The Unequal Twins: Artemis and Apollo in Athenian Drama and Iconography
Embargo until
2021-12-01
Date
2017-10-27
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Publisher
Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
Artemis and Apollo were both important deities in Athens, but while in Attic vase iconography they are repeatedly portrayed alongside each other, in Athenian drama Apollo is mostly depicted by himself and Artemis’ presence is considerably smaller. The dissertation argues that the discrepancy between the two media derives from the strong Homeric influence on the playwrights, since the Homeric corpus, especially the Iliad, portrays Artemis as a weak and marginalized goddess, who does not belong on the battlefield and who punishes heroes rather than helping them. However, while Homer’s depiction canonized in many ways Artemis’ literary portrayal, it did not have a similar effect on the vase-painters, who present Artemis repeatedly and favorably.
The first chapter examines the Homeric attitude towards the twins, focusing on Homer’s maltreatment of Artemis in the Iliad. While Apollo is depicted as a great and powerful god, his familial bond with his twin sister is downplayed in a consistent effort to detach them from one another. Artemis was considered potentially dangerous to the warriors of the Iliad, and therefore it was better to distance her from the battlefield and minimize her power. Homer’s great influence established Artemis’ literary character and affected her later portrayal, albeit without the negative tone found in the Iliad, as we may see already in the Homeric Hymns to Apollo and Artemis.
The second chapter studies the representations of Artemis and Apollo in Athenian drama, demonstrating that the plays usually maintain and replicate some of the Homeric biases against Artemis as well as the dynamic between her and Apollo, thus continuing her marginalization. In most of the plays, she is only allotted a role secondary to that of her brother. However, when the playwrights describe expressions of devotion, such as prayers, hymns, and invocations, Artemis is hailed, worshipped, and honored. These represent authentic Athenian customs, which allow us to see the religious world and perceptions of Athens in the fifth century BCE. Therefore, the plays present a dialectical tension between the immense importance and influence of the Homeric poems, on the one hand, and the Attic cultic reality on the other.
The final chapter turns to iconography, revealing that unlike Artemis’ scarce presence in epos and drama, she was very popular in Attic vase-painting. Yet in most of the images, the basic hierarchy between the twins does not change. This is built into representations of divine twins in Antiquity, in which usually one is the child of a god and the other of a mortal man. With Artemis and Apollo, both sired by Zeus and too different to be undistinguishable, Artemis’ gender is used to place her below her brother in the internal hierarchy between them.
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Keywords
Artemis, Apollo, Delian Triad