Funerary Epigrams of Ancient Greece by Marta González González

Author:Marta González González
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781350062443
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2018-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

Glykera, daughter of Thoukleides.

What is rare for a woman, to be by nature noble and judicious

at the same time, this was attained by Glykera in notable degree.

The epitaph highlights the rarity of nobility and good judgement coexisting in a woman, but this may be poetic recourse; we have seen the same expression, spanis (σπάνις), ‘rarely’, used above to speak of faithfulness in men.62 What is more important in this case is the tribute likening Glykera to the admired Alcestis of Euripides. This is how Pheres, the father of Admetus, addressed his son, after learning of the death of his young wife: ἥκω κακοῖσι σοῖσι συγκάμνων, τέκνον· / ἐσθλῆς γὰρ, οὐδεὶς ἀντερεῖ, καὶ σώφρονος / γυναικὸς ἡμάρτηκας (‘I come to your aid in your misfortune, son: for no one will deny that you have lost a noble and judicious woman’).63 From this we may understand that Thucydides’ words delivered by Pericles still have some weight, but at the same time, people are finding ways to get around his recommendation. We might even suggest that the conditional expressions that begin certain epitaphs (εἴπερ ἐν ἀνθρώποισι γυναικῶν ἔστ’ ἀρετή τις …, ‘if among men there can be any nobility characteristic to women …’) represent a point of contention, a kind of dialectical response, to the words of Pericles: εἰ δέ με δεῖ καὶ γυναικείας τι ἀρετῆς […] μνησθῆναι …, ‘if I must also make mention of the nobility of women … ’.64

As for eusebeia, for the moment I only note its special connection to the sphere of women. In the final chapter, I propose an interpretation that looks further into the meaning of this ‘piety’ that implies a reciprocity between human behaviour and divine reward.

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