The House of Atreus : a model for the analysis of descent in Greek tragedy
Date
1978
Authors
Rowe, Daniel Lawrence
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Abstract
In this thesis certain dramas of the fifth-century Athenians are examined from an anthropological point of view. The thesis maintains that the improper devolution of a patrilineal system of descent sets up the action in these .dramas, and that the logic of descent--and the changing populations of the members connected by descent--propels it. The analysis of diseased descent should therefore describe the action of the dramas and enrich our understanding of it, as well as providing a solid and demonstrable set of variables for the drawing of contrasts and similarities.
The dramas concerned are those that deal in a primary way with the "House of Atreus," or, more properly, with the line of males-together with their sisters and daughters--tracing back to Pelops and to Tantalus.
Members of this House are first identified in a general way, that is in the context of the House as an entity throughout its successive generations. This identification is established for the House in Homer, in E.E: Barthell (a secondary source), in various classical sources, and then in the dramas themselves. Each source is treated as an isolate, and interpolations are assiduously avoided.
Once this general identification of membership is made, the reciprocal relationship between any two persons within the House may be established. These relationships are given in terms of certain variables of descent: generation and blood relationship (lineality, collaterality, affinity or "undescendance").
Once the actors have been identified, their improper actions--called "events"--are noted without breaking the context of the narrative sequence. The event requires a very careful definition, just as, does descent.
These two features (descent and event) are then combined to form an economic series of notations known as a "model." The description of the actual actors or event may then be removed or brought back without a loss of sense or reference. The action in the dramas in terms of the violation of descent is then presented in a most concise form.
Even so straightforward a procedure requires an inordinate amount of care in setting out attitudes, approaches and methods. This care is duly taken before the analysis itself begins. So much scholarly attention--of highly various quality--has been paid to the dramas that such care is called for to give this thesis rigour and to make it distinct. Even more care is re qui red to make it reproducible, a characteristic highly valued in anthropology.
The results of this thesis are of varying success. Paradoxically, the two features of descent--generation and blood relationship--show different sensitivity to patterning: generation is perfectly patterned, while blood relationships are not. Both are essential parts of the definition of descent, yet it becomes clear that each has a qualitatively different nature: generation is itself a pattern, while a blood relationship is a state.