUPPLIANTS; PHOENICIAN WOMEN; TROJANWOMEN; see also POLITICALAPPROACHTOGREEKTRAGEDY). Nevertheless violence is omnipres-ent. For obvious reasons this is true both for

the so-called plays of voluntary SELF-SACRIFICE(e.g., HECUBA, Phoenician Women, IPHIGENIAATAULIS; see also HUMANSACRIFICE) and forthe SUPPLIANT plays (e.g., CHILDREN OFHERACLES, Suppliants). However, The Bacchaeis also a clear example, with PENTHEUS deathand dismemberment (1043152), as areHERACLES and MEDEA, with the protagonistsdriven mad and killing their CHILDREN(see alsoCHILDMURDER). Interestingly, Hecubadepicts

the protagonists development from a lovingMOTHER into a vengeful murderer (1689,3916; see also REVENGE), ending up with hermonstrous metamorphosis (1265; Segal

1991). As for Trojan Women, it deals with theaftermath of the TROJANWARand consequentlyis exemplary of the primary role played by vio-lence: the dative biiby force appears seventimes (70, 373, 617, 897, 959, 962, 998) in

this play (Ercolani 2005: 91).However, leaving aside a couple of

examples, such as AEGISTHUS punishment(Soph. Electra) or AJAXs suicide (Soph.Ajax), physical violence was rarely staged,preferably only being alluded to (Baldry1971: 50). Due to the conviction thatviolence was not something desirable norsomething about which one should speakopenly (Clay 1982: 28892), tragedy

confronts us rather with its results (Segal1991: 35), with a view to creating the neces-sary distance that allows the public to reflecton violence and not be drawn by it.Consequently, it may be true that the Greeksconceived of violence as a constitutive ele-ment of life and accepted it as such (Ercolani2005: 100); however, the reluctance of Greekdrama to stage violence shows that they nei-ther allotted it a place in their reenactment of

life nor tacitly accepted its existence.

ReferencesBaldry, H.C. 1971. The Greek Tragic Theatre.

London: Chatto & Windus.Burkert, W. 1974. Die Absurditt der Gewalt

und das Ende der Tragdie: Euripides Orestes.A&A20: 97109.

Citti, V. 1964. Kratos and bia contrapposti econgiunti nelle tragedie di Eschilo. Vichiana1:

769.Clay, D. 1982. Unspeakable Words in GreekTragedy.AJPh103: 27798.

Ercolani, A. 2005. Gewalt in der griechischenTragdie, in G. Fischer and S. Moraw (eds.),Die andere Seite der Klassik. Gewalt im 5. und 4.

Jahrhundert v.Chr. Stuttgart: Steiner: 89101.Goldhill, S. 1991. Violence in Greek Tragedy, in

J. Redmond (ed.), Violence in Drama.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 1533.

Latte, K. 1921b/1968. Schuld und Snde in der

griechischen Religion, in K. Latte (ed.), KleineSchriften. Munich: Beck: 535.Moreau, A. 1985. Eschyle: La violence et le chaos.

Paris: Belles Lettres.

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Roig Lanzillotta, L. 2010. The So-called Envy ofthe Gods: Revisiting a Dogma of Ancient GreekReligion, in J. Dijkstra, J. Kroesen, and

Y. Kuiper (eds.), Myths, Martyrs, and Modernity:Studies in the History of Religions in Honour of

Jan N. Bremmer. Leiden: Brill: 7593.Segal, C. 1991. Violence and Dramatic Structurein Euripides Hecuba, in J. Redmond (ed.),Violence in Drama. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press: 3546.

Vernant, J.-P. and P. Vidal-Naquet. 1981. Tragedyand Myth in Ancient Greece, tr. J. Lloyd.Brighton: Harvester Press.

Further ReadingBurkert, W. 1972. Homo Necans. Berlin and

New York: De Gruyter.Fisher, N. 1992. Hybris: A Study in the Values of

Honour and Shame in Ancient Greece.

Warminster: Aris & Phillips.Girard, R. 1977/1972. Violence and the Sacred,trans. P. Gregory. Baltimore, MD: Johns HopkinsUniversity Press.

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