The Pregnant Male as Myth and Metaphor in Classical Greek Literature This book traces the image of the pregnant male in Greek literature as it evolves over the course of the classical period. The image as deployed in myth and in metaphor originates as a representation of paternity and, by extension, authorship of ideas, works of art, legislation, and the like. Only later, with its reception in philosophy in the early fourth century, does it also become a way to figure and negotiate the boundary between the sexes. The book considers a number of important moments in the evolution of the image: the masculinist embryological theory of Anaxagoras of Clazomenae and other fifth-century pre-socratics; literary representations of the birth of Dionysus; the origin and functions of pregnancy as a metaphor in tragedy, comedy, and the works of some Sophists; and finally the redeployment of some of these myths and metaphors in Aristophanes Assemblywomen and in Plato s Symposium and Theaetetus. is Professor of Classics at San Francisco State University and Chair of the Departments of Classics and Comparative and World Literature. He has published articles in Classical Antiquity, Mnemosyne, and Materiali e Discussioni, as well as in numerous edited volumes.
The Pregnant Male as Myth and Metaphor in Classical Greek Literature San Francisco State University
cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa Information on this title: /9781107017283 2012 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2012 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Leitao, David D., 1964 The pregnant male as myth and metaphor in classical Greek literature /. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-107-01728-3 (hardback) 1. Greek literature History and criticism. 2. Philosophy in literature. 3. Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) History To 1500. 4. Masculinity in literature. 5. Metaphor in literature. I. Title. pa3009.l45 2012 880.09 dc23 2011039684 isbn 978-1-107-01728-3 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
For John ἰατρῷ δυστοκίας
Contents Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations and Editions page ix xi 1 Introduction 1 2 The New Father of Anaxagoras: The One-Seed Theory of Reproduction and Its Reception in Athenian Tragedy 18 3 The Thigh Birth of Dionysus: Exploring Legitimacy in the Classical City-State 58 4 From Myth to Metaphor: Intellectual and Poetic Generation in the Age of the Sophists 100 5 Blepyrus s Turd-Child and the Birth of Athena 146 6 The Pregnant Philosopher: Masculine and Feminine Procreative Styles in Plato s Symposium 182 7 Reading Plato s Midwife: Socrates and Intellectual Paternity in the Theaetetus 227 Appendix I. Did Any Thinker before Democritus Argue for the Existence of Female Seed? 271 Appendix II. Women and Men as Grammatical Subjects of τίκτω 281 Works Cited 285 Index 301 vii
Acknowledgments I would like to thank Betty Belfiore, Ruby Blondell, Lesley Dean-Jones, Zina Giannopoulou, Ann Hanson, Yurie Hong, Sarah Iles Johnston, Greg Jones, Andrew Lear, Erin Moodie, Kathryn Morgan, Jay Reed, David Grant Smith, Chris Weinberger, and two anonymous reviewers for the Press, who provided generous and constructive feedback on parts or all of the manuscript at different stages. The argument has been improved immeasurably as a result. It goes without saying that these fine scholars are not responsible for those infelicities of argument or expression that remain. I would also like to thank Michael Genhart and Dean Paul Sherwin for their support, intellectual and moral, during the writing of this book; Beatrice Rehl and Emily Spangler at the Press, who expertly facilitated the entire process from submission to production; and Brian MacDonald, my patient production editor, who saved me from countless errors and made many salutary suggestions that improved the final manuscript. Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents, who first taught me to value the life of the mind, and to my husband, John Furman, M.D., who provided much encouragement over the years, especially during those times when my confidence flagged. This book is dedicated to him. San Francisco, California August 2011 ix
Abbreviations and Editions The names of most authors and works cited in this book may be found, with additional bibliographical information, in H. Liddell, R. Scott, and H. Jones, eds., A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th edition with supplement (Oxford, 1968), and P. Glare, ed., Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford, 1982). I have adopted most of their abbreviations of authors and works, except where clarity demanded a less-compressed abbreviation. I also employ abbreviations for the following reference works and special editions of some texts: Aet. Fragments of Aetius in H. Diels, ed., Doxographi Graeci (Berlin, 1879) ARV 1 J. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters (Oxford, 1942) ARV 2 J. Beazley, Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, 3 vols., 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1963) Bernabé A. Bernabé, ed., Poetae epici Graeci: Testimonia et fragmenta, 4 vols. (Munich, 1987 2007) CFA A. Hausrath and H. Hunger, eds., Corpus fabularum Aesopicarum, 2 vols., 2nd ed. (Leipzig, 1959 70) DK H. Diels and W. Kranz, eds., Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, 3 vols., 10th ed. (Berlin, 1960 61) FGrH F. Jacoby, ed., Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, 3 vols. (Berlin and Leiden, 1923 55) IG Inscriptiones Graecae, 14 vols. (Berlin, 1873 ) LSJ H. Liddell, R. Scott, and H. Jones, eds., A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed. with supplement (Oxford, 1968) MW R. Merkelbach and M. West in F. Solmsen et al., eds., Hesiodi Theogonia, Opera et Dies, Scutum, fragmenta selecta, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1990) xi
xii Abbreviations and Editions P. Derveni T. Kouremenos, G. Parássoglou, and K. Tsantsanoglou, The Derveni Papyrus: Edited with Introduction and Commentary (Florence, 2006) PCG R. Kassel and C. Austin, eds., Poetae comici Graeci (Berlin, 1983 2001) PMG D. Page, ed., Poetae melici Graeci (Oxford, 1962) RV Ap A. Trendall and A. Cambitoglou, eds., The Red-Figured Vases of Apulia, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1978 82) SnM B. Snell and H. Maehler, eds., Pindari carmina cum fragmentis, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1975 80) SVF J. von Arnim, ed., Stoicorum veterum fragmenta, 4 vols. (Leipzig, 1903 24) TGF B. Snell, R. Kannicht, and S. Radt, eds., Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta, 5 vols. (Göttingen, 1981 2004) West M. West, ed., Iambi et elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati, 2 vols., 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1989 92) For four texts, which are discussed at great length in the course of this book, I use the following editions: Euripides, Bacchae : J. Diggle, ed., Euripidis Fabulae, vol. 3 (Oxford, 1994) Aristophanes, Assemblywomen: N. Wilson, ed., Aristophanis Fabulae, vol. 2 (Oxford, 2008) Plato, Symposium: J. Burnet, ed., Platonis Opera, vol. 2, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1993) Plato, Theaetetus: W. Hicken, ed., in E. Duke et al., Platonis Opera, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1995) All translations of ancient texts are my own unless otherwise indicated.